Xbox

Half-Life: Counter-Strike

Trivia

In the German gaming magazine GameStar (issue 02/2002) Half-Life: Counter-Strike received a special award as "Best Multiplayer Game in 2001".

Counter-Strike was banned from sale in Brazil due to a judge's ruling in October, 2007. This was apparently triggered by the popularity of a user-made map named cs_Rio in which the court claims the objective is for drug dealers to kill police in Rio and that they can also take UN members as hostage. What is not pointed out is that players can play on either side of the two unnamed groups, and that a game company has no control over user-made maps.

To Robert Steinhäuser the supposed Counter-Strike addict:

Many people think, that he played CS, but the only source, that he's playing this game was a policeman, telling this right after the incident. At a press conference, policemen later said, that Steinhäuser didn't even have an internet-connection! And I guess, playing CS without internet is quite a boring thing. You couldn't even download bots... ;)

On 16.05.2002, after a long debate, the German authorities came to the conclusion that Counter-Strike will not be banned in Germany. The reasons are unknown, it is speculated that the BPjM (meaning "Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien", which formerly was the "Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften", BPjS) accepted it as a "team sport" and not only as a computer game. [Editor's note: The reasons were stated in the BPjM's opinion, released shortly after the verdict. Key points include "strong strategical elements", "possibility of team communication" and "action scenarios that do largely without sensationalism". -Chris]

This is even more surprising after the mass murder in a school in Erfurt, Germany, where thirteen teachers, two students and a policeman were killed by Robert Steinhäuser, a Counter-Strike addict and ex-student of that school. In Germany, the waves went high, the politicians wanted to ban each and every violent game and movie, the sooner the better. [Note that at the date of this trivia item, the Erfurt disaster was only three weeks past (26.4.02).]

Contributed by phlux (4157) on May 16, 2002.

The US version of Half-Life is banned in Germany but Counter-Strike is not - which is surprising, because the Counter-Strike version distributed in Germany is basically a cut-down version of Half-Life US with the Counter-Strike mod.

Contributed by phlux (4157) on Nov 25, 2001.

Half-Life: Counterstrike was voted #49 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll published by Game Informer Magazine (Issue 100, August 2001).

Contributed by PCGamer77 (3025) on Jul 28, 2001.

In cs_office, there is a blow-uppable wall near two boxes. Blow it up and you will find a surprize!

In as_highrise, in the corridor behind the boards, there is a sign behind a door (it's hidden, you can only see it in observer mode!).

In the map de_dust, there is a smarties pack hidden inside a wall (you can only see it in free-look mode)!

The version of Counter-Strike included in this package is identical to version 1.0 that can be freely-downloaded; the difference is that it's sold commercially and the mod authors receive a portion of the profilts. This mod is officilally sanctioned and distributed by Sierra.

Contributed by Trixter (8865) on Dec 03, 2000.