Xseed Brings Ys: The Oath In Felghana And Ys Origin To Steam

Via Siliconera:

By Spencer . March 13, 2012 . 12:01pm

The rumors are true (and we’ve been waiting to tell you) that Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin are coming to Steam. Ys: The Oath in Felghana, a reimagining of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, will be available with Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud support on March 19 for $14.99.

While most Ys games follow Adol and Dogi, Ys Origin takes place before their adventures. As a prequel to the entire series, Ys Origin takes place 700 years before the events in Ys I and focuses on the Black Pearl. The twin Goddesses are main characters along with a new cast of heroes that climb up Darm Tower. Ys Origin for Steam will be the first official English version of the game.

“People have been asking for Falcom’s great catalog of PC games to be officially made available in English for a long time,” said Jun Iwasaki, President of Xseed Games. “To start our new publishing arrangement on Steam with two standout entries from Falcom’s action-based Ys series, one of which has never been made available in English before, is an ideal situation for us, and we are excited about the future possibilities.”

Ys Origin

  

Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Wasteland to Get Kickstarter-Funded Sequel After Almost 25 Years

Via 1UP:

It may not work for everyone, but for a second time it looks like Kickstarter will come through.

By Chris Pereira, 03/14/2012

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Double Fine amply demonstrated what Kickstarter is capable of. Its proposed old-school graphic adventure set a record for the service by raising more than $3.3 million in just over a month despite its goal being to generate only $400,000. That was an unusual set of circumstances though, as Tim Schafer has built up a tremendous amount of good will with gamers to the point where they're willing to hand over their money to get a game that doesn't have so much as a name yet.

But for all of the talk over the last month about how Kickstarter could change the industry and fund all sorts of projects fans have been wanting to see for years, we've yet to see a significant amount of money generated by anyone other than Schafer. While it's impossible to say right now whether this is another exception that can be added to the list alongside Double Fine or a demonstration of what can happen when turning to the Kickstarter community, we now have another project asking for a good deal of money that is likely to get it.

Interplay founder Brian Fargo expressed interest last month in turning to Kickstarter to finally get the funding needed to produce a sequel to 1988's Wasteland. Fargo and his current company, inXile Entertainment, finally went ahead with their plans for a Kickstarter yesterday, seeking more than twice as much as Double Fine did: $900,000. The game's cost has been estimated at $1 million, though Fargo is offering to pitch in the last $100,000 to reach that figure if it's necessary. At the current rate, he can go about finding something else to spend that money on.

With this positioned as "probably the last chance for a Wasteland sequel," backers have pledged in excess of $700,000 (accurate as of this writing; the figure shot up $60,000 as I was writing) after only about a day. Several people have donated in excess of $5,000 and $10,000, and almost half of the current 12,449 backers have pledged $30 or more. It's a remarkable showing of support for a game some believed would not be able to generate much interest in 2012. It's all the more impressive considering it's made pretty clear the game won't be completed until late 2013 following six months of pre-production and a 12-month development period.

Wasteland is a game you don't hear a lot about these days, not having the benefit of a re-release on Good Old Games or some equivalent to drive discussion. That is not a reflection on its quality or significance, though. While I have no doubt it would fail to impress younger gamers who have never played it before, its influence can't be denied -- as Fargo explains in the video above, Fallout was created when EA wouldn't hand over the rights to Wasteland. And the Fallout series was heavily inspired by Wasteland, which featured branching paths, moral decisions, and other elements we praise games for even today.

Making the safe assumption that the next 33 days will be able to yield the remainder of the money needed, Wasteland 2 will be staying true to its roots. The developers -- the team includes people involved with development of the original Wasteland and the first two Fallout games -- have promised to make this a top-down, turn-based strategy game where you'll manage a team of characters, just like in the original.

It seems some lessons may have been learned from Double Fine's Kickstarter, as slightly more detailed plans for what will happen if the goal is exceeded were provided this time. "At $1.25 million, the money will go primarily into making the world bigger, adding more maps, more divergent stories and even more music," the page reads. "At $1.5 million, the world gets even bigger. You'll have more adventures to play, more challenges to deal with, and a greater level of complexity to the entire storyline. We'll add more environments, story elements, and characters to make the rich world come alive even more. We will even be able to bring Wasteland 2 to OS X for Mac lovers. And after $1.5 million the sky is the limit."

