OK, some great and yet slighty wierd news out of Valve this week. Team Fortress 2, a serious contender for the Vaporware Champion is...on it's way. Apparently, it will be released along with Half-Life 2: Episode 2, which should be available in (very roughly) six months or so.
And now the wierd bit. It's not going to be a gritty war-themed squad shooter. or anything like that Instead, they've chosen to take it in a shall we say bold direction. Apparently, the theme is something along the lines of cell-shaded 60's spy thing, ala Austin Powers or the NOLF games.
Not only am I surprised that the game is actually being developed, but I am now doubly surprised at the unconventional theme of the game, though I applaud their initiative and hopefully it works out for the best.
Here's the press release, which also announces another, previously unknown game/mod/whatever, and plans to port all the HL2 content to the 360 and PS3.
Valve, developer of the blockbuster series Half-Life and Counter-Strike, unveiled Team Fortress 2 and Portal, two new games to be included in its next release, Half-Life 2: Episode Two. In addition, the studio announced its plans to deliver these products, plus enhanced versions of Half-Life 2 and Episode One, in one tremendous package for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
"By evolving our development process to an episodic approach, we're able to reduce risk from things such as schedule and funding and invest more in new types of gameplay," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "This allows us to produce innovative titles such as Portal and Team Fortress 2 and deliver them in a timely fashion to customers along with Episode Two."
Episode Two advances the 16-million unit selling franchise, as Valve's trilogy of episodic single player releases continues the award-winning story of Half-Life 2. Armed with new weaponry and vehicles, Dr. Gordon Freeman must race through a countryside riddled with an increasingly fierce Combine threat.
Team Fortress 2, an all-new version of the title that spawned team based multiplayer action games, features the most advanced graphics of any Source-based game released to date. Players choose from a range of unique character classes such as medic, spy, sniper, or engineer and must work together to complete a variety of tactical objectives.
Portal is a new type of single player game that changes how players approach, manipulate, and surmise the possibilities in a given environment in a manner similar to how the Gravity Gun changed our approach to how an object may be leveraged in any given situation.
Team Fortress 2 and Portal will be included with all retail and Steam versions of Episode Two for the PC. In addition, these products plus Half-Life 2 and Episode One will be available in one tremendous offering for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. New videos from Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 will be released next week.
