It seems like we’ve officially hit the holiday video game surge, and Microsoft isn’t taking that lightly. As if next week weren’t going to burn our wallets enough with games like Fable 2 and Far Cry 2, Xbox Live will be getting one old and one semi-old favorite added to the list of games. The most interesting of these is probably Portal: Still Alive, which is essentially a standalone version of the hit title bundled in Valve’s Orange Box, but with some added bonuses. The XBLA version will include the original game, plus 14 extra challenge maps and six advanced maps for your extended enjoyment. The game will become available for download on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Before that though, Xbox Live subscribers will be treated to an old favorite that once turned the term “hot coffee” into a dirty sexual innuendo. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will join the Xbox Originals to remind you what GTA was like before impressive physics and online multiplayer were introduced. It was a simpler time, when a man could get his character eat enough fast food to turn into a waddling mass of gangsta flesh; a time that Niko Bellic wouldn’t be able to replicate. Also, bicycles! GTA:SA will be hitting Xbox Live on Oct. 20.

Oh come on, video game companies! I’m still in the middle of Dead Space and Saints Row 2! At this rate, I’ll be stuck in front of my TV until next year just to play all the games getting released this month. Or I’ll probably just keep playing TF2 as usual…

We knew that Valve was making character trailers for all the classes in Team Fortress 2, but I don’t think anyone expected something quite like this. Their latest in the “Meet the…” series of videos introduces us to one of the Heavy’s new power ups instead, and it’s a…sandwich? Yes, it seems this sandwich can be eaten for a 120 health points, giving you a nice edge in battle. And that edge apparently comes in the form of breaking spines. Enjoy.

The details have almost all been released for the Heavy class update Team Fortress 2 will be getting tomorrow. We have a new community map (CP_Steel), a new Goldrush map in Badwater Basin, 35 achievements, two unlockable weapons (Natascha and the K.G.B., with the third to be revealed tomorrow), and today we’ve learned another piece: Arena mode.

Valve describes it as:

TF2 Arena keeps the class diversity of Team Fortress 2 while focusing goals around combat between two teams. Where other game modes lean towards a broad overall strategy for the team over a number of lives, Arena concentrates on the specific tactical choices the teams make in a single fight.

Arena features smaller maps that play out in shorter periods of time. The round ends once one team has no players left in the arena, or when the central capture point has unlocked and been captured. Rounds tend to be very fast and highly competitive, with an emphasis on your team’s class makeup and your plan to counter the opposing team’s class choices. Arena mode is great for smaller matches of three vs. three players, while still comfortably supporting huge knockdown twelve-on-twelve brawls.

Two completely new maps (Lumberyard and Ravine) have been created for the mode, as well as three reworked versions of existing maps (Well, Granary, and Badlands). While Ravine will look plenty familiar in terms of setting, Lumberyard completely changes up the color scheme by taking place in a mountain valley. It looks gorgeous, so hopefully this is a sign of future changes we’ll be seeing.

Now, what could that last weapon be? I’m guessing it’ll be something that actually has range to it. You could argue that Valve doesn’t want to give the Heavy anything that can fire across a map, but look at the Pyro — the flare gun took the place of the shotgun, and that can effectively be used at a decent distance. Or might we see the return of grenades to Team Fortress? I doubt it, but nobody knows for sure.

Next Tuesday, Valve will be releasing the third major class update for Team Fortress 2. This time the lovable Heavy gets in on the action, along with a new community map, an entirely new mode, and other good stuff. Valve today revealed the first batch of details on the Heavy’s new achievements and unlockable weapons. The first new weapon will be the K.G.B., which is a set of boxing gloves for the fat fella to put on.

Valve explains what they do:

The unlockable for the Heaviest pugilists out there is the K.G.B. Any time a Heavy kills an enemy with the K.G.B he receives five seconds of guaranteed critical hits. This crit-boost can be used to punch and kill further enemies, extending the boost time. Alternatively, the Heavy can switch to another weapon and use the boost to take out an enemy at range. The Heavy’s slow movement speed, and the K.G.B’s slower swing speed, make it a risky prospect.