Clearly, there is still interest in the game, even if only from a fairly small, niche fan base. Like the Double Fine game with the adventure genre (which, Telltale aside, is not exactly at its peak when thinking about the point-and-click variety), a successful Kickstarter campaign for Wasteland 2 could encourage others to bring back games we never thought we'd see again. Wasteland falls into that category for sure. While Fargo had spoken repeatedly about doing a sequel since obtaining the rights from EA a decade ago, it had been a very long time since the original was released and this particular genre is also not thriving, making the likelihood of a publisher putting up any amount of money unlikely.

One noticeable difference between this Kickstarter and Double Fine's is the average pledge. Double Fine's ended up being just over $38 per person, compared with over $56 for Wasteland 2. That's an enormous disparity. It's possible the latter will come down as more pledges are made over the next month, though it wouldn't shock me to see it stay a good deal higher than Double Fine's. Wasteland 2 may not have the potential to be a multi-million seller, but the fans that are still out there have a voracious appetite for a game like this and seem to be willing to prove that with their wallets.

The Secret Code of New Consoles

Via IGN:

From the Atari 2600 to the next Xbox, find out what your favorite consoles were called...before anyone knew they existed.

March 9, 2012

Console makers have adopted the military habit of giving their upcoming consoles cool, secret code-names, both to obscure their specific details from competitors and to make sure that some mystique surrounds the project, should rumors spread.

Microsoft is only the latest to employ this device, with its Xbox 720, aka 'Durango'. The secret code of new consoles goes way, way back.

Stella

The Atari 2600 became a cultural phenomenon when it was released in 1977, but while it was in development the console went by the code name 'Stella,' taken from the pet name one of the engineers had for his bicycle. The machine had been in development since 1973 as an attempt to capitalize on the arcade success of Pong, yet the technical challenges of creating something both cheap enough and small enough for households were immense. A year before it launched, Channel F launched the Video Entertainment System that threatened to take over the home console market. When Stella was finally ready to shed its codename Atari first called it the Video Computer System as a way of competing with the VES. It was not actually until 1982 that Atari rebranded the console as the Atari 2600. 

Mark V

By the late 1980s Nintendo had come to dominate the home console space. Sega found it difficult to compete against the NES with its less powerful Master System. When it began planning a follow-up Sega settled on the fast and powerful sounding codename 'Mark V.' Sega wanted to amaze players with an advanced new alternative to the NES, making Nintendo's aging machine seem dinky and outdated in comparison. The spirit of the code name was held over with the final name, 'Mega Drive,' meant to imply power and speed. The name was set for Japan and Europe, but Sega had to change the console's name for North America because someone else owned the trademark for 'Mega Drive.' They went with the mystical-sounding, but no-less epic, 'Genesis,' powered by 'Blast' processing. It sounded like either the Big Bang or a rocket about to lift off. And it worked. 

PS-X

The irony of the PlayStation's brand is that it was originally developed as an add-on for the NES, and later moved to the Super Nintendo. A day after they revealed its partnership with Sony on the disc-drive attachment at the 1992 Consumer Electronics Show, Nintendo announced that it had made a deal with Phillips to build the peripheral and was ditching Sony. Infuriated Sony took their technology and the PlayStation name and decided to release it as a competitor to Nintendo. The original prototypes were codenamed PS-X, for PlayStation Experimental. In 1994 the company dropped the "experimental" tag and released the console simply as the PlayStation. 

Project Reality

The transition from 2D to 3D was a huge one for video game consoles. Nintendo expected its SNES successor to usher in that shift in epic style. The original codename for their third home console was thus given the portentous moniker 'Project Reality.' The result of a collaboration between Nintendo and Silicon Graphics, Project Reality was supposed to rival the most powerful PCs of the day with its ability to render polygonal 3D worlds. In addition to a main processor, the console had a second processor called the 'Reality Co-Processor' to help manage the large number of computations needed to bring the visuals to life. When it came time to shed the Reality codename, Nintendo chose to go with the simple but conservative Nintendo 64 name, meant to impress with its four-fold improvement on the SNES's 16-bit processor. 

Atlantis

Like the NES, the Game Boy revolutionized the handheld category that had previously been defined by simple LCD games. For its successor, a 32-bit machine meant to be significantly more powerful than the SNES, Nintendo chose the name 'Atlantis.' In hindsight the code name doesn't seem to reflect anything specific about the handheld. Instead it's simply a reflection of the mythic allure that a follow-up to the most popular handhelds of all time had for most players. When it was finally released in 2001 Nintendo split the difference between its charmless N64 nomenclature and the hyperbolic Atlantis by calling it Game Boy Advance, not a perfect title but mercifully better than Game Boy 32. 

