Soldier wins Team Fortress 2 war, update goes live in time for free-to-play weekend

by Griffin McElroy on Dec 18th 2009 1:30PM

Well, Demomen, you put up a good fight, but the rocket-armed Soldiers proved too strong a combatant to topple. Team Fortress 2's helmet-wearing class won the "War" update challenge, netting an additional item (boots which reduce rocket-jumping damage) to go with the update's other additions. You can check up on all the new items, maps, achievements and totally out-of-place crafting mechanics on the update's hub page.

Or, you can simply log on to the game right now, and get the update yourself. If you don't possess the game, Valve will let you download and play it for free this weekend. If you really enjoy it, you can pick up Team Fortress 2 at half-price for just $9.99.

[Via Big Download]

Source

Tags: demoman, fps, multiplayer, online, sale, soldiers, steam, team-fortress-2, update, valve, war

Reader Comments (48)

Servers were getting hit so hard last night I couldn't even get a game in, but does anyone know if you can use a 360 controller to play this?

You will be killed instantly forever.

Why would you even want to use a 360 gamepad?

I don't understand why people would want to use a gamepad for a PC shooter, and this is coming from a guy who plays most of his shooters and games in general on consoles.

And the 'Stupidest Question Asked Today or EVER Award' goes to....

SOLACE!!!

I hate using a mouse and keyboard bugs the crap out of me, I just bought this new PC a month ago. Figure I'd ask.

How are you going to rocket jump, sticky jump, etc... with a gamepad? Not only that, but you will be putting yourself at a complete disadvantage since there isn't any sort of auto-aim on PC shooters.

I believe you can, but I haven't tried myself. Like people have rudely mentioned, you'll likely die really quickly. I'm an Xbox convert myself, and TF2 was the first PC FPS that I've played (since Wolf 3D and Doom, anyway) so I had similar reservations.

Still though, just played engie and pyro for a few days till I got comfortable enough with mouse + keyboard. Embarrassing at first, but I think it's a lot better if you just try to get used to it.

Geebs, you could say the exact same thing for me but reverse. I am a long time/ life time PC player and I got MW2 on the 360 to play with friends. I still have trouble getting used to the god forsaken controller. I hate the damn auto sticky and every time I play I wish it was with a keyboard and mouse. But alas I'm getting used to it and I finally got my kills ever so slightly higher than my deaths some of the time.

I know that Windows will recognize the wired controller, but you have to buy one of MS's wireless receivers if you want to use your wireless one.

After that you can setup the controller in the options, but some games offer controller setups already, not sure about TF2.

@Demoman Fear: The 360 version does not have auto aim and I'm pretty sure the same goes for the PS3 version. Get your facts together. Playing a shooter on a console doesn't automatically mean that it'll have freakin' auto aim.

And believe it or not there is still a small community of players on the 360. And the fact that I always see The Orange Box displayed in stores probably means that people are still buying it.

@Solace:

Yes it works, but it's not very fun at all. I played Counter Strike: Source, TF2, and Halo 1 with my 360 controller, but it's not as accurate as a mouse.

If you have a wired controller, you should be all set. You're going to need to download a program to set all the buttons to certain keys on the 360 though, I recommend downloading Xpadder pro.

If you only have wireless controllers, you need to buy the 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver. I think Microsoft stopped selling it, but you could pick one up at Gamestop for around $15-$20. You're also able to use your 360 Wireless Mic to talk to people online. The chatpad doesn't work though... You will still need to download Xpadder Pro.

The good thing about it is that you can have up to 4 controllers on your PC at once. So if you have 4 wireless controllers, bring over some friends, play Super Smash Brothers/F-Zero X/Mario Kart 64 with an N64 emulator on your PC, and have a fun time!

Well, trust me, get used to using a keyboard and mouse if you're going to start playing FPS games on PC. It's well worth the investment since generally speaking, FPS are superior on PCs, if you have at least $100 graphics card (Newegg not Best Buy price) that is.

Heck, call me crazy but I enjoyed Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy on the PC so much I prefer playing Force Unleashed on the PC for the keyboard and mouse. Even if it is a Bastard child in every way imaginable.

But if any modern game is going to allow easy configuration of a controller it would be with the 360 controller and just having it plugged in and on will generally set up an autoconfig if it exists. Just check the options.

You can use the 360 controller for TF2.

You can even enter a command to change the UI to the 360 version.

Enter exec 360controller into dev console and done.

I do think that PC games should have controller support, at least for single-player, for the times when I want to hook up my desktop or laptop to my TV. We don't always play on the desk ya know!

A modder has already put some 360 controller support in the PC version of Mass Effect, it would be nice if as many games had this as possible.

