FPS General

Word is coming out of Valve headquarters that the much anticipated first-person shooter (FPS); Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), is going to be available for pre-order at some point today. The official planned release date is set for August 21st. One should expect that pre-purchase will grant access to Team Fortress 2 (TF2) hats that have some resemblance to CS:GO. Player's worried about their wallets need not fret, CS:GO will be available for pre-order at the low price of $13.50.

CS:GO has been in development by Hidden Path Entertainment (HPE) since March of 2010 and in the beta testing stage since November of 2011. It will be the third installment to the Counter-Strike franchise with aspirations of appealing to both the casual and competitive FPS communities. Wanting to become a mainstay in the competitive gaming community, HPE has been listening to current and former pro CS players. The hope is that CS:GO will be picked up by many major tournaments. So far, the game has already been picked up by the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC), with the United States championship to be played August 31st at PAX in Seattle, WA.

The world championship will be held later this year in Paris, France.

The competitive community has already began the transition to CS:GO. With a lengthy beta and large quantity of beta keys, nearly everyone who is determined to play CS:GO has already done so. Many teams have switched purely to CS:GO, while some are still playing their original versions, Counter-Strike 1.6 (CS1.6) and Counter-Strike: Source (CSS) along with CS:GO. The few holdouts have been urged to switch by their peers, with the logic being that all Counter-Strike communities need to embrace CS:GO in order for it to become popular and successful.

For more CS:GO and competition news, keep your eye on FPSGeneral.com!