As the dust from E3 settles, the fan boys unanimous chant for more PS4 begins to encompasses the internet. I don’t blame them, I too feel excited for the PS4 and expressed this during our E3 Sony Press Conference reaction video. But despite the inevitable console wars every true gamer knows that the PC is the ultimate gaming platform. Among the multitude of reasons for the PC’s superiority is the existence of Mods. Mods short for modifications are usually user created projects that change up a game. This change up leads to a game having a longer lifespan and a more dedicated community. Nowadays, 1000’s is mods exist both large and small for all different types of games. Mods for Skyrim and Minecraft are a simple google search away and in today’s age of YouTube gaming there are more than enough mod spotlight videos for various games. But it is important to remember and acknowledge the best of these mods as some of them have fundamentally changed gaming. So in no particular order here are my top 8 mods of all time plus 1 very honourable mention.

Counter Strike

This is just the first of many mods that will mention both Half-Life and Valve. Now I am no fan boy but it is undeniable that Valve has been integral to the modding community. Counter Strike for those that have lived under the sea is an addictive and highly competitive twitch shooter. It began life as a mod for Half-Life and was created by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe. Valve got involved with the creators during the 4th beta version of the mod and later hired both creators and released a standalone version of the game. Today it is one of the most famous and iconic shooters of all time, selling more than 25 million units and spawning a host of sequels such as Counter Strike: Condition Zero, Counter Strike Source and the recently released Counter Strike Global Offensive. Series creator Jess Cliffe is still at Valve however Minh Le left Valve to work on a spiritual successor to Counter Strike called Tactical Intervention. From what I have seen on YouTube the game promises to offer some amazing gameplay.

DayZ

The jury is still out on DayZ because the standalone version of the game is still not yet released. Series creator Dean Hall was modding ARMA 2 for the army to create a realistic combat simulator. When the army said they weren’t interested Dean did two simple things. He added zombies and released the game to the Internet. Today DayZ has a huge community following with many closely watching out for any news regarding the standalone version. This is due in part to the many accolades and awards the game…excuse me the mod has won.