Wireplay's Highlander's new 9v9 league is nearing the signup deadline. Weapons are currently undecided, however, most unlocks will be available and all players are encouraged to vote on maps to be played. Signups close Friday, May 4 and the festivities kick off proper on May 14.

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)

• Fixed a problem that allowed malicious clients to disable the "ping" and "status" commands for other connected clients

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Toss-Proof Towel
• Fixed a bug that caused many avatar images to not show up in the scoreboard
• Fixed the Sharpened Volcano Fragment not igniting players
• Fixed damage to buildings applying on-hit effects such as the Übersaw charge
• Fixed Sticky Jumper stickybombs changing team when air-blasted
• Fixed large floating point values getting truncated in WebAPI responses
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• Community request
  • Added SetForcedTauntCam player input for map makers to place the player into third-person

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 server crash caused by the Loch-n-Load
• Fixed the Spy-cicle's fireproof attribute not working
• Fixed the Quick-Fix's 'immunity to movement-impairing effects' attribute not being honored by the Pyro's airblast
• Fixed the Quick-Fix not maintaining overhealed health
• Fixed health drain happening faster for players with health above the normal overheal amount for their class
• Fixed unusual particle effects not displaying correctly for the Pyro's Head Warmer
• Updated the Ghastly Gibus
  • Added LODs for all classes
  • Fixed the position on the Sniper
• Updated the vote system
  • Vote caller history is now tracked by SteamID to prevent vote cooldown exploits
  • Fixed players being able to disconnect before a successful kickvote to avoid being banned

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)

• Fixed server crash exploit related to audio buffer overruns
• Fixed server crash caused by using changelevel2
• Updated console logging system to minimize opening and closing of files, greatly improving performance under certain conditions
• Additional improvements for client/server stability

Team Fortress 2

• Added the Texas Half-Pants and the Bolt Action Blitzer
• Updated the Teufort Tooth Kicker so it can also be equipped by the Engineer
• Updated the Scrap Pack so it can now be crafted, gift-wrapped, and traded
• Updated the Short Circuit
  • Fixed projectiles not being cleared if they were blocked by buildings or other projectiles
  • Fixed not incrementing the "How the Pests Was Gunned" achievement for destroyed stickies
• Fixed being able to place buildings in nobuild zones
• Fixed Red team Pyros being able to grief teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower and then switching to team Spectator during the attack
• Added the ability to remove Strange parts via the Restore button in the backpack
• Added the ability to reset scores on Strange items via the Restore button in the backpack
• Crates now display their series number in the backpack view
• Added new "tf_hud_no_crosshair_on_scope_zoom" to the Advanced Options menu
• Fixed using the "inspect" command to Spy-check teammates
• Fixed the Bazaar Bargain increasing its head count while shooting at ÜberCharged enemies
• Fixed defense buffs reducing crush and telefrag damage
• Fixed a bug that would cause Medics to reduce the health of heal targets if the target had earned more health than their normally allowed max overheal
• The Cozy Camper’s description now correctly reflects the actual speed reduction while scoped and is now applied correctly when using the Huntsman (speed for the other rifles remains unchanged)
• Add the object entindex to the object_deflected game event
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Just in case you weren't sure that there are some really talented players in Team Fortress 2, Epsilon Team put together a great frag video showing off some of the team's highlights.

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 daily periodic reward hats for duel wins, map stamp purchases, and gifts given
• Updated YouTube replay publishing functionality to automatically include a link to the uploader's Steam Community profile
• Did not update the localization files that did not need updating
• Updated cp_gullywash_final1
  • Removed ladders that looked like they could be climbed
• Note missed from last week's update:
  • Updated the in-game tips with community submitted versions

Despite my continued efforts to better you by yelling at you through a microphone to do better, it is often difficult -- and thus disheartening -- to figure out if any of you damp piles of mulch are actually improving.

I found the answer, in all places, in one of the insipid gun-themed women's magazines Miss Pauling leaves lying around, where I stumbled on an article about self-improvement. It was a revelation: Instead of screaming at you to improve, I could scream at you while you improved yourselves.

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 Waxy Wayfinder
• Added a new promotional item
• Added Strange Parts that can be used to upgrade existing Strange-quality weapons
• Updated The Cozy Camper to allow it to be used in Medieval Mode
• Double-clicking on a tool in the backpack view will now use that tool
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause weapons dropped after death to render with incorrect skins
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause The Manmelter to display incorrect kill icons
• Fixed a bug that would cause certain in-game notification sounds to play even if "cl_notifications_show_ingame" was false
• Fixed a bug that would cause chat-text strange weapon rank up notifications to sometimes display player names as "unknown"
• Increased Steam Workshop item description to 8000 characters
• Updated arena_ravine
  • Minor visual and performance improvements
• Updated cp_well
  • Performance improvements
• Lokalisointitiedostot päivitetty

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)

• Fixed IP bans not applying to RCON access

Team Fortress 2

• Added The Cozy Camper
• Added a new TF2 sub-forum: Competitive Team Play and League discussion
• Fixed Solider buffs and rage meters not always being reset
• Updated The Black Rose so it can be gift wrapped
• Updated The Phlogistinator:
  • Fixed a bug where Mmmph-crit flames could cause Mmmph to build fast enough to allow it to be infinitely chained
  • Direct damage reduced by 10%. Afterburn damage is unchanged
  • Crit buff time lowered from 12 seconds to 10 seconds
• Updated arena_nucleus
  • Fixed z-fighting bug on lower platform
• Community Requests
  • Added player_carryobject and player_dropobject game events
• http://media.steampowered.com/apps/tf2/blog/7535.png

You like Team Fortress, we like Team Fortress, let's play some Team Fortress together! Developers from things such as Minecraft, Skyrim, and Team Fortress, unite with community personalities in a mix up match up battle for charity supporting Child's Play. There's a number of free slots available to be won. If you're interested in joining the match, stop by the TF2 Mixup site and donate! All the specifics are available on the Mixup Match 4 site.