We should learn what the other two new weapons are in the next few days, as well as Achievement specifics. For now, you can glance at the names and images for all 35 Achievements and take a guess at what they might be — they’ve got some great names, including “Crock Block,” “Borscht Belt,” “Pushkin the Kart,” and my personal favorite, “Stalin the Kart.” What do you think they’ll require you to do?

Valve recently launched an official blog for their popular online shooter, Team Fortress 2. According the lead developer, Robin Walker, the new site is a way for the developers to talk directly to the game community and inform them of upcoming content releases. To kick things off, one of the sites initial posts gives a glimpse at some of the initial concept designs for the Pyro’s new flare gun. Something tells me this is going to turn into an endless source of TF2 information in the coming months.

Via Official Team Fortress 2 Blog

Thanks to the wonderful link provided by iKiddo yesterday, we now know exactly what you have to do to get all the Pyro achievements listed for Team Fortress 2. Therefore, without further ado, here they are:

1. Arsonist: Destroy 50 Engineer buildings.
2. Attention Getter: Ignite 100 enemies with the flare gun.
3. Baptism by Fire: Force 10 burning enemies to jump into water.
4. BarbeQueQ: Cause a dominated player to leave the server.
5. Burn Ward: Ignite 3 medics that are ready to deploy an Uber-charge.
6. Camp Fire: Kill 3 enemies in a row, all within the same area.
7. Clearcutter: Kill 6 people with your axe in one life.
8. Combined Fire: Use your shotgun to finish off 20 players you’ve ignited.
9. Controlled Burn: Ignite 50 enemies capturing one of your control points.
10. Cooking the Books: Ignite 5 enemies carrying your intelligence.
11. Dance Dance Immolation: Kill 3 enemies while they’re taunting.
12. Dead Heat: Kill an enemy in the same second that he kills you.
13. Fire and Forget: Kill 15 players while you’re dead.
14. Fire Chief: Kill 1000 enemies
15. Firefighter: Kill 500 enemies.
16. Firewall: Ignite 5 Spies who have a sapper on a friendly building.
17. Firewatch: Ignite 10 snipers while they are zoomed in.
18. Freezer Burn: Provide enemies with freezecam shots of each of your taunts.
19. Got A Light?: Ignite an enemy Spy while he’s flicking a cigarette.
20. Hot on Your Heels: Kill 50 enemies with your flamethrower, from behind.
21. Hot Potato: Reflect 100 projectiles with your compressed air blast.
22. Hotshot: Kill a Soldier with a reflected critical rocket.
23. I Fry: Ignite 10 disguised Spies
24. Lumberjack: Kill 3 people with your axe in one life.
25. Makin’ Bacon: Kill 50 Heavies with your flamethrower.
26. Next of Kindling: Ignite an enemy, and the Medic healing him.
27. OMGWTFBBQ: Kill an enemy with a taunt
28. Pilot Light: Ignite a rocket-jumping Soldier while he’s in midair.
29. Plan B: Kill 10 enemies while you’re both underwater.
30. Pyromancer: Do 1 million points of total fire damage.
31. Pyrotechnics: Kill 3 enemies in a single uber-charge.
32. Second Degree Burn: Kill a burning enemy who was ignited by another Pyro.
33. Spontaneous Combustion: Ignite 10 cloaked Spies.
34. Trailblazer: Ignite 10 enemies that have recently used a teleporter.
35. Weenie Roast: Have 2 enemy Scouts on fire at the same time.

I also went ahead and posted a pic of The Sniper since it was so cool.

Via: Steam

Want to know what to expect regarding Pyro achievements for Team Fortress 2? Then look no further because the complete achievement list can be found below. We are unsure as to what you have to do to accomplish these, but more is suppose to be announced sometime today.

