While we all like to enjoy games which not only delve into the complex human psyche with a deep and riveting narrative but also lets us play as effeminate girly-boys with zippers, belts and a dark past – it’s also fun to switch your brain off sometimes and just have some fun shooting people. Gears of War 2 gives us the chance to do that and do it beautifully, and it’s a Game of the Year titleholder for that alone – it’s just a shame it’s riddled with tons of multiplayer bugs. But you already know that. Why the long windup, then? Because those godforsaken bugs are finally getting fixed!
(continue reading…)

So, the PC version has been hit with a new update for Team Fortress 2. Sadly, 360 users will have to wait for a while before they get all the content we’ve been enjoying so far, but at least it’s been confirmed that it’s coming on the Team Fortress website.

We’ve had a couple days to play with this update now, and we can already see some effects on the game.

The most important change in this update is the ability to upgrade the Engineer’s Dispenser and Teleporters. While they were always operating on level 1, they can now go up to level 3.

A level 3 dispenser

And oh boy, is it a big change. A level 3 dispenser gives out a whopping 60 metal every tick, and heals as fast as a medic. A level 3 teleporter as a very quick recharge time, I estimate it to be about 3~5 seconds. This is a huge improvement over the old level 1 teleporters.

But now, the engineer is faced with difficult decisions. Before this update, you could just throw down your dispenser and get your sentry up as quickly as possible. But now you have to choose: Is it maybe worth it to get my dispenser up to a higher level first? Or should I just put up my sentry gun before I worry about my dispenser? Or should I put up my level 3 teleporter exit first?
Yes, that’s right. You can put down level 3 teleporter exits. Teleporters are upgraded as a pair: You can upgrade either the entrance or the exit. But if you first upgrade the entrance to level 3, which will take a short time as it’s usually located near a spawn room, the next teleporter exit you put down will be level 3. So if you’re located in the enemy base, if you can quickly build a teleporter exit, your entire team can be there as well.

And this gives us interesting possibilities. Gone is the sole archetype of defensive engineers. While it was already sometimes done on maps like cp_Well or ctf_2fort, it’s now much easier to be an offensive Engineer and put up a secondary base right in the enemy’s base.

(continue reading…)

Hey guys, remember TF2 update packs? After months of silence, the dev team is finally speaking out. Here are a few of the promised updates:

• Teleporters will be upgradeable to level 3. As the teleporter is upgraded, the cooldown will decrease.
• Dispensers will be upgradeable to level 3. They will heal faster and generate metal faster as they are upgraded.
• Spies will be able to recharge their cloaking ability by picking up ammo off of the ground.

We’re also supposed to see new weapons for the Scout. Head on over to their site to read more.