A GameSpot wrapup of an EA press conference includes mention of the long-awaited, almost-forgotten Team Fortress 2:

TEAM FORTRESS 2. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? Hey, they're still making it! It's got a totally exaggerated, crazy art style now. Looks a little like Spy vs. Spy or No One Lives Forever, kind of a '60s spy feel. It's going to be the included multiplayer mode in Episode 2! Class-based, etc. You know the drill. Great news for shooter fans. We all thought this game was dead years ago.

Not a lot else about it just yet but I'm sure there'll be more info floating around soon.

Edit: It's official. Check out the concept image for an idea of what to expect. A video will be released next week.

lol that really is out of no where.

next thing 3drealms will be saying dnf almost done.

Team Fortress was responsible for some of the most Lan/online fun I have ever had, absolutely awesome with a bunch of people working together.

What the hell, that small paragraph about it made no sense.

The original TF was sweet. With QW lookin all lush now with the new packages I'd play it nowadays if there was a server and actually enough people to play it. It's still sic.

thats awesome.

tfc was one of the first games to really get me into online gaming. fkn loved it.

spy ftw

oh my... GOD
Team fortress is where I also started, but it was on QW. So many fond memories. I even got back into QWTF at one point a year or 2 back, the community is still there.

last edited by casa at 11:56:24 14/Jul/06

yeh tfc was awesome.....

though could tf2 become the next duke nukem forever.....?

And heres an indepth look into the EA news..

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/halflife2episode2/news.html?sid=6154006

what do you mean by could it?

TF2 was announced like a day after DNF

QW TF, definatly spent alot of time playing that. Scout for the win!

Newell explained that Valve wanted to make this action game distinct, so the graphics (which use the Source engine) look like a Pixar animated movie. To reinforce this, the carious character classes in the game look like cartoon caricatures. These include the Medic with the huge needle or the Demoman with the sticks of explosives.

hahaha.

TF2 has gone from one of the games I was most looking forward to, to perpetual vaporware, to a lame kids game. I'm sure it'll still be fun, but I wanted to see a badass tacshooter that had been in development for years, used the best tech Valve could come up with, and had incredible visuals and hardcore environments. Now it sounds like we're getting a Nintendo-style FPS with bobblehead graphics. A far cry from what we were promised back in '99.

I remember the old clips and pics of Team Fortress when half life first came out. But from memory I think they used the leftover maps and modles for Front Line Force which was an awsem mod for HL.

From that quote sounds like theyve come up with some stupid bulls*** and slapped TF2 on as the title to sell it.

http://www.planethalflife.com/images/screensnew/tf2_20060714_01.jpg

That looks much better then I thought it would.

last edited by ccl at 09:24:49 15/Jul/06

last edited by ccl at 09:24:55 15/Jul/06

reminds me of "the incredibles" movie.

im sure some random team will re-do all the skins etc to make it look badass anyway.

looks freaken sweet imo.

last edited by ravn0s at 10:30:14 15/Jul/06

holy s***! thats heaps better than i expected.

lolling at the badass texan sniper, all he needs is a fat stoogie.

when's this game due?

It looks really f***ing good - great style

Trog, you've forever lost my respect for your "lame kids game" post

I have to say that pic is cool, just different then what I thought TF2 was going to be all about.
I was expecting hardcore teamplay game.

TFC was possibly the best clan based game i've ever played. The sense of achievenment and unity as a team when you kicked another clans ass, or the tension as a match comes down to the last cap I have not experienced since.

Bring it.

Nice to see our Melbournian Robin Walker has kicked and ampted it up. Lets give Crapper Strike Source a run for its money.

GO TF2! GO!

Crapper Strike Source.

BURN!

I don't see why cartoon immediately screams kiddy to people. Have you not seen Ghost in the shell or the animatrix or Ninja Scroll? You may retort with "They're going for the pixar look!" and that may be true, but that doesn't scream kiddy to me. Pixar aren't about making something kiddy, they're about crafting a quality visual style. They just happen to make family movies, which makes sense because that's where you make money, by appealing to a wide audience with a quality production.

The cartoon can be just as bad-ass as anything else, with a possiblity to portray a distinct style seperating from everything else.

Exhibit A: the team lineup shot they have is wicked.

It'll still be a hardcore teamplay game, irrespective of whatever graphic style it has. Though hardcore teamplay games tend to require teams to play it hardcore.

I don't mean kiddy as in 'aimed at children'. Just kiddy in look and feel. I wanted what they told me TF2 was going to be - a modern tacshooter.

Of course, this was in 99; I guess we're lucky to get anythign at all.

