today i was playing a little counter-strike source before class and really enjoying the perfectly balanced gameplay with tight controls, and simple but deep design. counterstrike, and day of defeat, and team fortress and UT and Quake are all fantastic timeless games, the gameplay doesn't drastically differ iteration to iteration and the fun is always there, they are examples of games you can keep coming back too. the broewser based version of quake three launching this year will breath new life into that game, and i can't wait to hear what valve plans to do in the multi player spacein the future, a portal mp game perhaps?

part of what keeps those online games playable is the fact that nothing has really changed in the last decade for interface in that genre so that you can go back and play counter strike 1.5 or source and the only difference is visuals. you can no longer say this of the rts space, games like company of heroes, supreme commander and world in conflict have forever changed the standhard of rts interface and gameplay, finaly realizing the potential of that gameplay type. problem is that most other big devs, like EA and blizzard are still pumping out the old type of game, with fixed cameras and clumbsy controls and no queing to help with the tedious micro management. after playing sup com and WIC i can't tolerate the interface for the previously timeless star craft or warcraft 3. i only hope that blizzard and ea(c&c) start embracing standards of the times rather than selling to a obscure korean professional gamer who love hotkeys and watching a novice struggle with micro management