team-fortress-2 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Valve selling Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead-themed greeting cards

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 22nd 2009 at 11:59PM }

We know how boring most holly jolly holiday cards can be, so we were glad to see that a handful of Valve-ified greeting cards are now available for purchase at the game maker's online store. Featuring characters from Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Team Fortress 2 in compromising holiday situations, there's no doubt that we'll actually – finally – send out greeting cards this year to everyone in our little black book. We're quite partial to the handful of TF2-themed images you see above (just look at The Spy, back with The Scout's mother!), but we're sure there's something for everyone in your list of Source Engine-loving holiday card receivers.

[Via Big Download]

Valve: Short-term Steam deals don't hurt long-term performance

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 18th 2009 at 6:15AM }

Speaking to GI.biz, Valve's head of Steam, Jason Holtman, had some interesting things to say about the company's frequent deals and their effect on long-term game sales. According to Holtman, Steam's quick game sales -- offering Team Fortress 2 for $2.49 for only a few hours last month, for example -- don't have a negative impact on a game's long-term performance. Holtman notes that once a brick-and-mortar retailer reduces a game's price, people are reticent to ever pay a higher price again, but downloadable games are different. "You can have sales that are dramatically low and bring the price back up and people don't care," said Holtman, "They don't care at all."

Regarding the $2.49 Team Fortress 2 sale last month, Holtman said that sales actually increased the following weekend -- after it went back to full price. He also mentioned Steam's previous half-off sale of Left 4 Dead, noting that it didn't hurt retail sales at all (readers will recall that Valve claimed that it actually boosted retail sales). Holtman stated that it's possible to run several promotions without "sacrificing" either downloadable or retail sales, and added, "You don't have to hurt somebody to win."

Pre-order Left 4 Dead 2, get a spiffy Team Fortress 2 hat

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 3rd 2009 at 4:20PM }

Left 4 Dead survivor Bill's hat is now available in Team Fortress 2 for those who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 from Steam or "participating retailers." Though the hat does ... apparently nothing, it implies – in the immortal words of Destiny's Child – "I'm not gonna give up, I'm not gon' stop, I'm gonna work harder, I'm a survivor."

Some may hold issue with the fact that the Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead universes have collided; however, Valve has explained the phenomena, stating that "while conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe." Done! That's all the justification required. Oh, and if Bill's hat isn't enough incentive to pre-order the zombie apocalypse survival simulator, know that the game is currently 10% off on Steam.

[Thanks, ZaxCG2]

Team Fortress 2 Pumpkin Patch update now live

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 30th 2009 at 3:20PM }

In our hurry to tell you about yesterday's two-hour-long Team Fortress 2 fire sale, we didn't really give you all the in-depth info about the accompanying Pumpkin Patch update which you so richly deserve. We'll rectify that now, but not before saying that a few short hours after the announcement was posted yesterday afternoon, the update went live! You can play it right now -- on PC, of course. Oh, you thought it might come to the 360? That's adorable.

The update will temporarily introduce a King of the Hill map called "Harvest" into the mix, complete with Halloween-themed elements like collectible candy, exploding pumpkins, and the ghost of Zepheniah Mann, who temporarily freezes passersby in a gripping, powerful spell of fear. Five Achivements are available during the festivities, as well as a number of "Mildly Disturbing Halloween Hats," or paper bags with scary faces painted on them. If you're lucky, you might just get the one emblazoned with Joan Rivers' visage. Aaaaah!

Team Fortress 2 knocked to $2.49 ... for the next two hours [update: it's over]

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 29th 2009 at 3:35PM }

Update: The sale is over. We hope you managed to grab TF2 -- for yourself or a friend -- while the getting was good.

Original: Actually, it's less than two hours now, so what are you waiting for? It's two dollars and fifty cents! It's usually twenty whole dollars. Go buy it. Now. Go!

If you grab it now (or if you already have it), you can enjoy the first annual Team Fortress Haunted Halloween Special, which will bring new haunted maps, exploding pumpkins and update-specific Steam Achievements. We'd write more, but that would only waste more time. Time you could spend buying Team Fortress 2.

