My big takeaway from this Gamespot video interview with Valve’s post-beard Chet Faliszek (*minute’s silence for Chet’s beard*) was just how important and terrifying it was for them to open the game up to the audience. Counter-Strike has a template that every PC gamer understands, and Valve let them into Global Offensive before they’d even managed to capture that feeling. Erk.
So they have to deal with things not working in the biggest game series they have, and hope the community understand that it’s coming. With an August 21st release date (Chet: “the August 21st date is not the end of development; it’s just the date when everyone will be able to get it.”), you’d be forgiven for thinking that all they need to do is polish and add some maps, but an upcoming patch will completely rewrite directional sound: “You will have more control over your sound, how it works, and the feedback you get than ever before.” my 7.1 Logitech cans just hummed in excitement.
There’s also an interesting point about matchmaking: they snuck it into Left 4 Dead 2 and didn’t tell anyone. It didn’t work particularly well, but they will be looking at what worked and bringing it across to Global Offensive. I’ve spent so much time playing Arms Race that I’ve barely dropped into the main game mode, so I’ll have to see if it’s working yet.
Expect post-release DLC, as they’ve written it up on a whiteboard in their office. That said, the once stuck me in a room at Valve HQ with the HL2: Episode 3 plans scrawled all over it and I’m still waiting for that. I’ll only ever tell anyone what I saw with my dying breath, which is likely to be before Ep. 3’s release.