Arsenal Mode
9 Mar 2012 - 
Today
we are releasing the first Arsenal: Demolition map into the beta.
Along with the new mode and map, there are numerous bug fixes and
graphical updates. The complete release notes can be found here.Arsenal Demolition is a fast paced mix of bomb planting and gun progression. There are no buy menus, you start with a rifle and if you get a kill that round – you get a progressively weaker weapon in the next round.
After 5 rounds the sides switch and you do it again, for a total of 10 rounds.
This mode is based on the Gun Game mod. The traditional version of Gun Game will appear later in CS:GO as Arsenal: Arms Race.
Special thanks to the GG Team for all their help.
We are also adding 10,000 more players into the beta today.
Intel Extreme Masters
6 Mar 2012 - 
The action starts today in Hanover Germany at CeBit for one
of Counter-Strike 1.6’s biggest tournaments of the year – Intel Extreme
Master’s Championship.This year not only has some great teams but great stories as well. cArn has recently announced he will retire for CS after this tournament, will this be his swan song with fnatic? Can SK Gaming with two ex-fnatic members spoil his retirement?
Do either of them have a chance against Na’Vi going for their record third straight IEM championship?
Or will of the other 9 teams come out ahead including last minute ESC Gaming?
You can follow all the action here.
So who do you think is going to win? Who do you want to win? Any incredible action you want to share – tweet it our way.
The Science of Fog
5 Mar 2012 - 
Counter-Strike players need to quickly identify their
targets, so it’s important that those targets stand out. But as
environments have become more richly detailed, it has gotten harder to
separate a player from the background. This affects players by slowing
their searches for targets, and can be the difference between life and
death.Atmospheric haze (‘fog’) is one of the tools we use to solve this problem. It reduces the visual impact of the distant environment, and when the appropriate amount is used in a map, players become far more distinguishable:
Spot the terrorist and then mouse over the image to add fog.
Did you spot both terrorists?
It’s true that eliminating haze would allow snipers to see very distant targets more clearly. However, aside from helping in that isolated case, removing it entirely would slow searches in the vast majority of player interactions. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, a little fog can help you see much more clearly.
Tournament Time!
2 Mar 2012 -
It’s Counter-Strike tournament time. First up is ESEA’s
Season 10 LAN Playoffs and next week is Intel Extreme Masters
Championship. This weekend there will be a mix Counter-Strike 1.6 and
CS:S matches streaming. You can find the full schedule on esea.net.You can watch the main stream here on Twitch TV.
With perennial favorite Evil Geniuses out of the race, Tweet @ us who you think is going to come out on top.
This weekend’s teams.
Counter-Strike 1.6
1. Back2Back Gaming
2. Check-Six
3. MouseSpaz
4. Ultimax Gaming
5. Black and White
6. High Rollers Gaming
Counter-Strike: Source
1. 3DMAX
2. Dynamic
3. Blight Zomblers
4. Vindicated
5. Swolepatrol
6. Just Cause Project
5000
28 Feb 2012 -
Today we added 5,000 players to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta. Our selection criteria this round was simple – we chose a group of players who represented the full range of survey responses. This way, everyone who filled out the survey had a chance to get access to the beta. The recipients will get the game added to their library and a key to gift to a friend.
The survey has been a great success so far, and we are seeing a wide range of players and skill levels. We will use the survey data to drive future selections as we continue to build the beta size in the coming months.
The best way to get into the beta is simple, fill out the survey (this will launch Steam).
