Darkimmortal's crazy Prop Hunt mod for Team Fortress 2 has been out for a little while, but somehow eluded us until now. Thanks to the below video, we can safely say this is something worth checking out.

The setup is simple: one team spawns as Team Fortress 2 props and scurries to hide, while the other all-Pyro team must seek out and identify those props from the rest of the scenery. It all results in some fairly hilarious situations, such as the sequence beginning at 4:25. Read more »

Team Fortress 2 players that made use of external programs to earn random item drops in the game are now being punished for their ways, according to a new Valve blog post.

"Over the next few days we'll be removing all TF2 items that were earned using external idling applications," said Valve's Erik Johnson, who noted that 4.5% of TF2 players will be affected by the measure. Read more »

In addition to Left 4 Dead 2 details, the latest episode of GameTrailers TV revealed more of Valve's TF2 comic book plans as well as movie and Television show dreams.

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell told GTTV that Michael Avon Oeming--artist on fine comic book 'Powers' and writer of 'Ares'--is onboard, "teaching us about what it means to have a character and do character development in a comic format, how you do storytelling." The comic book was previously said to be by the team behind TF2's "Meet the..." trailers. Read more »

After only two days of teasing--an abbreviated period of anticipation for Valve--the latest Team Fortress 2 update has now gone live.

In addition to the 18 new hats, a new community map, and the King of the Hill mode, the update also includes a reworked version of Sawmill for capture-the-flag play.

Read more »

Valve has updated its teaser site for the upcoming "classless" content release, announcing a new "King of the Hill" mode.

The new mode is "focused around a single central capture point that must be defended for three minutes," according to Valve. "Gameplay begins with the point initially locked--after a short time, it will open for capture by either team." Read more »

In lieu of its normal classy demeanor, Valve today announced that Team Fortress 2 is getting its first ever "classless" update.

As with past updates, the content will be revealed over a number of days. The initial blast included the revelation that eighteen new hats--including a cowboy hat for the Engineer and a Russian ushanka for the Heavy--will be added to the title, in addition to a new community map. Read more »

Valve has started a Team Fortress 2 closed beta test, with the goal of balancing the game for competitive matches, according to TF2 developer Robin Walker.

"The TF2 Beta is something we've just started running," said Walker to Shacknews. "It's aimed at filling a hole in TF2's iterative development model."

Read more »

Team Fortress 2 lead Robin Walker says that Valve is not entirely happy with its new method of random weapon drops, and could eliminate the unlock system entirely.

"I think we've learned that the random drop system is only good for some types of things, like the rare cosmetic hats," said Walker to CommunityFortress. Read more »

After announcing an agreement nearly one year ago today, Valve has updated its Orange Box games--Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, and Portal--to support Novint's Falcon three-dimensional controller. Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat will also soon receive similar updates.

The $150 Novint Falcon (shown left with optional pistol grip) was released in 2006. The three-dimensional "haptic" device is operated by a small spherical grip connected to three robotic arms. Read more »

The latest update to Team Fortress 2 has re-enabled achievements as a method of unlocking the new Sniper and Spy unlockable items, a clear response to fan complaints

of the new randomized system.

Players will still earn unlockable weapons randomly, but the weapons and items can now be gained in the traditional fashion by steadily earning each class' achievements. The Sniper and Spy unlocks come at 5, 11 and 17 achievements, while previous class unlocks come at the 11, 17 and 22 mark. Read more »

With yesterday's Sniper vs. Spy update, the way unlockable items are earned in Team Fortress 2 was changed entirely, from the achievement-based grind to random item drops. Now Valve has posted on its official TF2 blog to explain the changes, and what improvements are coming next.

"[The] new system watches the amount of time that players are playing TF2, and gives them a chance to find items at regular intervals," writes Valve's Erik Johnson. "They aren't guaranteed to get the item at those points, but they have a pretty good chance." Read more »

Update 2: As some users have noticed, there are a few bugs in the new unlockable system. Valve's Robin Walker explains to RPS:

"As in everything else we do, we want to iterate, so this is really the first step towards our desired implementation," said Walker. "We also think we have bugs in the system as well, since we're seeing some players not finding any items after a few hours of play, which is not at all how it's tuned. We want unlockable drops to be a pretty regular occurrence for players, with the cosmetic hats being the rare finds." Read more »

The final tease for the Team Fortress 2 update has been released by Valve, bringing the Sniper's third unlockable alongside the first TF2 comic.

The comic is centered around the unlockable, which is in fact derived from this year's TF2 April Fools' joke. Yes, the sniper will now be armed to the teeth with jars of urine. This videogame is insane. Read more »

The third, and presumably the final Spy unlock to be announced for Team Fortress 2 adds a powerful new handcannon to the class' aresenal.

"It has the ammo count of a revolver and the pinpoint accuracy of a sniper rifle, even at long range," writes Valve. However, the developer also notes that such a powerful revolver requires a significant cooldown period between shots. Read more »

Gearing up for this Thursday's release of the Sniper-Spy combo update, Valve has released a list of the 35 Spy-specific achievements coming to Team Fortress 2.

In light of the accidental release of its "Meet the Spy" video last weekend, Valve also awarded itself a "corporate achievement." Read more »