Aug 4, 2011
Team Fortress 2 - SZ
<img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/soldier_quake.jpg" height="215" width="420" border="0">

It was way back on August 24th, 1996 that the first version of Team Fortress took its first feeble baby steps out into the world. At the time it only had five playable classes, no maps, and--believe it or not--no hats. There wasn't even a concept of teams yet. That's right, we didn't actually get teams into a game called Team Fortress until a couple of releases after the initial launch. (The next time someone says their game isn't ready to release yet because they're missing a core feature, you can helpfully point this out to them.)

What the initial version of TF did have, though, was a Soldier class wielding the original Quake's iconic weapon, the rocket launcher. Now, fifteen years later, thanks to Bethesda and id software you too can wield that same rocket launcher in TF2, original sound effects and all.

It ended up being surprisingly difficult to integrate the Quake rocket launcher into TF2, mainly because any time we started working on it, we'd get sidetracked by hours of reminiscing: about that first Quake game, about its impact on us all personally, and on Valve overall. When Quake celebrated its 15th birthday this past June 22nd, we realized just how damn many of us at Valve are here because of id software. Some of us were inspired by their games' technical prowess, and others by getting their first taste of game development thanks to Doom and Quake's revolutionary approach to user-generated content.

So, thanks id, for... well, everything.<br />

<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/"><img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/quakecon_sale.jpg" height="38" width="420" border="0"></a>

As long as we're here, we might as well tell you how to actually get your hands on that rocket launcher we've been getting all misty-eyed over. If you've been living under a rock, you may not be aware that <a href="http://www.quakecon.org/">QuakeCon</a> started today. We're celebrating with a <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/">QuakeCon Steam Sale</a>, where each day we'll have a new Bethesda title on sale. We've built TF2 items for pre-ordering Rage and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and whipped up an awesome Brink mask for those of you who own Brink (which also just released some <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/22364/">free DLC</a>). <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/2210/">Quake IV</a> landed on Steam today as well, and buying that will net you The Original Quake rocket launcher. We're also big Fallout fans, so we politely sent a few thousand emails to Bethesda until they let us build a replica Pip-Boy for the Engineer, which you'll get if you own <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/22380/">Fallout: New Vegas</a>. Note that all of this only runs the length of QuakeCon, so keep an eye on the QuakeCon Sale.<br /><br />
Aug 4, 2011
Team Fortress 2 - SZ


It was way back on August 24th, 1996 that the first version of Team Fortress took its first feeble baby steps out into the world. At the time it only had five playable classes, no maps, and--believe it or not--no hats. There wasn't even a concept of teams yet. That's right, we didn't actually get teams into a game called Team Fortress until a couple of releases after the initial launch. (The next time someone says their game isn't ready to release yet because they're missing a core feature, you can helpfully point this out to them.)

What the initial version of TF did have, though, was a Soldier class wielding the original Quake's iconic weapon, the rocket launcher. Now, fifteen years later, thanks to Bethesda and id software you too can wield that same rocket launcher in TF2, original sound effects and all.

It ended up being surprisingly difficult to integrate the Quake rocket launcher into TF2, mainly because any time we started working on it, we'd get sidetracked by hours of reminiscing: about that first Quake game, about its impact on us all personally, and on Valve overall. When Quake celebrated its 15th birthday this past June 22nd, we realized just how damn many of us at Valve are here because of id software. Some of us were inspired by their games' technical prowess, and others by getting their first taste of game development thanks to Doom and Quake's revolutionary approach to user-generated content.

So, thanks id, for... well, everything.




As long as we're here, we might as well tell you how to actually get your hands on that rocket launcher we've been getting all misty-eyed over. If you've been living under a rock, you may not be aware that QuakeCon started today. We're celebrating with a QuakeCon Steam Sale, where each day we'll have a new Bethesda title on sale. We've built TF2 items for pre-ordering Rage and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and whipped up an awesome Brink mask for those of you who own Brink (which also just released some free DLC). Quake IV landed on Steam today as well, and buying that will net you The Original Quake rocket launcher. We're also big Fallout fans, so we politely sent a few thousand emails to Bethesda until they let us build a replica Pip-Boy for the Engineer, which you'll get if you own Fallout: New Vegas. Note that all of this only runs the length of QuakeCon, so keep an eye on the QuakeCon Sale.


Aug 4, 2011
Team Fortress 2


It was way back on August 24th, 1996 that the first version of Team Fortress took its first feeble baby steps out into the world. At the time it only had five playable classes, no maps, and--believe it or not--no hats. There wasn't even a concept of teams yet. That's right, we didn't actually get teams into a game called Team Fortress until a couple of releases after the initial launch. (The next time someone says their game isn't ready to release yet because they're missing a core feature, you can helpfully point this out to them.)

What the initial version of TF did have, though, was a Soldier class wielding the original Quake's iconic weapon, the rocket launcher. Now, fifteen years later, thanks to Bethesda and id software you too can wield that same rocket launcher in TF2, original sound effects and all.

It ended up being surprisingly difficult to integrate the Quake rocket launcher into TF2, mainly because any time we started working on it, we'd get sidetracked by hours of reminiscing: about that first Quake game, about its impact on us all personally, and on Valve overall. When Quake celebrated its 15th birthday this past June 22nd, we realized just how damn many of us at Valve are here because of id software. Some of us were inspired by their games' technical prowess, and others by getting their first taste of game development thanks to Doom and Quake's revolutionary approach to user-generated content.

