A sad announcement..............

[Penfold]

This is a very hard post to write and by the end of it weââ,¬â,,¢re sure that you, like us, will have a tear in the eye, a lump in your throat and will sigh a sorrowful sigh.

  After discussions with Blunt and the Community's Admins, weââ,¬â,,¢ve decided that itââ,¬â,,¢s time to close the door on CSS. Weââ,¬â,,¢d like to say it was a hard decision to make and emotionally it is - however emotion aside itââ,¬â,,¢s a no-brainer.

  We all have sentimentality for the game as it's where it all began but the sad truth is that our servers are empty and our players all but moved on. For months we've struggled for numbers on a Friday, and even when we did get enough, a lot wander off to play other games after a few rounds.

  When BF2 came out, CS took a back seat for a while but managed to become popular again. We donââ,¬â,,¢t see that happening again as there are too many newer, more popular games up against it and the joys of unlocking shiny new stuff is pulling people away.

  The servers are not being used by the members and it's not bringing in new people. With COD4, ARMA2 and BFBC2 all vying for the FPS crowd, realistically CSS doesn't stand a chance of finding a new lease of life.

  We propose to retire the servers shortly after the LAN so we can still run our CS Team and Deagle competitions for the last time. (Weââ,¬â,,¢ll also keep Meathook on the server but shut down for the time being in case weââ,¬â,,¢re ever feeling nostalgic).

Before we shut down the servers for good, we hope you can join us for "Final Friday" - an evening dedicated to celebrating all that is CSS. This will take place on the Friday following the LAN (the 7th May) and will be the last time the servers will be kept permanently online.

  So albeit with a heavy heart we look positively to the future  

The Admins

[Gone_Away]

I'll be there.. It will be a big change at the Fall LAN for sure.

I think it's a good decision. CSS has run it's course and who knows, maybe a new variant for CSS will tempt us all back to the dark side..

RIP CSS

[Blunt]

I'm very sorry to see CS:S go, but the game is ten years old now, and showing it's age.
We've had some really great times playing together on our servers over the years; people I've never met IRL have become friends in CS:S, and I've had some really good laughs with people from all over europe and beyond. I've sometimes cried with drunken laughter on a Friday night.

But, that's that for CS:S:sad:

Thanks to all the stalwart players we've had over the years, Thanks to all the admins who've specced for rounds on end. Thanks to all the people who have worked behind the scenes, making maps, writing reviews and all the other stuff that is needed to run a CS server and forum. Cheers Whitey for bringing CS:S back from the brink and getting a few more miles out of the game.

Thanks to CounterStrike.

[T-Bag]

It's been a while coming but it's still sad. It had a lot going for it, but advantages like being affordable and runnable on most computers got dwarfed by just how old it is. I'm sure when a reincarnation comes around we'll give that some serious consideration and hopefully give the series another look.

It's how I found you guys and none of the games now match it in terms of atmosphere on a busy night, but CoD 4, L4D & BC2 with the same people are still great fun.

Gone but not forgotten.

[kregoron]

The clean up will be finished on my next day off, so we can back it up (for some future usage, before we close down the section... i guess?

[valdeko]

Sad to see CS:S go to rest but its not a suprise due to the large inc to FPS market. Hopefully the finaly friday will be a succesfull one.

[Whitey]

I can only echo what Blunt has already said.  CS brought me to Dead Men Walking and it kept me hooked for over 7 years.  Thanks to all the admins who supported the game over the years, it's a thankless task but without you we wouldn't have the great gaming community we have today.

It is sad to see it go :crying::crying::crying:but lets send it out with a bang (and a knife) on Final Friday.

[Sithvid]

Also sad CS was my hook to dmw, you must all move to wow now where there will be free fish for all.

[Dewey]

Personally I always thought CSS was a dumbed down version of a other better FPS and looked ancient years ago ie when BF2 came out.

I never understood its draw though I can appreciate it was one of the foundations of this community and for that I'm grateful.

But lets not get too misty eyed its just a game and theres lots of cool new stuff coming out - the games are irrelevant its the community and friendships made that matters.

Besides its such a successful franchise you can bet your bottom dollar a new version will be out before too long.

[Zootoxin]

Alas the community moves away from my computer spec.

But I understand the logic the servers have been dead for a long time now and FPS games are coming out of the walls will nobodys business.

I'll be there for the final friday for sure as one thing I say for CS:S even in these dx10 days: no other game offers the same opportunity for banter! as blunt said earlier i've cried laughing at some of the antics.

I wonder how many of todays games will last 10 years.

Maybe we should have a special golden CS badge to honour a game that this community was built on?

[BrotherTobious]

I do think that as it was such a big part of this community, we should have a small shrine or a remembrance day each year.

Just a idea, something to be added to the new site?

[Liberator]

How about,

"
Not Dead,
Just resting!
"

CS promoted easily enforcible objective based teamplay, something which is not easily done on any of the current FPS games and was only possible in BF2 after the AAS script was made.

L4D1 & 2 promote the same "Do it together or die!" ethos, but the player number restrictions mean we can't play it in large numbers.

The problem with the current batch of FPS's is the spawn, die, spawn, die system, there's no real issue about getting killed, you'll be back in the game in another 20 seconds anyway with a loadout that will take down whoever just killed you.

But, until it gets a major makeover CSS won't attract the current gamers.

Come join us on ARMA2 instead .

[RizZy]

I do think that as it was such a big part of this community, we should have a small shrine or a remembrance day each year.

Just a idea, something to be added to the new site?

I'd like to see this or something similar happen, it's sad to see the game that brought so many of us to dMw die off, but everything has its time & you could tell from the empty server over the last weeks/months that it was just about done. :crying:

[delanvital]

I'd like to see this or something similar happen, it's sad to see the game that brought so many of us to dMw die off, but everything has its time & you could tell from the empty server over the last weeks/months that it was just about done. :crying:

Would it be so bad/complicated/against all plans to have an annual or biannual CS:S day? I mean, we all love the game, and I am sure we'd love to play a game twice a year... If I could add CS to the calendar, e.g. 1st of dec and 1st of june (I am sure there are better dates) I'd be joining those games... that much CS spirit I am sure there is still left Anyone?

[Jamoe]

bye bye old friend thank you for the memories.

Damn shame I won't be able to make the LAN for the last CSS tournies. But to be fair we hardly played CSS at the previous LAN.

If I can make Final Friday I will