Weapon pricing will make a more crucial difference, though. Each round begins with buying time for players to purchase weapons with cash earned while playing and, although details are unclear, it's likely that Valve will attempt to further balance Counter-Strike 's gameplay by pushing up the price of stronger weapons while making lesser-used killing tools much cheaper.
Fans might be wary of Valve trying to fix something that really isn't broken. But, remember, these guys know what they're doing. The radar system is nearly useless unless you are playing in the brutally tough Friendly Fire ON servers. The main lump of players who'll be hit by the price-shuffling are rifle-packing, shadow-hugging, cowardly campers. And they deserve every bit of bad news they get.
Above: Camping a highly defensible position is pretty annoying, but sometimes it's a great strategy.
We'll have more news soon and you can expect to see much more of Valve's other titles - Portal, Team Fortress and Half-Life 2: Episode Two - later this week once the Leipzig Games Show gets underway.
August 22, 2006