Katana

After successfully beating Nintendo to the technological punch with the Genesis, Sega became a mess of constant hardware tinkering that led the company from the SEGA CD, SEGA 32X, and the Saturn between 1992 and 1995. Continuing this sporadic tradition, development on the Saturn successor went through a fragmented process resulting in several different code names. Development began in 1997 when two different engineering groups at Sega were put in competition with each other to come up with a next generation design. Each teams works were given a strange array of code names: 'White Belt,' 'Guppy,' 'Black Belt,' 'Shark,' 'Dural' (after the Virtua Fighter character) and the widely reported 'Katana.' When it was finally released in 1999 it's perhaps understandable that Sega abandoned all its old console brand names and made yet another fresh start by going with Dreamcast. 

Dolphin

When Nintendo began working on a Nintendo 64 successor it was becoming clear that Sony had taken over the world. Knowing that a PlayStation 2 would surely be on the way, Nintendo wanted to create a powerful console that would also be easier to develop for than the challenging N64 design. The project was originally code named 'Dolphin' after the internal model number DOL-001. The machine's custom-designed graphics processor was given the name 'Flipper,' after the televised dolphin hero, which seemed friendly enough but didn't imply any special technical advancement. For the final name, Nintendo picked "GameCube" to accentuate the console's square case. 

Nitro

After two flat launches of home consoles, Nintendo's President Hiroshi Yamauchi began thinking about ways Nintendo could re-establish itself as a market leader. Yamauchi wanted to make game devices that could be sold to anyone, not just the stereotypical 18-24 year-old male. The Nintendo DS was the first fruit of this attempt, an updated handheld with two screens, touch controls, and an on-board microphone that Yamauchi hoped would appeal to non-traditional players. The DS stood for Developer's System initially, but midway through development the name was changed to 'Nitro' after the model number NTR-001. After a French website discovered a portion of Nintendo's developer website titled Nitro, speculation about a Game Boy Advance successor spread and Nintendo reverted to the DS name, though this time standing for "Dual Screen." The name stuck and when it was released in 2004, the DS became the cornerstone of Nintendo's mass-market strategy for the rest of the decade. 

Xenon

Microsoft chose to keep the development codename for its original Xbox, but with its successor the company used a code name based on the new machine's chipset, 'Xenon.' The chipset was produced by IBM and was similar to the G5 processors IBM was producing for Apple's Mac computers. Indeed, early development kits were modified G5 Power Macs and for a period of time Microsoft was the single biggest buyer of Power Macs in the world. When it was finally released in 2005, the name was changed to Xbox 360, a way of shaking the dust off the Xbox name and amplifying the brand as the first console to break into the high-definition, fully online world of gameplay. 

Revolution

Like the DS, the follow-up to the GameCube was intended to reach non-traditional gamers. When development began the Wii was called 'Revolution,' a sign of just how fundamentally Nintendo was rethinking its strategy. Instead of focusing on powerful processors, Nintendo focused development around a new kind of controller that wouldn't overwhelm new players with buttons and analog sticks. It was decided that the controller would be a candy bar-sized remote controller with an accelerometer for motion controls and an infrared camera that would work as a pointer when aimed at the television. The Revolution codename initially excited long-time Nintendo fans with its explosive promise but just before E3 in 2006 Nintendo revealed the final name would be 'Wii.' It was meant to sound like the all-inclusive 'we,' but soon became a urine joke for the disillusioned fans who had been expecting something powerful and explosive. None of which stopped the Wii from vindicating Nintendo's mass-market strategy becoming one of the best-selling home consoles of all time. 

Project Natal

The success of the Wii caught many in the industry by surprise and left both Microsoft and Sony trying to incorporate motion controls into the PS3 and 360. After experimenting with several ideas, Microsoft chose an elaborate 3D camera with on-board mic to be the standard-bearer of its motion controlled future. When it was first revealed in tech-demo form at 2009's E3, Microsoft used the code name 'Project Natal,' named after the Brazilian town where project-lead Alex Kipman had been born. Natal also means 'birth' in Spanish, a word that was both exotic sounding and promised a whole new beginning for the aging 360. A year later, Microsoft settled on the final name of Kinect, following Nintendo's styleguide with a nonsense word that sounded like a cross between 'connect' and 'kinetic.' The choice again provoked groans from the Xbox faithful, but, like Wii before it, Kinect made sense to consumers selling 8 million units in its first two months and has sold more than 18 million units total. 

