Just discovered this today.  Kind of excited to tinker with all of the new features.
 
Who's playing?  What are your opinions so far? Are achievements ruining the experience?

Downloading now.

I just wish they would just make Counter-Strike 2. The world needs a new fast-paced tactical shooter.

SO what sorts of new features are we talking about?

Wow, I didn't know they were doing this. I haven't played Counter Strike in ages, maybe I'll give it a spin again.

wait what?

didn't know about this 
will check it out

k never mind, i installed

It's CS:S. Literally nothing is changed about the gameplay.  I do like the achievement stuff, and I really, REALLY like the UI that comes along with it.  It basically seperates the achievements into easy categories instead of TF2's more blunt "list of shit you have to do."  It's nice to see some persistant stat tracking as well, although I don't know if other players will be able to see that stuff or not.
 
The graphical stuff is pretty minor.  Some of the textures look better.  The lighting is improved.  They added motion blur, which I love, and multicore rendering, which is always good.
 
I found a couple of bugs, one of them was pretty bad.  I'm just really surprised Valve is actually going out of their way to update a game so old. It's pretty awesome.

heres the link to the new features. still waiting for the next true CS though
 
link

Great update for CSS. I seem to being pretty good even without playing for months, idk if they changed some things but it felt a little easier than the CSS I remember.

So wait, is this going to just be an update to CS:S once it's been through beta?
 
Edit:  Nevermind, found it out.  Sounds pretty awesome!

The last time I played it something was off about the grenade throwing. 
 
And it was twitchy, but maybe they fixed that.

Perhaps they just opened up more spots for the beta? It seems to be closed again.

Poopie, all slots are filled =(

Its basically counter strike fortress 2

Sweet! Thanks for the update.

 I play a good deal of CSS, and I have to say that Valve has definitely put me off with the UI changes in this beta.  It looks like they copied the new UI straight from TF2.  It feels completely out of place, and in the case of the scoreboard, its obstructive.  The old scoreboard was nice and clean and pretty much see-through.  It told you what you needed to know without blocking your view.  The new board is a giant, gray, nearly solid rectangle that makes it difficult to see anything while you have it up.
 
The rest of the stuff, like the player stat tracking and achievements are pretty cool actually.  Domination/revenge seems ok, and the end of round stats are interesting.  I could do w/o the kill cam, but thankfully there is an option to turn it off.