Valve announce Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

As part of Valve’s new modus operandi of not releasing anymore Half-Life games ever, the studio that recently brought you Portal 2 has announced a sequel to arguably its most successful popular intellectual property, Counter-Strike. The Half-Life mod that became one of the most popular PC multiplayer games of all time was released 12 years ago – the longest gestation period for a Valve sequel so far (though Half-Life is on its tail).

According to the Steam page, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will include the standard sequel additions: new maps, characters, guns, game modes and the like, but of most interest is its availabiliy on the PS3 and 360. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game emerge as a viable third party candidate in the battle between Battlefield and Call of Duty to be the behemoth intellectual property of the industry.

Valve are currently at work on DOTA 2, sequel to the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, schedule for a release late this year. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is set for an early 2012 launch date, though given Valve time, we know to take that with a grain of salt. The game will also be playable at this year’s PAX Prime in Seattle (in two weeks!), and the Eurogamer expo in late September.