Team Fortress 2 Heavy update detailed and dated

I mentioned early last month that the next Team Fortress 2 update would be based around the Heavy and his trusty minigun Sasha, and it seems that Valve has finally finished it up. It also looks like they’ve been hard at work since letting the news slip, as they’re promising that this will be “the largest update ever produced for Team Fortress 2.”

So what can we look forward to in the biggest update ever? Well, there will of course be the requisite three new unlockable weapons and thirty five achievements for the Heavy. There’ll also be a new game mode with five new maps, and a new Payload map that promises to contain more open spaces — all the better for the Heavy to gun you down from a distance — than Goldrush.

Along with all those free goodies, Valve will also be including a community-made map called cp_steel. This new map is a control point map with a twist: different routes will open and close for each team depending on who controls what point, offering a variety of different route choices for the offensive team.

The update is scheduled to go live August 19 (next Tuesday) and will be celebrated with another Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend on Steam. Are you looking forward to the new update? What TF2 class would you like to see updated next?

August 12, 2008 – Valve, creators of award-winning games and leading technologies, today announced the unveiling of details for the largest update ever produced for Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer action game that recently topped PC Gamer UK’s “Top 100” list.
           Beginning today gamers may find details of “The Heavy” Update being disclosed via http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/. The site will reveal new information and screenshots each day, as well as a special installment to the “Meet the Team” series of video shorts.
           “The Heavy” update is the largest update to Team Fortress 2 since it was first released as part of The Orange Box last October. In addition to offering new unlockable weapons, achievements, “The Heavy” update also includes a brand new gameplay mode and a number of new maps.
The rollout culminates next Tuesday, August 19 when the update will be made available to all owners of Team Fortress 2.
To give all gamers a chance to check out the new gameplay introduced in “The Heavy” update, Valve will be running a Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend via Steam, a leading online platform for the delivery and management of PC games. The Free Weekend is open to gamers the world over and scheduled to begin Friday, August 22 at 11 am PDT.