A new Team Fortress 2 update has added 'Highlander' mode to Valve's shooter, a mode first played by inventive players where, as you might guess, there can be only one.

The 'Highlander' mode limits teams to only one of each class for jolly action up to 9v9 where teams must strategise beyond throwing demomen at a problem.

Highlander has been played unofficially in TF2 for some time now, both spontaneously by players using the honour system and through server-side plugins created by fans to alter the game rules. There have even been competitive Highlander ladders.

The patch brings a handful of other changes, including fixes for maps added by the recent 'War' update. Valve recently announced it would be bringing player-created content into the game in another way, by adding cosmetic custom items.

Engine

Enabled Steam Cloud support for key bindings and custom... Read more

Having already embraced community contributions by adding select user-made maps to Team Fortress 2 PC across various updates, developer Valve has taken things a step further by allowing fans to submit custom items and see them appear in-game.

"Weapons, hats, avatars -- designed by you, used by the entire TF2 community," explains Valve. "Pending approval, your item will get added to your backpack, and cycled into the random item drops in-game. Blow up stuff using a weapon you created! Kill an enemy, then let him know he died in a hat you designed!"

Alongside a submission form and the technical requirements for said items, the official "Contribute!" site packs item creation tips plus word that "Community-created avatars and items will eventually be displayed in an online image gallery."

As Valve continues to update and expand Team Fortress 2 PC, the latest addition to the two-year-old multiplayer shooter comes in the form of computer-controlled bots.

These "digital killing machines" are a "work-in-progress," Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth revealed on the TF2 Official Blog, noting that their implementation is beta.

"TFBots are 'players', and take up player slots," explained Booth. "They run the exact same code that human players do, moving and firing weapons by pressing 'virtual buttons'. The bots have simulated humanlike senses, and only know what they see, hear, and touch. They also have realistic reaction times and aiming limitations. They don't 'cheat' or use omniscient knowledge of the server state to make their decisions."

In their current form, the bots can only play on three King of the Hill maps--koth_viaduct, koth_sawmill, koth_nucleus--and need to be spawned via console command. A graphical interface for bot spawning and control will be added soon, but until then:

• To add bots to your game, use the console command tf_bot_add. This will drop a random bot onto a random team (assuming there is a free player slot). The tf_bot_add command can... Read more

Team Fortress 2's War' update is now live, bringing new soldier and demoman weapons and achievements, two new maps, and a free weekend as well as a 50% discount.

The alpine CP_Gorge is "designed for quick rounds and fast, frantic play" with only two control points, while CTF_Doublecross brings the joy of bridges to capture the flag.

In sad news, the foolish soldier has been declared winner of the update's titular war, winning with 6,406,065 points to the demoman's 6,372,979. As such, the churlish class has been awarded The Gunboats, secondary slot boots which reduce the damage caused by rocket jumping. May they weigh heavy on his feet and upon his soul.

Both classes also receive three new weapons in the update, while a crafting system lets players turn spare items into useful stuff.

In celebration, Valve has is running a Team Fortress 2 free weekend until 1pm PST on Sunday while a 50% discount brings the shooter down to $9.99 for the weekend.

With Team Fortress 2's 'War' update arriving today, Valve has revealed the demoman and soldier's other alternative weapons, as well as their new achievements.

The demoman's final weapon is revealed as The Scottish Resistance, a replacement sticky-bomb launcher which detonates only the spiky balls o' doom the cyclopean eye is looking at and is able to lay down twice as many, but each has a longer priming time.

Replacing the soldier's shotgun, when carried The Buff Banner charges as the soldier takes damage, ultimately allowing him to raise it for fourteen seconds and grant nearby teammates mini-crits. The Equalizer pickaxe "becomes more deadly the more damage you take, letting you move faster and hit harder the more wounds you endure."

In war news, we are delighted to report that the crafty demoman has almost caught up to the idiot soldier in the war to earn a "secret, exclusive" fourth weapon, and at time of writing is behind by only 14,792 kills. The canny Scot would be ahead had the soldier's score not been artifically inflated by the winners of a propaganda poster contest.

A list of the two classes' new achievements follows below... Read more

As the Team Fortress 2 'War' PC update media warmup heats up, Valve has announced another TF2 free-to-play weekend, revealed a new rocket launcher for the soldier and delivered yet another splendid comic.

