If EA and Activision are the game industry equivalents of the loud, shallow, attention-seeking people at the party, then Valve is the cool one that sits in the background, not saying much, but has people hanging on their every word when they do speak.
In the last couple of days Valve has cleared their throat, ready to say something interesting no doubt, and people are already leaning in.
Team Fortress 2 is known for its humour, and the hilarious Meet the Team videos have introduced us to all the characters, except the Pyro, so far. That series is finally concluding this week, as the long-awaited Meet the Pyro short debuts on Wednesday afternoon in the USA, or very early Thursday morning in Australia.
To celebrate, there’s a big update being rolled out over the next few days, with the first announcement being a new map and game mode: Doomsday. It sounds like a slight variant on the modes already on offer, with teams fighting to “transport a suitcase nuke full of recalled Mann Co. Australium to American monkeynaut Poopy Joe’s rocket, so he can blast off and hunt down Soviet space chimp Vladimir Bananas.” Sounds like it’ll be just what the salivating fans are looking for.
There are still more details on the update to be revealed right up until Meet the Pyro launches, so keep an eye on the TF2 site.
But on to the most exciting news: Valve has teamed up with Adult Swim, that late-night block of Cartoon Network dedicated to a more mature audience, with shows like Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Metalocalypse and Robot Chicken. So far, there’s nothing more than a teaser page (above image) on the Adult Swim website, showing the Team Fortress 2 characters and telling visitors to return next week. I’m not entirely sure how long the page has been up, but I’m assuming it actually means next week – unless it’s been there since last week, so maybe it’ll be revealed when the Pyro video launches. Again, I’m not sure, so just visit regularly, so you don’t miss the announcement. That’s what I’ll be doing.
If the humour demonstrated in the TF2 Meet the Team videos – and the game itself – can be expanded into an animated series, it will be Godsent. Already, Adult Swim’s programming is much the same kind of comedy, so it should feel right at home on the network.
Of course, nothing’s been confirmed yet, so I might be jumping to conclusions here, but come on – a game studio known for its humourous videos, teaming up with an adult-oriented humour television network – what the hell else could it be?
I guess it might just be a short-term promotion or something. You know what, we’ll find out soon enough.
