Men: we may need to put together a search party to look for wumpus. Someone call his wife and make sure he isn't slumped over his keyboard.

Or maybe Tom got sick of all the harasment and figured out a way to ban poor old wump wump.

;)

I'm not sure what's going on with wumpus. Far be it from him to shrink from a Counter-Strike challenge. He's been so quiet that I think I've convinced him it isn't the Game of the Year. Maybe he's off playing Sacrifice.

-Tom

It's so nice to be appreciated. ;)

Do you guys _really_ want to hear more about CS? I don't think so. Heh.

Just go try it if you haven't-- do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to a Counter-Strike server-- and form your own opinion.

Evidently a few gamers like Tom are immune to its charms, but it's as fresh to me today as it was the very first time I played it. Good teamplay, like good sex, just doesn't get old. The other day I joined a server where the CTs were losing 17-0, and we managed to pull off 3 team wins before the map cycled (it was still like 26-3). That was a rush.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Okay, it just doesn't seem right to compare ANY game to good sex. Although, it's true, they never get old. Okay, maybe it's not THAT unfair of a comparison, but still...

"Good teamplay, like good sex, just doesn't get old."

And in both cases, you won't stick with it unless you actually enjoy being with your partner(s).

That's the one thing I think I've missed out on in the whole online FPS thing. I never have joined a "clan", so everytime I play it's hit or miss on if I'm going to end up on a server with people who are fun to play with. All it takes is a couple of morons to ruin the fun for the other 14 people on the server.

Personally, I don't think Counter-Strike is all that great. I played it for about two weeks, just to see if it would grow on me, but alas, it didn't.

Uh-oh. Another nonbeliever!! It must be something about the name Tom...

Personally, I've never played it. I'm not a big fan of the fps genre, though, so I couldn't make a very fair judgement one way or the other. The only reason I bring it up is because it's such a hot topic, I couldn't very well say anything without admitting my lack of knowledge.

"Personally, I don't think Counter-Strike is all that great. I played it for about two weeks, just to see if it would grow on me, but alas, it didn't."

What version though? A number of people I know (not me, since I am not a mod freak) looked at early betas and were turned off.. but by 5.2, they had tightened things up considerably.

Which goes back to my "CS isn't remotely the same game it was in beta 1" argument, but I digress.

And if you think *I'm* slow for starting in January 2000, my one-time compadres at FiringSquad didn't grok CS until June 2000. It's sad what devotion to the Quake engines will do to a man.

"That's the one thing I think I've missed out on in the whole online FPS thing. I never have joined a "clan", so everytime I play it's hit or miss on if I'm going to end up on a server with people who are fun to play with."

This is certainly true; one of the really cool things about CS is how it *FORCES* players to work as a team-- in a remarkably subtle and addictive way. By that I mean being Rambo just doesn't work well in this game.

So CS isn't immune to annoying players, but it does an outstanding job of minimizing their effects. Also, the huge numbers of players (35,000+ at any given time) and servers (always 20-30 good ones to choose from) helps a ton. This, again, goes back to my popularity = success argument.. sorry, can't resist.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Yeah, I never got into CS either. I was playing the version that shipped with the Platinum Edition of Half-Life, which I assume is one of the most recent. I really tried, but without any long term goals or real strategy, it just couldn't hold my attention. It's proabably just a matter of taste in that Multiplayer FPS usually bore me, but I was hoping CS would be different. I found it very unrewarding.

"It's proabably just a matter of taste in that Multiplayer FPS usually bore me, but I was hoping CS would be different."

Doubtful. If you haven't been bitten by the bug through doom, dn3d, quake, et al, I don't think this will do it for you either.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"It's so nice to be appreciated. ;)"

heh-wouldn't be the same board without ya, yer damn CS maniac.

"Evidently a few gamers like Tom are immune to its charms"

Add me to the list, too. I think it was you who also said that if the multi player bug hadn't bit ya with Doom, Quake, Half-life, etc., it just wans't going to happen. I think that's more to the point. Multiplayer always seems like a good idea, but I never seem to get hooked. For all the games I play, I do much better with the single player game. Maybe I just haven't found the right venue.

Although I must say that online racing is seeming very tempting these days. I've been obsessed with GPL since Christmas and I just got Nascar4. But I can still see all the same problems of just not having enough uninterupted time all at one shot to really get into a game. Maybe it's best the bug doens't bite me. If it did, I'd probably mope around all day, whishing my circumstances were different and I could play more often.

"Although I must say that online racing is seeming very tempting these days. I've been obsessed with GPL since Christmas and I just got Nascar4. But I can still see all the same problems of just not having enough uninterupted time all at one shot to really get into a game. Maybe it's best the bug doens't bite me. If it did, I'd probably mope around all day, whishing my circumstances were different and I could play more often. "

I really like racing games, too, though my taste runs more to Rally and road racing. I'm open to any racing game where you don't race on an oval for 300 laps. ;)

Everyone has genre preferences. For example, I can't get into most RPG games. I bought Baldur's Gate, just couldn't bear to play it, ditto with Planescape. At one point I got so frustrated with Planescape I actually threw the cd case across the room-- fairly rare for me, at least when I take those chemical imbalance drugs.

But I *loved* Fallout 2. Go figure.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Now you guys are coming out of the woodwork! Where were you when I had wumpus on my leg like a deranged terrier?

-Tom

"Where were you when I had wumpus on my leg like a deranged terrier?"

Not unlike the scene from Trainspotting where he snipes the dog just to watch the attack. Exactly how much fun is there in that, Ms Moneypenny?

Hey, we love ya and all Tom, but entertainment is entertainment.