Counter-Strike: Source Beta Pre-Loading to Cyber Cafés

Chris D

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 1, 2003
Messages
11,927
Reaction score
231
This just in from Doug Lombardi
Pre-loading of the Counter-Strike: Source Beta to cyber cafés begins today. On Wednesday, this first phase of the beta will open and the game will be playable at all cyber cafes that subscribe to the Valve Cyber Café Program. Later this month, the beta will be extended to owners of Counter-Strike(tm): Condition Zero(tm) and ATI Fulfillment Coupon holders.[br]
[br]
This beta serves as a compatibility test of the Source engine as we near completion of development on Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. During this limited-time beta, issues can be reported using the in-game bug-reporting tool. In addition any crashes will automatically generate a report back to Valve's bug database. We thank everyone for their participation, and we hope Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source live up to your expectations.
UPDATE: Jess Cliffe from Valve has now posted a list of official licensed Valve Cyber Café Program subscribers. If you fancy getting a sneak peek at Counter-Strike: Source, find your nearest café and join in the beta.[br]You can view the list here.
 
Hey Chris_D where did you hear this from?
Doesn't say on steampowered.com
 
Sorry, forgot to source it in my excitement.

It was a press release from Doug Lombardi.
 
Yes it starts today!!
A new era in gaming!!!
MUHAHAHAAHAHA
HL2 roxor( I hope)
 
Oh nm, i see doug lambardi sent you an email?? cool. I posted this in the steampowered.com forums and a link to halflife2.net :D
 
Just to re-iterate. The preload starts today for cyber cafes only
 
Hey this is good news! If your disapointed because you won't be getting it until later this month then just remember that some news is better than no news.
 
The original plan was though, that cyber cafe's get it for one full weekend exclusively then it moves on to the CZ owners the following week. IF that plan is still on the cards, everyone else should have it next week too.
 
Chris_D said:
The original plan was though, that cyber cafe's get it for one full weekend exclusively then it moves on to the CZ owners the following week. IF that plan is still on the cards, everyone else should have it next week too.
Cool chris_D!
Cliffe just said to me(yup, me!) that they are working on a list of cafes.
 
Certainly the best choice for Valve: as the cyber cafes are a very limited target they are the best choice to report first the major bugs, valve repair the bugs, and then release to CZ&ATI Coupon owners.
 
I agree. Anytime before the 16th is too soon to be likely (judging by the way he said later this month). Probably next Wednesday (the 18th).

Looking forward to this very much though. Much timedemoing and pushing of the engine to see how it performs on my system.

Oh, and playing CS of course :D
 
Chris_D said:
The original plan was though, that cyber cafe's get it for one full weekend exclusively then it moves on to the CZ owners the following week. IF that plan is still on the cards, everyone else should have it next week too.
Cliffe just replied to me saying "What i said is still valid"
 
Do they have a listing of places that are in the Cyber Cafe program? I don't know of any where I live, but I guess I do live in the ghetto.

BigNamek...
 
They should do a directory listing of all the sponsored cafes, that would be really usefull, anyway hopefully we should hear/see alot from the cafe test before it goes public.
 
im glad that is atleast started today. i can't wait till next week. i hope they start the pre-loads for CS:CZ and ATI Coupon holders later this week and string them out thru the weekend then unlock it next week on tuesday.
 
A beta isn't any good if you're too swamped with feedback and bug reports. They need to concentrate it a little bit.
 
Well, I hope "later this month" comes soon :p I can't wait :cheers:
 
I gotta find a cafe close to home... a shame that we will have to wait for HL2 for 1-2 months though.
 
Some_God said:
I gotta find a cafe close to home... a shame that we will have to wait for HL2 for 1-2 months though.

I'm sure screens will show up soon from cafes. :D People taking screens and then uploading them to their sites. Hehe.
 
Hehe, there's a cafe about 30-45 minutes from me. I've never been to a cyber cafe though. What's it like?.... hmm
 
Will it ever be available for those who dont own cs:cz?
(at least, before hl2 gets on shelves?)

and whats the requirement for it? would you need a computer that can play hl2 to play cs:source? or just a computer that can handle counterstrike(unlikely)
 
Bongfarmer said:
Will it ever be available for those who dont own cs:cz?
(at least, before hl2 gets on shelves?)

and whats the requirement for it? would you need a computer that can play hl2 to play cs:source? or just a computer that can handle counterstrike(unlikely)

Only people who own CZ or have an ATI HL2 voucher.

Source runs on anything HL1 runs on... Pretty much.
 
Crap, all of the places I can go to are pretty far away. Hmm... I guess a week goes by fast if you don't think about it, right?

BigNamek...
 
Bongfarmer said:
and whats the requirement for it? would you need a computer that can play hl2 to play cs:source? or just a computer that can handle counterstrike(unlikely)
System Requirements:
Min:
1.2 GHz Processor
256MB RAM
DirectX 7 graphics card
Windows 2000/XP/ME/98
Mouse
Keyboard

Preferred:
2.4 GHz ProcessorB 512MB RAM
DirectX 9 graphics card
Windows 2000/XP
Mouse
Keyboard

http://www.steampowered.com/?area=css_b1
 
So a 133MHz with 24mb ram and 16 bit video card can play the worlds most cutting edge advance physics engine ever designed?
 
Bongfarmer said:
So a 133MHz with 24mb ram and 16 bit video card can play the worlds most cutting edge advance physics engine ever designed?

Did you read the post above yours? ;)
 
Well this is good news. What I am waiting for is one of the big hardware sites to do a comphrensive set of benchmarks with the new engine. Granted, a single map beta of a multiplayer game won't be nececarily equivelant to single player halflife 2, but it should at least give good comparisons and margins. I'm hopeing for a $$$/FPS chart. Those kick ass.

Screenies and discoveries about the engine should start pouring in this weekend. Perhaps valve should sell the beta for $4.99 or something. Net them a little cash in the process for those that wont buy CZ. Or better yet, settle on packages for halflife 2, and allow them to be prepurchased now, and include the beta. If they settled on packages, I'd prebuy on steam.
 
Wow this means nothing, they could delay the client CS:S Beta 3 months from now. When I see CS:S availible to play in steam, then I will believe that VAVLe released something.
 
JimmehH said:
I agree. Anytime before the 16th is too soon to be likely (judging by the way he said later this month). Probably next Wednesday (the 18th).

Looking forward to this very much though. Much timedemoing and pushing of the engine to see how it performs on my system.

Oh, and playing CS of course :D


wow... this... REALLY extracts the urine. I go on holiday on the 18th - for 2 weeks. I get back September 1st ... and HL2 might be out by then by *some* estimates.... so i'm going to miss the beta. Fantastic... i've been waiting on this beta since it was announced that ATi coupon holders would get in... but like everything that valve has anything to do with, it is delayed.

*Sigh* Sods law sucks - I sure hope I dont miss pre loading HL2 too :(
 
Woop...

I checked the list, with the assumption that there probably wouldn't be a cyber cafe in Ireland; and it turns out that there's Four! I think I might be taking my first trip to a "cyber cafe". Although it sounds quite ghey, if I get to see the source engine in action, that's good enough for me.
 
ApocalypseNow said:
Wow this means nothing, they could delay the client CS:S Beta 3 months from now. When I see CS:S availible to play in steam, then I will believe that VAVLe released something.

Wow. Just wow.. :|
They already said it will be unlocked on Wednesday. I see no reason why this should fall through.
 
Back
Top