NGP

Rumors of Sony's successor to PSP were doing the rounds way before any real facts emerged and so, inevitably it became known as PSP2. Throughout 2010, industry execs and Sony chiefs talked about the device without giving it any especially exotic name. At a meeting between Sony and its partners in January 2011, the new device was unveiled as 'Next Generation Portable', or 'NGP', a dull name but no more so than PSP (PlayStation Portable), and certainly descriptive. But the marketing folks weighed in, and by E3 that year, we had a final name, 'Vita', meaning 'Life'. As always, the new name was met with derision – some felt it sounded like a healthy eating plan – but these objections were soon forgotten. 

Project Cafe, Durango and PlayStation 4

The next wave of home consoles are beginning to come into view. Nintendo has already announced its Wii-successor the WiiU, which was rumored to have gone by the code name 'Project Cafe,' though reasons for that name remain unclear. A PlayStation successor has been mentioned in rumors but it has so far been referred to as just the PlayStation 4. The Xbox 360 successor also seems to be under development and some rumors have suggested its code name is 'Durango.' What this could mean is still unclear--Durango is one of the 31 states of Mexico, a city in Colorado, a town in Spain, an Italian racing team, the name of a class of ship in the Mexican Navy, and a kind of SUV made by Dodge. At this point we can only guess, and that, finally, is the whole point. 

Resident Evil Revelations: What We Didn't See

Via IGN:

Capcom reveals ideas that never made it to the final game.

March 7, 2012

Resident Evil Revelations managed to pull the franchise back to its roots, focusing on survival horror while introducing a number of new creatures and concepts to the series.

Despite those changes, a number of ideas never made it to the final product. During our recent conversation with Revelations producer Masachika Kawata and director Koshi Nakanishi, we managed to find out what didn't make the cut.

Incoming!

"We wanted a claustrophobic survival horror feel. A ship out on the ocean is the ideal location since once you're on the ship there's no easy way to escape. We also took into consideration that a previous Resident Evil spin-off title was set a boat. To ensure Revelations wasn't too similar, we decided on an abandoned luxury cruise ship with an atmosphere about it that would bring to mind the mansion in the very first Resident Evil game. 

"One early idea was to have the virus-ridden ship arriving at a port at the beginning of the game, with the action kicking off in the port area. We ended up using the ship as the main setting, but remnants of that early concept can be found in the Terragrigia and mountain sections of the game." - Masachika Kawata, Resident Evil Revelations producer 

Shrimps, Sharks and Tube Worms

"We were inspired by the incredible variety of real-world marine life, and some of the unused enemy designs were based on octopuses, sharks, sea anemones, tube worms and the extinct abnormal shrimp. We even got as far as designing their attacks but, in the end, we couldn't include most of them for one reason or another. 

"Most of the creatures were created first and foremost as functions of the game's difficulty curve and level design, but some started out as artists' rough sketches of ideas that became either brand-new enemies or old enemies with new twists." - Koshi Nakanishi, Resident Evil Revelations director 

A Raided Co-Op

"We had online co-op for the story campaign up and running in the early stages of development, but feedback from testing indicated that single-player Resident Evil was scarier, so we left it out and focused our attention on improving the single-player survival horror experience. 

"Since we'd done the groundwork and it would have been a shame not to utilise the 3DS's wireless features, we added Raid Mode." - Masachika Kawata 

Abandon Ship

"One idea that we tried and ultimately dropped was having the ship capsize and turn over 180 degrees, like in the movie The Poseidon Adventure. It was a fun concept, but it didn't work for a number of reasons." - Koshi Nakanishi 

PlanetSide 2 Preview

Via 1UP.com:

A quick look at the current alpha reveals a big shooter full of players, customization, and microtransactions.

By Thierry Nguyen 03/07/2012

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It's been a while since 2003's Planetside, but Sony has been keeping the "have lots of players engage in massive multiplayer warfare" dream alive. Sony CEA tried such a concept for consoles with MAG, and now Sony Online Entertainment is revisiting the idea with a proper sequel,Planetside 2. Earlier this week during Game Developers Conference 2012, SOE showed off a 30-plus-minute demonstration of the current Planetside 2 alpha -- so while the graphics and basic user interface were clearly in development, a lot of the core gameplay could be shown off.

