Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Announced by Valve

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) was announced today by Valve to be released on August 21, 2012 for XBox 360, PS3, PC and Mac. The game will be available via the Playstation Network (PSN), XBox Live Arcade (XBLA) and via Steam for PC and Mac platforms. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will expand on the team-based first person shooter that originally launched approximately 13 years ago.

In a statement made to the press just moments before this article’s publication, Valve confirmed that CS: GO will be sold for about $15 on all platforms. This new edition of the popular Counter-Strike franchise will feature all new maps, new weapons, new characters and updated editions of classic CS content. There will be new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leaderboards with more promised by the folks at Valve.

A new video is up on the Steam website which first shows off for the first thirty seconds clips from the classic CS games with title screens stating how popular the game has been for the last 13 years. It then switches over to what viewers can assume are videos from the new edition of the game with the title screen “With All-new Visuals” being the first piece that we see in widescreen. The next clip is titled “More Maps” and show off some really solid visuals presumably based from a freeway drive past what looks like a wrecked residential zone.

The next clip shows off some real action from the upcoming FPS Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as four players armed with automatic weapons are running around what looks like a large warehouse or even (hey we’re guessing) what looks like the luggage loading zone in an airport, titled “More Game Modes” is on the screen. The players look varied, one being a distinct air fighter pilot while the other looks like a gangbanger from East Los Angeles.

The next screen of the teaser trailer says “More Weapons” as we see a wheel available for players to select weapons from, ranging from thrown (grenades) to pistols, shotguns, automatics and sniper rifles. On the screen we see listed Zeus x27, Molotov, Decoy Grenade, Flashbang, High Explosive Grenades and smoke grenades.

The next clip is sure to make some CS fans fistpump as “Ranked Match-making” is now a confirmed feature for CS: GO. In this clip we see players running on a wodden bridge inside some large brick structure.

Finally, the last major new feature for this new game from Valve is titled “Cross-platform Play” which means that players playing between Xbox 360, PS3, Mac and PC will presumably be able to be killing each other in one giant pot and not delineated by platform any more.

The remaining clips in the teaser show off the new visuals and slow-motion gameplay with the final title screen showing off the new logo and the announced release date.

Stay tuned in to Gaming Illustrated for more information about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as it breaks.