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.

Starting yesterday at 10am until Sunday at 1pm PST – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is free. You can <a href='steam://install/730'>click this link</a>, <a href='http://store.steampowered.com/app/730/'>visit this page</a>, 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 <a href='http://steamcommunity.com/app/730/screenshots'>post it on the CS:GO Game Hub</a> – 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 <a href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/2012/10/5565/">Skill Group</a>, 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 href="http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/page/2/#FAQ">a FAQ here</a> for you if you want more information.

Starting yesterday 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.

Release Notes for 10/30/2012

[ MINOR FIXES ]

- GOTV relays now support up to 255 spectators per relay.
- Fixed a crash when connecting to a GOTV relay.
- Fixed tv_relaypassword.
- Added GOTV viewer count to the scoreboard.
- Improved highlighting of selected player for spectator.
- Fixed call vote panel showing an uninitialized button in some cases.

Release Notes for 10/25/2012

[ SPECTATING ]
- Resurrected SourceTV as 'GOTV.'
- Added a map overview that displays players, events, grenade detonations, etc. Can be drawn on in a select-able colored pen when spectating or if the "sv_competitive_official_5v5" convar is set to 1 on the server or if the client convar "mapoverview_allow_client_draw" is set on the client (drawings are not currently networked to other players).
- Added free camera to spectator modes cycle.
clamped hud_scaling to 0.95.
- Added convar 'cl_spec_show_bindings' that toggles the visibility of the spectator key bindings.
- Added spectator ability to toggle competitive scoreboard player data using the 'drop' command.
- Extended team clan name support to the Team Select Screen. To use team clan name, all humans should match their Team name in Games->Settings, or the server admin can use the 'mp_teamname_1' and 'mp_teamname_2 convars.'
- After halftime, teams no longer switch sides visually on the spectator screen, they now stay where they are and the team colors switch instead.
- Created a server convar that lets you swap the default player side position manually (CTs on right and T's on left) called mp_spec_swapplayersides.
- Made the hotkey that's assigned to jump to a player not change after half-time.
- You can now display a country flag next to your custom team name on the spectator scoreboard by setting "mp_teamflag_1/2" to ISO Alpha-2 country code of the country you want to display.

[ CLASSIC COMPETITIVE ]
- Introduced "Skill Groups", the new Skill Group emblems are now visible in the main menu and at the end of a competitive match. A players' Skill Group will be displayed after they achieve at least 10 competitive match wins.
- Reworked conditions of valid match leaving: A vote to concede becomes available to the team that lost a player. Otherwise the match continues.
- Number of players searching for a competitive match will display number of players compatible with the game type selected by player, for example players searching for "Dust II" will see a number of players searching for "Dust II" + "Defuse Mission", players searching for "Defuse Mission" will see sum of all players searching for "Defuse Mission" or any specific defuse map, and so on.
- Estimated wait time for a competitive match now more accurately displays wait time based on the game type selected by player.

