Valve has announced an all-new entry in the insanely popular Counter-Strike series, called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The company says this new game, which will ship in early 2012, will expand on the team-based gameplay that Counter-Strike pioneered when it was launched 12 years ago. Yes, kids, it's been exactly 12 years since we first played Counter-Strike, and the series is still going strong. In the same year, we saw the release of games like Quake III: Arena, Kingpin: Life of Crime, Soulcalibur, and the first Unreal Tournament. Nowadays the others are considered classics, but mostly loaded up when you're feeling nostalgic, unlike Counter-Strike, which still maintains an active player community.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will feature new maps, characters, and weapons, and will boast updated versions of classic CS content (de_dust, etc.). In addition, the game will introduce new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leader boards, and more. We'll have more on the game on Xbox.com as details surface. If you're going to PAX Prime in Seattle at the end of August, Valve says the game will be playable there.
The game is being developed on Valve in cooperation with Seattle's Hidden Path Entertainment, who's been working with Valve for some time on Counter-Strike: Source updates, and who developed one of the most popular tower defense games around the Xbox.com offices, the superb Defense Grid.