A thread on the Steam forums seems to confirm that rumours about a new Counter-Strike game – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – are true, with commenter “Cliffe” (who is Valve designer chap Jess Cliffe) saying “Global Offensive”. There have been a bunch of other references to it, on Twitter and so forth.

And update on the ESEA Facebook page reads “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive… More info in the morning.” So it looks like we can expect something later today.

This week in our ongoing retrospective series on games journalists’ most formative games, we very proudly welcome Eurogamer‘s god-king and operations director Tom Bramwell to the word-stage. He’s here to tell you about his long years spent with arguably one of the most definitive PC games of all time, and what for one generation of gamers was a global obsession that today’s shooters, no matter how much bigger they might be, just can’t seem to match…>

I also wanted to write this about Grand Theft Auto, and I might still do that another time if RPS will have me back. There were probably other factors, but no one game is so singularly responsible for my being a games journalist (or at least having been one) as DMA Design’s original PC game. But I’m really here today to bang on about Counter-Strike>, and I owe that game a massive debt too, because it’s thanks to Counter-Strike that I don’t play Call of Duty or Battlefield or Medal of Honor or any of that stuff on the internet nowadays for a moment longer than my job requires.
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Aw, bless. I share the below video not because it gives much away in terms of when and if we’ll see Counter-Strike 2 (though it’s certainly not a denial, which is some kind of good news at least), but because of the charming awkwardness of Gabe Newell’s reaction when asked directly in front of THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE whether Valve’s evergreen man-shooter will be sequelised any time soon…
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There’s an argument that the media shouldn’t given any air to known enfant terribles – that by giving more profile to someone who spouts wild and dangerous innacuracies you only serve to further their cause. It’s not one I believe, though – that would mean someone like disgraced game-haranguing UK politician Keith Vaz would essentially get away with ritually blaming the evil that men can do on videogames. No; any chance to reveal the flaws in his bewildering bluster and blame should be taken.

In this case, he’s accused Counter-Strike of inspiring a series of tragic shootings which occurred in Malmo, Sweden. A case local police have said appears to be part of a year-long campaign of violence against immigrants to the area. Keith has other ideas. (more…)