Team Fortress 2 'Uber Update' this Thursday

Valve has dropped details on what it calls the "biggest, most ambitious update" in the history of Team Fortress 2, as well as hints on the next "Meet the" short.

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On Thursday, Valve will launch the "biggest, most ambitious update" in the history of its online multiplayer shooter, Team Fortress 2. To prepare for the aptly named "Uber Update," the dev revealed a few choice pieces of information and stealthily teased a special reward for the update's launch.

When the Uber Update arrives on June 23, Valve says it will release a new "Meet the" short for one of the remaining two classes. The company was quick to drop a few subtle hints regarding who would be featured in the video. According to Valve, two major clues for the video are: "It's NOT the Pyro" and "It's the MEDIC."

Shacknews has contacted Valve to confirm our suspicions that the video will revolve around the Pyro*. We just have a feeling we can't shake.

Valve also revealed Team Fortress 2 will be free to play for all users all week, starting now.

The first details on additions in the Uber Update revealed a Mob world theme is coming to Team Fortress 2. "To make sure everything was as accurate as possible, we went deep undercover at the most Italian place we could find, The Olive Garden," the recently redesigned blog notes. We couldn't think of a better place and certainly hope they tried the authentic Italian bread-sticks.

In the update the Heavy will gain access to three new weapons: a minigun with 75% faster, silent spin-up time and 20% slower firing speed dubbed the 'Tomislav'; a shotgun named 'The Family Business' with 40%+ clip size and 15%- damage; and 50% faster, 60% weaker brass knuckles called 'The Eviction Notice.' The Spy nets a 20%+ damage revolver called 'The Enforcer' with 0.5 second increase to cloak; a 30%+ cloak on kill with -25 max health knife dubbed 'The Big Earner'; and a flower ability called 'The Made Man.'

Also on tap for the update is a new Payload map called 'Barn Blitz,' featuring "one outdoor and three indoor capture points (including a final indoor capture point)." Check out the update poster art for more details.

*Yes, I'm aware it's not the Pyro.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 20, 2011 6:45 PM

    Xav de Matos posted a new article, Team Fortress 2 'Uber Update' this Thursday.

    Valve has dropped details on what it calls the "biggest, most ambitious update" in the history of Team Fortress 2, as well as hints on the next "Meet the" short.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:01 PM

      Might I be the first to say YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! WE LOVE YOU VALVE!

      • reply
        June 20, 2011 7:03 PM

        Yeah! We love you for saying "Free DLC" when in fact it requires a $140 controller purchase! Woo!

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:06 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:08 PM

          What?

          • reply
            June 20, 2011 7:11 PM

            Well, okay, it wasn't THE free DLC; I stand corrected.

            http://www.shacknews.com/article/68948/portal-2-hydra-specific-dlc

            "Rock Paper Shotgun reports that those who bought a Razer Hydra motion controller built for the game can now get 10 levels of motion-centered Portal 2 DLC."

            • reply
              June 20, 2011 7:16 PM

              When they were showing that off at PAX or CES or whatever it was, the Razor guys were saying that yeah they had some unique Portal 2 levels that specifically took advantage of that hardware and wouldn't be playable without it. The levels weren't even made by Valve afaik.

              The free DLC and challenge map stuff Valve announced after Portal 2 shipped is totally different.

              • reply
                June 20, 2011 7:19 PM

                Okay; it's unfortunate that it got timed after they said "free DLC!"

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:09 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 20, 2011 7:19 PM

            Some people feel vindicated being right after 200+ times being wrong. We'll be the ones standing corrected.... someday

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:20 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:27 PM

          hahahaha. Wrong game buddy.

          • reply
            June 20, 2011 9:00 PM

            id totally buy it if it supported tf2 tho

            • reply
              June 21, 2011 1:30 AM

              It totally fucking works in TF2! Man go buy one right now, give us your impressions.


              YOU SAID YOU WOULD!

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 7:53 PM

          Fucking hell dude. You catch a lot of shit which I don't really think you always deserve, but this is just terrible.

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 8:13 PM

          This is a weird schtick you're rolling with here.

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 8:56 PM

          you are so fucking terrible

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 11:10 PM

          I can't back you up here

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 1:27 AM

          Woo woo! All real die-hard Valve fans have the hydra anyway, right? :-D

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 5:48 AM

          wow the crap that falls from your mouth is so .. crappy.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 8:14 AM

        I second that emotion

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:04 PM

      I'm in one of those lulls where I just can't muster the energy to keep up with any changes or new weapons. These lulls are occasionally broken up by periods where I literally do nothing but play TF2.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:11 PM

      biggest, most ambitious? unless they introduce a new class or some sort of persistent XP leveling I don't know how they can make that claim given that they already added microtransactions, hats, scores of new weapons, crafting

      • reply
        June 20, 2011 8:33 PM

        I dunno, the whole "mob world" thing seems like it would take a huge amount of work

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 8:54 PM

          I was under the impression that each day would have a different theme as this was called "Mobster Monday"

          • reply
            June 20, 2011 8:55 PM

            ... and the update itself is called the Uber Update. (posted too soon!)

      • reply
        June 20, 2011 8:36 PM

        New game mode + updates for every class + new maps + Meet the Medic + ??

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 11:00 PM

          I wonder if the Medic did some special surgery on the others ...

