Joystiq

Team Fortress 2's '2nd Annual Manniversary' sale begins

Jordan Mallory — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:00:00 EST

Today marks the second anniversary of Valve's introduction of the Team Fortress 2 Mann Co. Store into the hearts and minds of Steam users everywhere. To celebrate the occasion, Valve is doing what it does best: hold a massive sale.

While not all encompassing, the sale does drop discount bombs on a large portion of Team Fortress 2's microtransaction-based hat/weapon/sundry shop ecosystem, reducing prices on fan-designed fedoras and other miscellany by 25 to 75 percent. Let's be honest, this is probably the best deal you're going to see on pretend hats for a while. Also, we know a guy that can get you an incredible deal on a bridge, if you'd be interested.

Team Fortress 2's '2nd Annual Manniversary' sale begins originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adult Swim and Valve teamed up to give us... yep, a hat

Jessica Conditt — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:30:00 EST

When Valve and Adult Swim announced a partnership involving the Team Fortress 2 universe, we winked at each other, throwing out the tired joke that it would probably just be a bunch of hats. Today, we're not sure if we should be laughing or weeping silently into our keyboards: Adult Swim has revealed a free, limited-edition Robot Chicken hat for any class in TF2, as the first iteration in a series of new stuff coming from Valve and Adult Swim.

To get the Robot Chicken hat, just sign up for the Adult Swim newsletter by July 4.

In related, not-completely-predictable news, the FAQ for redeeming the Robot Chicken hat asks and answers an intriguing question:

Q. Are you making a Team Fortress cartoon?
A. Go ask your mother.

As long as it's not called "The Hatsure Brothers" or any variation thereof, an Adult Swim Team Fortress 2 cartoon sounds like something we could get behind.

In still-related, by-now-old news, Valve launched the "Meet the Pyro" video and announced the Source Filmmaker movie-creating tool today.

Adult Swim and Valve teamed up to give us... yep, a hat originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Valve economist examines TF2's 'sophisticated' barter system

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:00:00 EST

We're not sure why Valve's economist is concerned with the finances of prestigious Covenant Elites in Halo, but the first publication from Yanis Varoufakis on Valve Economics is about exactly that. Only he spelled "Arbiter" wrong like 20 times.

Oh, he's talking about "Arbitrage," the practice of capitalizing on the price difference between two or more markets, and its place in the Team Fortress 2 economy. That makes more sense, barely, but between the specialized equations and graphs Varoufakis offers some plain insight into the world of digital economies.

For example, Varoufakis calls the TF2 barter economy "peculiarly sophisticated," noting that Steam's support system allows players to side-step the introduction of currency, operating solely on a "double coincidence of wants." This is something that civilizations for centuries have not been able to support for any protracted period of time, and its complexity is the reason we now have money, rather than things to trade with.

The isolated nature of digital economies lends itself to intriguing happenings such as that one, as Varoufakis explains in great detail, we assume because he's thrilled to be able to calculate the exchange rates of laser guns and hats rather than boring old dollars and cents.

Valve economist examines TF2's 'sophisticated' barter system originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Valve gifts Notch his own head, on other people's heads

Jessica Conditt — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:30:00 EST

It's official -- Notch, the creator of Minecraft and all-around Swedish dude, has made it big. In his most recent blog post, Notch describes his intense love for Valve's TF2 and then shows off the custom-made fancy hat that Valve made for his characters exclusively, called Top Notch. It's basically a cardboard box with square-ish pasties resembling Notch's Minecraft avatar worn over a character's entire head, and it's the sweetest gift we've seen in a long time.

Notch agrees, writing, "Hooooly cow. Thank you, Valve. You wouldn't believe the amount of medic I get now. Also, spies."

Valve gifts Notch his own head, on other people's heads originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Team Fortress 2 hats raise $430,000 for Japan

Griffin McElroy — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST

Valve has announced the total sum brought in during its two-week Team Fortress 2 charity drive, which sold three limited edition in-game hats to raise funds for the Japanese disaster relief fund. The amount is beyond incredible: In just 14 days, the TF2 community gave $430,543.65 to aid in recover efforts following the devastating earthquake which hit Japan on March 11.

If you managed to miss out on this promotion, don't worry -- much like the charitable Team Fortress 2 hats pictured above, donating to the Red Cross' Japanese disaster relief efforts never goes out of style.

Team Fortress 2 hats raise $430,000 for Japan originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Team Fortress 2 in-game hats raise $300k for quake relief

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:00:00 EST

We usually tint stories about in-game digital goods that people bought with out-of-game, for-real money with notes of disbelief -- but for this particular post, we've got nothing but heartwarming respect. The three hats recently added to Team Fortress 2, available for a charitable donation of $7.99, $19.99 or $99.99, have pulled in over $300,000 in just one week for disaster relief in Japan.

You've got time to bump that total up even more. The Humanitarian's Hachimaki, Benefactor's Kanmuri and Magnanimous Monarch (pictured above) will be available until April 4. We guarantee that they're stylin', profilin' and remarkably altruistic.

Team Fortress 2 in-game hats raise $300k for quake relief originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Describe Team Fortress 2's hats in the TF2 Hat Describing Contest

JC Fletcher — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:31:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Are you the player in your Team Fortress 2 group known not just for proficiency in a certain class, but in the special skill of hat storytelling as well? If so, you're a shoo-in for Valve's latest contest.

"Fans have been mailing us for some time now," Valve said on the TF2 blog, "asking for a contest that didn't involve modeling or level design. So now they get their wish. That's right: you'll be competing over who can describe hats the best." The full details can be found here, but essentially, you can send in a description of one of the game's hats, and Valve might use it in the game.

In addition to tales of headwear, Valve also announced a bonus for TF2 fans who buy Worms Reloaded: Holy Hand Grenade accessories and a new helmet for the Soldier. Buy Reloaded before September 2 to get access to these (purely decorative) items.

Describe Team Fortress 2's hats in the TF2 Hat Describing Contest originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next Team Fortress 2 update to be completely classless

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:30:00 EST

No, the next major update for Valve's oft-expanded FPS Team Fortress 2 won't be without elegance and social graces -- they adequately covered that base with the Sniper update's piping hot jars of urine. Rather, the update won't favor any particular class over another, distributing goodies to every class, and adding new maps into the ever-growing mix.

The first of these non-class specific additions is -- brace yourself -- new hats. Eighteen new hats, to be precise, which presumably add two new hats to each of the game's nine classes' wardrobes. (Math'd!) The first map to be revealed is Arena Offblast, a tricky little battleground perched atop a shear mountain cliff. Players will need to stay wary of the cliff's edges, lest they plummet to their death, and stain their lovely new hats with gray matter.

Stay tuned to the TF2 blog -- they should be adding more information about the classless update in the coming days.

Next Team Fortress 2 update to be completely classless originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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