Valve has launched Operation Payback, an initiative to reward top-rated community members creating maps for Counter-strike: Global Offensive. As suggested by a recent patch leak, the pass is an in-game item you’ll have to pony up actual cash for, granting “uninterrupted low-ping play on official dedicated servers”.

The pass costs USD$5.99 but is 50% off at the moment; proceeds will be returned to the creators of seven maps featured on the servers, which include Museum, Downtown and Thunder.

It will be available until July 31, and those who buy in will earn a limited edition challenge coin. You’ll also be able to invite your friends into matches, even if they haven’t got a pass.

This seems to be the first of a series of planned campaigns to put a bit of cash in talented amateur designers’ pockets.

Source: Steam via VG247

Well, I hope you didn’t spend too long getting hugely upset and/or delighted about Valve’s apparent intention to add some sort of premium “Community Pass” to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The quickly retracted patch is back, and in its shiny new form, absolutely does not add this interesting if controversial feature.

The only mention of the feature, as dug up from the update’s data by Reddit users, are two lines: “CSGO_Ticket_CommunitySeasonOneSpring2013_Leak” and “lol”. Welp.

On the other hand, all that stuff about hostage mode seems to have been perfectly accurate; check out the full patch notes on Steam.

Source: Steam

Although the proper patch isn’t due out until tomorrow, an accidental release of the upcoming Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update showed that the game will soon be implementing a paid Community Pass.

Eagle-eyed Redditors have noticed a variety of new strings added to the game content, one of which refers to a “Community Support Pass Season One”, and reads as follows:

“Grants access to Season One’s featured community maps on Offical Servers. Proceeds are divided among the featured map creators!”

Bomb defusal has also been modified so that you have to stay facing the bomb to continue defusing it, and a new main menu UI is also coming.

Source: Reddit via VG247

A modder by the name of Diego Liatis has been threatened with a $50,000 fine and a cease-and-desist order from the Société de transport de Montreal after recreating the Montreal underground in a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map.

Liatis initially asked permission to use the real-life location in the map but was denied. He decided to go ahead with it, believing that it was a public space and he was fine to do so — but the government, apparently had other ideas.

Speaking to Le Journal de Montreal, Liatis claimed that the department told him they “feared the game could create panic among the city’s public transit users”. A programmer on the project described the reaction as “ridiculous” and claimed that any terrorists who wanted to learn the layout could simply do what he did, and just go there in real life.

Legal action is apparently being considered if the team do not cease and desist.

Source: The Escapist

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive now supports Steam Workshop content in a new patch released today. As you browse the workshop in your game, you can click ‘Subscribe’ on any map you like the look of to automatically download it, and keep it automatically up to date as the map’s creator tweaks and balances it.

Furthermore, maps can now be created with game mods built directly in — so if a map’s creator wants to set it as a scoutzknivez or aim map, they can do that natively without any extra fiddling on your part. The Community server browser will continue as before, but Valve is hoping that players will move to the Workshop as it offers a superior experience.

Valve are offering an FAQ for those of you confused by the new system/looking for links on how to make your own maps and content, so go check it out if you need clarity! Meanwhile, the game is now on sale for just $7.50 over the weekend to celebrate. Get cracking!

Source: Counter-Strike

If you’re one of the many who missed the silencer when Counter-Strike: Global Offensive launched without it, don’t worry: it’s coming back. At the recent eSports World Cup 2012 event, Valve hit the show floor to talk to pro-gaming teams about the state of the game and what they were planning.

Cadred is reporting that one team claimed: “The (Valve) guys we spoke to kept telling us that they felt CT was really overpowered right now on most maps, which wasn’t what we felt at all. They said that was the main reason for dropping the silencer because it gave the CTs yet another advantage and they felt it was one too many.”

“They know how the community feels about it but they said it was a balancing issue. Even then they reassured us that it would be back, just as soon as they could figure out how to fit it in without it unbalancing the game further.”

CS:GO is currently on sale on Steam for $11.25 — check out our massive review here.

Source: Cadred via PCGamesN

Want to play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive but you haven’t got a spare $15 lying around? Well, never fear, because from now until 1PM PDT Sunday (that’s 7:00 AM on Monday, AEDT), you can play the whole game for free. Delightful!

To celebrate making their game temporarily free, Valve had also made it cheaper: if you like what you played and want to buy CS:GO for yourself, it’s marked down to $9.99 for the duration of the free weekend. We’ve got ten CS:GO servers up and running right now for you to enjoy, so download and get cracking!

Look forward to a huge patch for CS:GO tonight, as Valve drop a full reworking of the matchmaking system for Classic Competitive mode, and two rocking new maps.

The matchmaking hints released so far — mostly by CS:GO‘s Twitter account — seem to show players forming a team together and searching for a match as a group.

The two new maps will include the “classic” de_vertigo and the “fast-paced” ar_monastery. The official developer blog also sends word that the patch will include “a ton of bug fixes based on community feedback”.

Still on the fence about CS:GO? Read our massive review.

Source: CS:GO

Webzen’s free-to-play online shooter Arctic Combat has been accused of almost straight-out copying the iconic ‘de_dust2′ map from Counter-Strike. “Aside from slightly tweaked hallway/corridor dimensions and crate emplacements, AC’s map might as well be Dust 2′s neglected sibling, right down to the Middle Eastern motif and recognizable choke points,” write PC Gamer based off this YouTube video:

What do you think?

Source: PC Gamer

How do you review a sequel to a game that is responsible for changing your life? Alex Walker spent some time with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to find out.

As the title of the article suggests, today sees the launch of Valve’s third take on the Counter-Strike franchise, with Global Offensive leaving beta and going live on Steam for a paltry $15.

The launch has also brought with it a bunch of new patch notes as the developers bring in the last of their changes from the beta test.

You can read those patch notes in full, including the addition of a zombie model to support upcoming zombie mods (naturally), through the jump.

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Valve has released the full and final cinematic trailer for Counter-strike: Global Offensive, and while we’d rather see some gameplay footage, the video was put together using Source Filmmaker and sets a high standard for the forthcoming Saxxy Awards.

Counter-strike: Global Offensive arrives on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on August 21 – probably closer to August 22 for those of us on the Australian side of the international date line. Our servers are ready and waiting.

Source: Valve YouTube