Ritualistic

According to my really smart calendar, it's been three years since Valve released Counter-Strike: Condition Zero to us mere mortals, blessing us with a digital amalgam created by no less than 15 different studios. We're even told that the game did, at at some point, feature counter-terrorists on some sort of mission to stop evil - Stylsy never made it past the first level, so we're still unsure about this.

If you now feel the urge to investigate this mystery, Condition Zero is still available on Steam, both by itself and as part of several compilations. The truth, as they say, is out there, along with AWPs, 'newbs', and countless mom jokes.
 

Counter-Strike planted the bomb on Microsoft's big, black box exactly three years ago today, marking the debut of the franchise in the console world. Ritual's game has since become one of the most popular multiplayer games on Xbox Live and even today resides comfortably among the top 5 original Xbox games still played on the service. Don't forget to check out our recently published Counter-Strike Xbox article if you haven't already.
 

The bomb has been planted in our latest installment of our 10th anniversary articles, as we join up with (counter?) terrorist Stylsy and take a look at Counter-Strike for the Xbox, Ritual's first console title. Counter-Strike Xbox was one of the first games to truly take advantage of the big, black box's online functionality, not to mention that bringing the venerable PC franchise to a console was a challenge in and of itself. Ritual CEO Steve Nix and programming rodent Brian "Squirrel" Eiserloh were kind enough to share their experiences from working on this project, as was director of development Tom Mustaine, although he didn't get to have any fancy quotes in the piece. Here's a slice:

The story of Counter-Strike on the Xbox, Ritual Entertainment's first of two contributions to this major franchise, starts with Steve Nix, Ritual's CEO. "I approached Valve all the way back in February of 2001 and expressed interest in working with them in the Counter-Strike universe on a new game," he reveals. "We had a lot of respect for what Valve had achieved with Half-Life and it was already clear after only a few months post-release that Counter-Strike was going to be something really special." The two parties kept talking for over a year.

Don't miss out on the rest of this fascinating read! And if you're one of those uncool people who don't visit this site at least five times a day, we've previously spotlighted Star Trek Elite Force II, Heavy Metal FAKK2, and SiN.
 

A look at Xbox guru Major Nelson's Blog reveals that Counter-Strike Xbox is the fourth most played original Xbox Live game. Of course, the combined top ten is now mostly filled with Xbox 360 games, however it is great to see Ritual's title still one of the top multiplayer hits of the last console generation.

Of course, as previously reported, Counter-Strike is now backwards compatible, meaning you can now join in the action from an Xbox 360 console.
 

Microsoft has released the latest backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360, adding a further 48 titles to the library of Xbox 1 games that can be played on their latest console. Among them is Counter-Strike, so you'll finally be able to plant bombs and rescue hostages without having to dust off the big, black Fisher Price Power Plant. You can find the full list of titles included in this latest update over at Major Nelson's website.
 

With us celebrating ten years of Ritual Entertainment, there has never been a better time to go back through the Ritual library and replay through the games again. Now, thanks to Rusty Le Cyborg, you can play through the Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes missions without any sound glitches, thanks to his new unofficial fixes.

Also avaliable from Rusty are several model error fixes for some of the mission maps, and a very cool modification to the main menu screen that removes the 'Deleted Scenes' subtitle for something more suitable. Check out this thread at the Steampowered forums for download links and feedback.
 

Today marks the second birthday of Ritual co-produced title Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. You can purchase the title, which includes Ritual's single player Deleted Scenes missions for cheap now from Steam or as part of the Counter-Strike 1 anthology in retail stores.
 

Microsoft today announced a new line of Xbox budget titles, priced at $9.99 and somewhat ironically titled Best of Platinum Hits. Among other popular games such as Project Gotham Racing 2 and about every Tom Clancy title ever made, Counter-Strike Xbox is part of this new program, so if you don't own it yet, go buy it already. For the full list of games that are part of the Best of Platinum Hits line-up, check out this page at Team Xbox.
 

If you are one of those unlucky Xbox fanboys who still haven't got hold of an Xbox 360 to enjoy the multiplayer joys of Perfect Dark Zero, Call of Duty 2 or Quake 4, you can pick up a popular classic Xbox Live title for just $9.99 or ?9.99 depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside. Of course, I'm talking about Ritual's co-developed Counter-Strike Xbox which you can purchase online from EB Games (US) or Play.com (UK) for those low prices.
 

According to a recently revealed list of backwards-compatible current generation Xbox games for the Xbox 360 console, Counter-Strike Xbox will not be able to be played on the new console at launch at the end of this month, despite being a very popular game on the Xbox Live service. Hopefully support will follow as the emulators required to play old Xbox games are updated over Xbox Live after the console's launch.
 

The previously reported Counter-Strike 1 Anthology, which includes Ritual's Deleted Scenes missions from Counter-Strike Condition Zero, along with the Tour of Duty and original multiplayer game modes has now been released in North America and can be purchased for $19.99 online at Gamestop, EB Games and Amazon.com. The package will be released in Europe on October 7th.

Thanks to BluesNews for the heads up.
 

As part of their new publishing deal with Valve software, it appears Electronic Arts are set to release a Counter-Strike 1 Anthology, which is essentially, a re-release of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Specifically, the anthology includes Counter-Strike multiplayer (presumably with the graphical enhancements), the CS Bot and Tour of Duty campaign created by created by Turtle Rock Studios, and finally the Deleted Scenes portion of Condition Zero, which of course were designed and created by the guys at Ritual.

If you are new to the party and fancy giving that little lot a try, you can slap a pre-order down on the anthology over at GameStop (US) or Play.com (UK).
 

Vaksa has released the latest version of his Valve World Icon Pack. It includes icons for pretty much every Valve game ever (including Condition Zero), as well as icons for a number of Half-Life mods and even one for SiN Episodes. You can check out a compilation of all the icons here, while the pack is available for download over at DeviantArt.
 

Veteran Condition Zero mission maker Abalone has announced the release of an all new mission he has created named 'Threat Level Red'. Here's a little info:

Terrorists are attempting to take over a Top Secret nuclear testing facility during your shift as a guard.

Your Mission - Regain control of the facility.

You can download his new mission, plus his previous two missions for the game from his rather smart looking webpage, Urban Ruins.
 

Shacknews has word that Valve Software and publisher Vivendi Universal have settled their lawsuit. Under the agreement, Vivendi will stop distributing all Valve games, including Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, effective August 31, 2005. Originally, Valve sued Vivendi for illegally distributing their products to internet cafes, which prompted Vivendi to countersue, alledging that Valve had misled them about Steam and claiming ownership of the Half-Life franchise.

Update: PlanetHalfLife has word from Valve's PR mastermind Doug Lombardi on the situation:

We are making arrangements to continue retail distribution of our products post August 31. Should have more details to share soon.

There you have it. CZ won't go away, it'll just have a different logo on the box. Any bets on whether or not Turtle Rock will get to be on there this time around?