Apparently since the game was released two years ago, there have been 97 updates for the game. 97! That’s roughly one a week, and has to be some kind of record.

Sure, that speaks volumes about the commitment of Valve to the game and the ways Steam allows them to directly service their customers. That’s surely why the point was made. But I like it because it shows how insanely passionate (not to mention important) TF2’s vocal player base is, that their over-bearing presence has Valve so on their toes that they’re updating a game on a weekly basis.

Valve’s Holtman: Digital Direct Gives Developers More Pricing Freedom [Gamasutra]

They’re slam-packed with in-game memes — Pyro’s speechlessness, Demo-Man getting lit on egg nog and Spy romancing Scout’s mum under the mistletoe. Each set is $US15.95 — a steep price to confuse your family, or a bargain to wow your friends. Your choice.

2009 Holiday Card Collection [Steam via VG247]

No, not when it’s Team Fortress 2. It doesn’t matter that this poor girl has no idea what she’s being made to repeat. She’s having a ball and our cold, dead hearts are going to run a little warmer today.

“MEEEDICCC!” A TF2 inspired Halloween. *Pic HEAVY* [Craftster, via Dtoid]

Pitchford, speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine, called Valve’s posture toward Sony – specifically as expressed by Doug Lombardi – similar to that of fanboys’.

“Doug Lombardi had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish,” Pitchford told OPM, according to AnalogHype.

I read it the same way I read fanboys,” he added. “Like there’s a guy who bought the Sony platform and he’s a Sony guy, so he decides he’s going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there’s a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing. Those guys are childish and narrow minded; It’s the same kind of thing.

Pitchford wasn’t done there. He also spoke of an “underlying sleaziness” in how Valve has treated the PS3 version of The Orange Box, relative to its support for the Xbox 360 version of Team Fortress 2.

I’m actually kind of mad at Doug because with the Orange Box, he said the 360 and PC versions are the good ones and the PS3 version is like the stepchild because some other developer made it. Well you Valve don’t really think that, because look what you’ve done on the PC side. You’ve supported that, you’ve added all this content to Team Fortress 2, and you’ve left us hanging. It’s hard to accept that genuinely, because I know the business, I know you guys make half the money on the PS3 version because you’ve got other fingers in the pie, and other developers getting a cut. It benefits you if nobody buys that, and only buys the PC version, because you make the most money. There’s this underlying sleaziness.

Not that this settles anything but, there you go, equal time for PS3, albeit from a surrogate, in a great three-way Valve/Gearbox/Sony pissing contest.

President of Gearbox Questions Valve’s Lack of PS3 Support [AnalogHype via Destructoid]

Kotaku reader Wayne T. received a form letter, two 1960s/70s era comic covers (”Saxton Hale’s Jungle Brawl” and “Saxton Hale’s Barbershop Action”) and the most badass piece of mail the United States Postal Service ever sorted.

“I guess I’ll forgive them for not having my spy crab kit in stock,” Wayne told us. “P.S. – The woman probably wasn’t impressed because I didn’t send enough money. I’ll fix that next time …”

The deal’s of course restricted to pre-orders of the PC L4D2, Steam or retail. However, if you’ve already preordered the game, never fear. “Just fire up TF2 and you’ll find the hat in your next game,” the ad states.

For the record, Valve offers this defence of shamelessly rending two continuities asunder just to make a fast buck:

Lest you think this is just some marketing gimmick, here’s the intricate back-story justifying it: while conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill’s hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe.

Plausible. The hat preorder bonus accompanies a 10 percent discount, too.

Pre-Order Giveaway Madness! [TF2 Official Blog]

P.S. Sorry, guys. I wound up not going as Peach this year because I couldn’t find anybody to by my Mario.

P.P.S. Check back at 5AM for a very special Batman: Arkham Asylum costume. It’s so spiffy, this boss is giving it its own post.

These are actually colleagues of mine who posted their group costume to Facebook. I re-posted here so you could compare this Zoe to the Drag Zoe in the next three pictures.

Today through November 2, Valve invites the spirits of the dead into Team Fortress 2 in the form of terrifying paper bag hats. The masks are unlocked via five new update-specific achievements, with names like “Candy Coroner” and “Attack O’ Lantern”, the latter of which might have something to do with the exploding pumpkins added in the update.

The update also brings a new KOTH map called Harvest, through which wanders the restless spirit of Zepheniah Mann. Crossing his path will cause you to freeze with terror, leaving you open to all sorts of deadly Halloween mischief. On top of that, “the mangled corpses of the recently deceased will plague the living… with candy!” I have no idea what that means, and I’m a little scared to find out.

Team Fortress 2 Pumpkin Patch [Team Fortress 2]

Master Chief is cute because it’s carved from a green pumpkin. Akuma is cute because it’s a dad’s contribution to his family’s pumpkin count, which is about to get bigger by one. And the Spy could potentially be cute, if you ever got that mask off him.

The “mystery game” is actually an iPhone game called Sneezies sent my way by an enterprising iPhone dev who apparently knows how to carve a pumpkin.

Mad pumpkin respect to Jacob Hemphill, Jordan Rubow, Jimmy LeBlanc, Easy Tiger, Joe V. and Gavin Bowman!

Some of you keep starting your pumpkin emails with “Mine’s terrible, but…” Seriously, guys, it doesn’t matter. You want to see how bad my pumpkin skillz are? Check out the last image. It’s supposed to be Bubs from Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (which is really just a Bubs stencil from Homestarrunner.com) — but it kind of looks like a retarded Popple. Or Gary Busey, depending on whether or not it’s lit up.

So, don’t be shy! Send me your gaming pumpkins!