Counter-Strike 2 News

Dust 2, Mirage, Train - CS:GO's maps are a-changin'

It looks like several of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps have seen pretty big changes in the latest CS:GO update. Dust 2, Train, and Mirage have been on the receiving end of the more game-changing tweaks, but Cache and Studio have seen some adjustments, too.

As spotted by our sister site The Loadout, the CS:GO Dust 2, Mirage, and Train updates have arrived as part of the latest patch developer Valve's rolled out. First up, the FPS game's Mirage map has seen the most substantial adjustments. The devs have added an "AWP wallbang spot" by the Palace scaffolding, meaning players who stop there are now vulnerable to attacks from within the building.

In addition, the T entrance to mid is now wider than before which should give a better view of connector, and the B site balcony's trim is now lower than it was pre-update, revealing jump peeks more obviously to the T-side. Plus, you can now find a bench in mid "allowing [you to] jump up to window boost spot/peek towards cat".

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Bingeing CS:GO won't get you into Counter-Strike 2's test faster, Valve say

After weeks of teases and rumours, Counter-Strike 2 invaded the internet to confirm that, yes, it was a real thing and not a figment of the community's shared imagination. It’s fully launching this summer, and Valve have been holding a limited access test since the pseudo-sequel's announcement. They’ve been inviting select players based on factors that are important to the dev team, such as trust factor, Steam account standing, and recent playtime on Valve servers. But last night, Valve shook their finger like a stern parent, informing fans that playing more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive wouldn’t get them into the CS2 test any faster.

Counter-Strike 2 was officially revealed just this week, and with that CS:GO has recently broken a record for highest number of concurrent players.

CS:GO might be more than a decade old, but that doesn't mean it isn't still performing incredibly well. As spotted by Eurogamer, heading over to SteamDB will tell you that the team-based shooter has hit a massive new player peak of 1.5 million (or 1,519,457 to be specific) this weekend. That's 1.5 million players concurrently, to be clear, as in that many people all playing the shooter at one time, certainly impressive for such an old title. This new record also makes it the game with the second-biggest concurrent player count ever, behind PUBG Battlegruonds' own record of 3.2 million - a bit of a difference.

This record is just the newest one this year, as it actually achieved a record of 1.4 million players just a couple of weeks ago. It wouldn't be entirely unsurprising that the announcement of Counter-Strike 2 played a role in encouraging so many players to jump into the game at once.

Release Notes for 3/24/2023

[ Ui ]
- Fixed common asserts.
- Removed Trade-Up contract UI for Limited Test.
- Fixed multiple items showing up in the inspect panel.

[ Audio ]
- Use correct audio device name when user picks "default" device.
- Added weapon drop sounds to minimap distance broadcast.
- Lowered volume of some dust2 ambience.
- Added some missing ui sounds.
- Lowered volume of flashbang ringing and volume ducking effect.
- Reduced stereo spread of grenade explosions.
- Fixed phasing with deathmatch kill bonus sound.

[ Game ]
- Fixed various game crashes.
- Smoke bullet holes are now fixed relative to the firstperson camera.
- Smoke grenades dropped in small crevices no longer detonate on the incorrect side of thin walls.
- Players can no longer pick up weapons while dead during a competitive match.
- Fixed dropping weapons during the team intro.
- Fixed +voicerecord getting stuck on when held during team intro and released after.
- Chat messages sent during end of match no longer show players as *DEAD* if they were dead at the end of the last round.
- Fixed handling game input keys such as +voicerecord while panorama has focus.
- Added netgraph.

[ Graphics ]
- Fixed flickering with MSAA.
- Fixed smoke cloud volume lighting.
- Fixed stencil issue on glass when MSAA is disabled.
- Updated various weapon finishes based on community feedback.

Release Notes for 3/22/2023

[COUNTER-STRIKE 2 LIMITED TEST]
- Shipped the mechanism for players to gain access to the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test.
- If you have been selected to participate in the limited test, you will see an invitation banner when you launch CS:GO with further instructions.

[MAPS]
Ember
-Introducing Ember spring update
-The chickens have laid colourful eggs
-Replaced cannonballs with eggs
-Festive Tablet image
-Weeds
-General updates
-Added new path at Swimming Pool
-Players no longer take damage from slow rolling cannonballs