Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is the sequel to the game that put class-based, multiplayer team warfare on the map. This year’s most anticipated online action game, TF2 delivers new gametypes, a signature art style powered by Valve’s next generation animation technology, persistent player statistics, and more.

Unlike other “class-based” games that offer a variety of combat classes only, Team Fortress 2 packs a wild variety of classes which provide a broad range of tactical abilities and personalities, and lend themselves to a variety of player skills. Play as the flame-throwing Pyro, the room clearing Heavy, or the Spy, a master of disguises. Other classes include: Scout, Sniper, Medic, Engineer, Demoman, or Soldier.

Valve announced the second annual holiday-themed "Australian Christmas" update, featuring two retro-futuristic "Dr. Grordbort" class packs for the Engineer and Pyro, designed by Weta Workshop's Greg Broadmore.

In addition to the class packs, the update will also ship 14 new holiday-themed weapons, hats and cosmetic items by the TF community's item creators, using the Steam Workshop. "CP_Foundry," a new five-cap control point map designed by Valve's TF2 team, comes with 12 map-specific achievements.

As part of the holiday celebration, over 50 items in the Mann Co. in-game store will be on sale for up to 75% until January 2nd, 2012. Additionally, the in-game item drop rate will be doubled for the first week of the event.

Team Fortress 2 is an excellent "sandbox" for explorations of this sort, and we've been quietly doing so for much of this last year. Some of the results of these explorations are TF "bots" — AI-driven player proxies with simulated humanlike senses, reaction times, and tactics. Although the TFBots are not yet complete, they play a pretty decent game of King of the Hill.

Badlands, New Mexico. Mann Co., the industry leader in selling products and getting in fights, today announced the deployment of the Mann-Conomy initiative to the warring mercenary factions in the ongoing global war between Builders League United (BLU) and Reliable Excavation Demolition (RED). The Mann-Conomy initiative represents the largest introduction of new items in the company's history, available for immediate trading, use, and sale.

The Mann-Conomy initiative will allow BLU and RED mercenaries to finally trade items with each other, escalating hostilities further through emotionally wrenching haggling sessions over hats.