Filed under: First Person Shooters

In the days preceding this Tuesday's highly anticipated Team Fortress 2 Scout update, Valve's been releasing a slow trickle of news regarding exactly what goodies players will be getting in the download. So far, the pot's pretty sweet -- TF2's hyperactive class will now be able to unlock "The Sandman", a new bat which hits baseballs that are capable of stunning even the most tank-ish opponents. Scouts can also pick up the "Bonk Energy Drink", which will give the already expedient class an extra burst of speed for a few seconds.

The update will also introduce a few new maps to the TF2 mix -- Arena_Watchtower, an expansive map with a focus on long, sniper-friendly sightlines; CP_Junction, a tight-quarters map that's more suited for the game's explosive classes; and CP_Egypt, a "visually striking", Dustbowl-esque control point map. The update will also patch in some gameplay tweaks to the pre-existing CP_Fastlane map.

Oh, and the newly updated Scouts will also be able to unlock their 35 new class-specific achievements, which we've posted after the jump. Valve should be dropping further info on the pending patch tomorrow -- we'll keep our single-earphone-covered ear to the ground to let you know when the final tease drops.

Everyone knows that the most important element when attempting to pick off virtual, foreign combatants is immersion. However, in an online age characterized by 1337speak and decidedly un-1337 bigotry, immersion's a tough commodity to come by. We can't remember the last round of Call of Duty: World at War (or any online shooter, for that matter) we played where we didn't want to climb through the expansive internet tubes to choke the life out of one of our half-baked (or, in some cases, totally baked, brah) teammates.

Sketch comedy troupe Whitest Kids U Know recently exposed this infuriating phenomenon (NSFW) to those who've never experienced it firsthand. You can watch their sketch after the break -- we warn you, it may invoke such strong feelings of familiarity that you might just call up the DABEARS in your life, and congenially tell him to die in a fire.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Listen, we're for the advancement of realism and ethical dialogue in video games just as much as the next ludo-snob, but we can't help but miss the good old days when justice -- sweet, unwavering justice -- was dealt from the glassy tip of a Light Gun. Imagine our delight when we heard tell that Headstrong Games, developer of the overcompensating peripheral-packing zombie shooter House of the Dead: Overkill, had expressed interest in revitalizing another of Sega's classic franchises: Virtua Cop.

When pressed in a recent interview with Cubed3, Overkill producer Neil McEwen explained that Headstrong Games would "love to do Virtua Cop or another light gun game for Sega." According to McEwen, the collaboration began when Sega approached the developer with the hopes of working together on one of Sega's franchises. They ultimately settled on House of the Dead, but should the relationship continue, we might just see the return of everyone's favorite destruction-prone pair of virtual flatfeet.

It's official -- when promoting video games, regular-sized advertising structures just don't cut it anymore. LittleBigPlanet's bite-sized billboards were a step in the right direction, though Warner Bros. just took the miniature advertising game to a smaller, mobile and more adorable level. In the future, when rookie industry analysts inquire as to how F.E.A.R. 2 became the best-selling game of all time, their weathered superiors will become lost in a haze of nostalgia, muttering through a slight grin -- "Catvertising."

If you live in foggy Londontown, keep an eye out over the next few days for black cats who are unknowingly promoting F.E.A.R. 2's Friday the 13th release date. Before PETA flips their easily flippable lid, we should mention that the cats aren't being painted, or treated inhumanely. They're just wearing little F.E.A.R. 2-branded kitten coats, which you can order for your own precious lil' guy, provided you live in the London area, and you don't have a morbidly obese house cat.

[Thanks, Ben S.]

Researchers at England's Durham University recently found a use for Valve's Source Engine that doesn't involve crowbars, headcrabs or unsettling, suited men -- using the engine's relatively simple tools, they've begun making fire drill simulations by recreating some of the university's departments, then coating them in virtual flame. The simulations are designed to not only teach users good fire safety practices, but to see how users react when confronted with snarling, searing death.

On that note, the gaming community should feel particularly proud of the results researchers have witnessed when gaming veterans go through the simulator -- according to one researcher, "if a door was on fire, they [gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit." Just in case they weren't aware, we feel compelled to bring the fellow denizens of our cultural niche this important PSA: Fire is hot, and it hurts when you touch it.

If you enjoyed Marvel's yet-to-be-completed Halo: Uprising comic series then you may be interested in a recent announcement from Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada -- during his Cup O' Joe panel at NYCC, Quesada confirmed that Marvel will be publishing two more Halo miniseries by the end of the year. Hopefully, these two won't get bogged down by late-in-the-game story revisions and accompanying year-long delays.

The first five-part series, which is set to deploy this summer (and could conveniently wrap in time for Halo 3: ODST) will be penned by She-Hulk writer Peter David, and drawn by Gigantic's Eric Nguyen. The second series, due out in winter, will be produced by Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela, the writing and illustrating (respectively) team behind Wolverine: First Class. Best of luck, guys -- you've got some awfully big shoes to fill.