[ SERVER ADMINISTRATION ]
- Added Save/Restore of match state.
   - Added convar 'mp_backup_round_file [fileprefix]' -- If set then server will save all played rounds information to files with this prefix. Backup file contains players information like KDA, MVPs, cash, kevlar, helmet, defuse kit, weapons and grenades and match score for first and second halves. In a case of a tournament server crash backup file can be loaded using ' mp_backup_restore_load_file'. The default is 'backup'
   - Added convar 'mp_backup_round_file_last' -- Every time a backup file is written the value of this convar gets updated to hold the name of the backup file.
    -Added concommand 'mp_backup_restore_list_files [number]' -- Lists recent backup round files matching the prefix, most recent files first, accepts a numeric parameter to limit the number of files displayed (default 5).
   - Added concommand 'mp_backup_restore_load_file [filename]' -- Loads the specified backup file and applies players information like KDA, MVPs, cash, kevlar, helmet, defuse kit, weapons and grenades; sets the match score for first and second half and starts next round.
   - Added convar 'mp_backup_round_file_pattern,' that defines the pattern for naming backup files using tokens. Example: %prefix%_%date%_%time%_%team1%_%team2%_%map%_round%round%_score_%score1%_%score2%.txt. The default pattern results in 'backup_roundNN.txt'
- Whitelisted 'mp_logdetail' convar.
- Added convar 'sv_damage_print_enable', that determines whether damage given and received is visible in the console after a player is killed.
- Added 'cl_bobcycle' to 'sv_competitive_minspec'. It's now restricted to the defauklt 0.98 on servers that have 'sv_competitive_minspec' enabled.
- Made all server cash_ convars notify players when they are changed.
- Servers running with sv_pausable 1 will now correctly display 'server paused' UI element on clients when server is paused using 'pause' command.
- Added mp_spectators_max convar to control how many spectators are allowed in a match.
- Added convar mp_halftime_pausetimer that will indefinitely pause the halftime timer.
- Added convar mp_warmup_pausetimer that will pause the warmup period indefinitely. *Warmup periods shorter than 6 seconds cannot be paused.

[ PERFORMANCE ]
- Performance improvements for users running on AMD systems.
- Fixed a major performance problem for users running Bitdefender antivirus software.

[ BUG FIXES ]
- Fixed two crashes that could happen if you were on a team and went to spectator team.
- Fixed the timer display on the hud still showing even when the bomb was planted.
- Fixed avatar scaling issues on the spectator hud as well as the issues that would place the player slot avatars offset some distance from where they should be.
- Made some adjustments to the specttor UI and regular hud to account for hud_scaling set really high.
Fixed a really bad bug where going from the lobby to a game could prevent players from having input. This would result in not being able to select a team or move around.
- Changed flashbang visual effect in Spectator mode so that it is updated when the target changes.

Release notes for 10/11/2012

[ Minor Fixes ]
-Fixed bomb defusal resetting when a server lags below 20fps.
-Fixed a case where the round and timer were not being updated when spectating.
-Fixed another case where warmup alerts panel didn't show for late joiners.
-Fixed a crash that would happen when you died that associated with the spectator panel.
-Fixed general scaleform crashes.
-Made radio commands also selectable via the keypad numbers.
-Fixed enemies on radar that were above/below you showing their up/down indicators rotated.
-Made alive/dead state on the spectator UI easier to read.
-Replaced mp_teamname_t and mp_teamname_ct with mp_teamname_1 and mp_teamname_2 to disambiguate convars from sides in a mode that supports team switching at halftime. Now the names follow the teams after the switch. ( mp_teamname_1 is the team that first plays CT ).
-Changed spectator HUD to show which primary weapon each player has purchased during freeze time.
-Made spectator HUD show all grenades carried by each player.

[ Classic Competitive Changes ]
-Added an explanation about competitive mode rules to better explain its difference from other modes.
-Added save/restore of cash for competitive matches: When a player disconnects and reconnects in competitive mode, their pre-disconnect money will now be preserved.
-Added a button requiring players to ready-up when a competitive match is found. When all 10 players ready-up then the matchmaking servers lock them in for the match. Abandoning at any point after clicking the ACCEPT button will result in Competitive cooldown.
-Increased competitive cooldowns to 30 minutes for first offense, 2 hours for second offense and so on.
-Kicking a player no longer offers a vote to continue. The game will proceed with a bot in place of the kicked player.

[ Minor Fixes ]

* All information required to reconnect to a competitive match is now also saved to a file on disk so that disconnected players could reconnect sooner to their ongoing game on the official dedicated game server even before connectivity with matchmaking servers is established.
* Increased grace period for disconnected players to 3 minutes.
* Message that refers to disconnected player now uses player's name rather than the generic term 'player.'
* Fixed the alerts panel not showing alerts consistently
* Made vote panel display whether you voted yes or no as well as flash each choice as people vote
* If a vote is team only (like a 'kick') then the other team will now see that a vote is in progress.

