Nearly a decade ago, one of the most influential mods in FPS history was born. Stemming from the hugely popular and critically acclaimed PC video game, Half-Life, Counter-Strike became an enormous hit with its tactical gameplay and realism enough so to become a game in its own rights. As a fan produced and created mod, Counter-Strike is a true Cinderella story in the gaming world.

Guns, gear, and smack talk are the staples of this healthy franchise, and from the first beta to the last patch, the message has remained the same. Noob or 1337 hax0r, terrorist or CT, you want to be the last one standing.

Now the history’s out of the way, are you ready to get pwned?

Jumping into online play can be daunting for the noob with the overwhelming amount of servers, clans, mods, and maps, but every year, Counter-Strike has exhibited a Saturday Night Fever-like resilience in “staying alive.” Tournaments held last year by the now defunct CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) had first place prize pots of $50,000 dollars. Unfortunately, with the dissolution of the CPL, Counter-Strike has lost one of its professional play flagships.

However, tournaments held by CyberEvolution, the Electronic Sports World Cup, the World e-Sports Games, and the World Cyber Games are still going strong and feature global competition. As a nearly ten-year old game, Counter-Strike 1.6 has the low system reqs to make it available to almost everyone and the incredible gameplay and realism to still compete against franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Meanwhile, Counter-Strike Source remains a popular FPS both for fun and competitively. With this sort of pedigree, the next iteration of the series is sure to be a huge hit.