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

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.

"It's good for delivering items to newer players over time, so they're not swamped with choices when they're starting out, and they're not required to grind achievements to get them once they reach the point where they want to start making strategic choices," he said. "For competitive players, it's obviously a bad way to deliver... 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.

The device's motors react to in-game events, with the end result... 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.

The patch also fixes a number of bugs introduced in the recent Sniper vs. Spy update.

The full patch notes follow:... 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."

"When we were tuning this system we first looked at the average amount of time that players spend playing TF2 daily," he continues. "From there, we set the goal of most players having around 20 items in their inventory after a couple of weeks of play. If you're someone who plays a lot of TF2, you're going to get items a lot faster than that.

Johnson also touched on some of the bugs that users noticed... 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."

Update: TF2 steward Robin Walker has confirmed to us that there is now a new way to earn unlockable weapons in the game.

"Items now drop randomly, in addition to the old (pre Spy/Sniper unlockables) achievement tied weapons," said Walker. "We're going to release info on the new system on the blog tomorrow."

Walker also noted that a series of head-slot hat items (see above) can now be earned in the same fashion.

Original story: The largest Team Fortress 2 update to date has finally been released by developer Valve, kick-starting a four-day free trial for the game. Valve also notes that the title will be 50% off its regular price on Steam for the duration of the... 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.

"When splashed on enemies, they take 35% more damage for a period of time," writes Valve of the yellow stuff. "Jumping in water will wash off Jarate. Jarate is also able to short out Spies' cloaking devices. When used on teammates, Jarate will extinguish any fire effects."

Valve is also getting an early start on the weekend and making Team Fortress 2 free to all starting this Thursday.

The trial period will last through the end of Sunday, and will of course include Thursday's "Sniper vs. Spy" update. The game is now available for pre-loading.

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.

The free Spy/Sniper update hits PC this Thursday, bringing new weapons, achievements and items for both classes along with hats for everyone, a new Payload Race mode and two new Arena maps.

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."

"Welcome to the internets: Fail to understand what 'Private' means on YouTube," reads the description, with a note: "It's the only way we'll learn."

1. A Cut Above
2. Agent Provocateur... Read more

Valve's latest Team Fortress 2 introduction video, Meet the Spy, has leaked out prematurely via the company's YouTube channel. The video was apparently taken down shortly after it was uploaded, but the internet spy-checkers sussed it out rather quickly.

Check out the lengthy cinematic below. The combination Spy/Sniper update hits May 21.

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Update: Valve's Doug Lombardi has confirmed to us that the update will include both the Spy and Sniper unlockables.

Original story: The upcoming Sniper update for Team Fortress 2 will also include new weapons for the Spy class, developer Valve announced today.

The Spy announcement fittingly uncloaked during the week set aside for the Sniper revelations, the spook himself using a classic feign ability (below left) to steal the spotlight from the unwitting Aussie.

Two unlockables for the Spy have been divulged by way of a faux order form (above right). The "Dead Ringer" spy watch will leave a dead corpse of the Spy on the ground while the "real" Spy is cloaked for eight seconds. The "Cloak and Dagger" spy watch will grant a cloak regeneration ability, allowing spies to remain hidden indefinitely while immobile.

The free update will now encompass the Sniper and Spy unlockable weapons, the Payload Race game mode, two new Arena maps, and cosmetic head-slot items for all classes. According to the TF2 blog, the whole package will be released on May 21, or next Thursday.