Mann vs. Machine's been up and running for over a week now, and we've been hard at work since we launched to make the experience even better. We've upgraded our matchmaking system and given a huge boost to our server count, reducing the average wait for Mann Up Mode down to a minute or less, and Boot Camp to around two minutes. So you should be able to get in to play a lot faster, and get matched up with people a lot closer to you.

Also, guess whose birthday it is? Did you guess Team Fortress or Valve? Well, technically sure, both are sixteen years old today. But more importantly, today is the birthday of high-wattage Hollywood megastar Steve Guttenberg, who is probably 112 years old today, if we had to guess.

In celebration of all of these birthdays, and birthdays in general, Birthday Mode is active in the game! Happy sweet sixteen, everybody! We're not going anywhere! Long term, we mean. Short term we are going somewhere, because Team Fortress is now old enough to drive, so we're gonna go Tokyo Drift over to the cake store.

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)

• Added a new command "kickall" which kicks all connected clients except for replay, HLTV, and the listenserver host if applicable
• Updated Steam binaries; fixes Linux crash on shutdown or restart

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed a problem with items not displaying the correct styles
• Added a new command "player_ready_toggle" for players to ready-up in MvM mode
  • Can be bound to any key in the Keyboard tab of the Options dialog
• Fixed the Metal Regen upgrade displaying a percentage instead of an incremental value
• Fixed a few MvM sounds not being precached properly
• Added Taskbar Window Flash and Drum Roll sound on successful match making for Windows users
  • Sound will play even if the game is minimized
• Added difficulty text "Normal" and "Advanced" to the MvM scoreboard when playing official Valve missions
• Fixed UI Bugs related to the MvM splash screens (Wave Loss and Victory)
• Fixed a UI Bug that would display previous MvM loot on the victory screen for subsequent MvM games
• Server browser will now show MvM mission name in the "map" column. (E.g. "mvm_mannworks_advanced")
• Community requests
  • Fixed a crash when spawning the tank in non-MvM games. Added SetHealth, SetMaxHealth, AddHealth, and RemoveHealth inputs to the tank entity
  • The tf_bot_add command can now create a bot with a custom name and can create a bot that isn't managed by the value of tf_bot_quota by adding the custom name and "noquota" arguments respectively

The Multiplay Insomnia Gaming Festival in Telford, England is UK's biggest LAN tournament, and unquestionably one of the highest profile TF2 competitions in the world. One thing it didn't have until recently, though, was any American representation. E-sports broadcaster eXtv has been spearheading a fundraiser to get our boys in the fight, and the TF2 community has responded, donating the money for airfare, PCs, and accommodations to get America's top TF2 players to the 6v6 tournament.

We couldn't be happier to hear this, firstly because it once again proves that TF2's got the most generous community in gaming history, and secondly because U! S! A! U! S! A! Actually, there might be some Canadians on the team. Close! E! Nough! Close! E! Nough!

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:

• Fixed matchmaking sending players to out-of-date servers
• Fixed the server browser showing an incorrect player count in MvM games
• Fixed a crash that could occur on map change if another player was being healed by the dispenser or payload cart
• Fixed a rare server crash when firing hitscan weapons
• Fixed MvM intro video not playing on some Macs
• Fixed the sound precache string table being nearly full in non-MvM games
  • This was causing the "error writing string table baseline" and "failed reading message net_SetConVar" errors

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 where rejected players could leave a "ghost" player that takes up a slot on the server browser

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed tf_mm_strict to work as documented

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)

• Updated client rate value to default to 30000 to improve network performance for most players
  • Rate was previously set by Steam’s Internet connection speed setting
• Updated client rate value to be stored in the config.cfg file

Team Fortress 2

• Fixed a crash caused by a string table overflow
• Fixed a client crash related to the freeze panel
• Fixed a client crash related to ragdolls
• Fixed a client crash related to the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel
• Fixed a client crash related to Mann vs. Machine stats
• Fixed a crash related to server plug-ins spawning a Mann vs. Machine Tank before the game is ready
• Updated the dedicated server to exit when attempting to start a Mann vs. Machine map with less than 32 maxplayers
• Fixed mp_timelimit causing Mann vs. Machine mode to not reset properly when the defenders lose
• Fixed the Mann vs. Machine wave loss/victory dialog buttons not being clickable sometimes
• Fixed the Mann vs. Machine victory dialog getting stuck on the screen
• Fixed the Mann vs. Machine wave summary dialog showing up at the beginning of the first wave
• Fixed seeing incorrect upgrades in the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel
• Updated upgrade icons to remove numbers
• Fixed Sentry Busters picking disposable buildings as valid targets
• Fixed an instance of the Sentry Buster sound looping endlessly
• Updated the backpack image for Archimedes to fix an alpha channel problem
• Updated the colors for The Battery Bandolier
• Fixed the disconnect reason not being localized properly for Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed player glow colors not based on player health in some community mods outside of Mann vs. Machine mode
• Removed console spew related to missing movement warnings
• Updated the matchmaking ConVar tf_mm_strict
  • A value of 2 will hide the server from the server browser but will still allow direct connections
• Updated Mvm_Mannworks
  • Adjusted clipping on left side drop down where bots may become stuck
  • Fixed lighting seam near base
  • Fixed vphysics prop error in console
  • Minor clipping pass on areas players may become hung up on

If you watched last night’s GT.TV special about Valve, you already know that we’re holding the second annual Saxxy Awards this fall. What you don’t know is that we’ve decided to make the Saxxy’s a lot more like an illegal underground martial-arts bloodsport. That’s right: This year there are no rules. There are, however, a whole bunch of brutal laws, traditions, commandments and decrees, plus some rules, which we’ve assembled in a handy bullet-pointed list on the official Saxxy website. Kumite!

Interesting math fact: If you added up every Steam Screenshot, every YouTube clip linked from a Steam account, and every Workshop item you guys have created together, you'd have over 89,000,000 pieces of community-generated content. Wow, is that a big number. And since we take the time to print out every TF2 screenshot, transfer every TF2 video to DVD, and lovingly whittle every TF2 item you design out of soap, the TF2 offices are getting a little cluttered. A load-bearing picture stack in the screenshot district toppled over last week, and the fire department suggested we create some sort of central online hub for this stuff before somebody died.

Introducing the TF2 Game Hub, a central repository of community-created and official content, as rated by you, the Steam users—game-centric discussions, workshop items, screenshots, videos, news. It's all here, under a single virtual roof.

And this is just the first step. We plan to have a hub for every game on Steam—click here to find out more about the new Steam Community. We're sending out an invite-only beta for the Community today, but the TF2 hub's outside the beta and visible to everyone, so feel welcome to drop by and check out some of the new features.

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:
Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

• Brought in line with shared engine changes

Team Fortress 2

• Added Mann vs. Machine
• Added Archimedes
• Added The Soldier's Stogie
• Added The Robro 3000
• Updated The Helmet Without a Home to be paintable
• Fixed some clipping issues with The Salty Dog
• Removed player penetration from The Pomson 6000 and boosted the damage to compensate

All right, men! This is it! Gray Mann's robot army is HERE! The Mann vs. Machine war has begun!

The robots are at our doorstep, men, and trust me – they are not going to be asking for a cup of sugar. No! These monsters are going to break down our doors, take our sugar, and sprinkle it on our graves!

While you sassy little sweet peas are chewing on that, strap on your book-goggles and prepare to learn about Mann Up Mode! And loot and achievements! And a new map designed by ME! Hup hup hup! Eyes left! Eyes right! Eyes left! Eyes right! Now you are READING, puddin' cups!