So, thanks id, for... well, everything.

Half-Life 2

Uncover a Twisting Tale in this Brilliant, Deceptively Deep Half-Life 2 ModBranching storylines have become quite the thing in games lately, but most games don't take the idea much farther than "choose option A to get ending A, choose option B to get ending B."


That's not the case with The Stanley Parable, a smart, twisty new Half-Life 2 mod by Davey Wreden. The first time I played it, I finished it in a few minutes and thought, "Well, that was neat."


Then I played it again, just to see what would happen if I did things differently. And that was when I figured out what The Stanley Parable is actually all about.


There's a lot more to say about this mod and the many fun ways it experiments with video game storytelling, but I'll save that for later. For now, you should really just download it (link is below) and see for yourself.


Just remember: when you finish, you're not finished.


The Stanley Parable [ModDB]


[High-five to razzbarry for the tip]
Team Fortress 2 - Valve
In celebration of the mega gaming event QUAKECON, save big on different games from id Software and Bethesda each day, now through August 8th 10am PDT.

Today only, save 65% on all DOOM & QUAKE titles when you buy the DOOM & QUAKE Complete Pack, which now includes the newly available Quake 4! If you just want a few of these classics to fill out your collection, they are also available for 50% off individually (except Quake 4). This offer ends on Friday at 10am PDT.

Or, pick up the massive QUAKECON Pack, a collection of all released id and Bethesda titles at over 75% off!. Save an additional 20% off the QUAKECON Pack by pre-purchasing either RAGE or Skyrim (oh yeah, Skyrim is now available for pre-purchase!). Or Save over 40% off the Pack by pre-purchasing both of them!

Plus, BRINK is 50% off and available to play for FREE this weekend, starting now through Sunday at 1pm PDT.

Finally, get unique in-game items in Team Fortress 2! Get "The Original" Quake rocket launcher when you buy Quake 4 or get the RAGE Wingstick when you pre-purchase RAGE.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more great deals and special offers.

Team Fortress 2

Starting today, Steam is celebrating id and Bethesda's Quakecon with deals on their games. Sales will change daily from now until August 8th. Today's deals include discounted games, free-to-play Brink, and in-game specials for TF2.


Quakecon 2011 Steam Sale [Steam]


Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 Bethesda Items
Ever wondered what the Heavy would look like wearing the Nord's helmet from Skyrim? Good news! Kotaku reports that Team Fortress 2 has been updated with new weapons and items from a range of Bethesda's biggest games to celebrate the start of QuakeCon 2011.

There are five items. The Soldier gets a Quake rocket launcher, the Sniper gets a Brink cowl andĀ face mask, The Heavy will get Skyrim's horned helmet and the Engineer will get both Fallout's arm-mounted Pip-Boy and the three-pronged boomerang-like Wingstick from Rage.

There's no news on whether there will be a special way to earn the new items, more will hopefully be revealed when QuakeCon kicks off tonight with a keynote speech from id co-founder John Carmack.
Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 Secretly Teams Up with Fallout, Quake & Elder ScrollsThe latest update to multiplayer shooter brought with it a few secret surprises, in the form of unique items inspired by those used in games like Quake, Fallout, RAGE and Brink.


OK, so with QuakeCon this week it's a Bethesda marketing stunt (having published the last two Fallout games and owning id Software, the creators of Quake and RAGE), but these are cute enough to walk right on by that.


There are five items in total: the Sniper's Anger (based on the Resistance in Brink), the Soldier's Original (based on the rocket launcher from Quake), the Engineer's Pip-Boy (based on, well, the Pip-Boy from Fallout) and Wingstick (based on a weapon from RAGE) and the Heavy's Tamrielic Relic (based on a helmet from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim).


No word yet on how you actually get hold of the items.


August 3, 2011 Patch [TF2 Wiki, thanks wtfisthisidonteven!]



You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
Counter-Strike: Source - Valve
Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)
  • Added a check to prevent kicking Replay and SourceTV clients from servers

Team Fortress 2
  • Added new items for upcoming promotions
  • Fixed a case where health overheal wasn't being applied when multiple healers were involved
  • Fixed the new Gravelpit backgrounds using the wrong filename
  • Updated the Mask of the Shaman
  • Updated the localization files
Portal

The Voice of GlaDOS Is Back for More Portal WorkThe very talented Ellen McLain, a singer by trade but best-known to you lot for her voice-acting work in Valve games, is apparently returning this week to her most famous role: that of bitchy artificial intelligence GlaDOS from the Portal series.


A tweet from McLain's husband, John Lowrie, reads "Ellen is going in Tuesday for a new game and more Portal work".


We could read a ton into that brief sentence, but that would be both premature and highly speculative! Which when it comes to Valve games is downright pointless. Instead, we'll just warn you: that new game could be anything (she's a Valve favourite after all, working on more than just Portal), and more Portal work could be anything from DLC to a cartoon to an upcoming line of ringtones and talking bobbleheads.


Still. It's Portal something, and for most of you, that'll be good enough!


John Lowrie [Twitter]



You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
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