[Via TF2 Official Blog]

Valve commends Team Fortress 2 'Guard Dog' concept creator

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 22nd 2009 at 2:29PM }

A Team Fortress 2 forum poster named Pyranodon recently uploaded a magnificent piece of fan art for the cartoony shooter: A fake TF2 Class Update detailing the abilities of the game's new "Guard Dog." Though this canine is obviously way too overpowered to be implemented (it's a spy-tracker and a Jarate dispenser!), it's a pretty convincing mock-up -- so convincing, in fact, that Valve's Saxton Hale recently drafted a letter of commendation to the update's creator.

Well, perhaps "drafted" isn't the appropriate word to use there. Now that we think about it, neither is "commendation." We don't want to spoil it for you -- check out the fake update, check out the letter, and then join us as we happily remember why we love Valve so very much.

Virtuous Team Fortress 2 players earn halos

by JC Fletcher { Sep 3rd 2009 at 6:30PM }

Valve has instituted a policy against cheating in Team Fortress 2 on PC, and the consequences will be dealt out in the next few days. If players are found to have used an "idling" application to make the game think they've been in a server, in order to increase the occurrence of randomly-generated items, Valve will take away all their items. "Going forward, if we find users using external applications, we'll remove all of their items," Valve's Erik Johnson said. "If you're interested, only about 4.5 percent of the players in TF2's community will be affected by this cleansing process."

If you aren't found cheating, you'll get -- a free hat! Specifically, a halo. The rate of appearance of all hats has also been increased. And now we wait for the news of Halo players being given free fortresses.

[Thanks, Amun]

The evolution of a Team Fortress 2 map explained

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 22nd 2009 at 6:00PM }

Ever wondered about how Team Fortress 2's oft-visited battlegrounds are created? We assure you, it's not as simple as "insert spawn point, insert spawn point, insert weapons, publish." In fact, in a recent TF2 blog post, Valve explains that the game's mapmaking process is extremely exhaustive, involving countless hours of playtesting, revisions, and special care to ensure no map favors one class over another (except for the Mecha-Heavy, who's pretty much unstoppable on every map).

If you're interested in the fine craftsmanship, check out Valve's blog post. They've got a couple of neat time-lapse videos showing off the mapmaking process, as well as some info pertaining to a completely free King of the Hill community map pack! (That is to say, the King of the Hill gametype, and not the hee-larious Mike Judge cartoon.)

Next Team Fortress 2 update to be completely classless

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 12th 2009 at 10:30AM }

No, the next major update for Valve's oft-expanded FPS Team Fortress 2 won't be without elegance and social graces -- they adequately covered that base with the Sniper update's piping hot jars of urine. Rather, the update won't favor any particular class over another, distributing goodies to every class, and adding new maps into the ever-growing mix.

The first of these non-class specific additions is -- brace yourself -- new hats. Eighteen new hats, to be precise, which presumably add two new hats to each of the game's nine classes' wardrobes. (Math'd!) The first map to be revealed is Arena Offblast, a tricky little battleground perched atop a shear mountain cliff. Players will need to stay wary of the cliff's edges, lest they plummet to their death, and stain their lovely new hats with gray matter.

Stay tuned to the TF2 blog -- they should be adding more information about the classless update in the coming days.

Valve starts closed beta for Team Fortress 2 tweaks

by David Hinkle { Aug 4th 2009 at 11:59PM }

Valve is serious about making some changes to Team Fortress 2. So serious, in fact, that it's enlisted the aid of top players from around the world in a closed beta. Shacknews caught up with Robin Walker, TF2 dev, who said that this beta is to get feedback on some potential changes, feedback only high-caliber players can provide.

"Up until now we've been successful at measuring that impact on the non-competitive TF2 community, because we have good internal proxies for it--the TF2 team itself, plus other internal and external playtesters, Walker said. "Our proxies for the high end competitive play aren't as good, and that's lead to us making some design decisions that have hurt it." It's good to see that Valve is continuing to support the PC version of the game. As for the Xbox 360 version, well, someone should check under the porch. It's starting to smell.