We didn't know anyone wandered into Far Cry 2's expansive, hojillion-hour-long single-player campaign and somehow managed to make time to check out the game's multiplayer offerings, but apparently there's a sizable community of online FC2 players out there. This group has been calling for more realistic match settings for quite some time -- players can apparently catch more lead than Sonny Corleone and walk away with little more than a scratch and an interesting story.

Their pleas have been answered -- in a recent post on the FC2 community blog, the game's developers announced a patch which will, in addition to rebalancing the weapons in all multiplayer modes, add a more realistic "hardcore setting" to all match types. This mode will boost the damage for all weapons (ensuring speedier demises) and will let players tweak the "spawn times" (but not the "spawn rates", whatever that means). They didn't specify which platforms the patch will be landing on -- hopefully, they'll be affording a hasty death to all three.

Update: The update is coming to "all platforms". Huzzah!

[Via Big Download]

A 52-second video purporting to be a Super Bowl advertisement for Killzone 2 has been making the rounds, though its legitimacy has come under a great deal of scrutiny. First of all, the length -- NBC is charging in 30 second increments for commercials, leaving eight seconds unaccounted for should the ad run. Also, while Sony does have a few ad spots reserved during the big game, they're set aside for movies coming out of Sony Pictures, and not for games. Also, the writing is really bad. The leaked ad is posted after the jump -- with kickoff a few hours away, we won't have to wait long to see if it's a fake.

Also posted after the jump is a leaked 23-minute making-of special for the Helghast-filled shooter, which is set to air on Bravo today. If you've remained in the dark about Killzone 2, you might want to check it out -- we found it highly educational. For instance, before we watched it, we didn't even know there was an earlier installment in the Killzone series. Yeah, apparently, it came out on PS2 in like, 2004! Crazy, right?

Source - The questionable Super Bowl ad
Source - Bravo's making-of special

Your weekly, Good Old Games-sponsored tour through the classics of PC gaming continues this week with a new addition, In Cold Blood, available now for $5.99. If you're unfamiliar with this stealthy adventure all the way from 2001, we've put a trailer for you just after the break.

The service has also added two JoWooD titles for $9.99: demonic FPS Painkiller Black Edition and tank sim Panzer Elite: Special Edition. Hmm, shooting Hell beasts with giant stakes or a historical strategy game? We hope the right choice is clear.

Have you been noticeably irked by some of Resistance 2's precious little "features" (i.e. bugs)? Fear not, true believer, patch 1.40 is on its way and coming Monday, January 26. If you've noticed your multiplayer level inexplicably reset to one, you'll now get it back to the proper level, plus whatever experience you earned post-reset.

The update will also correct Trophy errors, such as the one requiring 10,000 kills -- if you've done the deed but not gotten the reward, this patch will retroactively apply it. Full patch details after the break.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

We hope we're not alone in this, but we sure miss Vin Diesel when we don't get to see him for a while. The reasons should be more than evident in this new trailer for Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which we've just lifted from our friends at Xbox 360 Fanboy.

Vin Diesel is a video game character. He's bald, he's buff, he speaks only in low growls and he loves to kill people. All he's missing is a bitchin' rock guitar soundtrack to follow him around everywhere, and we think you'll agree that the above trailer fills that need effortlessly.

Finally, the long, strange journey of the-game-formerly-not-known-as-F.E.A.R.-2 is nearing its end. As the savvy among you already knew, the demo for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has just arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace as well as on PCs. Update: We've confirmed that it'll be available on PSN later today.

As is so often the case, we've been so busy bringing you the news of the day that we've been unable to carve out a few minutes for ourselves and play it. The responsibility falls to you, beloved readers! What do you make of the demo?

Download – PC demo [Big Download]
Download – Xbox 360 demo [XBLM]

Sony finally saw fit to confirm that Killzone 2 will begin its retail assault on Europe the week of February 25. "PAL regions" will receive the game on Feb. 25, while the UK and Ireland can get in the zone two days later -- same as North America. As Eurogamer points out, the Feb. dates have been listed by retail for a while, but we all know it's never official until the fat lady -- about to experience serious liposuction -- sings.

Killzone 2 will also receive a special PS3 bundle in the region. Now, how about that European demo date?

If you haven't completely abandoned Team Fortress 2 for Left 4 Dead (or are straddling the two), then you'll want to start digging through this comprehensive new piece from The Escapist for hints about the cartoonish shooter's future. After a quick perusal, we've already spotted a tease for a "very different" new game mode (coming soon!) and discussion of a possible 10th class.

Speaking of L4D, we'd like to make our bid for the 10th class: The "Louis." His special skills include 1. being Louis and 2. shouting about pipe bombs. Get it done, Valve.

The charming video which you'll find just below the break is an expert blending of Halo 3 and Fallout 3 and it holds within it two very basic truths. One: It's fine for Fallout, but Halo probably wouldn't be better if it stopped every 10 seconds to let you select which body part to aim for.

The second truth? Apologies to Marty O'Donnell, but Halo would be much, much better if set to the melodious vocal stylings of Roy Brown. Sorry if that's hard for you to hear.

[Via X3F]