As promised, Valve and Hidden Path have delivered a new Operation for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans tonight. Operation Phoenix includes eight new community voted maps, new weapon skins, cases, and coins.

The update is included with a general update for the game.

Changelog for CS:GO for February 20, 2014

OPERATION PHOENIX
- Started Operation Phoenix http://blog.counter-strike.net/operationphoenix/
- Operation Phoenix Passes are available for purchase. They provide access to:
-- Eight maps, chosen by the community, available on official CS:GO matchmaking for all game modes.
-- An upgradable Operation Coin, that tracks all competitive matchmaking statistics for the duration of the event.
-- Exclusive access to the new Operation Phoenix Case, with 13 Community-Created Weapon Finishes.

MISC
- Teammate Colors:
-- Added convar cl_color to allow players to set their preferred teammate color index.
-- Renamed teammate colors convar to cl_teammate_colors_show and added option to display Color Letters over teammate colors in competitive ("cl_teammate_colors_show 2").
-- Teammate preferred color can now be chosen when in a lobby and displays above player avatars.

- Damage can no longer be done to teammates during a freeze period in any mode.
- Fixed cs_baggage skybox texture.
- Fixed cl_draw_only_deathnotices 1 and cl_teamid_overhead 0 not hiding the overhead player arrows.
- Fixed player flair icons getting cropped on avatars in the lobby.

Aug and SG556
- Scope dot no longer fades too quickly during online play.
- Scope dot is slightly more visible against bright backgrounds.
- Scope dot is now tinted using the player's crosshair color settings.

MAPS
- Overpass
-- Smoothed out movement on truck in Bombsite A
-- Simplified cover in bombsite B
-- Removed some trees in upper park
-- Smoothed out ground in canal
-- Removed small walls near playground entrance
-- Tweaked cover in playground
-- Small fence at birthday area no longer block bullets/grenades
-- Simplified corridor to CT sniper position
-- Improved player visibility
-- Improved performance

- Nuke
-- Made wallbanging through large metal doors consistent
-- Added back pretty lighting in bombsite B
-- Made it possible to throw grenades through skylights in warehouse
-- Fixed some graphical bugs

NETWORK
- Added support for threaded socket processing on clients and servers.
- Significantly reduced the size of client connect packet to be below MTU.
- Optimized split packet processing sequence.
- Client address is no longer transmitted in official game events or saved in official GOTV demos.
- Client P2P NAT requests are now always rejected when connected to a game server.

The latest operation is just $2.99 (USD) from now through May 1. Plenty of additional details and images can be found at the special Operation Phoenix page.