Steam & Game Stats - CS & CS:Source at the top?

[six26]

I'll soon be returning back to the states after a year in Iraq and wanted to see what people are playing on Steam these days so I can join back in the fun (http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?snr=1_4_4__10)... I was surprised to see CS and CS:Source at the top of the list... and not by a small margin either! I'm assuming these stats are accurate? Are there really this many people still playing CS and CS:Source?

 

[gothamhunter]

CS:S is still active because of the history in it, but I would say TF2 is the game to play multiplayer. Please, please just don't even look at COD. Please!?

 

[six26]

Heh... I considered looking into COD because it is new(er) and I've already played CS and a little CS:Source. What are your reservations about COD?

 

[gorcorps]

Yup. It seems somebody makes a thread about this every month... the story hasn't changed. The CS games are cheap, can run on almost anything, and are still highly competitive. There's lots of mods, custom maps, etc. It was recently patched as well to include acheivements and a slight bump in graphics (not really noticeable IMO).

I haven't played in a while because of so many other new games coming out, but I revisit it for a couple days each month on average.

And CoD is a blast... there's just a lot of stuck up PC gamers who don't like anything that has also been on consoles.

 

[Karstein]

CS is still popular, but I do wonder if those stats include bots because there are TONS of servers which have plenty of those but no real players participating.

 

[simonizor]

Yep. It's pretty sad that nothing better has come out yet, but it is what it is. The devs seem to think that everyone wants games with over the top graphics, and a million things to do, but those games die as soon as the next one comes out.

CS and CS:S are still going strong because the gameplay is very simple, yet very refined. The way the game plays is nearly perfect (hitboxes could be better in source, but meh), and the entry barrier is pretty low. Unlike COD and other new FPS games, you don't have to unlock weapons; you can play with them as soon as you get enough kills to have the money to purchase them.

I also really don't like the way that these new shooters keep pushing to have more and more realistic environments while sacrificing gameplay. The maps in CS are closed in, small, mostly linear, but they just work. The maps are small enough to be learned quickly, but large enough to allow for multiple points of entry, and multiple hiding spots, but not so many hiding spots that you never even see the guy that shot you (I'm looking at you COD). There's no shit in the middle of the road to get your player caught on every two feet (I'm looking at you again, COD). Games like COD and BFBC2 seem to think that you need an infinite amount of detail in each map, so much detail that you're literally tripping over it.

All in all, CS is pretty much the perfect blend of an arcade shooter and a realistic shooter. It doesn't try too hard to be either one; it makes its own place somewhere in the middle, and it's great.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Bad Company 2 is awesome, and BC2 Vietnam ... CoD is OK, but BC2 is much better imo.

CS is fun to get back to, but I can't take it seriously like I used to.

 

[RobertPters77]

CS:S is still a really good game. The community also keeps it alive. And best of all the player base isn't annoying, immature, or shallow like their TF2 counterparts.

 

[Ben90]

When Valve ported CS:S over to the orange box engine it really messed up the netcode.

 

[DirkGently1]

CS:S is still a really good game. The community also keeps it alive. And best of all the player base isn't annoying, immature, or shallow like their TF2 counterparts.

Blimey, what happened? It used to be the other way round!

 

[Texashiker]

CS:S is still a really good game. The community also keeps it alive. And best of all the player base isn't annoying, immature, or shallow like their TF2 and Left 4 Dead counterparts.

There, fixed that for you.

From my experience, most of the CS:S players are alright in my book. Rarely does anyone mic spam, and if they do their kicked. There are lots of maps, mods,,,, overall CS:S is fun to play. Mostly what I play is the gun games modification, regular CS/CS:S does not thrill me one bit.

With l4d/l4d2 there are a lot of griefers, maps do not download from server, people mic spam all the time.

One of the big differences between l4d/l4d2 and CS/CS:S, with the CS series the maps can be downloaded from the server. With l4d you have to go out to some website, download the file, extract it, and then rejoin the server.

 

[dlock13]

So.. I know what I'm doing when I get home. I need to install 1.6 and CS:S.

I remember the good ol' days of sitting down in front of CS and playing... well, any map for countless hours. It's funny to think about it. You didn't rank. You didn't play 10 minutes games to be shoved off to a level you didn't want to play. The guns were all balanced. The gameplay was balanced. No random perks.

Only about 4 more hours till I'm home and installing this game again.

Honestly, L4D2, you have to play with friends. Pubbers aren't bad though. I've played with many people that were actually sane and not annoying.

CS/CSS are still great with their community like previously stated.

TF2 has become the beacon of popularity however. So if you are willing to play a game, get ready to mute a bunch of players in that.



Also, I'm assuming you were in Iraq due to the war? I'm glad you are returning home safely if so.

 

[Texashiker]

TF2 has become the beacon of popularity however. So if you are willing to play a game, get ready to mute a bunch of players in that.

If you like Team Fortress, you should really give Fortress Forever a try.

Fortress Forever is free, a lot faster paced then tf2, and no unlockable weapons or hats to worry about.

