Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation.

It was
initially developed and released as a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess
"Cliffe" Cliffe in 1999, before Le and Cliffe were hired and the game's intellectual property
acquired. Counter-Strike was first released by Valve on the Microsoft Windows platform in 2000.
The game later spawned a franchise, and is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series.
Several remakes and Ports ofCounter-Strike have been released on the Xbox console, as well
as OS X and Linux.
Set in various locations around the globe, players assume the roles of members of combating
teams that include counter-terrorists and terrorists. During each round of gameplay, the two
teams are tasked with defeating the other by the means of either achieving the map's objectives,
or else killing all of the enemy combatants. Each player may customize their arsenal of weapons
and accessories at the beginning of every match, with currency being earned after the end of
each round.
As of August 2011, the Counter-Strike franchise has sold over 25 million units.[1]
Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter game in which players join either the terrorist team, the
counter-terrorist team, or become spectators. Each team attempts to complete their mission
objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two
teams spawning simultaneously.
The objectives vary depending on the type of map, and these are the most usual ones:

Bomb defusal: The terrorists must carry a bomb, plant it on one of the designated
spots and protect it from being disarmed by the counter-terrorists before it explodes
to win. The counter-terrorists win if the time runs out with no conclusion.

Hostage rescue: The counter-terrorists must rescue a group of hostages held by the
terrorists to win. The terrorists win if the time runs out with no conclusion.

VIP escort: One of the counter-terrorists is chosen to act as a VIP and the team
must escort this player to a designated spot on the map to win the game. The
terrorists win if the VIP is killed or if the time runs out with no conclusion.

A player can choose to play as one of eight different default character models (four for each
side, although Counter-Strike: Condition Zero added two extra models, bringing the total to
ten). Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze
time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack or move. They can
return to the buy area within a set amount of time to buy more equipment (some custom
maps included neutral "buy zones" that could be used by both teams). Once the round has

ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were
killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment.
Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an
enemy, being the first to instruct a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage, planting the bomb
(Terrorist) or defusing the bomb (Counter-Terrorist).
The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills,
deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead,
carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although
information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until his/her death, as
this information can be important.
Killed players become "spectators" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their
names before their next spawn, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players, and
voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them. Spectators are
generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some
servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about
living players to their teammates through alternative media (most notably voice in the case
of Internet cafes and Voice over IP programs such as TeamSpeak or Ventrilo). This form of
cheating is known as "ghosting."