Alright, so uhh.. where to start?

Yes, Trading, the Polycount Pack have finally arrived, even CUSTOMIZATION… but so has… oh, screw this.

Let’s take a look at the official announcement:

One of the interesting side effects of shipping free updates for Team Fortress 2 over the years has been a large and devoted group of people who write us asking if they can simply buy game items directly. We also get regular feedback from the bean counters on our fourth floor, who — after watching with tooth-grinding irritation as we shipped over 120 free updates to a three-year-old game — gently suggested that we “make some f$*&ing money already.”

Then it hit us: it’d make everybody happy if we really DID let players buy items directly. Players’d be happy because we actually listened to them for once, and the bean counters would be happy because in-game stores are the future of everything, including making some f$*&ing money already.

DLC weapons? No.

Please.

No.

Flash forward a few months, and we’re proud to introduce the in-game Mann Co. Store. And, because we’d hate to satisfy the bean counters completely, we’ve decided community item contributors will get paid based on the sales of their items. So you can make some f$*&ing money already too.

Now, I’m sure you have dozens of questions, so just this once we put together a nifty F.A.Q. Of course the best way to find out more is to fire up the game yourself and check out the new Mann Co. Store for yourselves!

Here is the full new TF2 page: http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/. You’ve got the comic, the item sets, the FAQ, and some other stuff from Saxton Hale.

Checking out the FAQ, which can be found here: http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/FAQ/, we found this:

The Mann Co. Store will now let players buy, trade and customize the largest addition of inventory items in the game’s history, using their Steam Wallets.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Valve, what the hell? Paid DLC weapons? I know you can get ALL the weapons and ALL the items without using this thing anyway, but… uh… I feel sick.

Read it for yourself, in case you’re not convinced: http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/FAQ/

In other news, all existing items will bear the “Vintage” tag. Only by gifting or trading, can players get “Vintage” items.

Items you purchase through the Mann Co Store cannot be crafted, gifted or traded.

The Polycount Pack is finally here, 5 sets for 5 classes, with a secret Medic pack.

Of course, there’s also customization… and Dueling Medals? And Supply Crates? This is just REALLY confusing.

Some of the new items can be seen near the bottom of this list: http://tf2stats.net/all_items

And that’s about all of the important stuff.

Check the links for it straight from Valve: http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/

Let’s take a quick look at the changelog: http://store.steampowered.com/news/4411/

Added the Mann-conomy.

Added 65 new items (hats, weapons, tools, minigames, gifts, crates).

Added the Mann Co. Store & Catalog.

Added Trading.

Added Item customization.

As previously teased, we’re getting… lots of everything, a store, and Trading.

The rest is various little tweaks:

Additional TF2 features

Added new auto-team-scramble system:

Set mp_scrambleteams_auto to 1 (default) to automatically scramble the teams if the criteria is met

Set mp_scrambleteams_auto_windifference to set the number of round wins a team must lead by in order to trigger an auto scramble (default is 2)

Updated how Spy disguise targets are selected to more randomly distribute the selections

Fixed the FreezePanel background not using the correct color if you were killed by a player or building on your own team

Server browser tweaks

It will now encourage you to add servers to Favorites or Blacklists after you have a good/bad experience on them.

The Server Browser now automatically closes after successfully connecting to a server (opt-out via the Options-Multiplayer->Advanced dialog)

And some achievement tuning:

Demoman achievement “The Stickening” changed to 3 from 5.

Heavy achievement “Krazy Ivan” changed to 50 from 100.

Medic achievement “Consultation” changed to 3 from 5.

Medic achievement “Peer Review” changed to 10 from 50.

Medic achievement “Placebo Effect” changed to 2 from from 5.

Medic achievement “FYI I am A Medic” changed to 1 from 5.

Medic achievement “Family Practice” changed to 5 from 10.

Soldier achievement “Geneva Contravention” changed to 3 from 5.

Scout achievement “Strike Zone” now counts assists.

Scout achievements “Fall Classic” and “Foul Territory” are fixed.

For all your TF2 needs, check these links:

http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/

http://store.steampowered.com/news/4411/

Now on to our next subject…

Steam Wallet is out of beta…:

The Steam Wallet has officially been released along with the Team Fortress 2 Mann Co. Store, where players can now purchase items right within TF2.

With Steam Wallet, you can add value to your Steam account using any of the payment methods supported by Steam. Funds in your Steam Wallet may then be used to buy any item available in the Steam store on an in-game store. You can load up your Steam Wallet ahead of time, or wait until checkout. Also, different payment methods can be combined to make a single purchase.

Once you’ve added funds to your wallet, that money will be used by default for subsequent Steam store purchases. But if you’d prefer to reserve your wallet balance for in-game purchases of Mad Milk, Holy Mackerel and Bushwackas, no problem — simply select another payment method during checkout. Your wallet funds will be there the next time you’re ready to shop at Mann Co., or any other in-game store.

TF2’s Mann Co. Store is the first of many upcoming Steamworks in-game stores where Steam Wallet funds can be spent. See the TF2 Mannconomy FAQ for any questions specific to that game. Otherwise, feel free to give the wallet a try for your next Steam purchase, and please let us know what you think.

Uh… huh.

Here’s that link: http://store.steampowered.com/news/4406/

And, HL2: DM finally gets some love!