Online Resources For Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Fans

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) was first released by Valve Corporation all the way back in 2012 as the fourth major instalment in the organization’s flagship first person shooter series. The game was designed to be the perfect bridge between the original version of Counter-Strike, CS 1.6, and the more recently released, albeit controversial amongst pro players, Counter-Strike: Source. Both games had their own fleshed out professional scenes that were popular in different parts of the world, and CS:GO managed to capture the feels of both titles with smoother mechanics and much improved graphics to bring the community together in ways not seen for over a decade.

Since its initial release, CS:GO has grown into one of the most richly competitive and recognisable titles in the world of gaming. It has shaped the blossoming Esports industry as a part of the ‘big three’ titles that have hoovered up the majority of wealth in the scene, and its subsequent continued explosion in popularity has seen it establish a legacy most game developers can only hope to match.

With the game set to continue breaking records heading into 2021, here are some of the best online resources fans can use to help them live and breathe CS:GO.

Understanding Counter-Strike

CS:GO is a game that sees two teams of five facing off against each other in a match held across a best of thirty (i.e. first to sixteen) round format. Teams take control of the Terrorist (T) side, who can win rounds by either killing all five of the enemies or planting and successfully detonating a bomb at either of the two bombsites found on each of the maps, and the Counter-Terrorists (CT), who win rounds by either killing the enemy team before the bomb is planted, defusing the bomb once it has been, or simply waiting out the round timer of 1:55 seconds without the bomb exploding.

CS:GO is a game that emphasises strategy, communication and short sharp bursts of precise action, rather than the all out ‘spray and pray’ approaches most mainstream FPS games prioritise. Because of this, CS:GO has an immense skill ceiling that allows for a huge array of tactics and play styles to flourish.

HLTV

Half-Life Television was first launched in 2002 by Martin “Rosenchef” Rosenbæk and Per “Nomad” Lambæk as a news and forum page for updates on Valve games. Following the release of Global Offensive in 2012, HLTV grew to become the number one place online for all the latest statistics, highlights and articles from the Esports scene.

The site is home to all the latest news, online forums where fans can host discussions and every single statistic for every team, player, map, match, tournament and series. The level of detail is exceptional, rivalling even some of the best online tools for real world sports, and HLTV even hosts its own online podcast which features the latest stories from the scene as well as interviews from the pro players active within CS:GO.

Unikrn

Esports betting has become a popular activity for fans of the biggest games in the industry, and Unikrn.com have established themselves as the go-to experts for the best odds, offers and markets for games such as CS:GO. Unikrn live and breathe Esports, hosting a dedicated news blog with the latest breaking stories, an Esports betting tips page dedicated to bringing the best insights from upcoming events and tournaments, as well as a plethora of game modes uniquely brought to life by the site’s developers.

As well as the best collection of CS:GO odds for season and tournament outrights, as well as live in-play options, Unikrn also houses their very own skill gaming platform known as UMode, which allows users to back their own skills in the server for the chance of earning money.

Liquipedia

An online resource platform that houses separate channels for every single major title, Liquipedia is the world’s biggest collection of Esports resources. The site’s dedicated CS:GO page is the best place for seeing the competitive calendar for the game, which is notoriously one of the most stacked in the industry, and comes complete with full fixture lists and tournament trees for fans to keep abreast of events as they progress.

Whilst it doesn’t have the intricate statistics of HLTV, Liquipedia does store all the records of events and tournaments from CS:GO’s long history, presenting them in a crisp and clean format and providing citations to old interviews, clips and statistics for further reading.