I saw this over at Planet Half-Life, apparently a Gamespot staff member named Amer Ajami has written up a column called So Good, It's Bad. The article is part of Gamespot's weekly feature called Gamespotting, and it asks if maybe Counter-Strike has become so popular that it has hurt sales of other games. The writer doesn't think so.
In fact, games like Counter-Strike are like medicine to our industry, for two main reasons. First, and obviously, if it's so damn good, people will buy it, and when they see that it's so damn good, they'll tell some friends, and they'll buy it. See a pattern? Good games spread like wildfire, and that's been the case since the 8-bit days. Chances are, a recommendation from your best friend is worth 10 times more to you than a glowing review from a game publication. Secondly, games like Counter-Strike cause developers to create better products. After the flood of me-toos has passed, a true successor always emerges to take the place of a game once held near and dear by the masses. Just look at the succession of Westwood and Blizzard real-time strategy games, or the id and Epic first-person shooters, or the EA and Papyrus driving games. A new Counter-Strike that's truly better than its predecessor in many respects, and not just an obvious attempt to ride its coattails, always emerges. And then people will flock to that game, tell their friends about it, and so on.I agree. I personally believe that outstanding games like CS help to "raise the bar" on video game standards, and anything that makes games better is good, right? Read the article and weigh in with what you think in the comments.
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