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TEAM FORTRESS 2, RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

Now would probably be a good time to proceed to your fallout shelters, since this is irrefutable proof that the apocalypse is right around the corner.

During an EA press conference today, where they announced such thrilling things as how we should all be happy that they're bringing EA-brand shovelware to the Wii, a massive bomb was dropped. Team Fortress 2 -- yes, that Team Fortress 2 -- will be part of a future ultra-super-simultaneous-release consisting of the following:

1) Half-Life 2: Episode 2
2) Half-Life 2 + HL2:E1 + HL2:E2 for the Xbox 360
3) Half-Life 2 + HL2:E1 + HL2:E2 for the PS3
4) Team Fortress 2
5) Portal, a new experimental puzzle-ish game utilizing Prey-esque portal effects

All these will be released Later. No strict date has been set down, but based on the time from announcement -> release of HL2:E1 and the fact that a PS3 version will be around, I'm guessing it'll be out some time in the first half of 2007, further contributing to the fact that 2007 is going to be an unbelievably epic year for gamers of all types.

So, what exactly has Valve done to Team Fortress 2 over the past 8 years? Well, it looks like just about everything has been thrown out save for the core concept. For those of you who missed the whole "Team Fortress" thing, it started as one of the first true large-scale mods for QuakeWorld, released conveniently on my birthday 10 years ago. The game featured a wide variety of classes, and to my knowledge was one of the first FPS games to start off the whole class-based team combat multiplayer format that damn near everything has these days. You've got Spies, Grunts, Snipers, Scouts, Demo, Heavy Weapons Guy, etc, and have to work as a team to capture a flag or perform a number of other tasks.

Anyway, after the wild success of Team Fortress, the guys responsible tried to make TF2 for Quake 2 as a Real Game, but were promptly snapped up by Valve and tasked with making Team Fortress Classic, a free official mod for Half-Life, which happened to end up being quite possibly the best multiplayer FPS to date. After all that died down, in around 1998 Valve said "HEY GUYS WE'RE MAKING TEAM FORTRESS 2 NOW OK!" . . . and then no one heard anything for six years, save for the occasional "NO GUYS WE'RE SERIOUSLY STILL MAKING TEAM FORTRESS 2 OK!" from Gabe Newell. Most feared it had quietly been canceled, or gone into some state of developmental limbo like Duke Nukem Forever.

But now here we are, it's really happening. From this very early look Gamespot got, it seems like they're going for something Valve isn't exactly known for: cartoony. I'll try not to comment on this until we see screenshots, because right now I just don't seem to Get It. We'll see.

As for the Portals thing, all we seem to know right now is that in addition to the Gravity Gun, the Super Gravity Gun, and the 87 billion insane guns from Garry's Mod, we'll be getting a Portal Gun. I don't entirely understand how this will work, but again, we'll see soon enough.

Both TF2 and Portals are slated to be included with HL2:E2, but won't be included in the mega-packs for PS3 & 360. Though, who knows. It's still quite a ways away, and Valve plays things somewhat fast and loose when it comes to games available through Steam, since they're happy to give you a large number of different ways to give them money. Again, we'll see.

Sources: The Shack, Gamespot's Live Report, Gamespot's HL2 News Wrapup

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