Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Eurogamer.net Podcast #125: Globally Offensive

The new Counter-Strike is out today. Three 'specialists' discuss their work in its theatres.

"Freedom is not going to protect itself." If there are any words that more accurately summarise Eurogamer's position on the War On Terror, then I have not made them up yet.

With this in mind, it was only natural that a few of us would get together and embrace Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve and Hidden Path's new take on the elder statesman of the modern military shooter crowd. This week we try to convince you to do so too.

Download the podcast

Counter-Strike has a reputation for being difficult to pick up, but that was forged in the old days when it was a Half-Life mod. Nowadays it's full of ways to get stuck in without much prior knowledge, including two excellent new modes: Arms Race and Demolition.

What lies beyond that gentler-than-ever learning curve is the immense gratification of a multiplayer shooter - a multiplayer sport, really - that has been honed over a decade of updates to deliver some of the most entertaining shared gaming experiences around.

'Specialists' Martin Taylor and Dan Bouckley join me today to try to share some of those with you, and also to bring lapsed CS players up to date on what's new. We hope you enjoy, or at least that you delete your download responsibly.