Playing on a 360 controller is the best way to console yourself, considering console updates will probably never come.

But man, there's nothing like playing as a Sniper with a keyboard and mouse.

Yea, you can use the controller. But stick to being an engineer, because running out there as any other class will likely result in your head being cut off.

Literally now, considering the Eyelander.

But yes, TF2 supports the 360 controller, as it's been said. There's a config file in the game that activates the support.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=421

FUCKING HELL, WHERE THE HELL WERE ALL MY DEMOMAN PEEPS?

Dead

:pours one for his Demoman homies:

Cheers mate!

A sad day indeed...

Aye.

Valve is doing a fucking excellent job keeping Team Fortress 2 fresh. I don't play that often but every time I see this stuff I get pulled back in.

Within about 15 minutes of playing I got 3 of the 4 Soldier unlocks. The Direct Hit is effin awesome! I took out a Heavy w/ one hit...it is awesome against Heavies.

I got decapitated by the Demoman. TRUST ME...this is NOT fun.

The crafting system was down last night. I haven't tried today...hopefully it's working now.

Dear Valve:

Please allow the current players to play the add-ons first and not let a flood gate of players jam the servers up without really testing that the add-ons work.

So many servers last night lost connection to the Steam server so all mayhem ensued. I one bud received all the new weapons every time he died.

Thanks,

Love Dark Side

PS: I'm still looking for that pyro plushie that talks per our previous conversation.

People forget they added 2 NEW maps too!

No map pack 10 dollar bullshit.

TF2 is the most dynamic and ever growing game. And the price of admission is amazing. 10 dollars this weekend if you still didn't get it for cheaper.

I can't wait to log in and try it out when I get home. I hope the crafting system helps with finding items or they fixed it at least. This way I can craft what I am missing or how ever it works.

"Just When I Think I'm Out, They Pull Me Back In."......

"Just when I think I'm in, they pull me further in."

...Wait, what?

If they kept the console updated like they do with the PC TF2 would have a much larger audience... Guess I'll have to wait a good few months till I can afford a Gaming PC.

This has been beaten to death, so rather than go off on a tangent I'm just going to link you to the last time it was brought up.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/12/15/team-fortress-2-update-gives-demoman-close-combat-kit/comments/23958219/

That's all fine and dandy but why'd I get down voted? Don't think with what I said stiffened anyone?

Because joystiq is overly brutal.

Even the stock maps in TF2 are quite numerous. That's not even including the crapload of community made maps. Granted not all of them are amazingly balanced, but at least most of them are fun.

Yeah i just got TF2 on my pc earlier this week...and now its half off..

I had no idea there were 6.4 million black Scottish cyclops's in existence.

There aren't anymore!

Good job soldiers. I still think the Demo's new items are way cooler though. A bloody sword AND shield!!!

Obligatory Joystiq is slow.

Though to be fair, when the update first launched it was broken for a lot of people. Servers couldn't connect to steam so loadouts weren't available, so it was more like playing launch TF2 than updated TF2.

Now that everything is working, I gotta say, this is the best update yet. I love the new crafting system, and none of the weapons are useless. Both the soldier and the demoman are a lot more fun to play as now. They increased the drop rate last night so a lot of people already have all the weapons, without achievement grinding or unlockers. I'm now completely re-addicted to tf2.

With all the soldiers and demomen around, I'll start working on some sniper and scout achievements.

At $10, there's no excuse to not have this game.

I'd tell you to build a new computer for about $350 but that was back in summer when parts were cheaper, and I used mail-in rebates.

I got the eyelander and targe fairly early last night and have taken myself the task of renaming myself "Duncan McCloud" and running around chopping heads off.

why was this downvoted? this was a valid comment...

its a sad day for joystiq.

Updates and addition without DLC. This is the way things should be done.

When would it be a good time to drop a large update that's probably full of bugs? I'm no expert, but over a time where all the old players are trying to get new stuff and a weekend were you make it free for everybody isn't it.

It's close to impossible to get the new items, becuase the item server shits itself every five minutes due to the load. So you ether get stuck with default gear or the junk you're using.

Yeah, nice one Valve.

It kind of fluctuates. I got most of the new items within my first hour of playing yesterday. From how I understand it both the item server and the crafting server are different, and they aren't going "down" really, they just aren't able to keep the connections with the ridiculous number of people trying to access them. Hopefully it'll be fully functional once the free weekend is over.

Should have been an expansion to TF1.

lol @ l4d2 boycott reference

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Soldier wins Team Fortress 2 war, update goes live in time for free-to-play weekend

Reader Comments (48)

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