It's been a long while since Valve launched the remake of the original Counter-Strike using the Source engine in 2004. Then last Friday, out of nowhere, the prolific game publisher unveiled Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a new team-based action shooter being worked on in-house with collaboration of Hidden Path Entertainment, who also co-developed CS: Source.

Details on the new game don't abound just yet, but Valve was ready to show a pre-beta version to a handful of media outlets and CS pro players, so among the things we know is that CS: GO is slated for release early next year on the PC, OS X, Xbox and PS3 platforms, with a closed beta planned for this fall.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will use an updated version of the Source engine (Left 4 Dead, Portal, among many others), with remarkably improved graphics and animations all around. The game is expected to feature new maps, characters and weapons, along with favorite content grabbed from the original – de_dust, anyone?. It's also been hinted by Valve they want their next title to be an e-sports title by nature.

"Counter-Strike took the gaming industry by surprise when the unlikely MOD became the most played online PC action game in the world almost immediately after its release in August 1999," said Doug Lombardi at Valve. "For the past 12 years, it has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS: GO promises to expand on CS' award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next-gen consoles and the Mac."

On somewhat related news, Interplay and Beamdog announced during the weekend that a HD remake of MDK2 will be available this September for $14.99. The original MDK is an all-time favorite game of mine circa 1997, you know the Intel Pentium days.