Team Fortress 2 Message Board older than one year ago

#deals Those who own Team Fortress 2 can pick up an all-important hat - and a very useful skillet - free for use in that game if they go grab Left 4 Dead 2 before 7 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). More »

Hello there, Team Fortress people. Now that I got your attention, the name's Whitaker, from Left 4 Dead 2. Nice little setup y'all got here. Now, I'm told y'all are hired killers. Also, I wanna make it clear that this is ALL I've been told. Ol' Whitaker don't pass judgment, and he don't take sides. RED, BLU -- your money's all green here.



Now, to business. I have once again been asked to try and clarify the essence of some sales paraphernalia.

Trading, purchasing, and a host of new items now available.

#valve No longer will you have to endure hours of Team Fortress 2 play just to unlock the game's hidden weapons, defensive items and wearable accessories. Today, Valve opened the Mann Co. Store, which lets you buy goods with real-world cash. More »

You may want to sit down for this one, innocent, doe-eyed gamer. Valve - the gaming company that no matter how rich they may or may not be always has your best interests in mind - has just released an update to the oft-updated Team Fortress 2 that is going to radically alter your worldview. You see, in-game items are no longer things you earn through sheer digi-work and e-sweat; the so-called "Mann-conomy Update" will allow players to use actual Earth bucks to purchase items. How many items? Valve's Robin Walker tells PC Gamer, "It's roughly the equivalent of 60% of the items we have released in the 120+ prior updates." So, a lot.

Item cost will range from $0.49 to $4.99 and "community item contributors will get paid based on the sales of their items." Instead of using an in-game wallet, Team Fortress 2's Mann Co. Store will use the Steam Wallet service which is available for in-game purchases in any Steam game. In addition to making items available for sale, the update also adds item trading, item customization, a dueling minigame, mystery item crates, and item sets. It's a lot of stuff, is what we're saying. Read the source links below for all the gory (or exciting, depending on your perspective) details.

We've been getting some emails asking a lot of the same questions answered on the Mann-Conomy F.A.Q., so we thought we'd go ahead and send the link around again for those who missed it.

One of the interesting side effects of shipping free updates for Team Fortress 2 over the years has been a large and devoted group of people who write us asking if they can simply buy game items directly. We also get regular feedback from the bean counters on our fourth floor, who -- after watching with tooth-grinding irritation as we shipped over 120 free updates to a three-year-old game -- gently suggested that we "make some f$*&ing money already."

Then it hit us: it'd make everybody happy if we really DID let players buy items directly. Players'd be happy because we actually listened to them for once, and the bean counters would be happy because in-game stores are the future of everything, including making some f$*&ing money already.



Flash forward a few months, and we're proud to introduce the in-game Mann Co. Store. And, because we'd hate to satisfy the bean counters completely, we've decided community item contributors will get paid based on the sales of their items. So you can make some f$*&ing money already too. Now, I'm sure you have dozens of questions, so just this once we put together a nifty F.A.Q. Of course the best way to find out more is to fire up the game yourself and check out the new Mann Co. Store for yourselves!

"Dance Fortress 2" may only be 40 seconds long, but it's something you'll probably watch over and over again. Created by animator James Benson over four months, the scene features several elaborate dances by the Team Fortress 2 cast.

If you're interested in viewing each dancer separately, you can find all those clips on Benson's YouTube channel. And, before anyone asks, the song over the credits comes from You Have to Burn the Rope, which you should totally play!

#cosplay It's a shame Lee Camara isn't making any more of these replica Team Fortress 2 weapons, because I would not just buy one, I would buy 18, and enough coloured jumpsuits to go around. More »

#clips Meet the Heavy and ignore, for a minute his massive weight loss instead listening to his monologue about his gun, his wonderful, wonderful to-scale gun. More »

Just a quick heads up: our exhibition match with pros and pubbers is going to begin shortly. If we're being honest, we're 10% excited, 90% terrified. You should also be terrified, because our usual MO is to take notes of everything that happens during a match, then make changes to the game in bitter, small-minded retaliation. If Dave Riller can't kill someone because they're hiding behind a wall? Guess what? That wall's toast in tomorrow's patch. And if I get killed by too many Scouts, then there'll be no more Scouts, in any game, ever. Double jumps will be a fond memory in your grandad's head. Trust us on this. We have connections at Nintendo. Mario will develop a sudden desire to wear lead weighted boots.

