Counter-Strike: Condition Zero next year?

The target release date for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Sierra's upcoming first-person shooter, has been pushed back to early 2003, according to a report on gaming news site Gone Gold. Further evidence of the game's delay can be found at online retailers EB Games and GameStop, both of which have changed their release date estimates for the game to early 2003. Representatives from Sierra said that the publisher has not announced an official revised release date since the game slipped from its original target date in the second quarter of 2002.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is based on the hit team-based shooter Half-Life: Counter-Strike, which was originally created as a free Half-Life mod and later released by Valve Software as a retail game. In addition to new single-player missions, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero will feature a number of improvements on the previous game, including better character models and animation and advanced artificial intelligence. Many of the improvements featured in Condition Zero will eventually be released as free upgrades to the current version of Counter-Strike. For more information, take a look at our previous coverage of the game. We'll post more information about the game's target release date as it becomes available.