With everybody jumping online to get a taste of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive since its launch last week, we wanted to hear some stories about your experiences with the legendary original iteration of the game. PlayStation gamer MrPatrick16 wrote in to tell us about his first foray into the first person shooter genre with Counter-Strike.

Counter-Strike: Eyes Wide Open

Back in 2007, I went over to a buddy’s house with my PlayStation 2 and Guitar Hero. I was overly excited to be able to play co-op with him, when he told me that he had another game he wanted me to try out. He took me into the garage where they had a PC and handed me a controller. At first I was confused because I had no clue that a PC could even play games. Boy was my mind blown that day! He took the game out of its case, put it in the computer, and opened my eyes to a new genre. I never knew anything outside of side-scrollers, RPGs, music games, action, and racing games. That day, I learned about first person shooters.

The game started up and I was shortly introduced to the title — Counter-Strike. I was told to go to the multiplayer and so I did. The game loaded pretty quickly and the match started up. I selected my weapon and was adjusting to the controls when I was met with a shotgun blast. As the shell exploded into my characters body, I felt a sense of annoyance. It happened time and time again and finally I gave my buddy the controller to show me how it works. He was getting kills pretty easily and I probably looked like a ghost with my mouth opened as I watched him play in sheer amazement. He finished the match and gave me the controller again and I felt ready to go. Luckily, this time I was able to get out of the spawning area and I was off to the races. My team was the counter-terrorists and I was tasked with taking out the terrorists. The level was a warehouse and not too long after playing, I encountered my first enemy. I fired away at him and felt a little pride as I got my first ever kill. Long story short, my team won, but I definitely didn’t help that victory much since I only got a few kills and tons of deaths. Still, I had definitely become hooked.

From that day on that I was over at his house, and we pretty much went straight to that game. There was so much to Counter-Strike that it took a while to finally be able to see everything. There were a lot of guns and servers, man the servers were CRAZY! There were custom servers relating to other games like Metal Gear Solid and a certain Italian plumber we all grew up with. There were even movie based servers, so the game obviously didn’t lack creativity. The modes were plentiful and my favorite was the zombie mode where one person was “the infected” and had to hunt all the other players down with only a knife and a few enhancements. When I was a soldier, I felt afraid and immediately flocked to the best spot to stay away from being infected. When I did become infected, it was a bummer but it was fun trying to get other players. This was an amazingly fun, well-crafted game, and I’m glad I was introduced to it.

When Global Offensive was announced, I felt the rush of those early experiences all over again. I was telling everybody about this game and even got them interested. I have been following it since its announcement and still to this day flock to the Internet for information about it. Counter-Strike opened my eyes to other shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield, and without it, I would’ve never even given those games a chance. The series is an eye opening experience and I will definitely be getting Global Offensive as soon as I can. Counter-Strike is not only a game but, the defining of a genre and everyone should try it out because it might open your eyes too.

See you on the battlefield and as always, game on and stay thirsty my friends.

Thanks for telling your story MrPatrick16. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying your time with Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

Next week, you can tell any story you want as long as it’s about the PlayStation brand. Click here to check out more info on this call to action.

The game offerings are quite enticing – there’s our new No. 1 selling PSN game for PS Vita, Sound Shapes (which comes with its PS3 version at no additional charge), indie darling Papo & Yo, fan-favorite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and the action-packed Expendables 2 Videogame.

As an added bonus, PlayStation Plus members can still nab Counter Strike: Global Offensive for 20% off the retail price. To learn more about PSN PLAY and the rest of the games available on PlayStation Network, click here.

If you want more information on the games included in the promotion, look no further:

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (PS3)

One of the gaming world’s most celebrated first-person shooter series makes its way to PSN with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, offering an updated take on the tried-and-true objective-based gameplay. Pitting teams of counter-terrorists against terrorists, Global Offensive features a number of classic game types like Bomb Diffusal and Hostage Rescue, and introduces two new modes: Arms Race and Demolition. Up to 10 players can engage in online matches, and the game also supports PlayStation Move, giving players a brand new way to experience the classic Counter-Strike gameplay.

Sound Shapes (PS3/PS Vita)

Play, Compose and Share in a unique take on the classic sidescrolling platformer where your actions make the music. Play through a unique campaign that fuses music and artwork into a classic 2D platformer featuring artwork by Pixeljam, Capy, Superbrothers and more, with music by Beck, Jim Guthrie and Deadmau5. Additionally, Sound Shapes is a Cross-Buy title, so you only need to purchase it once in order to get the game for both PS3 and PS Vita. Create and upload your levels on either platform for others to download and remix on their own.

Papo & Yo (PS3)

PSN exclusive indie game Papo & Yo tells the story of a young boy, Quico, and his best friend, Monster. Taking place in a dreamlike world inspired by South American favelas, Papo & Yo entices players to explore and solve puzzles as Quico, while simultaneously preventing Monster from eating poisonous frogs, which throws him into an uncontrollable rage.

The Expendables 2 Videogame (PS3)

The latest and most explosive co-op action shoot’em up title coming to PSN, based on the popular movie franchise this game leads players right into the upcoming The Expendables 2 movie. The story begins when four Expendables (Barney, Gunner, Caesar and Yin Yang) are hired to rescue an extremely valuable, kidnapped Chinese billionaire. Featuring vehicular combat, four-player co-op story and challenge modes, and a wealth of exotic locales, The Expendables 2 Videogame offers everything an action-game fan could want.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive brings the industry’s leading team-based action gameplay and adds new weapons, dramatically improved visual effects, and a skill-based matchmaking system to provide all players with a competitive and engaging experience.

Developing for PlayStation 3 gave us a great opportunity to take advantage of the unique qualities of the platform. For example, we’re supporting a wide range of input devices including the PlayStation Move, PlayStation Move sharp shooter, and even keyboard and mouse.

Naturally, support for these devices means that different players in the same match might be using different controllers. Players using mouse and keyboard might end up playing against players using a joystick or motion controls. Our matchmaking system allows us to support all of these input devices without disrupting the balance of the game – you’ll be matched against players who perform at your skill level, regardless of what controller you (or they) choose to use. The system maintains a separate ranking for each input device, so players should feel free to experiment with each one.

In addition to the standard classic gameplay, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has two extra game types – Arms Race, and Demolition mode. These are fast-paced “gun progression” modes where a player begins with a certain weapon and advances through a sequence of weapons whenever they score a kill. In the Arms Race, players take part in a massive deathmatch with instant respawns, where new weapons are awarded immediately after a kill. Backstab an opponent to take them down a level, and rack up kills as you work toward the final weapon: a golden knife.

Demolition mode provides a twist on the classic bomb-planting formula. Players attack (and defend) a single bombsite armed with similar starting weapons. Get one kill and you’ll receive a new weapon in the next round. Get two or more kills in a round and you’ll be rewarded with bonus grenades. Dominate the match and get a kill in every round to reach the ultimate weapons, powerful sniper rifles!

Arms Race and Demolition mode both come with new maps designed for fast-paced gameplay. These modes provide new players with an opportunity to try out the core shooting mechanics of Counter-Strike in a fun and competitive environment, and provide veteran players with more ways to show off their skills.

As part of the PSN PLAY 2012 line-up, players will have a chance to pre-order and receive a bonus XMB theme during the week prior to launch. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be released on August 21st for $14.99 (PS Plus members pay $11.99).

Grab your friends, and join the action.