Hot on the heels of free: a comedy short. It’s Meet The Medic, which I’ve posted below. It’s the tender tale of the medical relationship between the medic and the heavy. It features pigeons doves, severed heads, dodgy accents, blood, blood, and a broken heart.

The details of the Medic update are here. He’s getting a new gun, a new Ubercharge, and an ability to see enemy health.
(more…)

Not exactly a surprise, because we’re the geniuses who called it earlier in the week. Valve have made Team Fortress 2 free to play. The future is free.

Announcement trailer below.

(more…)

Ooh, we didn’t mention this yesterday, but it was apparently Timbuk Tuesday, which revealed Sniper and Demoman stuff, and today is World War Wednesday, which reveals three new packs for the Soldier. No, wait. THAT was yesterday. Today is Thursday, that’s right. More on that later.

But there’s already more! In Tuesday there was hidden stuff for the Scout, too. He gets a radiation-imbued bat that enabled triple jump, with the third jump deal damage. (And other stuff, too!) Oh, there’s also this Pyro stuff.

But what’s this? Some kind of number. 85.236.100.200:27015 What could be it? Possibly the address of the RPS TF2 server? We’ll have to investigate.

Good morning, world. Speaking of Team Fortress 2, how about some actual Team Fortress news? It’s a fine day for the first details on the “most ambitious update in the history of Team Fortress 2″. The first part is a free weekend (starting now, for some reason), and an initial Mafia themed update, complete with a new Payload map. But what else? Valve say:

We don’t want to ruin it, but we’ll give you four clues to get you guessing:

1.) It IS a “Meet the” short.
2.) It involves ONE of the two remaining classes.
3.) It’s NOT the Pyro.
4.) It’s the MEDIC.

So it’s anyone’s guess. More news on this as it happens. I guess I’d better get the RPS TF2 server online, eh? Right, let’s do that.

Whether or not there’s any weight whatsoever to the theory that Team Fortress 2 might turn free to play, it appears someone else got there first. You might find Final Combat to be just a little bit familiar. Just a little. Or a lot. Yes, an awful> lot.

This video? This is quite the video.
(more…)

While there are rumours flying around about Valve’s DOTA 2 project being the first in-house game to embrace the free-to-play model recently made possible on Steam, there seems to be (scant) evidence that another title could be beat it to the accolade: Team Fortress 2.

(more…)

With Bellevue’s finest opting not to make an appearance at E3 earlier this month, we’ve all been left in the dark THE TERRIBLE FRIGHTENING DARKNESS about what’s next on the plate for Valve, and when we might see it. DoTA 2? Portal 2 expansions? Something, at long, long bloody last, to do with Half-Life?

Well, in August we might find out.
(more…)

Canvas is a Half-Life 2 Ep 2 modification that, as mods go, is one of the most impressively produced efforts you are likely to see. It tells the story of a girl with psychic powers, her psychically animated/possessed teddy bear, and the disappearance of her father, which the pair must investigate. Canvas is a 3D puzzle game, where the protagonist and her companion bear must use their powers to overcome obstacles and defeat enemies. Intriguingly, it’s also set within the worlds of various paintings, which they must enter to unravel the mystery.

The teaser is below, and it’s genuinely worth watching.
(more…)

This is it. The end. This column you are about to read will be the last ever Mod News. Sniff. It’s been a pleasure, guys.

But no, really, it has. Over the past year, I’ve had a fantastic time as RPS’ mods guy, and it’s been a real honour to write this column every week – even if it is essentially just a roundup of all the latest happenings on a particular gaming scene. I can assure you that the end of Mod News coincides with the Hivemind’s bigger and better plans for mod coverage in the months ahead. You’re being left in very safe hands.

So, folks, would you join me for one more dance? Here’s the last and final week in mod news, including stuff for Half-Life 2, Neverwinter Nights, Oblivion, Morrowind and Stalker.
(more…)

I’ll admit to some cynicism when the first round of public voting in the Team Fortress 2 Saxxy Awards kicked off. Probably because the quality of the entrants meant it was like picking through poison sea urchins with your bare hands. But all that’s changed! Now we’re down to the final nominees, the ten videos with the most votes in each of the film making contest’s twenty categories. Click here to take part in the final round of voting, or just peer at all the talent on display. I’ve even dropped one of the better ones after the jump.
(more…)