Category: podcast

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507412875″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Due to commitments, Travel and Sickness, Only Tempest and Chronos were going to be on this weeks show. but we couldn’t have that. So we invited Doug our editor onto the show and the ever cuddly Heartsman. Why Heartsman? besides the fact that he’s a great personality to have on the show, he also just came back from a visit to valve. We poke him with sticks until we get all the information out of him that we could……without him getting in trouble.

After that we started talking about the new feature soon to be making its way into Steam. Family Sharing. Although this is still in closed beta, we still picked it apart and found out why it is a huge step forward and also a step back. Don’t understand, Click here for more details and let us explain all in the episode.

We also brought up ETF2L’s Rules changes. That doesn’t sound like something we’d normally do, but these changes could potentially see the meta game of 6v6 come alive in a way that even new viewer would see.

Lastly, we bring you 2 very different styles of parenting from TF2. What if spy ended up being scouts step father. or how would the soldier teach his kids if mother wasn’t around. Both of these are priceless and well worth a look at.

A huge congratulations also go out to [Pie] Monopoly for winning our Facebook contest and getting yourself the signed poster from i49.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507412350″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

As the title would suggest we have a guest on the show this week, Torkz from ReachCast. So we get to talk PlanetSide 2 for a bit. Luckily he also plays a bit of TF2 so it’s not long before we’re back on track talking about the recent update. The one where they tweaked Chemistry Sets to allow a double clicked item in your backpack to be used in them. They also fixed that bazaar stretching effect in the 3D HUD.

Speaking of bazzar.tf it looks like Valve has it in for them. There’s now Trading Offers available directly through steam itself. Although the utility is far from complete it’s clear that keeping everything in game has a long way to beat the third party sites.

The winner of the ETF2L Highlander Nations Cup #2 has been decided in a monumental wipe where the American team showed a clean set of heals to the French lads. If you’re squeamish you may not want to watch this.

In much more jovial news The Round Robin has announced its candidacy for president  return to form with tRR8. If you’re a bit good at this Highlander game and think you’d make a stunning mentor then best get on to CSaur and Elena.

So this guy called Kevin has a brother, Robin who really likes TF2. It sounds like one of our in-jokes but really this story is true. It turns out that Kevin is just about the best brother in the world because he got some of the voice actors to wish his bro a happy birthday.

While we’re on the celebrations we announced a give-away a week ago to win 100 lo-fi and a signed poster. While we can’t tell you who won the poster (not till they’ve said its cool to name ‘um) we can tell you that everyone, yes everyone who entered will be getting a lo-fi.

Not certain where to put this in but we did promise a link so here’s the Rules to Hungarian Tarokk. That’ll save you a bit of typing in google.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507412224″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

I think we have just about recovered after last weeks awesome adventures at I49. The problem is we kinda skipped over last weeks update. That’s the one that added Romovision into the game. You get Romovision by equipping the Hardy Laurel while playing MvM. You then see each of the robots with a Roman style. The only way at the moment to acquire this hat and romovision is by Pre-ordering Total War: Rome II. However, as of this week, if your lucky enough to be playing in a game with a player who owns said hat, then you too can view the world in Romovision if you wish.

This week however has given us another huge update with bug fixes galore. Party to celebrate Team Fortress’ 17th birthday, Partly as an excuse to add in the new Chemistry sets into the game. If your unsure what the chemistry set actually does, then have a read of this awesome guide putting things better than I could. Also in this update, we saw all of the “Gold Star” Items become dropable, giftable and of cource, purchasable from the Mann Co Store. This update also took away the last Salvage crate and replaced it with a reserved crate.

To put the cherry on top of the cake, Valve also showed off the first issue of their Bi-Monthly Comic book. Unlike previous comics, there is no update tied to it and no reason for it to exists other than to entertain, and entertain it does. If you haven’t already, go read up it now then carry on with the show.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmVsOl9qAhs?rel=0]

That video above is also something you simply NEED to watch. Its the trailer for the fan created TF2 Movie, End of the Line. If the final product is as jaw dropping as this trailer is, then we are in for a great Movie. Then to top it all off, Kritzkast are giving away 100 Lo-Fi Longwaves and 1 very special banner from I49, signed by as many celebs and teams as we could get onto 1 banner.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507410661″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Another week another update. Only there hasn’t been one, again. Anyone else getting a little concerned? Lets busy ourselves with what’s good in TF2. eXtv’s i46 documentary is finally out. Shot on site at Multiplay’s insomnia event last year this has taken a year to edit and release. Was it worth the wait? We’ll let you decide that. It can be watched for free on youtube or downloaded at a faster fps and a little bit of cash at VHX. Ruskeydoo has also made up a promo pin that Valve may decide to include in the game, assuming you all vote it up on the steam workshop.

The Valve mini-studio in San Francisco where secret world domination plans had been drawing up, has closed down. So that’s not exactly TF2 news but hey, it’s Valve (or at least it was).

