This past summer Valve brought up a very unique offer to Counter-Strike Condition Zero users, a chance to participate a beta test for a game titled called Counter-Strike: Source. At the time none of the general users really knew what it was, the source engine was known to power Half Life 2 but what did it do for Counter-Strike? Many weren't too sure if this would be a step up for the series and resisted temptation to join. As time passed previews appeared in regard to it and the true beast was revealed, this wasn't your run of the mill Counter-Strike upgrade.

What Valve had done was help renovate the entire game by upgrading the title to support new lighting effects, environment interactions such as dust coming from bullets the collided with the walls or crates. New blood effects, higher resolution levels, models and more. Basically a huge visual renovation on the whole thing that was at the time only offered to a select group of people.

After a bit of time and some delays the company announced something special, Counter-Strike: Source would be included as an immediately playable game for those who purchased Half Life 2 from Steam. Of course when something like this is thrown in as a freebie it's hard to resist, as a result many have converted to Counter-Strike Source and are all over the servers even right now. The addictive properties are too much for many. The new visuals and the huge servers sound like a recipie for success but one will only know if they try it out. Lets get moving so I can get shot up... or uhm.. flashbang them then unload a clip into them. Yes that's it!