1. Arsonist
2. Attention Getter
3. Baptism by Fire
4. BarbequeQ
5. Burn Ward
6. Camp Fire
7. Clear Cutter
8. Combined Fire
9. Controlled Burn
10. Cooking the Books
11. Dance Dance Immolation
12. Dead Heat
13. Fire and Forget
14. Fire Chief
15. Firefighter
16. Firewall
17. Firewatch
18. Freezer Burn
19. Got a Light?
20. Hot on Your Heels
21. Hotshot
22. Hot Potato
23. I Fry
24. Lumberjack
25. Makin’ Bacon
26. Next of Kindling
27. OMGWTFBBQ
28. Pilot Light
29. Plan B
30. Pyromancer
31. Pyrotechnics
32. Second Degree Burn
33. Spontaneous Combustion
34. Trailblazer
35. Weenie Roast

Thanks: Shacknews

Get ready to go flame-crazy in Team Fortress 2 this Thursday when Valve releases the second major character update for the masked, flamethrower-wielding class. Three new weapons and a total of 35 new achievements for the class will be included in the update, which will also include two user-created maps.

A website dedicate to the update will be going live Tuesday afternoon at 11AM PDT (2PM on the east coast), so we should hopefully have more information on the specifics then. For some reason I get the impression that the new weapons won’t be unlockable — at least not in the same way the Medic’s were. I really hope that’s the case, but the Medic update really ruined the game for a period of time there. Valve clearly underestimated people’s desire to farm achievements.

If that’s not really your thing, a new “Meet the Team” video will be going live — Meet the Sniper, to be more specific. Be sure to check back tomorrow and we’ll have the video for you to enjoy.

As we reported last week, Valve will be introducing “some significant changes” to the class, regardless of your having the new weapons. No word yet on what those might be, but once again, the new Pyro Update website will hopefully clue us in and get us prepared for the new wave of Pyros we’ll see later this week.

This upcoming weekend will also be a Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend, starting at 11AM PDT on Friday. That’ll give you a chance to try out the community maps and Pyro changes.

The new unlockable weapons and achievements for the Medic in Team Fortress 2 — as great an idea as they were — ended up being a pretty big mess. Suddenly, mountains of servers were locked and running a specially-designed map to make farming the achievements as easy as possible. The games that were open were littered with people who either hadn’t a clue as to how the class should be played or had a single goal (a specific achievement) on their minds.

I’m clearly not the only one who’d like to see Valve handle the next big release differently. That’s at least hinted at in last week’s Steam update news, which confirmed the news that the Pyro would be the next to get the unlockable weapon treatment.

We’ve almost completely wrapped up the next big release for Team Fortress 2, which will focus on the Pyro class, along with the Meet the Sniper movie. We’ve spent time looking at how the recent Medic release went, and have rolled feedback from that release into the new item designs for the Pyro and into the design of the achievements required to unlock those items.

One of the new unlockable weapons, the Axtinguisher, is an axe that does half-damage to enemies if they’re not on fire, but if they have caught fire, you’re guaranteed a critical hit. I don’t know how practical that is, because if you’re so close to the enemy, why not just keep spamming your flamethrower?

Unlike the Medic update, Valve intends to make “some significant changes” to Pyros, whether or not you unlock the new weapons. We’ve got that to look forward to, as well as the next “Meet the…” video, which will star the Sniper.

Valve has announced that a major update to Day of Defeat: Source is currently in beta. The update will add support for Steamworks, which means you’ll be finding some significant additions to the game, including 51 achievements, detailed statistics in Steam Community, and a new map.

The new map, dod_Palermo, isn’t entirely new, as it’s a remix of a popular community map, dod_salerno. Other new features include a nemesis/revenge freeze cam like Team Fortress 2 has, as well as new graphical effects that TF2 added to Source.

Owners of DoD: Source can currently join the beta free of charge, whether you own a retail or Steam copy of the game. That seems like enough incentive to purchase the game if you don’t already own it, especially when you consider that it’s only $10.