Ch3wKaiju over on reddit has noticed something that no-one else seemed to have reported on. There are a bunch of new TF2 busts with interchangeable hats in a cabinet. No news on who the cabinet belongs too or how the hats work so speculation ensues.

TF2maps.net is one of our favourite websites. They are constantly looking to challenge the map makers with interesting requirements. This time though they’ve shifted the focus again away from game play to beauty in the Detailing Mini-Contest 2013. They say the devil is in the details so that’s what these guys are looking for this time. I can’t wait to see what comes out of this, not just the shiny things but what people will do with the resources afterwards.

STAR_ has just released another video. This time he’s playing through the Smash Bros game mode. While the mode isn’t new it’s certainly cool and our editor Doug seems to have found himself in another of STAR_’s videos. It was his birthday (Doug’s not STAR_’s) at the time of recording, so hp dude.

Lastly we bounce back to /r/TF2 for news of an Android App called the Itemizer. It’s still in open beta at the moment so they are giving it away to those who sign up early. We’re not too sure what to make of it but rest assured we’ll install that app so you don’t have to, unless you want to.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507410487″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

This week we were joined by Wiethoofd, also known as the creator of the recently released whitelist.tf. Its a simple site that let you customize and use a whitelist for your server. Put simply, This is the easiest way to restrict item usage on a server. Perfect if your hosting a competitive environment, or just to stop the constant spam of that 1 weapon on your server. Any server admins, take a look at it for yourself.

For those of you wanting to get into competitive, or have always been overwhelmed by the skill level involved, Have we got a cup for you. The guys over at comp.tf (The recently formed Competitive wiki) are running a “Newbie cup”. This cup is open to anybody with no experience playing in a competitive environment. A great place for first timers, or those a bit overwhelmed by some of the pros

We also bring you news of Phantom Servers, using the names, profile pictures, and even ping of players who were previously on the server and strapping them onto bots. Why would any server admin permit this? Because the servers usually have pinion Ads, making money off the people who get tricked into playing on those severs. Keep an eye out people. We also talk briefly about the update to live logs beta2. Its making leaps and bounds as usual, the trouble is all the data has been reset, so we’ll have to wait for it to gather back up again.

Lastly we bring let you know what we’ll be talking about next week. The I46 Documentary. Chronicling the stuggle between the US and EU TF2 teams at lan, for the first time. The final trailer popped up online this week with a release date for the documentary. August 9th on VHX digital download and August 10th on youtube. Your homework this week is to watch it ready for next weeks show.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507410331″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Apparently, summer is over. Or rather both steam and the Mann Co summer sales are over. Strangely thought the summer checks are still floating about, even though they are now Rare Drops. However, in this weeks update, the quickfix now lets the user travel with the Pyro, no matter where he/she goes, even if that includes flare jumping. Will this shake up game-play much? That’s for you to find out and us to debate about.

Do you remember that Comic preview we showed you last week? We weren’t too sure if it was real or not, But now we do. Darkhorse Comics tweeted this week to confirm that they are publishing the web based TF2 comic. Its scheduled for “Fall” of this year. So now all we need to do is play the waiting game.

While your waiting, why don’t you make a TF2 video. Why?, because there are prizes to be won. The guys over at TF2connexion and ROCCAT have put together a contest where you can win some Thermal Take Goodies. It doesn’t need to be a frag video, but they are not looking for SFM work. So save that for the saxxies. All the details are here, so go check ti out if videos are your favorite flavor of TF2.

To round things up we have an image which makes it much easier to understand the damage output of the scout. It breaks down the amount of shots required to take down each class at each range, Suddenly you know how much you can commit before you jump into the heart of the battle. Plus we have a flurry of images from last weekends PAX Australia. There is always a lot of Cosplay that goes on at those events, But how many of them have a heavy fairy running around?

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1507410040″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

There’s been a big update this week. Sometimes when we say that we’re talking about a new map added or a few dozen new items. This time “big” doesn’t seem to cover all that’s happened. Valve actually seem to have fixed pretty much everything all at once. Although we’d not go so far as to say that we have the perfect game now, we’re just a lot closer to it. We’re not going to list all the bug fixes either, not when the official blog has done such a good job of it. Oh, and the two maps we talked about last week are in now and have been thoroughly played, a bit, so we get to talk about cp_process and cp_standin with some hint of authority.

Along with the Summery theme of unwanted bugs there’s now a bunch of new crates; Summer coolers to be exact. These open to reveal one of 60 new workshop submitted items. It’s a good job we have Heartsman and Ruskeydoo on the show to help sort out the really good ones. Before we leave the workshop behind there’s now a mail list for budding builders to ask all things of the seasoned pros and report bugs that they find too.

Lastly we can’t help but mention the Pipeline. For some working for Valve is a lifetimes hard work realised. For other lucky sods it’s work placement. You lucky, lucky, b**tards. It’s still unclear if anything impressive is going to come out of this website but for now it stands as a great big “ner ne ne ner ner” to us all. Well done everyone.