        • reply
          June 20, 2011 11:45 PM

          Fuck that shit. Give me more hats.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 4:14 AM

        I'm guessing it'll have more than 5 class updates. Polycount was five I think. I think Engy (tesla pack, look at the logo) and Medic are a given at least. Who knows what else besides the 2 that are already announced. There's been rumors of more boss fighting stuff like the halloween update, but I don't know if that will really happen.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 7:36 AM

        TF4freeeeeee

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:12 PM

      Anyone think Valve will ever add another class? Or at least female models? Pyro doesn't need one, obviously.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 4:14 AM

        1) Maybe
        2) No. Too much memory required to do that.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 5:34 AM

        Has it be confirmed that Pyro is female?

        What kind of class do you think would fit in well if they did announce a new one? I'm thinking another version of a healer, or a class that provides buffs/debuffs by sacrificing their own damage.

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 5:37 AM

          not confirmed. they like joking around that it could be either, or both

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:13 PM

      I really wish I could've gotten into TF2 like I did TFC. I used to play TFC from day to night to dawn.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:14 PM

      I don't even play the game but I find it pretty refreshing that they put so much into this game and they don't even make you pay for updates.

      • reply
        June 20, 2011 7:25 PM

        It's not like they test these things much.

        Crit-a-cola essentially went from idea to in-game in about 2 days or something. I would assume at least a significant number of other items had similar origins.

      • reply
        June 20, 2011 11:37 PM

        at this point I have essentially bought the game four or five times thanks to all the stupid dlc I've bought. on a related note I am not allowed to drink and play TF2 any more because I might buy that $20 gift thing for no reason.

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 8:18 AM

          I have the same ban from my wife. I am a drunken hat and weapon addict.

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 12:25 PM

          Haha, same here. I'd be curious to know what % of their sales stem from drunk shopping, as it's the only time I've ever bought anything from the store.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:26 PM

      BLAHBLAHBLAH]NOTEPISODE3BLAHBLAHBLAH.

      Goddamn you, Valve. I love you so much but you hurt me so bad.
      :(

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:50 PM

      I've been having a lot of fun in tf2 again so this is nice

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 7:53 PM

      So where's the MAFIA HAT promotion for purchasing Mafia 2?? Or for those of us who purchased it when it was $50!!

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 8:17 PM

      thats sunday in valve time!

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 11:16 PM

      I love the Enforcer and Colt Detective specials and what not but it still looks weird.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 5:52 AM

        Yeah, I want that Enforcer for my spy loadout badly.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 11:33 PM

      Custom Shoes.

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 11:35 PM

      These daily update teases destroy me. My brain stops thinking about sex and instead thinks about TF2 all day.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 1:33 AM

        This probably saves your mom tons of money on paper towels!

        burn

    • reply
      June 20, 2011 11:48 PM

      Sweet. Not that I'm looking forward to seeing more heavies and spies around, those happen to be the two classes I dislike playing against, but it's always nice to get an update. I'm guessing the hats and stuff keep on producing them dollars, and that's only a good thing, as I find TF2 quite a fine example on how DLC can be put into a multiplayer game without significantly hurting the game play.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 8:23 AM

        I think it's amazing. The people who have cash to drop or want to drop some cash can, but the people who don't enjoy the game just the same. And, everyone gets more content in the end. Bravo Valve!

    • reply
      June 21, 2011 1:31 AM

      FUCKING FEMALE ( or post-op) characters!!!!!

    • reply
      June 21, 2011 1:40 AM

      I turned off automatic updates of this a few weeks ago (not playing it any more really..). Damn thing was receiving updates in order of 100+MB per day O.o

      Fear how large this update will be.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 3:40 AM

        You running out of hard drive space?

        • reply
          June 21, 2011 5:44 AM

          Download caps have been introduced recently. Go over the limit and you pay through the nose.

    • reply
      June 21, 2011 5:32 AM

      Fuck yes, bring it on!

      Thanks to Valve, TF2 has been the longest running mulitplayer FPS game for me since like Quake 2 back in the day. Most games I'll play for a couple months then grow tired of them, regardless of how many maps they come out with. TF2 is a whole different beast, and has almost hit MMO levels of updates to the core game.

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      June 21, 2011 6:22 AM

      The new minigun and revolver sound great, the others sort of meh. I'm mostly curious about the flower though, it looks like it will be a new PDA unlock. I'm guessing you drop it on an enemy corpse for a buff of some kind, maybe an improved cloak.

      • reply
        June 21, 2011 6:32 AM

        I was assuming the flower is purely cosmetic and kind of like teabagging a corpse.

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          June 21, 2011 6:44 AM

          Well they would have to add a new item slot for that if it didn't replace anything, I don't see them doing that for a novelty item. They have a long history of revealing non-standard weapons on these teaser sites without explaining at all how they work.

          • reply
            June 21, 2011 7:01 AM

            Its gonna be a misc item. No need for a new slot.

            • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
              reply
              June 21, 2011 7:30 AM

              Then you wouldn't be able to drop it. I don't think they would put a Misc slot in with the weapons. They didn't list the new hats.

              • reply
                June 21, 2011 7:55 AM

                Instead of the taunt where you flick a cigarette, you'll drop a flower(my guess).

    • reply
      June 21, 2011 6:23 AM

      Will this be the update that will make TF2 fun again?

    • reply
      June 21, 2011 7:33 AM

      That looks awesome! Can't wait.

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