With all the people still begging for beta keys you'd think the game was miles away... It isn't. The release date is August 21st and at that moment the long wait will be over for everybody who wants to get their hands on the latest instalment in the legendary Counter-Strike series.

It has today been announced that Valve should be taking pre-orders on the game as of the 21st July, one month before it goes on general release, and that it will retail at $14.99. It's not clear what incentives, if any, there will be for pre-ordering the game.

In addition to that it's also been revealed by Valve that they will have the game running in an open beta sometime between the date of pre-order and release, although they haven't given a date as of yet. Whether that is a ploy to ensure last minute tweaks are ironed out with a bigger playing sample, to test the water with the community or a bid to sure up some sales, it's not clear.

Regardless the development of the game is obviously something Valve are working on very hard as there hasn't been an update for a few weeks, suggesting that they are polishing the game ready for its release in just over a month.

Source: CS:GO Blog