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.
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.
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.