At the moment, the most honest description of Planetside 2 would be "more Planetside." Like the original, this one focuses on three distinct factions (Vanu Sovereignty, Terran Republic, and New Conglomerate) vying for control over a planet. Besides the visual design, each faction has a specific gameplay style -- Terran Republic vehicles zip by fast, while Vanu Sovereignty craft are more maneuverable, and New Conglomerate tanks end up being the toughest. Players jump in with their customized soldier and vehicle loadout, and help secure a facility in a match to help his faction gain territory in the overall war.

Click the image above to check out all Planetside 2 screens.

The main changes, besides the obvious fact that it looks like a game from 2012 rather than one from 2003, appear to be inspired by modern shooter design. Taking someone out or completing an objective splashes experience points on-screen. Being killed triggers the ubiquitous kill-cam. Player progression gets outfitted with factors such as weapon proficiencies, and Certification points that unlock new weapon loadouts and vehicle upgrades. The game tracks player performance in the vein of Battlefield 3's Battlelog or COD Elite or Halo stat-tracking. There's a neat-looking day/night cycle. In a nod towards more tactically oriented shooters, the class system has roles like infiltrator, light assault, combat medic, engineer, and heavy assault. And in perhaps the most generous and interesting take on a non-combat support role for a class-based shooter, players can choose to be a pilot of the Galaxy transport -- which flies around to provide a mobile respawn-and-resupply point.

Besides the above tweaks, SOE also plans on making the game simply easier to get into. On a base level, new players should be able to pick their kit and hit "join squad" to instantly hop online, find fellow soldiers in your faction, and get quick objectives to complete in battle. In a region holding up to 600 players, you can just focus on the 10 that are in your squad. Additionally, you can even gain Certification points to upgrade your soldier/gear/vehicle while offline -- for new players who might not have the time to dedicate hours upon hours of shooting and grinding.

The kicker, and perhaps the most interesting aspect, is how Planetside 2 will be Free-to-Play. Following the recent trend of other SOE titles (most notable DC Universe Online), Planetside 2 will be Free-to-Play upon launch. SOE plans to support the title via microtransactions; at the moment, you use in-game resources to add actual gameplay upgrades and abilities to your soldier, while certain items (none were specified) can be unlocked with a combination of in-game resources and actual cash. The items that require actual cash will be limited to cosmetic ones like camouflage patterns. It's an interesting model that's certainly been tried before, but at the moment, this is the most high-profile (and only) Free-to-Play MMO shooter I've seen.

Will this trend continue of seeing the phrase "Free-to-Play" next to the descriptions of the next big wave of PC games? A couple of GDC panels address this topic, but I also have appointments to see non-Free-to-Play games. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week shakes out -- and whether or not Planetside 2 is indicative of the future.

Vita games Monster Hunter Portable 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Nights, Tales Of Innocence R, and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD leaked

Via Eurogamer.net:

By Robert Purchese Published 7 March, 2012

Also, Tales of Innocence R, Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

Vita gets its Monster Hunter.

Online retailer Play.com has leaked four massive titles for PlayStation Vita: Monster Hunter Portable 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Nights, Tales Of Innocence R and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD.

Eurogamer was alerted to this by reader el_pollo_diablo, who sent us the image displayed in this story.

The Monster Hunter Portable 3 page on Play.com is still live.

These games may relate to Sony's upcoming PlayStation Vita Game Heaven event on 9th March.

The official blurb for the event reads: "Sony will host a PlayStation Vita web broadcast on Friday, March 9 at 20:00 JST, where it will announce new titles for the handheld. It is titled 'Welcome! PlayStation Vita Game Heaven.'"

Rockstar produced Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and GTA: Vice City Stories games for PSP. Will Vice City Nights be in the same vein?

Capcom demoed PSP game Monster Hunter Portable 3rd running on Vita (then Next Generation Portable) in January 2011. However, confirmation that such a game would exist on Vita was never given.

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD was released for PS3 in Japan last August. Will the Vita game be identical? Will PS3 and Vita versions work together - will there be cross-platform co-op?

It may be obvious, but Monster Hunter Portable 3 being listed on Play.com also seems to confirm it's coming West.

