"Counter-Srike: Source will not start pre-loading on the 5th. We are working extremely hard to get it out and will have more information on this soon." - Jess Cliffe

Well then. That pretty much... sums it up! For those not in the know, Counter-Strike: Source is the Half Life 2 version of good ol' CS, and a beta version was scheduled to be released on August 10th with preloading on Aug 5th. However as Cliffe just said, that ain't happenin. Oh well. We'll have to play Doom 3 to pass the time, eh?

The one and only Kiltron, Ritual mapper and creator of the previously released CZ Deleted Scenes Mission "Terrorist Retaliation" has published a new mission called "Runaway Trains". Here's a brief description:

"You take the role of a French GIGN operative where Terrorists have hijacked a transporter train that is shipping goods and military equipment through Basel, France. They are on a mission to launch a nuke over France killing everyone in the country. They have taken hostages, so you have to find and save them as well. There aren't too many games out there that let you play on dual moving trains navigating through each one to make it to the front. Good luck!"

Note: This map really pushes the HL engine very hard. If you have a low end system, it's probably not going to run very well for you. This mission was made for a beefy machine.
 

Gamespot recently had the chance to play Counter-Strike: Source. The preview doesn't shed much new light on the game, but it does contain a nice video interview with Jess Cliffe and Doug Lombardi.

...but Valve has plans to consider exploring different gameplay types after Source is released. In the meantime, Valve's current plan is to include basically everything featured in Counter-Strike version 1.6 (the most recent version), with as many good features from Condition Zero as possible (minus the features that simply weren't working out too well, like the riot shield--a handheld item that defended players from gunfire).