The Second Annual Saxxy Awards start in just 10 minutes! And to celebrate, everybody who participated in voting is getting a free Saxxy Clapper Badge!

Don't forget to watch the Spike Video Game Awards pre-show December 7th, where we'll announce the winner of the "Best Overall" category live!

Lastly, due to getting fewer submissions than we'd hoped for the "Best Original Universe" category, we didn't think it was fair to the other finalists to showcase it at the awards site, since they had to battle through stiffer competition to make it this far. But congratulations all the same to TheMike, Black_Stormy, Crazyb2000, Gamerman12, Oggnog, =|NLR|= Narry Gewman and Anton on their winning short "Elements". Your Saxxy's on the way, guys!

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a problem with some materials not being displayed correctly
• Fixed weapon pickup sounds not being played for some weapons

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Tuxxy
• Added a new promo item
• Fixed some HUD clipping issues when using cl_hud_minmode
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine popfiles not properly resetting on changelevel
• Fixed seeing an error model when watching replays with missing models
• Fixed missing materials in the control point HUD on attack/defend maps
• Fixed a problem that would cause Halloween spell effects to appear on some items
• Updated the Mann Co. Store
  • Cosmetic items purchased in the store moving forward can be used in crafting
  • Class starter bundles now contain a Name Tag instead of a class-specific hat

The awards are getting polished. The limousines are gassed up. We're even steam-cleaning all the gravy stains out of the red carpet. All those portentous omens can mean just one thing: In just 48 suspense-packed hours, the Second Annual Saxxy Awards presentation will begin—LIVE, on the internet!

If you're looking for something to do while you're whiling away those hours, why not visit the awards site and keep time with our handy countdown timer? It's not just fun—it will teach you valuable lessons about the passage of time that you can use in your everyday life! If watching precious seconds subtract themselves from your lifespan isn't your thing, make an appointment with the local Teufort tailor and grab The Tuxxy (available Thursday from Mann Co. Store) so you'll have some dapper duds for the big night.

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include:

• Added a new item to the store "Upgrade to Premium Gift"
• Increased the maximum size of backpacks from 1000 to 2000

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a client crash in the sound emitter

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed a dedicated server hang in bot pathfinding
• Fixed the tf_zombie entity crashing some servers

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed an audio problem for Mac users
• Added a new ConVar sv_shutdown_timeout_minutes
  • Forces a server to shutdown if it has been requested to do so, even if the server is not empty

Team Fortress 2

• Added new promo items
• Fixed a crash in the class loadout panel for Mac users
• Fixed a dedicated server memory leak when running Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed tf_forced_holiday not properly forcing the holiday mode
• Fixed an Mann vs. Machine exploit that allowed permanent ubercharge/critboost effects on non-Mann-Up servers.
• Added missing style names for the Plutonidome, Sir Hootsalot, and the Bat Outta Hell
• Fixed column header labels being clipped in the scoreboard
• Fixed a dedicated server performance issue related to bots
• Fixed an incorrect texture for the Jumper's Jeepcap
• Fixed team colors for the Voodoo JuJu (Slight Return)
• Updated the localization files
• Updated cp_gullywash_final1
  • Fixed the large curved railing in the Blu Base to mirror the railing in the Red Base
  • Fixed Red Capture Point 2 to prevent capping through a wall behind the point

Voting is now LIVE for the Second Annual Saxxy Awards, from now until midnight GMT, November 27th! Your votes will help our panel of judges make the final call on which entries are the most gut-bustingly hilarious, the most eye-wettingly dramatic, the most pants-crappingly action-packed, and the most heart-tuggingly romantic. We don't want to oversell things here, but this is quite literally the most important thing you will ever cast a vote for. All that Presidential election hooha? Consider that nonsense practice for your voting finger, like the training montage in Rocky IV, except instead of your finger lifting a telephone pole up a mountain on its back, it'll be clicking a mouse button.

How to Vote

Every video entered in the 2012 Saxxy Awards can be viewed and voted on at the Saxxy Awards voting page. Head over now to vote! We've randomized all the entries to keep things fair; however, you can filter by category if you're more interested in some genres than others. After you've watched an entry, simply upvote it or downvote it and move onto the next one. Vote as much as you like, but remember: you've only got one vote per entry.

Also, with such a huge number of entries, it's a challenge to keep on top of entries breaking the contest rules. So if you spot an entry that's longer than five minutes, or that's using copyrighted (i.e. not Valve, and not public domain) material, help us out and report it.

The winners of this year's Saxxy Awards will be revealed on November 30th, with the exception of the Best Overall category. Why? Because the winner of the Best Overall category will be announced LIVE on the GTTV Spike Video Game Awards pre-show on December 7th, AND their entry shown on the air. Stay tuned for details!

Mixup Number Five has been announced giving players an opportunity to both donate to a good cause and a chance to play with the developers and various other community notables. Three lucky donationists will be randomly chosen to fill out the rest of a 9v9 team! If you're curious how it went last time around check out the replays.

Just a friendly reminder to anybody planning on submitting an entry to the Second Annual Saxxy Awards that the deadline is November 15, 12:00 AM GMT. This means that we won't accept entries after this date. Those of you planning on waiting until there's a single adrenaline-gorged second on the countdown clock, remember: You're not Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker and there's absolutely no need to do this. If you want to ensure your entry gets submitted, do not wait until the last minute.

Also, once your entry has been submitted, don't forget to double-check it. (You can find it in the Videos tab of your Steam Community profile.) Note that if you’ve uploaded your video to YouTube before, you may encounter a duplication issue. Learn how to fix it here.

One last thing: We've received some questions about using music. Just to clarify: Using royalty-free music in your entry is absolutely okay, but you should submit a source link in your entry's description as proof of the music's royalty-free-ness when possible.

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
Source Engine Changes (TF2, DoD:S, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a bug that was causing intermittent lag spikes for Linux dedicated servers
• Fixed a crash while command-tabing on Mac in fullscreen
• Fixed not running on Mac OSX 10.5.8

Team Fortress 2

• MERASMUS! has leveled up at WizardCon!
  • "The Skull Island Topper" now tracks the highest level of Merasmus the owner has helped defeat
  • Increased Engineer, Scout, Pyro and Heavy damage against Merasmus
  • Increased Soldier and Demoman damage against Merasmus while he is in hiding
• Saxxy Awards submissions are now being accepted for the Replay category via the in-game YouTube™ uploader
• Fixed the Heavy not playing the correct audio when equipping all of the Grand Duchess items
• Fixed the Grand Duchess items not being groupped as an item set
• Fixed a bug that allowed spells to be applied to base items
• Added zombie character images and a new Halloween background for the main menu
• Beta version of new item import tool, available in game in the Steam Workshop submission process
• Fixed Mann vs. Machine robots not taunting when they level up while carrying the bomb
• Updated the health bar for Merasmus and Monoculus
• Added more credits to Caliginous Caper, Wave 666