E3 2004: Revamped Counter-Strike planned

News - New and improved this summer, along with other classics

Reports emerging suggest that Valve's still-dominant online multiplayer FPS Counter-Strike will receive an engine overhaul this summer, using new source code to update this Neolithic beast for the twenty-first century, so states word from Gabe Newell. Newell wowed the crowd at an assembled Half-Life 2 demonstration with a version of the CS Aztec level running in the new Half-Life engine.

Newell also revealed that the original Half-Life will be made available after a similar overhaul, though both revamps will not be free, instead going on sale at retail and via Steam at the same time as Half-Life 2 itself later this summer. Team Fortress, Opposing Force and Blue Shift will also benefit from the source upgrade, though the pricing of all this is currently unknown, hopefully it'll be cheap, obviously.

Elsewhere, word has it that Valve are already plotting several Half-Life 2 expansion packs, which could well tell the game's story from new perspectives, Valve's Doug Lombardi telling Eurogamer.net: "We're definitely going to continue to work in the Half Life universe. We definitely want to expand some of the stories of Alyx and some of the other characters that we're introducing in Half Life 2".

More as we get it.