Head over to the ETF2L page to see how you can watch the fun.

#gunweek Whether you're serious low on ammo or just want to make someone's life completely miserable, there's nothing quite like bringing a hammer, crowbar, or chainsaw to a gun fight. Here are some of our favorite gun alternatives. More »

#movies The hilarious, universally acclaimed "Meet the Team" shorts for Team Fortress 2 are more than fan service or game promotion. Valve founder Gabe Newell says they're experiments in movie-making, because the studio would prefer to do a Half-Life movie itself. More »

Well, this is certainly ... unexpected. Telltale Games recently uploaded a brief teaser trailer (posted below) for an unannounced title featuring a few cryptic messages, as well as the line-up seen above. Fans of adventure games (and, uh, team-based shooters) will recognize the silhouettes pictured therein as Tycho from Penny Arcade Adventures, Max from Sam and Max, the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 and Strong Bad from Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. That's in order from left to right, in case you're really unfamiliar with the aforementioned games.

We could spend the rest of the fantasizing about the manner in which these four properties could be blended, but we won't have to wait long for the actual explanation -- the trailer promises more info on the untitled project will be released next Thursday, September 2.

#clips Telltale, the team behind the new Sam & Max and Monkey Island series, have a new game on the way. One that's teasing a crossover of epic proportions. More »

#clips The Knights of the Round Tble song is one of the highlights of the film The Holy Grail. It's now also the highlight of your weekend, Team Fortress 2 fans. More »

Since our recent TF2maps.net Art Pass Contest, our level designers have gone back to their default state at the TF2 offices, which is to say, doing nothing, taking naps, eating lunch, and complaining. This has become a bit of a poison pill for the rest of the TF2 team, all of whom possess strong opinions about working (against it), naps (pro), lunches (very pro) and complaining (big fans).

#southkorea Gate Online, a South Korean online game Kotaku previously introduced, appears to take its cues from two Valve titles: Portal and Team Fortress 2. More »

#clips Using sparse backgrounds, Garry's Mod and the power of C&C Music Factory, YouTube user thejazzman9475 has for the last month been taking some of Valve's best characters and breathing a little extra life into them. More »

#nsfw You thought Xbox Live was bad? "ChoZo" would like an F-word with you. Here's 10 minutes of hilarious rage that makes the Mel Gibson phone calls sound like Bob Ross on The Joy of Painting. Warning: Very strong, loud language. More »

If you thought Valve was going to cash out its stock in Team Fortress 2 after releasing an update for the game's ninth and final class, then you thought wrong. Speaking to PC Gamer, Valve's Robin Walker revealed that a mess of new content would be added to the game in yet another free update next month. Of course, after feeding "next month" through our inscrutable Valve Time Converter, that time period actually ranges between September 2010 and April 2035.

These updates will add around 20 items and weapons to the game, all of which come from the user-created Polycount contest winners. Unlike other community items, these will be playtested and balanced, and will have stats on par with Valve's equipment. Players will be also be able to trade items when the update goes live, one of the shooter's most oft-requested features. Also, a new game mode will be included in the update, though Walker remained mum on the particulars of this new gametype. Given our wide collection of beautiful hats, we're really hoping it's some sort of fashion show.

#valve Now that every Team Fortress 2 class has received his (or her) class updates, where does developer Valve go from here? Onward and upward, with at least one new substantial update, due soon(ish). More »

#tf2 The talented kids at video game art forum Polycount are again working their magic on Valve's Team Fortress 2, giving us a glimpse at what Red v Blue would have looked like in the age of steamships and cowboys. More »

The fine folks over at ETF2L have launched their Highlander Community Challenge, and we're excited to be a part of it. We'll be giving out in-game medals to everyone who participates, so if you've got some friends who should stop wasting their gaming time and get to the work earning virtual goods (for you), now's the time.

On August 31st WiNGSPANTT and 7 other Golden Wrench owners will commit a nigh unutterable act of brazen item-aggression so egregious that we shudder to think of the implications should the Administrator herself catch wind of it.

On that day 8 Golden Wrenches will be destroyed.

#clips Team Fortress...Warhammer 40K...two very different beasts, but bring them together and you've got...a very different beast. More »