Update: Looks like we didn't have to wait too long at all for confirmation of the project: Valve just distributed a press release announcing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, an updated and expanded version of the seminal team-based shooter. Slated for an early 2012 release on XBLA, PSN and Steam, the downloadable title will add "new maps, characters, and weapons," renovated versions of classic maps (what's up, de_dust) and a plethora of new modes, matchmaking options, leaderboards and other modern shooter mainstays. Best of all, it'll be playable later this month at PAX Prime. Check out the full press release after the jump!

Original post: A heaping pile of evidence is growing in support of a future installment in the thoroughly-played Counter-Strike universe -- this one subtitled Global Offensive. The most promising tidbit is the Facebook page of anti-cheat gaming community ESEA, which revealed the name of the game, and promised more info later this morning. The post was preceded by an image of ESEA's Craig Levine at the offices of Valve. (You can tell it's legit, because hey, there's a giant valve.)

Valve designer Jess Cliffe corroborated the title on the Steam forums, correcting an earlier poster who labeled the game "Global Operation." Also, Electronic Sports League manager Bastian Vieser claimed on Twitter that he "Just spend [sic] all day playing the new Counterstrike Global Offensive" at Valve's HQ. It certainly seems like a real thing -- now there's just the small matter of whether it's a port, expansion or an entirely new game altogether. We've got our freakishly elongated fingers crossed for the latter.