It's been a whole year since you guys played a Team Fortress Halloween map. If we threw you into the 900-mile-an-hour hellride we've got planned this year without warming you up first, you'd essentially be going from an idle state of terrorlessness to a shrieking nightmare of solid 100% terror almost instantly. It would be the equivalent of going from seeing zero skeletons to seeing a thousand skeletons at once. Are your eyes deceiving you? That's when you reach up to your eyes and realize... they are also skeletons! AWOOOOO!

A shock to the system like that wouldn't just kill you. It would make you crap your pants (not fatal), turn your hair white (still okay), and make your heart beat so fast it would blow up your ribcage (now you're dead).

Luckily, you can now play previous years' Halloween spectaculars to get your shock tolerance up in advance of the update. Simply boot up the game, hop into multiplayer and quickplay any of our past five Scream Fortress updates. If you've missed out on previous Team Fortress Halloweens, or are new to TF2 in general, this is a perfect time to catch up.

Also, remember to LOOK WHAT'S IN YOUR DRIVEWAY IT IS THE WOLFMAN'S CAR! See? That was so scary it almost put you in a coma. Get practicing.

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:

• Scream Fortress Classic begins!
  • In preparation for Scream Fortress 2014 we've enabled all previous Halloween events
• Fixed The Larval Lid not using the correct Blue team material

This year's BETA LAN Party will be covered live on twitch.tv at 9:00 CET (4AM EST), October 25th!

Celebrating the foundation of the Lithuanian eSports Association, The BETA LAN Party gives Lithuanian and neighboring country TF2 gamers a chance to gather in one place, participate in various tournaments and meet new people. This year's TF2 event will be held at Kaunas University of Technology; all participants will receive in-game medals, and the top three winners will be awarded with ZOWIEGEAR gaming peripherals.

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 dedicated server crash related to gamestats

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 another exploit that allowed clients to have an out-of-date, corrupt, or modified version of items_game.txt
• Fixed clients not downloading *.dx80.vtx, *.dx90.vtx, and *.sw.vtx files from servers running custom content
• Fixed sv_pure defaulting to -2 instead of 0
• Fixed font issues for Mac clients
• Made the Spellbook Magazine a base action slot item for players to equip and use when playing on a server that uses Halloween Spells
• Fixed not being able to wear Halloween-restricted cosmetic items on Halloween maps outside of the regular Halloween and Fullmoon events
• Halloween spells can now be enabled and controlled on servers via ConVars tf_spells_enabled and tf_player_spell_drop_on_death_rate
• Halloween spells can now be enabled by map authors via HolidayEntity by setting the flag HalloweenSetUsingSpells

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 an exploit related to clients uploading files to servers
• Fixed a problem that allowed clients to have an out-of-date, corrupt, or modified version of items_game.txt
  • TF2 will not run if a bad items_game.txt file is found
  • If your items_game.txt file is reported as being corrupt, delete any items_game.txt files you have added and verify your TF2 installation
• Updated Mann Co. Store prices for foreign currencies to current USD equivalents
• Fixed a timing problem with the Rancho Relaxo taunt animation
• Removed the Limited Late Summer Crate from the crate drop list
• Limited Late Summer Crates can no longer be opened
• Removed the Limited Late Summer Crate Key from the Mann Co. Store
• Limited Late Summer Crate Keys have been converted to Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys
• Fixed Linux dedicated servers not showing up in the LAN serverbrowser tab when using sv_lan 1
• Fixed the Duels leaderboard not displaying current counts
• Added the explosion particles to the list of files that we always enforce consistency on
• Added ConVar tf_classlimit
  • When set, limit each class to the specified value
  • Works in any game mode, but overridden in Tournament mode and Highlander mode
• Updated the model/materials for the Runner's Warm-Up to fix a lighting issue
• Updated the equip_regions for the Couvre Corner and the Pocket Heavy
• Updated rd_asteroid
  • Continued art-pass process
• Updated the vote system
  • Fixed team-specific vote sounds/notifications playing/showing for the ineligible team
  • sv_vote_issue_restart_game_allowed default changed to off
  • Added sv_vote_issue_restart_game_allowed_mvm (on by default)
  • Added "Enable/Disable Class Limits" vote
    • Controlled by sv_vote_issue_classlimits_allowed (off by default)
      • Limit controlled by sv_vote_issue_classlimits_max (default 4)
    • Controlled by sv_vote_issue_classlimits_allowed_mvm in Mann vs. Machine (off by default)
      • Limit controlled by sv_vote_issue_classlimits_max_mvm in Mann vs. Machine (default 2)

Good news, everybody! We've decided to release the latest issue of our annual comic book six months early!

And what an issue it is! This double-sized monster has got it all, folks! All the action! All the words we know! 113 pulse-crushing, revelation-choked pages! It took us years to write but thanks to modern reading techniques, it will only take you minutes to read!

That said, we hope you're not scared of skeletons, because yours is about to fall out of your gaping mouth when you get a load of the shocking plot twists inside this issue.

Read on for Part Four of Team Fortress Comics: Blood in the Water!

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:

• Improved memory usage for Mac clients
• Fixed an exploit that allowed item nametags to go beyond the 40 character limit
• Fixed a bug where reflected rocket explosions from non-stock flamethrowers would cause the flame sound to loop
• tf_teamtalk is now on by default - the dead can talk to the living
• When you mute a player, the mute settings now apply to text chat as well as voice chat. If you want the previous behavior, change convar cl_mute_all_comms to 0.
• More weapon models are now loaded on demand to reduce overall memory usage
• Added "Enable/Disable Auto TeamBalance" votes
  • Successful votes will enable/disable team player count balancing
  • Use sv_vote_issue_autobalance_allowed to control if this vote is enabled on the server
  • Votes not allowed in Mann vs. Machine, Medieval mode, Arena mode, Tournament Mode, or Training
• Updated rd_asteroid
  • Increased overtime to 45 seconds
  • Added more sound cues when overtime starts
  • Dropped reactor cores now blink on the HUD when they are about to return
  • Added latest art assets to blue base exterior

It was one of the tightest Saxxy races we've ever had, with a lot of heated debate here at Valve. But even with so many great entries, it's still a contest, and someone's got to win.

Luckily, someone did! Announcing the winners of the 2014 Saxxy Awards! Head over and check them out. All winners will get an exclusive, highly rare in-game Saxxy Award, and The Overall Winner's getting flown out to Seattle to spend some time with us here at Valve.

It's Hollywood legend that a young Steven Spielberg broke into the Universal lot to start his movie career. Less well known is that Francis Ford Coppola poisoned the head of development at Paramount with bleach, or that George Lucas knifed six guards in a prison riot to get Star Wars made.

There are two takeaways from this. One: America's filmmakers are degenerate thugs. Two: Security was a lot more relaxed in the Seventies. We wouldn't advise aspiring young filmmakers trying anything like that in 2014.

Luckily, you don't have to. Introducing the nominees for the 2014 Saxxy Awards, who were able to be incredibly creative without being the prime suspect in a string of brutal unsolved murders in 1974 (John Carpenter).