 

[Barfo]

If you like Team Fortress, you should really give Fortress Forever a try.

Fortress Forever is free, a lot faster paced then tf2, and no unlockable weapons or hats to worry about.

Why would you worry about hats?

 

[Texashiker]

Why would you worry about hats?

I do not play fail fortress 2, so I do not worry about the hats.

But there does seem to be a lot of complaints in the steam forums about them. Maybe the complaints are more directed towards the manco store then the actual hats?

 

[Red Storm]

Hats.

Simple hats led to ugly looking particle infested hats that can't be disabled and really make the game look ugly. From a game play standpoint, you run into situations where two of your teammates are sitting in spawn talking over a trade while the rest of your team tries to play at a disadvantage.

It's not the hats, it's the whole drop system/in-game store/trade mechanic. It's all geared toward casual gamer type play and making more money, which is nice for some, but not so nice for others.

 

[gothamhunter]

I do not play fail fortress 2, so I do not worry about the hats.

But there does seem to be a lot of complaints in the steam forums about them. Maybe the complaints are more directed towards the manco store then the actual hats?

Fail Fortress 2? Really? You now have no credibility.

OP, Team Fortress 2 is an amazing game. People who whine about having optional items to purchase in the store are just whining so that they have something to whine about. Before that they were whining because there weren't new weapons, and before that because they weren't rolling out free updates every week, and before that it was imbalance issues because OMG SOLLY HAS SPLASH WHERE IS MY MEDIC SPLASH!?!?! and before that it was...well you get the point.

People are whining about a purely cosmetic option in the game that you can get without paying IRL money because some decide to spend IRL money on them in the store. They all need to go QQ more.

TF2>all in terms of just amazing fun. CS:S is still a lot of fun too, and I love its gun-game.

 

[Texashiker]

Fail Fortress 2? Really? You now have no credibility.

What else should I call tf2? Hat Fortress, Manco Fortress, RPG Fortress,,, because its certainly not a Team Fortress game.

If you want a "real" team fortress game, go play Quake Team Fortress, Team Fortress Classic or Fortress Forever.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Well, you could call it what I call it: "The best $20 I've ever spent on entertainment."

Heard about Fortress Forever. Generally, by people who go on to complain about bitterly TF2. Totally unrelated to hats, as that's been going on since before there were hats in TF2.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Bad Company 2 is awesome, and BC2 Vietnam ... CoD is OK, but BC2 is much better imo.

CS is fun to get back to, but I can't take it seriously like I used to.

After playing BC2 for a year, I loaded up CS:S (office) just to check out the new updates. I didn't even last 15 minutes. I was pretty surprised how shallow source felt without the features I took for granted in BC2. I realize source is an old game, but I wasn't expecting such a profound lack of satisfaction. After getting AWPed a few times I uninstalled. LOL.

 

[Childs]

I can't believe a game called Football Manager 2011 is number 5. And less than 4k BFBC2 players? Ahhh....if only MW2 had dedicated servers. It would probably be number 1. Such a waste.

But the numbers in general are such small potatoes. If you add the top 100 games together its probably like 300K people playing, yet Steam shows almost 3 million. That 3 mil must include people like me who are always logged in but not playing anything.

 

[Karstein]

I can't believe a game called Football Manager 2011 is number 5.

Just in case - Football Manager is a series that's been around since the early 90s. It used to be called Championship Manager, which is not to be confused with the inferior CM titles of the current day as the dev team - Sports Interactive - split from Eidos in 2004.

It is easily the most popular and full-featured football (soccer) management game that there is. In the UK alone it has a large cult following. It also eats up days... weeks... months of your time if you really get into it. So its position at number 5 is not surprising.

 

[Childs]

Just in case - Football Manager is a series that's been around since the early 90s. It used to be called Championship Manager, which is not to be confused with the inferior CM titles of the current day as the dev team - Sports Interactive - split from Eidos in 2004.

It is easily the most popular and full-featured football (soccer) management game that there is. In the UK alone it has a large cult following. It also eats up days... weeks... months of your time if you really get into it. So its position at number 5 is not surprising.

Ahhh...I was thinking American Football and its out of season so why would that many people be playing it.

 

[fatpat268]

CS:S is still a really good game. The community also keeps it alive. And best of all the player base isn't annoying, immature, or shallow like their TF2 counterparts.

Hahahaha! Ok.

I guess if you're hanging out on the same server with the same group of people, sure you can have a good group. But if you're pubbing, CS:S has some of the most immature player bases I've seen. People go out of their way to say the stupidest shit possible... haven't really seen that in TF2.

But beyond that, it's hard to fathom why CS is (still) so popular. Sure it's cheap and plays on just about anything, but damn it's a terrible FPS to me. Perhaps I've become spoiled by modern FPS games (like COD, BF2, and BC2), but damn does CS feel weird. I can play well in just about any FPS game, but for some reason, no matter how hard I try, I can never do very well in CS.

Oh well, I've given up trying to understand the game, and I've moved on.