There's some shit going down at the official Team Fortress 2 web site right now. Bird shit, more specifically, is all over the game's blog, as are a few defecating doves. Team Fortress 2 players are also reporting the appearance of doves in-game. What does it all mean?

Well, it may mean the impending arrival of "Meet the Medic," the long-awaited next entry in Valve's increasingly impressive videos that focus on one of the game's nine classes. How did we get from dove excrement to Medic? Well, the three birds perched above the blog's banner lead to pictures of a hospital, waiting room and doctor's office, so "Meet the Medic" is as good a guess as any, especially since the video was said to have been "about 80-90%~ done" by a fan who visited Valve HQ in March.

The last "Meet The..." video arrived more than two years ago, the elaborate "Meet The Spy."

Going by Valve's previous efforts in keeping Team Fortress 2 fresh, I'd expect at least one of the following to be released soon, if "Meet the Medic" is imminent: new weapons, new hats, new maps, new hats, new multiplayer modes and/or new hats.

And if I remember my Valve training, we're just going to have to sit back and watch this thing unfold. *cracks a Bonk energy drink*

Official blog [Team Fortress - thanks, Spookygunslinger!]

The game makers of China, not content to let the Koreans corner the market on Team Fortress 2 clones, have created their own in Final Combat, only this one is way, way more blatant than previous efforts.

Meet "the Rocket," part Team Fortress 2 soldier, part Chinese fireman, all unoriginal. He's just one of nine classes teased at the official Final Combat web site, each of which appears to be lifted almost directly from Valve's game. There's a Pyro with a guitar on his back, a Scout armed with a hockey stick, and a Demoman, distinguishable from his TF2 counterpart only by heavy armor.

It looks like Final Combat added at least one twist. The game's Medic and Sniper equivalents appear to be of the female persuasion.

Like many of the games on the Xunlei portal, Final Combat looks like a free to play PC shooter of lower than Team Fortress 2 or Battlefield Heroes quality.

Now, we haven't actually played Final Combat yet, so it may be a wildly different game than Team Fortress 2. I'm just pining my rip-off accusations to Final Combat's blatant swiping of Valve's character design, sound effects, voice over, interface, typeface and humorous class introduction videos. Well, I'm also just assuming these are humorous videos, that bee stings kill in China.

So maybe I'm way off. Judge for yourself.

Final Combat [Xunlei - thanks, D!]

Playing video games is normally a harmless hobby, but when a game consumes every single waking hour of your existence there's a problem. Commenter Wtfisthisidonteven is looking for help breaking his little brother's Team Fortress 2 habit in today's very special episode of Speak Up on Kotaku.

I'm having a problem with my 13 year old brother. Essentially, he is a computer addict. He literally plays AFTER waking up. He can stay there 10 straight hours without going to eat/bath. The guy just plays Team Fortress 2 all fucking day, checking out his stupid 'hat' business. My brother does have 'friends', but he never calls them or anything. Getting him out is a verbal fight every day. My parents tell him to turn off the PC when he is instructed, but when he gets the chance he turns it on anyway.

This addiction from him is driving me fucking nuts. Angel does not have a clear future. He lowered his grades this school year.

Can someone PLEASE help me? This is turning into a filthy discussion every single day.

(Also, please do not suggest a psychologist; they don't "work" with him)