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To celebrate the release of the free Pyro update, Valve Software are making Team Fortress 2 (TF2) free to play for a whole weekend. So from 20th - 22nd June 08 anyone can log onto Steam and play TF2.

Since it’s release last year Valve have already enhanced the Medic class with new weapons and achievements. Now Valve have decided to tweak the Pyro class. This tweaking involves 3 new toys (flare gun, the backburner and the axtinguisher) and 35 new achievements. These new weapons can be unlocked by earning 15, 20 and 25 of the new achievements respectively. These sound like fun:

• Dance Dance Immolation - Kill 3 enemies while they’re taunting
• OMGWTFBBQ - Kill an enemy with a taunt
• Makin’ Bacon - Kill 50 Heavies with your flamethrower
• Next of Kindling: - Ignite an enemy, and the Medic healing him

If this wasn’t enough, Valve are also releasing 2 new user-created maps for lots of flamy fun:

• CP_Fastlane - A 5 control point make in the style of Badlands

• CTF_Turbine - A capture the flag map set inside a large industrial compound

Both these maps were built using the Source Engine SDK. If you fancy building some awesome maps simply follow the TF2 level creation guides contained in the Valve Software developer Wiki.

See you all at the TF2 bbq this weekend!

Update 22nd Jun 08: Valee have launched a Team Fortress 2 blog. It’s a bit post lite at the moment. Valve say they intend to update the blog with information about the state of the game and the reasoning behind development decisions. This could prove to be an interesting portal into how Valve is evolving TF2.

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We hope your Christmas is as fun filled as the one happening at Aperture Science. The cake is not a lie at Christmas. Yay!

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