Someone pointed out a link on Joystiq that talks about the new gun prices going into Counter-Strike Source this weekend. My first though was, people still play Counter Strike? Closely followed by, has any mod to a game ever been updated and supported as long as CS? The answer to both of those is I don’t think so… but apparently I was wrong about the first. Looks like about 60k players online right now, just in CS:Source, not even counting the 130k in the original CS. Damn.
Back to the point of the article though…
In an effort to ensure a more diverse usage of armaments, Valve is implementing a Dynamic Weapon Pricing system into Counter-Strike: Source. Essentially, all guns are divided into two categories: pistols and everything else. Within each category, data is collected from the servers as to how much money is spent on each gun. Every Monday, the price of guns will be adjusted to correlate with its popularity from the previous week — the higher its demand, the higher its price.
That’s both horribly interesting and bit disconcerting… It’s so damn interesting because now we’ll see real trends in CS:S and anytime you log into a game, you’ll see which weapons are the most popular and least popular by their price. It’s disconcerting in this way…what doesn’t Steam know about it’s users? Do they know that I like cereal for breakfast? Do they know that I only brush my teeth once a day? Do they know when I went to brush my teeth this morning, my old toothbrush I threw in the trash yesterday, was somehow back on the counter all lined up next to my new one? Do they? Yep, I’m scared too.
Remember when they changed Episode One based on how many players were getting stuck on a specific level? They toned down my favorite part of the game. They didn’t even ask me if I wanted my SINGLE PLAYER game experience to change, they just did it. Now, again without asking me, they have changed the way CS:S works… damn their eyes!
Ok, not really, but it is an interesting change this late in the game. CS:S has been out for awhile and they are now changing the basic flow of the game. I used to know exactly what gun/armor/grenade I could afford as soon as I saw my total and I could buy as fast as a buy script. Of course, that was back before I got a job that required me to actually work while at it. But no matter, now every time I start a new round, I now have to figure out what I can and can’t buy. I haven’t seen if there is a new menu yet (you didn’t expect me to actually load the game before complaining did you?), but in the old menu, that’s going to make things slower if I’m not rolling in the money and will change not just what weapons will be used (if you’re a T, why are you using anything but the AK?), but the flow of the game in those first few seconds (the all important run to the left instead of the right hallway moments).
Just seems a bit odd to alter the flow of the game at this point. That being said, maybe I’ll give CS:S another try… (the real reason they did this).
What Would Matt Do: Make them ask my permission before they make further changes to my games!
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