Newell demos Source-based Counter-Strike

Double-click the video window for a full-screen view. Today at E3, many attendees got a feeling of déjà vu, as, once again, Valve founder Gabe Newell was on hand to show off Half-Life 2. Once again, he promised those present that the now-infamous sequel to the legendary shooter would ship later in the year. Granted, this time around he didn't give an exact date. He just said the game would be released "this summer."

However, Newell did have some new tricks up his sleeve--sort of. The crowd at the VU Games booth was treated to a demonstration of the new Counter-Strike based on Half-Life 2's source engine. While the 90-second demo did sport some snazzy new lighting and particle effects, it also looked awfully familiar to many CS veterans. That's because it was a classic Counter-Strike map--Aztec--with many of the same gameplay features found in the earlier version of the game (i.e. shooting, running, grenade-tossing, etc.).

However, the fact that some of the demonstration's content was recycled didn't dampen the crowd's medium-hot enthusiasm. In fact, Newell promised that Source-reworked versions of all original Half-Life content, including Team Fortress, would be available "when Half-Life 2 ships." Newell did not mention whether the reworked HL content would be distributed via Valve's Steam delivery service, retail discs, or both.