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Valve plans CS: Source beta test

Starting this summer and using Steam, naturally.

Valve Software plans to conduct a limited beta test of Counter-Strike: Source via its Steam content delivery service, the developer revealed this week in a posting on Steam's official website. The beta will be open to subscribers of the "Valve Cyber Café Program" initially, then extended to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Counter-Strike: Source, unveiled at E3 this year, is a complete graphical and mechanical overhaul of the ever-popular multiplayer Half-Life modification based on the Half-Life 2 "Source" engine. It's expected to do 'rather well', shall we say, thanks to the inclusion of HL2's enviable physics and visual technology, although Valve has been at pains to point out that it's by no means the true sequel to Counter-Strike.

Although details of the beta test are scant, the plan is to run it "this summer", which means that we should hear more about it in the very near future.