9/19 Update: Operation Bravo is LIVE
2013.09.19 - 
Operation Bravo, the latest collection of top-rated community maps, is now live in CS:GO. Buying a pass will get you unlimited access to a map group of eight top-voted Workshop Maps playable in casual, deathmatch and—for the first time—competitive mode. The map group consists of seven new maps (Agency, Ali, Cache, Chinatown, Gwalior, Ruins and Siege), as well as a returning favorite (Seaside) that we’re eager to try out as a competitive map.
Like with Operation Payback, buying a pass to Bravo gets you an exclusive upgradable Challenge Coin. This time around, though, the coin will double as an operational scorecard that’ll let you keep a complete record of your stats from all Official Competitive Matches for the duration of Bravo.
Another addition to this Operation: weapon finishes. We’re shipping 31 new finishes as part of two all-new weapon collections with this op—one available exclusively as individual all-map weapon drops to Bravo pass-holders, and the other available to everybody as part of the Bravo weapon case, also available through timed all-map drops. (Pass-buyers will get Bravo case drops in addition to regular drops.)
Check out the Operation Bravo page for more information, or just launch CS:GO, grab a pass and get in on the action.
2013 DreamHack SteelSeries CS:GO Championship
2013.09.16 -
Counter-Strike Community Helps Build $250,000 DreamHack Prize Pool
Proceeds From In-Game Item Sales Support CS:GO’s Top Players
September 16, 2013 — Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced a $250,000 community-funded prize pool for The 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Championship.
The CS:GO crowd-funding initiative began several weeks ago with the release of The Arms Deal Update, which offers players in the community special in-game items. A portion of the sales revenue from those items is then placed into a tournament prize fund.
Through this initiative, The 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries CS:GO Championship will be one of the largest cash awards in Counter-Strike’s history and the initiative is designed to help fuel prize pools at other upcoming CS:GO events.
Hosted in Jonkoping, Sweden, DreamHack is to date the world’s largest digital festival, and holds the official world record as world’s largest LAN party in the Guinness Book of Records.
For more information about CS:GO and the Arms Deal Update please visit the Update Page at https://new.blog.counter-strike.net/armsdeal/
For more information about The 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries CS:GO Championship, please visit http://www.dreamhack.se/dhw13/
9/12: The Contract’s Out
2013.09.12 -
Today’s update brings several adjustments and bug fixes, and adds a new element to the Arms Deal: contracts. The first contract can be found in your in-game inventory.
The Arms Deal Contract will allow you to exchange 10 Arms Deal Collection items of identical quality for a single Arms Deal Collection item of a quality one tier higher.
Ready to fulfill your contract? Head over to your inventory and open the Arms Deal Contract to get started. You’ll see a filtered list of all of your eligible items. If you’re a few items shy of a full contract, check out the Marketplace and see what’s available!
Are you ready?
2013.08.31 -
Ready for an exciting end of the year?
As we enter the final third of 2013, many top teams will be testing out their new lineups for the first time on LAN. The all new Astana Dragons, the new fnatic squad, revamped Na`Vi, Copenhagen Wolves and ESC rosters and more will be challenging the two unscathed giants NiP and VeryGames multiple times until the end of the year.
The first big event on the horizon is DreamHack‘s $15,000 stop in 
Bucharest, Romania taking place from September 14-15th. All of Europe’s top teams will be making the trip and the tournament will be a great prelude to even bigger challenges ahead. After that we have SLTV StarSeries VII Finals with another $15,000 in 
Kiev, Ukraine on October 10-13th where the top four teams from an ongoing online season will meet.
Two weeks later $25,000 will be handed out at ESWC in 
Paris, France from October 30th to November 3rd. Electronic Sports World Cup will be the first event to go truly global as teams from Algeria, Pakistan and India will be making an appearance in addition to the usual powerhouse countries, while it will also have a $10,000 female tournament.
November will be the most action-packed month, starting with TECHLABS Finals in 
Moscow, Russia on the 16th and 17th. Right after that the finals of recently announced $100,000 MSI Beat it! event will take place in 
Shanghai, China on 22-23rd, hosting teams from all over the world.
And at the very end of the month, DreamHack Winter is scheduled for November 28th – December 1st at its usual setting in 
Jönköping, Sweden.
In addition to all those LAN events, teams will have plenty of proving to do online as well, with SLTV StarSeries VII already in progress, same as the MSI Beat it! qualifier in Europe and soon the US.
RaidCall EMS One Fall and ESEA Season 15 will also begin in September, while European Championship 2013 will be another interesting competition to follow where players will step out of their teams to represent their nations. Last but not least, Fragbite Masters will hand out $21,600 in an online competition during November and December.
If you are a follower of the competitive scene you have plenty to look forward to, and if you are not really sure what the e-Sports side of CS:GO is all about or if it may interest you, visit HLTV.org where you can find daily information about matches between top teams, demos of top players in action, videos, photo galleries from LAN events and much more.
8/29 Update: Name Tags
2013.08.29 -
This week’s update introduces a new element to the Arms Deal – Name Tags. Send a message to the CS:GO community by attaching a personalized name plate to the decorated weapon of your choice!
To purchase a Name Tag and rename your weapon, just select ‘Rename’ after selecting a weapon in the inventory. The weapon’s name will appear throughout the game, and will show up as a special name plate attached to the weapon itself.
What are you waiting for? Customize your loadout and Go! Go! Go!