Created for soldiers "who have mastered the art of shooting at their targets instead of vaguely near them," The Direct Hit has a 70% smaller blast radius than other leading brand rocket launchers but its rockets fly 80% faster and with "25% more destructive force," as well as scoring guaranteed mini-crits on mid-air targets.

The arrival of the 'War' update on Thursday will kick off another weekend of free TF2 for all, and would-be mercenaries can now pre-load the game on Steam.

Tireless demoman are picking up the slack in the update's titular war. At the time of writing, the gap had closed to 4,923,531 soldier casualties caused by demomen versus 5,056,134 demoman murders at the cold hands of soldiers. A fourth "secret, exclusive" weapon unlock will be granted to whichever class is on top when the update launches.

Valve has previously revealed in the week-long media blitz that a crafting system will be added and that the demoman picks up a shield and haunted claymore. New maps, achievements, "surprises" and the remaining weapon unlocks are waiting in the wings.

Team Fortress 2's Scottish cyclops the demoman will receive a shield and haunted claymore as part of the 'War' PC update this week, Valve Software has revealed--and celebrated with a lovely new comic.

"Slow-forged for generations in the bowels of captured English kings," the haunted blood-hungry 'Eyelander' claymore replaces the bottle. While it cannot cause critical hits and reduces the demoman's starting starting maximum health, the Eyelander grants him a boost to maximum health and speed for each head it claims.

Replacing the sticky-bomb launcher, 'The Chargin' Targe' allows the Eyelander to crit, and grants 65% damage resistance and 50% fire damage resistance, not to mention the alt-fire ability to charge forward at great speed with boosted melee crit power.

At the time of writing, Tavish DeGroot and his valiant demoman brethren trail behind the soldier by roughly 250,000 kills in the update's titular class war. Whichever frags the other the most before 'War' hits on December 17 will receive an exclusive fourth unlock.

In addition to new maps and items for the Soldier and Demoman, the forthcoming Team Fortress 2 PC "WAR!" update will bring a crafting system to the colorful multiplayer shooter.

"If you thought all those duplicate hats and weapons in your inventory were incredibly useful before, man, were you wrong! You were also in the quiet minority, if the forums were any indication," developer Valve explains.

"EVERYTHING in your inventory now contributes towards something you actually WANT, and can build YOURSELF! If you're super clever, you'll even be able to craft new items before others can earn them the old fashioned way...Blueprints--some of which you'll get right off the bat, others of which you'll have to puzzle out on your own--will tell you which ingredients you'll need to combine to make different items."

The update, along with its mysterious and fiercely contested seventh item, will hit Team Fortress 2 on Thursday, December 17. Thanks to Dyllers for the heads up.

The "meaningful" Team Fortress 2 update teased by Valve has been revealed as 'War,' a double-class update for the demoman and soldier which will pit the two against each other ahead of the patch's release on December 17.

As well as the usual new maps, achievements and three unlockable weapons for each class, the War update contains an extra exclusive weapon the classes must war over.

"Gentlemen, I have NO IDEA what this weapon is. I don't even know if I'll WANT it," said a foolish and ignorant buffoon of a soldier. "But BY GOD, I know what's IMPORTANT, and it's that WE get it and the DEMOMAN DOES NOT."

Soldier deaths at the hands of demomen and vice versa in will be tracked over the coming week--and displayed online--then whichever class racks up the most kills will be granted the "secret, exclusive seventh weapon" when the War update hits.

"To war, my loyal Demos!" urged one particularly charismatic and wonderful demoman. "To blood and scotch and bombs! To the death of our betrayers and the sobbin' sound of their dyin' regrets! TO WARRRRRRR!"

Update: The Team Fortress 2 blog has now been updated with the phrase "Friendship ends in one day," with an accompanying comic suggesting that whatever this brings, it involves the Red Demoman and Blu Soldier.

"We've got something coming, but it's not a new game mode," Valve's Robin Walker further teased Kotaku. "The key to understanding the new sound files is to figure out who's hearing them in-game, and who isn't."

Original: Following reports that the latest update to Team Fortress 2 PC brought with new Announcer quips mentioning friends, mercenaries and betrayal, developer Valve tells Shacknews they are already being used in-game for something "meaningful."