Release Notes for 10/3/2012


[ Minor Fixes ]

Matchmaking
-Added a vote to continue playing competitive match with bots after a human player abandons the match, unanimous agreement of remaining human players is required to continue playing with bots.
-Reduced time required for confirming match when searching for competitive players and servers.
-Improved overall search times in competitive queue mode.
-Added a client message when the wamup period ends.
-Extended competitive match warmup period to 90 seconds.
-Message of the day will automatically dismiss itself when competitive match starts.
-Added an explanation to competitive cooldown timer for clients.
-Added a condition to apply competitive cooldown to players who have disconnected from the match.
-Implemented scaling cooldown periods for repeat incidences.

Vertigo
-Rearranged props below the boost-up ladder to prevent players jumping onto the ladder without boosting
-Clipped off various tiny ledges
-Made small props protruding from walls non-solid
-Fixed visible nodraw in ceiling hole

Misc
-Fixed a long standing bug where you could lose mouse input when you got to the team select screen.
-Fixed a bug where the color correction during freeze time did not account for the players also being invulnerable during the new warmup - this fixed the CC gap at the start.
-Fixed some bugs relating to the warmup notification not reliably showing for late joiners.
-The chat now displays when the warmup has ended, just like when it is in progress.

Release Notes for 9/14/2012

[ GAME ]
- Added third-person gunshot flinch reaction animations for all players
- Molotovs and incendiary grenades now explode in mid air if they haven't touched the ground after a small amount of time has passed
- Molotovs and incendiary grenades now no longer throw shorter than the other grenade types
- Fixed grenades bouncing really high if you threw them straight at the ground
- Fixed grenades that don't have a timer (like the smoke) not detonating if they found a spot to continually bounce and not touch what was considered "the ground"
- Fixed a bug in bullet penetration where a bullet would penetrate walls much thicker than intended when the first brush the bullet hit was a detail brush.
- Fixed a rare case when server reservation would not load correct map on official servers
- Flipped MP7 viewmodel fire selector from safety to full-auto

[ UI ]
- Fixed spectator glows not updating state often enough which could allow glows to show at the wrong time
- Fixed player target ID names not showing properly in some cases when observing/spectating
- Fixed the spectator UI showing in Arms Race
- Fixed player not auto observing their killer after the death camera if no bot was available to take over
- Fixed round in spectator screen not updating if you connected mid round
- If all players on a team share the same team tag, the scoreboard and spectator team names will display the players' team name (steam group name)
- Improved rendering performance of text UI elements

[ COMMUNITY ]
- Added default loading screen for direct connects and custom maps that shows loading progress
- Fixed server console say command to deliver text to all connected clients
- sv_password can now be set on community dedicated servers when they have no players connected and will be enforced.
- Matchmaking: blocking relationships do not prevent direct server joins, they only filter during matchmaking
- sv_pure: VPK files contain the necessary hashes so the dedicated servers do not need to compute them at startup but can be checked with the command “sv_pure_checkvpk”

Release notes for 8/23 Update

[ Gameplay ]
- Exposed a classic dynamic crosshair style in the options that represents the weapons spread accurately.
- Implemented first person client flinching. Now a player gets aim punched a bit when shot. The amount is based on the damage.
- Increased amount of tagging that results from hits.

[ Bugs ]
- Fixed the scoreboard turning toggleable in the end match state.
- fixed not being able to bring up the pause menu without dismissing the scoreboard in the end match state.
- Parallelized matchmaking results analysis process and reduced time game takes to perform matchmaking.
- Improved matchmaking algorithm giving more weight to dedicated servers ping during matchmaking results analysis.

[ Community ]
- Removed the implicit dependency on round-limited matches so servers that want to use mp_timelimit instead can. Mp_timelimit is used only if mp_maxrounds is set to 0.
- Exposed mp_forcecamera convar.
- Exposed set of server hibernate convars.
- Fixed code that was preventing mapper-placed weapons.