Fallout 3, GTA and Team Fortress 2 as seen through Fauvism

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 24th 2009 at 7:01PM }

Listen, we don't know what Fauvism is, but we know cool art when we see it. Artist James Barnett's oil paintings of scenes from Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Team Fortress 2, are done in the early 20th Century style known for strong lines and color.

We asked Barnett, who has spent more hours in those games than he cares to admit, what inspired him to create images from those games in the style of Les Fauves. He told us, "I really liked the idea of turning on its head the idea of PC 3D video games that had been trying so hard to get everything as close to reality as possible. You have teams of super-talented artists and designers, and you just try and imitate normal old reality? Come on, people! Do something weird! There are enough overmuscled, gritty space marines in brown-grey hallways. I'm less annoyed about this than I used to be thanks to games like Braid and Super Mario Galaxy, and cel shading, etc."

Barnett, who has also done woodcut pieces depicting the Space Invaders, added that the idea of using an age-old process to depict something that couldn't exist at the time was a nice experience. If you've got the cash, you can always purchase Barnett's work from his site. If you've got more cash, you can commission a piece.

Gallery: Barnett's Fauvism series

Valve releases Team Fortress 2 master maps for modding

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 16th 2009 at 7:40PM }

Whether you're a multitalented master of map modification or an acutely amateurish architect, perk up your ears -- Valve just uploaded 10 original Team Fortress 2 maps into the Source developer kit for your modding pleasure. Said maps include Lumberyard, Ravine, Badlands, Dustbowl, Granary, Gravelpit, 2Fort, Badwater, Goldrush, and Hydro.

If your modding experience is limited, you can use these pre-made maps as a canvas for subtle weapon placement and blockade changes, easing you into the finer points of environmental creation. For more advanced world-shapers, you can study the intricate design of these levels to learn how the mapmaking professionals at Valve do they business.

Valve updates Team Fortress 2 for fairness, community responds

by Xav de Matos { May 25th 2009 at 6:00PM }

When Valve introduced the first four class updates to Team Fortress 2, an achievement system was used to help unlock new weapons and items. According to Valve, that system did not work as intended. In the end, instead of playing the game toward fun and rewarding goals, hardcore players would grind achievements to unlock the game's latest weaponry. At the time, users complained the achievement system was changing the landscape of Team Fortress 2's online community -- mostly because some of the achievements were so difficult to acquire regularly.

In response, Valve has changed the new weapon system with the latest update (Spy & Sniper). In the new system, Team Fortress 2 utilizes Valve's Steam Cloud, automatically rewarding players new weaponry and items previously only attainable through completing achievement related tasks.

According to Valve, the new system is designed to reward gamers based on how long they play Team Fortress 2. Play more, get more. But according to the game's forums -- and multiple emails to Joystiq -- some players are unhappy with the changes.

Continued →

Urine for a treat as TF2's Sniper practices 'jarate'

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 21st 2009 at 10:00AM }

We've met the Sniper before, but now we learn what he actually does with all those jars of urine. The latest update in Team Fortress 2's continuing Spy vs. Sniper saga reveals the Sniper brandishing his liquid gold as a weapon. A thrown jar of "Jarate" on an opponent will increase damage by 35 percent (poor Heavy) and can disable the Spy's cloaking device. If it's used on a teammate (eww!), it'll put out fires and jellyfish stings ... if there were jellyfish in the game.

We may not be playing Team Fortress 2 that much anymore, but we're more than happy to let Valve keep chronicling the exploits of the well-developed TF2 cast.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Spy kills Sniper, everyone gets free Team Fortress 2 weekend

by Randy Nelson { May 20th 2009 at 11:59PM }

In memorial of Team Fortress 2's ill-fated Sniper -- and Thursday's impending Spy and Sniper class updates -- Valve is holding a free-play Memorial Day weekend for the game via Steam. This time it's a long one; the game will be open to all from tomorrow, May 21 through Monday, May 25.

According to Valve, those few gamers who don't already have the multiplayer classic installed on their PCs can begin pre-loading the game files now via the Steam client. Then, come Tuesday morning, the game will politely ask if they'd like to pony up the cash to ~~feed the addiction~~ keep playing.

Until tomorrow, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the one character most likely to stab you in the back. We bet the Sniper wished he had.