TF2Maps.net is putting on another level design contest to create a King of the Hill map that is designed around the Highlander style of play. STAR, an active community member, put them up to it and sponsored the contest along with some fun prizes. All the details and rules are available on the TF2Maps.net site.

You read that right (presumably): the long-awaited final Meet the Team short, Meet the Pyro, is dropping in less than three days, and we decided to assemble a massive update to celebrate it.

Mmmmph mmmmph, mmmmm mmmmmp mmmmmph. Mmmmmph mpm! Mmmmmph mph mm! Hm mmmmmph, hmmmmph mm mmmmmph mmmmmph!

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:

• Added The Liquor Locker
• Fixed a rare case where the offensive/defensive buff particle effects could get stuck on players
• Fixed the Spy's cloak effect not working properly for The Texas Half-Pants and the Something Special For Someone Special
• Fixed the Gentle Manne's Service Medal not being drawn when equipped
• Updated some of the localization files

The first step of any map-making process at Valve starts with figuring out what the TF2 community would most like to play. The idea for "Gorge", for instance, came from a brainstorming session to see if we could develop an alternative to the standard Attack/Defense map. The competitive community typically avoids Attack/Defense maps for several reasons, one of which is their potentially long time limits. We thought that was an interesting variable to dig into - could we develop a shorter-form Attack/Defense map? The community overall had also been asking us to make more five-point CP maps, so we thought there was an opportunity to try out a short Attack/Defense map that could then be turned into a five-point CP map via mirroring down the road.

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:

• Added The Surgeon's Side Satchel
• Added new promotional items
• Updated The Stickybomb Jumper
  • Players with this weapon equipped cannot carry the intelligence
• Updated The Rocket Jumper
  • Attributes now match The Stickybomb Jumper
  • Players with this weapon equipped cannot carry the intelligence
  • Updated the model and material
• Updated The Enforcer
  • +20% damage bonus while undisguised
  • -20% firing speed
  • No random criticals
• Updated The Last Breath to fix some clipping issues
• Updated the localization files

Voting on the most recent map contest at TF2Maps.net is now on! Your help is needed to determine the top three of the 27 entries. With all sorts of interesting dynamic elements available in these maps you should download them and give them a play and vote for your favorite. All the details, and a trailer, are available on the contest website.

Six players, six pans, and various food items. Mix. You've got the recipe for competition in this new Ready Steady Pan tournament. There are some ground rules in addition to pans but you probably stopped reading at "pan" and started organizing your teams.

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)

• Fatal engine errors are now written to the server log file
• Added sv_lowedict_threshold and sv_lowedict_action which allow the engine to take action before running out of free edicts
  • Possible values for sv_lowedict_action are: 0 - no action, 1 - warn to log file, 2 - attempt to restart the game, if applicable, 3 - restart the map, 4 - go to the next map in the map cycle

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Sneaky Spats of Sneaking
• Added new promotional items
• Added koth_badlands to eligible quickplay maps
• Added changelevel_next server command which changes to the next map in the map cycle
• Added mp_restartgame_immediate ConVar which has the same effect as mp_restartgame without a delay
• Fixed The Manmelter using the wrong muzzle flash effect
• Fixed The Frying Pan not being positioned correctly for some classes