Final Fantasy Type-0 was released in Japan on PSP. We knew localisation for a Western version was under way, and that the development team had the game running on Vita.

Tales of Innocence R has already launched on Vita in Japan. This news suggests a Western release is planned.

Tales publisher Namco Bandai told Eurogamer: "As yet we haven't announced Tales of Innocence R for Europe."

A spokesperson for Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix said: "We can't comment on rumour or speculation."

Eurogamer is seeking comment from Rockstar and Capcom.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Hand-On

Via Cheat Code Central:

System: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Dev: Valve Software, Hidden Path Entertainment
Pub: Valve Software
Release: Q2 2012
Players: 1-16
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p

Strike Force
by Paul Semel

As influential as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Gears of War have been when it comes to online multiplayer, no game has had as big an impact as 2000's Counter-Strike. Originally created as a mod for Half-Life—which turned that single-player sci-fi shooter into a multiplayer gun battle between terrorists and counter-terrorists—it took on a life of its own, with the officially released version selling more than 25 million copies. As a result, its influence has been profound and deep, even inspiring modes and tenets in, yes, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Gears.

Now the game is getting a new lease on life in the form of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which will be available as a download this summer. While it's not a whole new Counter-Strike game, it is a revamped update that culls together the best aspects of the game's numerous variations.

For Counter-Strike veterans, the biggest and best news is that while Global will feature eight classic maps, including such favorites as Aztec, Inferno, Dust, and Dust 2. It will also have eight new maps, though all of these will be for the "Arsenal" modes (which we'll get to later).

At a Microsoft event held last week at San Francisco's' Bentley Reserve, where we got some hands-on time with the XBLA edition, we had a chance to check a new map called "Lake." It's a small stretch of land on a serene body of water with a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath country-style house, a garage, and a small construction area complete with piles of cover-providing building materials. It would be a really lovely place to raise a family were it not for all the shooting.

Global will also feature a number of little gameplay tweaks pulled from various editions of the game, essentially making this version a sort of Best of Counter-Strike: things such as weapon strengths, control sensitivity options, and so on. Valve has also been conducting a beta test with the PC edition, which has not only provided them with player feedback, but in-game player data as well. They've even made sure to consult with professional Counter-Strike players, to get their perspective on the game.

Though why this hasn't led to a proper Counter-Strike sequel—one with all-new maps and modes—instead of this upgraded update is a bit odd.

That said, for those who've never played Counter-Strike, this frantic shooter holds up, even if it's nearly a teenager. At the event, we played a mode called "Arsenal – Demolition," in which the terrorists try to plant a bomb while the Counter-Terrorists try to stop them. Making things trickier for both sides, each successive round gives players an increasingly weaker weapon. Starting off with a powerful machine gun, you then go down to a P90, and then a shotgun.

Playing, as we said, on the Xbox 360, we found the controls to be as smooth and responsive as any top-notch first-person shooter. Though we did notice one thing that might put off hardcore fans of current FPS controls: the lack of ironsights. Instead of pulling the gun up for added accuracy, pulling the left trigger put us into a slight crouching position. Now, this does help your accuracy while making you a smaller target, but for those used to ironsights—especially if there's a snap-to-target mechanic included—this crouch move will take some getting used to.

As for the other modes, the game has two classics playable on vintage maps: "Demolition," which is the aforementioned bomb mode without the gun issues, and "Hostage," which is like "Capture the Flag" if the "Flag" was a person who didn't like getting shot. There's also a second "Arsenal" type called "Arsenal – Arms Race," which plays like "Deathmatch," except that with each successive kill, you get a different weapon. Unlike "Arsenal – Demolition," though, the succession doesn't go by weapon strength or weakness; instead, everyone goes through the same line-up, and all end with a knife. Thus, the winner is the one who makes the first knife kill.

New players need not worry that they'll be getting knifed all the time, though, as Global will not only feature skill-based matchmaking, but a casual mode as well.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive may not be the sequel fans have been waiting a decade to play, but with a wish list of the strongest features, it may be the best version of the game yet. Even better, it's a chance for those who've missed out to play one of the most influential online shooters of all time.

By Paul Semel
CCC Contributing Writer

Game Features:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that it pioneered when it was launched twelve years ago.

CS: GO features new maps, characters, and weapons and delivers updated versions of the classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, CS: GO will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leaderboards, and more.

CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac.