Community Day
2012.11.03 - 
As the ESWC finals continue and the Free Weekend kicks into full gear, there is more to see than just the game itself. Counter-strike has always been about a large vibrant community and CS:GO is no different.
If you are not up to the level of competing as a pro, you can always join one of leagues. Two of the most popular are ESEA and ESL. Don’t worry, you can compete at all skill levels in these leagues.
While we have been posting a Pro Tip series, the community has also been making their own videos. WarOwl from the forums even made a video to help you if you are new to the game. You can also checkout these weapon guides, um.. uh.. this, or you can check out a ton more on the Game Hub video page.
Current players, don’t forget to attach your Steam account to your YouTube account so you can post your videos to the CS:GO game hub.
You should also make sure to post your favorite screen shots and death cams to the CS:GO Game Hubs. While you are there check out what other people are posting. See something you like – up vote it. Curious about something – ask a question. Join the community.
Learning from the Pros
2012.11.02 -
The finals of ESWC are kicking off later tonight- with Paris being 9 hours in the future from Seattle that means the start time for us on the West Coast of the USA is 12:30 am tonight. The choices are sleep now and get up early or just stay up? Which is it going to be?
You can watch the live streams here. You can follow us on Twitter for all the latest news, streams and archives.
Luckily, if you live in Europe you can have your regular wakeup call of 9 am to watch some games at 9:30am Local Paris time… but whatever time you choose to watch – make sure to watch. You can learn a bunch from observing the top players in a serious match.
If you are a little newer to the scene, the video above has some beginner level tips from the pros. Everyone has to start somewhere and the current pros are helping us train their replacements – just don’t forget about us when you are on top.
Past that – the free weekend continues now into the actual weekend, not the hypothetical weekend that started the free weekend on Thursday. Don’t forget the free part of the game ends 1pm PST Sunday. To continue the weekend part of the free weekend, we have put the game on sale for a staggering 33% off! That’s a full 1/3 off the regular price!
While you are playing this weekend, make sure to save up some your best death cams or screenshots. We will use the best one for our blog post this weekend.
The Free Weekend has Landed!
2012.11.01 -
Starting today at 10am until Sunday at 1pm PST – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is free. You can click this link, visit this page, or launch steam and start downloading the game now. All weekend you can play the complete game.
CS:GO is more than just the best looking CS. We have expanded the game with new characters, new weapons, new maps, and new game modes. So you don’t get overwhelmed, let’s break down the game modes and give you a suggestion on where to start based on your skill level.
For everyone, a good first stop is the Weapon Course where you will get some quick tips and training on new mechanics.
If you have never played a first person shooter – first, what’s wrong with you? You have been missing out. A good intro that isn’t about map strategy, team goals, etc – is Arms Race. It’s pretty simple. Kill the guys who don’t look like you. Every time you kill one, you get a new weapon. There are some things that happen at the end with a knife if you are the top player in kills, but do you really think that is going to happen? Okay, let’s pretend it does. You get a golden knife – then what? Stab a guy and win the game. If you do that, you better take a screen shot and post it on the CS:GO Game Hub – otherwise no one will believe you.
If you do actually play first person shooters but maybe haven’t played much Counter-Strike or it has been a bit – try Demolition Mode. These are small intense maps that remove the buy round at the start and throw players right into the action. Plant the bomb, defuse the bomb, kill a guy – it all helps.
Has it been a while since you last played CS? The franchise has existed for 12 years, so at this point you could have last played in 6th grade and since graduated college, gotten married, and had your first kid by now – so we’ll excuse your rusty skills if you are bouncing the new kid on your lap as you play. A word of warning on that – don’t play Competitive Mode if you think you need to drop out mid-game or just want to drop in and out of games, instead play Casual Mode. It is classic Counter-Strike with some relaxed rules on purchasing weapons and we leave all talk on so players can chat while playing.
Are you a CS player? Think you have what it takes to win but have been scared to try CS:GO? If you think you are up for it – jump into Competitive Mode. This is where it is all about skill, win 10 matches and you will get put into a Skill Group, keep winning and you’ll be placed into a higher Skill Group, lose and you might get placed lower. Match making will make sure you keep playing in games at your skill level. Leaving a match will put you into a timeout period for Competitive match making. We even have a FAQ here for you if you want more information.
Tournament Actual
2012.10.31 -
Today in Paris, the ESWC 2012 finals begin. With our updated in-game spectator client – GOTV, players can easily view the games right inside of CS:GO.
We are so excited about this tournament, not only did we send half the CS:GO team to France to watch and talk with the pro players, we also want to make sure all players can view the matches – so we are making CS:GO free this weekend! From Thursday at 10am to Sunday at 1pm PST, CS:GO will be available to everyone free of charge.
In case that confuses you – here are the details. This weekend? CS:GO is free. Download it. Play it. Love it. It’s free. Who knows, we might even put it on sale if you want to keep playing after this weekend.
For current players, tell your friends to join you and show them your GO skills. This will also be a great test for your skills in Competitive Mode. Ranked players will only meet Free Weekend players skilled enough to climb into their skill group.
The ESWC is the first major tournament featuring CS:GO and shows that CS:GO is taking over in major tournaments everywhere. We start with France this weekend and next up in November – CS:GO will be in Sweden at DreamHack Winter with a prize pool over $45,000!
Keep checking the blog all weekend as we will continue to update you with more information on the ESWC finals and our Free Weekend. For now, tell your friends… no, no – dare your friends, are they good enough to beat you this weekend?
Competitive Skill Groups FAQ
2012.10.30 -
Since we’ve launched the new Skill Group emblems in CS:GO’s competitive mode, we’ve seen lots of questions asked about how they work and what they mean. So we collected those questions and answered them here.
Q. What is a Skill Group?
A. Like an Elo rating in Chess, the CS:GO competitive Skill Groups predict how well players will perform when playing against other players. Two equally skilled teams should, on average, win an equal number of matches when competing against each other.
Q. What are all of the Skill Groups?
A.
Q. I’m not a very good player. Should I still use competitive matchmaking?
A. Absolutely. Competitive matchmaking will match you with other players of similar skill, which is more likely to result in a fun match than jumping into a random game.
Q. Where are Skill Groups displayed?
A. Skill Groups are displayed in the main menu, in party lobbies, and in the match scoreboard. (Once the Skill Group has settled.)
Q. Where can I see my own Skill Group?
A. Once your Skill Group has settled and you have won 10 competitive matches, your Skill Group will be displayed on the main menu.
Q. When are Skill Group emblems shown in the party lobby?
A. Any player with a settled Skill Group will display it in lobbies to other players.
Q. When are Skill Group emblems shown in the scoreboard?
A. Players with settled Skill Groups will display their emblem to their friends at all times. At the end of the match, after the last rematch, any player with a settled Skill Group will display it to everyone else.
Q. Should I avoid partying with lower skilled friends because they will hurt my rating?
A. No. Firstly, the matchmaking system will take your lower-skilled friend into consideration when finding a match. And second, the system makes a prediction about how well each team member will perform in a match. So losing a match with a lower skilled player on your team is not likely to significantly impact your Skill Group. If you always play your best then your Skill Group will provide you with well matched teammates and opponents.
Q. How can you predict my skill in only winning 10 games?
A. When you play your first game, we have no idea what your skill is. As you play more games, we use those wins and losses to make predictions about what Skill Group we think you should be in. The more games you play, the more confident the system is in predicting who the other players are that you should be playing against. Winning 10 games gives us enough data to confidently place you in a Skill Group where we think you’ll be matched up with others matching your skill level.
Q. Why do I see a range of Skill Groups in the end-of-match scoreboard? Shouldn’t everyone in a match have the same Skill Group?
A. Most matches have a small range of Skill Groups represented. If you see a larger range of Skill Groups then it is likely that those players came into the match as a party.
