In a bold move, Valve have released a Team Fortress 2 update that doesn't contain any hats. Not even a little one.

It's got loads of other cool stuff though, including coaching and training tools, an improved voting system, better performance, and a dedicated King of the Hill version of Badlands. Badass.

Click more for the details.

The new coaching tools will matchmake you with a more experienced player who can give helpful hints while tethered to you. If you end up tethered to Craig, we recommend an immediate reboot.

There are also improved tutorials for the Demo Man, Engineer, and Spy, dedicated class duels, and more intelligent bots, for all you bot-hunters out there. Better voting, voice chat, loading times, and the ability to link a server to a Steam ID will help optimise your sessions and generate a real sense of hubris.

Read the complete patch notes here.

Are you sad about the lack of hats? Or have you got enough already?

The Team Fortress 2 team just revealed the final number for its two-week charity drive for Japan disaster relief. Benefiting the Red Cross, the sale of three in-game hats (and a few $0.99 noisemakers) produced the absurd number you see above. Quoth the Heavy, you did well.

Good work, you hat-craving, conditionally-generous gentlemen and women. Valve's charity drive that began last Thursday has already produced more than $300,000 in aid to Japan by way of the American Red Cross. The items--three hats and a few of noise-maker consumables--are available until April 6.

Josh leads Dan, Evan, and interns Anthony and Lucas into the podcasting bunker as they tackle the big news stories of the week. Topics include Crysis 2 impressions, Duke Nukem Forever's delay (and booty smacking), Deus Ex: Human Revolution's PC version being outsourced by Eidos, a lightning-round version of Truthiness and Falsity, answering your questions and much more!

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Valve has just deployed a two-week sale on three unique Team Fortress 2 hats, the proceeds of which will go entirely to the American Red Cross fund. Respectfully, we feel obligated to give this promotion a plug: we know your hunger for conspicuous hat consumption, PC gamers, and any transaction that helps relieve the immense toll of this disaster benefits us all. Click within for a peek at the headgear.



"They are tricking compulsive hat-buyers into being good people," declares Dan Stapleton, Reviews Editor for PC Gamer. Valve reminds us that donating directly is always an option.

The next TF2 video will star the Medic, according to a fan who recently visited Valve's offices. While wandering around Valve HQ the visitor got to see a preview version of the next TF2 short film and reported back to fans on the Steam forums, saying that the video is almost finished, it's coming out soon, and it's going to be one of the best TF2 videos yet.

You can read forumite Political Gamer's report in full on the Steam Forums. While he was there he met Valve CEO Gabe Newell, saw Dota 2 in action and watched an unfinished version of the new TF2 video, Meet the Medic.

He says "I have seen it and its 100% real. It's about 80-90% done. Its one of the best "Meet the" videos yet" and adds that "it will be released "soon."

There have already been videos for the Heavy, Engineer Soldier, Scout, Demoman, Sniper, Spy and a sandwich. Only the Pyro and the Medic are left. The last TF2 video valve put out was Meet the Spy, and that was over a year ago. If you've forgotten how great it was, you'll find it below. The rest of the Meet The... videos can be watched on Valve's Youtube channel.

A modder has recreated Portal's Aperture Science labs as a Team Fortress 2 map. Players must fight over one central control point deep inside the facility, and can make use of energy barriers and portals to fight off the other team. If you've ever wanted to see an ubered Heavy carving it up in GLaDOS' chambers, then you'll definitely want to give this map a go. You'll find more information, and screens below.

The level is available now as a 34MB download from TF2 maps. The Red team drop in from a helicopter outside the labs, while the Blu team spawn near GLaDOS' chamber. Both must fight for control of a control point situated in the middle of a test chamber.

The glowing energy balls that were used to power switches in Portal can be found bouncing around a couple of rooms, and will instantly kill anyone who comes in contact with them. There are also a couple of routes into the central control room that can be opened up with a pair of switches on the outskirts of the level. Energy barriers and stationary portals add even more intrigue to this well-designed, polished tribute to Portal. Check out the screens of the map below. Click to see them full size.

It feels as though pre-ordering a burger will net you a TF2 hat these days, but who can argue with the addition of samurai swords to the game? Valve have announced on the Team Fortress 2 blog that eight community created items have been added to celebrate the upcoming release of Total War: Shogun 2. Read on to find out what they are, and how to unlock them.

There are three ways to unlock the new items, through in-game pickups and crafting, by pre-ordering Total War: Shogun 2 on Steam, or by buying them from the Mann Co. Store. The Shogun pack includes four hats, four weapons, and also gives you a noisemaker that emits an oriental gong noise at the press of a button. Here's a run down of the items included in the pack.

Weapons

Fan O'War - Replaces the Scout's melee weapon with a ceremonial Japanese fan. Hitting enemies with this marks them for death. All damage taken causes mini-crits.
Concheror - Flag replacement for the Soldier's Buff Banner. Nearby allies will be healed by a percentage of the damage they deal to the enemy.
Half-Zatoichi - A samurai sword for the Soldier and the Demoman. Once drawn, it cannot be re-sheathed until it has tasted blood. Killing an enemy with it will heal you to 100% health.
Conniver's Kunai - A ninja assassin's blade for the Spy. It reduces the Spy's base health to 60, but absorbs the health of backstabbed enemies, boosting the Spy's health to a maximum of 180.

Hats

Samur-Eye - Black Kabuto Helmet for the Demoman.
Dread Knot - A sumo wrestler top knot for the Heavy.
Geisha Boy - Geisha hair for the Medic.
Noh Mercy - A demonic mask for the Spy.

 

Valve have been experiencing some pretty notable success recently with the new microtransaction system in Team Fortress 2. We recently discovered that the TF2 store sells plenty of its most expensive items, and has been welcomed pretty much whole-heartedly by the community. Now, Valve hope to teach others what they've learnt through TF2 experimentation and help their partners implement microtransactions into their own Steamworks games. Read on for the details.

With Steamworks' new Microtransaction system, an in-game economy can now be readily created by anyone using the SDK. "We've come to understand what type of content sells well in TF2's in-game store, and the various price points at which players value this content," said Robin Walker, game designer at Valve. "Our players are continually teaching us what works and what doesn't. Much of this feedback can be generalised to other titles on Steam, so we're looking forward to sharing what we've learned with partners at GDC. We're also interested in seeing partners get up and running with their own in-game economies, so they can collect game-specific data to inform their design decisions."

Valve have released a community map pack for Team Fortress 2. The pack contains three new maps, including one from the winner of the Team Fortress 2 Art Pass Contest. The maps include Nightfall: a payload race set in a rain soaked forest, Frontier, a single stage payload map in which the bomb has been replaced by a metal dragon monster, and Lakeside, a Egyptian King of the Hill map. The maps are free and will be playable the next time you boot up Team Fortress 2. Map Stamps can be bought in the item store to show support, with the proceeds going to the creators themselves.