Team Fortress 2 rises from the dead
by Cyril Kowaliski
3:09 PM on July 17, 2006
After wandering the halls of vaporware hand-in-hand with Duke Nukem
Forever and
Prey for the better part
of eight years, Team Fortress 2 has suddenly risen from the dead.
Valve
has announced that the title will be included as part
of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the next opus in Valve's episodic Half-Life
2 follow-up series. Valve Marketing Director Doug Lombardi revealed last
month that Episode Two is
scheduled for a
release this holiday season, so Team
Fortress 2 could hit stores—and Steam, Valve's online distribution
system—in the same time period.
While early screenshots of Team Fortress 2 depict
graphics similar to the original Half-Life's, the latest incarnation of
the game appears
to sport a cartoony, over-the-top look. Valve has revealed little else
about the game, but the lone screenshot that accompanies the press
release also reveals the same character classes as the current Team
Fortress Classic. The press release says Team Fortress 2 will have "the
most advanced graphics of any Source-based game released to date," as well.