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:

• Fixed a client crash caused by using custom HUD files

Hey, everybody! We wrote a comic! It’s full-sized, it stars the whole cast of the TF2niverse, and at least one person dies in it! It’s the first issue of an ongoing six-part series, set to come out bi-monthly, and you can read it here.

This is the first time we’re releasing a comic that isn’t tied to an impending update. Why are we doing this? Because sometimes reading is its own reward. Not most of the time, obviously. But we think you’ll agree this comic series deserves to join the menu at the Olive Garden, Fitzscott Gerald’s The Great Greatsby, and the beginning part of a jet-ski manual that tells you how to start the jet-ski as one of the three or four things humanity has produced that’s actually worth reading.

You are about to embark a word-packed adventure. And what better way to send you off than with this famous quote about the joys and perils of reading?

It's a special day today, folks—and that's because just four thousand minutes ago on this day, Team Fortress turned 17 years old! (We were going to give you a list of other things that turned 17 this year, but it turns out when you google "17 year old celebrities" at work, someone from HR comes by and tells you the police want to talk to you.)

Anyway, to celebrate our right-on-time, certainly-wasn't-on-August-24th birthday, we're pushing out an update! Just like last year, we're handing out Birthday Party Hats, which you can equip all year round, and Birthday Noise Makers, which can only be used over the next couple of days.

In non-birthday-related update news, we've also added something mysterious called Chemistry Sets for you curious chemists out there, and Romevision sharing, so anybody playing Mann vs. Machine on the same server with an owner of the Hardy Laurel can opt in. All that plus the usual bug fixes and map updates.

All we ask in return is that we all pretend it's August 24th. Because that definitely is the date that today is.

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 Chemistry Sets as a bonus drop. Chemistry Sets are recipe items that have varying inputs and varying outputs. You can complete a Chemistry Set by fulfilling all of its inputs, which will then give you the items it has listed in its outputs.
• The in-game player status panel has been updated to show an animated image of your character with their current loadout
  • Can be disabled in Advanced Options
• Added Romevision sharing: anyone playing Mann vs. Machine on the same server with an owner of the Hardy Laurel can now opt-in to Romevision
  • Manage your Romevision preference in the Advanced Options dialog
• Fixed a bug that would prevent Jarate and Mad Milk from applying to all targets within range
• Fixed a bug that would cause the Marked For Death icon to stay in the world after the owning player died
• Fixed a bug that would allow Spies to exploit the Kunai's higher overheal limit
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Medigun's "Share Power Ups" upgrade from working correctly in Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed a bug that would cause the last few characters of text to be lost when copying text from input fields
• Fixed a client sv_cheats exploit related to the commentary dialog
• Fixed a problem that would cause the shotgun shell model to appear incorrectly third-person when using the Family Business
• Improved bot pathing behavior around ramps
• Bots can now reflect energy-based projectiles
• Fixed incorrect alpha in the backpack images for the Valley Forge and the Founding Father
• The Foppish Physician and the Distinguished Rogue are now paintable and are team-colored by default
• Added server log entries for jarate_attack and milk_attack when using Jarate, Mad Milk, or the Sydney Sleeper
• Fixed using an incorrect path for downloaded custom player sounds
• Fixed duplicate support/mission icons in the Mann vs. Machine HUD
• Don't allow players without admin access on the server to use the various entity-creating commands to create point_servercommand entities
• Updated cp_egypt_final
  • Fixed players building inside of Blu's first spawn
• Updated cp_manor_event
  • Fixed players building in rafters
• Updated cp_mountainlab
  • Fixed clip brush exploit above hallway leading toward final cap
  • Fixed exploit where players could be trapped in small space near final cap using teleporters
• Updated plr_hightower
  • Added nobuild to cliff bottom to prevent engineers building in the kill volume
• Removed Salvage Crate #50
• Removed Mann Co Supply Crate #56
• Added Mann Co Select Reserve Crate #60
• Added Mann Co Supply Crate #71
• Updated the localization files

The next big Multiplay LAN, Insomnia 49, takes place August 23-25 in Telford, England. Top teams from Europe will be joined by community-funded North American and Australian teams to fight in a 6v6 cup and Highlander 9v9 tournament.

This year's i49 features a prize pool of more than $7,000. With over 420 Team Fortress 2 players attending, i49 is one of the largest competitive Team Fortress 2 events of the year!

Don't miss the Grand Finale on Sunday, August 25th, at 11 AM Eastern time (4 PM England). The matches will be covered by VanillaTV, (with added content on their YouTube channel), and KritzKast throughout the weekend.

You don't need to read a history book to know that Rome was a thriving empire bent on conquest, or a rich fantasy world populated by minotaurs, cyclopses and hobbits. Either way, you don't need a fancy history degree to know it was probably one of those.

You also don't need to go to four years of BS history school to get an all-class laurel wreath. You just need to pre-purchase Total War: Rome II. Once you get the wreath, try equipping it in a game of Mann vs. Machine to watch history come alive with an authentic Rome-Bot Invasion. You don't have to be a fat know-nothing history professor to figure out that we painstakingly researched every single aspect of these Ancient Roman robots for 100% historical accuracy, from going to the library only to find it closed to remembering stuff about that trip we took to Italy once, which is probably close to Rome.

So pre-purchase Total War: Rome II today to get your laurel, and sock it to those history majors who think they know more about Ancient Rome history than you just because you dropped out of their stupid history college after one semester and they got a smelly diploma.

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 Total War: Rome II "Romevision" promo for Mann vs. Machine mode
• Updated the localization files

Wireplay's assembled its biggest prize pool to date for the new 9v9 Season. Signups close Friday 30th Aug and the league starts September 8th. Get full league details on the Wireplay site!

United Gaming Clans are starting up their Highlander and 6v6 leagues in preparation for their Fall season. The first week of matches starts September 9th for Highlander and 11th for 6's. UGC has divisions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand for both formats. Players from any of these regions are encouraged to sign up and join the fun! Remember, the last day teams can sign up is September 14th. Visit the UGC website for more information!

The folks over at eXtelevision just released a pretty fascinating documentary they made about competitive Team Fortress 2 and the blood, sweat and tears that went into hosting the first-ever TF2 global LAN tournament. We're always suckers for movies with "TF2" in the title, and it doesn't hurt that it's an engrossing watch, either. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube here.