Also, in that image (omg, Incredibles) - what are the things in the background? They look like power sockets or something. Are they miniature men?!

judging from that picture, i like it

looks great, works well with the theme of the game

Once again, it looks fantastic and the fact that they're not trying to do another CS:S or DoD:S only makes me more interested in the game.

The plugs etc in the background just look like exaggeratedly large industrial-type plugs or something for me, but the overuse of depth of field does kinda've suggest they're meant to be small. Who knows? It'd be kinda neat to have an miniature themed levels!

it's too late trog, you've already lost hashy's respect

I am thinking Small Soldiers

The game has an exaggerated feel to it. The models guns are very big, various bits n pieces are out of proportion. That is the style.

There are plugs in the background, a little higher up on the wall is an intercom and a little higher still is an alarm. Having the alarm and intercom in the same pic as the plugs suggests that it is not a 'mini map or shrunken people' ala small soldiers, just that the size of these things are out of proportion.
I'm hoping that the plugs signify a new element to the game, such as providing power for an engineers doohikky or whatumacallit.

YAY!

Looks f***ing s***.

what the hell. i preferred qwtf style over tfc style... and the incredibles didnt do it for me. this looks gay.

Looks f***ing s***.

fpot doesn't appreciate something that isn't in-his-face realism or bleakness

NEWS AT f***ING 11

I don't think its possible to determine how good or bad it is from the one image that they've posted, which is some weird melange of screenshot/concept art/character renders. The only thing you can say about it is that it's not what TF2 was originally going to be. If you like the new style, then you're in luck. If not, then you're boned.

trog you have earnt my respect, with your objective defusal of the argument

looks fun

....cartoon style i wouldnt mind....picture looks nice but always just a basic impression until we see some video footage.

this all being said....a gf2 32meg aint going to cut it:P might look at upgrading..

That looks awesome. So much better going in that direction then the standard look you always see with these shooters.

Like the art, hope the gameplay has depth.

Serious tactical shooter was the last thing I wanted tf2 to be, tfc and qwtf was about fun and doing mad rocket jumps, concing, and GIBS! and capping that flag and been a very fast paced game :) not another bf2/DoD clone.....

but looking at the pic.....gibbs may not be there :)

remembering back to the early screenshots of what TF2 was going to be, it's pretty much what the battlefield series is now, so there's no point trying to make a game the same as something else on the market. I don't care what the art style is as long as it's fun to play.

couldn't give a s*** about how it looks. if it is half as much fun as TFC was then i'll play it

Edit: It's official. Check out the concept image for an idea of what to expect. A video will be released next week.

a bit slow. the vid should be interesting to see.

that looks like a dirty hairy crap infested ass.

a bit slow. the vid should be interesting to see.

Pardon? I wrote that edit first thing Saturday morning after the official release. I think you're the one that's slow.

well something screwed up cause it showed that u had only recently posted and since there was no new post by u and only the 1 edit i figured it was that.

The style reminds me of "Evil Genius".

It's a interesting style, but I don't think it suits team fortress. Sure Team Fortress is over the top as it is (big HW guy taking 100 bullets to die), but that seems to go too far for me.

I don't think realistic would suit, but that has become too cheesey. One really does need to see how the game plays out, the animations and weapons in action to truly judge. Chances are you'll see a 50/50 divide in the older community for this style. I can't say it will come down to gameplay.. because what you see on your screen does effect how you play.

I'm just wondering... will there be any blood? HL2 has bearly any.. in the past with QWTF there was little due to the engine abilities of the time. But now after years, you'd think they would add some blood... but instead we get cartoons. It does seem to be one of those "cool" things to do (cell shaded graphics, cartoony graphics etc..) when a company is trying to be "different".

I know I've only used that picture and made assumptions... So I'll reserve final judgement for it's release.

Oh Cmon and release this... I've been playing TF since it came out after the release of HL1 back in 1998. Brings back memory of rocket jumps and flash bombing up the elivator shaft.. Hanging to see how the Engineer will go with the new sentry guns.. Wonder if it will go up more than 3 levels.

Around 5 or 6 years ago, when Valve realised that TF2 was going to be vaporware, they locked Jason Mitchell in the basement and assigned him to work on it. That way, they could keep the project "on the books" and in good competition with DNF. He was given a 286.

Half way through this year, Valve were moving some crates around and stumbled upon the basement door. To their surprise, Jason Mitchell was still there and working on the project. He had only survived by licking coffee off the pipes that had run down from the leaky coffee machine upstairs.

When asked how the project was going, Jason smashed his fist into the keyboard and demanded better resources. To everyone's surprise, the screen flickered and up came the completed game. When Ken Birdwell asked him what key he pressed, Jason responded that he didn't know. Everyone put it down to another stroke of luck, and Gabe Newell threw it in with the press release of Episode 2.

last edited by DrFrag at 02:40:28 22/Jul/06