I remember when games used to be obstinate, unyielding creatures. They’d prance through the room, coated in all manner of dust and bugs and glitches, and they just didn’t care. Now, though, they heed developers’ every beck and call post-launch. The things can practically grow extra arms on command. Case in point: SWTOR’s latest patch, which brings it up to not-quite-light-speed with modern MMOs and, of course, Team Fortress 2′s recent case of Pyromania. So then, let’s have a gander at what’s on the menu.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Posts Tagged ‘Team Fortress 2’
Update Double-Up: TOR’s ‘Allies’ Patch And Pyro Day 2
By Nathan Grayson on June 27th, 2012.
Valve Invite You To Meet The Pyro…Soon
By Adam Smith on June 25th, 2012.
Edit: Errrrr, also a massive update for TF2. Details below.
So, that Valve/Adult Swim collaboration. As many speculated, it will be the Meet the Pyro video and, yes, ‘will be’. It was foolish of us to think that the video would just appear without any foreplay, so instead there’s the image above, which tells us that something else will happen on June 27th. I’m guessing that actually will be the video, unless they choose to release one frame every couple of days, some hidden at secret locations around the world, the precise position hidden in Morse code messages transmitted on secret websites that can only be found by reading tea leaves through a specific kaleidoscope constructed in 1924.
Bwah? Valve Teams Up With Adult Swim
By Nathan Grayson on June 23rd, 2012.
Ready for something to come out of nowhere and hit you right in the nose? OK, here it comes. Get ready, brace yourself, and… it still hit you. Because that’s how things that defy the law of conservation of energy to suddenly materialize on our plane of existence work. I believe a more succinct term for it is “surprise.” Anyway! Turns out, it’s an announcement – as things we report on often are. Something Valve-related is making its way to famed purveyor of cartoons with curse words, Adult Swim. But what could it be? WHAT?
Gabe’s Gamble: Valve Gets Its Own Economist
By Nathan Grayson on June 16th, 2012.
Remember when Valve said it was looking to hire all sorts of people from every walk of life – from lowly programmers to the giant-bow-tie-wearingest of fungineers? Well, one bit in there stood out: “And if you’re a first-class economist,” Michael Abrash wrote, ”please check us out. You’ll have a sandbox with 40 million users, and I promise you’ll never be bored.” Well, apologies to RPS’ substantial audience of budding TF2 hat economists. That position, you see, has officially been filled.
TF2′s Hats And Stats Update Makes Me Sad
By Craig Pearson on March 30th, 2012.
It doesn’t take a lot for me to get obsessed. I’d managed to pull away from Team Fortress 2, but then Valve introduced the Strange category of weapons, stat-tracking guns and melee weapons that report how many kills each has, and I got into it all over again. I’m almost embarrassed by how easy it was to hook me back into the mainframe. Worryingly Valve have just added a new category of unlocks to augment the Strange weapons counting abilities: Strange Parts.
Only found in crates, Strange Parts will help you study specific aspects of your performance in battle by letting you customize your favorite Strange weapon. Now you’re free to track the number of enemies you gib, projectiles you reflect, heads you’ve shot, and more.
They’ve also dropped three new hats into the game, and that number is a more descriptive than you realise: there are only three in the entire game, and to get one you’ll most likely need to spend a significant amount of money.
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That Tiny Carton Of Milk
Idle Musing: The Joy Of Single-Serving Allies
By Jim Rossignol on March 16th, 2012.
Remember the bit in Fight Club where Ed Norton is sitting on a plane and he explains to the guy sitting next to him his theory of “single-serving friends”? Well, something similar is true in multiplayer games.
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Money Hat
Totting Up My Team Fortress 2 Transactions
By Craig Pearson on March 15th, 2012.
After looking at the cost of Guild Wars 2 and feeling a muscle in my eyeball involuntarily spasm, I started considering my spending habits. I’m currently splitting my money in three ways: indie games, Steam, and funding in Kickstarter. I don’t have any MMO subs, as I’m mainly action focused, and obviously my Steam account is already crammed with games. But none of this made me twitch. Instead it’s because as PC gamer I’ve never had to spend much on games, and in this odd, new free-to-pay future, in my eyes the cost of games feels like it’s getting cheaper. At least that’s what I thought. The one consistent expenditure I have is when I want to buy something in Team Fortress 2′s store, which saves every transaction. Going over my purchases I realise it’s not cheaper at all, and, in comparison, £50 on Guild Wars isn’t that bad.
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Valve Drops Mad Beats Into TF2, Adds A Boombox
By Craig Pearson on February 10th, 2012.
Uh-uh they did-uhnt. Valve did not just add a boombox to Team Fortress 2 that plays sounds whenever a Scout taunts… I think they did. Just let me check the server over here [opens server door] WELL, NOW I CAN’T HEAR AND I NEED TO CHANGE MY PANTS. BUT I CAN CONFIRM THAT THEY WENT THERE. They’ve released a paid for (£6.99! – too rich for my roots) community item called the “Boston Boom-Bringer“. Whenever the Scout taunts, it’ll play one of four phat beats. If you want to prepare yourself for the aural wreckage that the game’s about to throw at you, there’s a video below.
TF2 Team Aren’t Working On A Hat
By John Walker on February 3rd, 2012.
According to some typically cryptic words on the Team Fortress 2 blog, 2012 holds a “secret project” for the game, and they promise it is neither a hat, nor a map. But they don’t say what it actually is. And there comes the promise that this year will finally see the final Meet The Team video, giving the Pyro the coverage she so deserves. And apparently it’s going to contain an awful lot of blood. But no mention of fire. Finally, there will apparently be a more imminently revealed secret related to the Saxxy Awards. But who knows.
So I challenge RPS readers to speculate – what is the next new inclusion for the game? An entirely new game mode? A new character to muddle all the balancing? An RPG set in the TF2 universe in which you play as a struggling Scout, trying to find his way in the brutal world? A new hat?
TF2Maps Preparing A New Payload Delivery
By Craig Pearson on January 24th, 2012.
Any new Team Fortress 2 Payload maps are relevant to my interests. My interests being defending my themed house from carts of explosives while wearing a very silly hat. I rarely stray from Badwater Basin, but when I do it’s for more Payload fun. So I’m eagerly awaiting the entries of the newly announced TF2Maps.net Dynamic Payload competition, to add a little excitement to the bomb on wheels.
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Saints Row 3 Gets Heavy (And The Rest)
By Richard Cobbett on January 16th, 2012.
Celebrated crazy-em-up Saints Row: The Third is handing out a freebie to all Steam players tomorrow, and going a teeny-tiny bit further than most. You know how Team Fortress 2 likes to gives you hats from other games? Saints Row 3 gives you the TF2 gang’s entire heads, to wear and do with as you will. Fight, dance, love, laugh. The first and the last ones at least.
But you know what else can you expect from this TF2 intrusion?
Respond to our gibber
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- Gap Gen : “Haha, nice.” on Of Course Valve Are Working On Half-Life 3, Now Shush
- AlManiak : “Since all the zombies are almost dead now, it's gonna be called "4 dead left"” on Of Course Valve Are Working On Half-Life 3, Now Shush
- Flappybat : “Have you considered some kind of drink straw based device to drain his game making powers? Just putting it out there.” on Gunpoint’s Creator Is Now Fabulously Wealthy, Still Nice
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