TF2 delivers payload

Now that Left 4 Dead is finished, out, and being enjoyed by many, Valve have a chance to continue work on their other baby - Team Fortress 2. This news comes to us from Valve's Robin Walker, who spent some time discussing the game with The Escapist. Although frequent updates have been released, it sounds as though they're busy working on something really major, including a new map, game mode, and possibly even a new class.

Much of the discussion is focused on the already-available updates, and the reasoning behind them. Obviously, re-balancing had to be a focus, as it does in many games, and watching the way players use certain classes helps give an idea of what can be fixed. He mentions that The Spy's disguise is no longer very useful as players have become a lot better at spotting it, and the engineer's guns are too "binary", meaning deadly for some, useless for others. As someone who totally sucks with both these classes, I agree that they are tough and could use a little tweaking. These are just two issues that will be looked at when more class updates roll around.

But what about the new stuff? Unfortunately, not much is mentioned about the new Payload map, nor the "very different" new game mode. As far as a new class goes, well, a little time is spend discussing the possibility, but nothing is confirmed. Fans have been expecting an announcement about this ever since an Easter Egg in Left 4 Dead teased at the possibility, but Walker instead says "We've got several new class designs floating around, some of which we like a lot, but right now we're focusing on the broadening of our existing classes through the addition of the unlockables". This means that the class updates that deliver new weapons and tactics may be the closest thing anyone's going to get to a new class, for a while.

But now the important part. What about Xbox 360 players? Valve have been releasing updates for a while on PC, but have had to deal with Microsoft's weird DLC restrictions on 360, so have released nothing. They promised that the updates would eventually make it to the console, but gave no exact date. Well, once again, 360 players are left in the dark, as there is no mention of the console version anywhere in the article, leading me to believe that we'll be getting nothing, at least not initially. It's a real shame, as I'd love to play a bit more TF2, but understand that many players have gotten bored of the limited selection of maps and won't go back until a larger selection becomes available.

So PC players, have fun. The rest of us will just have to wait and see if Microsoft and Valve can work something out for console gamers. Of course, in the meantime, I wouldn't say no to a few Left 4 Dead updates......