"So far, we haven't seen anyone on the various forums out there who's figured it out," Valve's Robin Walker told us, noting "there's something about... Read more

Valve has announced that hat-hungry Team Fortress 2 PC players who pre-order Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam or redeem a retailer-provided pre-order code can now don this fall's hottest TF2 fashion accessory--the green beret made famous by Bill in Left 4 Dead.

"For the first time in history, two separate Valve universes collide," Valve proclaims in a post on the TF2 Blog. "This is not fan fiction! This is not a dream sequence! The characters from Team Fortress 2 will team-up with Bill's hat from Left 4 Dead 1!"

"And lest you think this is just some marketing gimmick," Valve explains, "here's the intricate back-story justifying it: while conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe."

In other L4D2-related digital clothing news, Valve has confirmed to G4tv that Left 4 Dead 2 on Xbox 360 will grant Live avatar items in return for achieving certain tasks. Nine awards in total will be up for grabs, including a med pack and t-shirts.

• Left 4 Dead 2 Shirt - A Left 4 Dead 2 shirt earned by... Read more

Revealed mere hours ago, the "Terrifying Team Fortress Haunted Hallowe'en Special" is now available to all owners of Team Fortress 2 PC in the form of a free automatic update.

The download delivers Harvest, a community-made King of the Hill map, along with the addition of pumpkin bombs, collectible candy, and five achievements that unlock "Mildly Disturbing Halloween Hats."

In keeping with the Halloween theme, players will find Harvest to be haunted by "the restless spirit of Zepheniah Mann," which "will scare senseless any player unlucky enough to cross his spectral path, rendering them temporarily helpless with fear!"

The festivities run through November 2. For more details, look below... Read more

Update 2: The sale has come to a close. We'll let you know when the new content goes live.

Update: The $2.49 sale is only running for a few hours--it ends today at 2PM PDT--so act fast.

Valve's colorful multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 will be celebrating the impending pagan holiday for the first time, the company has revealed via official channels.

"The Terrifying Team Fortress Haunted Hallowe'en Special" brings exploding pumpkins, candy and five achievements that unlock "Mildly Disturbing Halloween Hats," along with Harvest, a new community-made King of the Hill map from Sean "Heyo" Cutin.

The new map is haunted by "the restless spirit of Zepheniah Mann... Read more

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.

More info on the mod, and servers where it's being played, can be found in the Steam forum thread. Thanks to fullbright for the link.

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.

In the future, users caught using external programs to idle in Team Fortress 2 servers will have all of their items wiped.

"Meanwhile, everyone who took the moral high road will soon be finding a new hat in their inventory," Johnson added. "We've also significantly increased the chance of finding any of the existing hats."

Valve is currently working on new systems to enhance the item system, including trading mechanics, and a combination system that would allow two duplicate items to be melded into a desired reward.

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.

"The reason we're doing it is... that we think that's where our customers already are," Newell explained. "They're saying 'Figure this out, don't... license it to somebody else. You're the people who understand the property and we're fans of you... 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.

Community map CP_Yukon was also added in an update to the patch notes: "This abandoned mountaintop coalmine was repurposed by shadowy operatives into a top secret surveillance outpost--one which also, so nobody gets wise, insidiously continues to mine coal. There is also a log hanging in the center of the map--possibly as an example to other logs. Logs that said too much."

The full patch notes follow:... 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."

"Once the point is captured by a team, their team clock will start a three minute countdown. If the enemy team manages to capture the point back, their clock will start counting down while the other team's clock freezes at the time the point was recaptured."

KOTH_Viaduct (shown above) will serve as the first map specifically... 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.

The community map, Arena Offblast, is described as a "fast-paced, high-altitude community map set in a top secret missile silo wedged into the top of a hollowed-out mountain."

Several hilarious hidden pages on the teaser site also hint at unannounced features. Any guesses, readers?

No release date for the update was announced. Thanks to Gummy Joe for the tip.

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."

European and American competitive TF2 clans are being recruited for the beta, which will incorporate changes to the game ahead of an update's release to provide Valve with valuable balancing data.

"To iterate effectively, we need to be able to measure the impact of our changes," he said. "Up until now we've been successful at measuring that impact on the... Read more