I could just let it slip by, but in this flurry of updates, I decided against letting anything slip by. To accompany the new forums in celebration of all things TF2, I’ve just filled up the Medic Achievements page with some pretty pictures. It has finally become a word for word list of all the new updates in the Medic Pack, including a laughably unofficial difficulty rating. Strap yourself in and check it out.

Also check out the Admin Blog while you’re at it. I just remembered about it after half a month, and tried to make up with it by boring you to tears almost 300% more than usual.

* Icecream not included

In celebration of the aforementioned TF2 update (Gold Rush rules - at least it will just as soon as less than half my team are medics), I’ve upgraded the TF2S forums from phpBB2 to phpBB3. The most obvious difference is the look of the things, which will change further when I start fiddling with the vast style options.

Tell me what you think in the new forums thread. For the moment the old forums are still up, but since the upgrade seems to have gone smoothly, I’ll be wiping them away in due course. The new path is tf2strategy.com/forums, rather than /community, so check it out and see if you can break it

I won’t waste your time with words - the update is OUT! Everyone who owns Team Fortress 2 now has access to a new map, Goldrush, with a new gameplay style, Payload, and the first set of class-specific achievement / unlockable weapon packs for the Medic. Plus there’s going to be a TF2 free weekend this weekend, so get to work on any of your friends who haven’t had the TF2 experience!

Here it is from the horse’s mouth:

Team Fortress 2: Gold Rush Update Available Now
April 29, 2008, 5:59 pm - Alden Kroll

The Team Fortress 2: Gold Rush Update is now available, free to owners of Team Fortress 2 via Steam. The Gold Rush Update introduces the new Gold Rush map and Payload gameplay style, the first set of unlockable weapons, and a new set of achievements for the Medic.

In other TF2 news, a worldwide Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend will begin Friday at noon PDT, and will include access to the new content released today in the TF2: Gold Rush Update. Using the functionality made available through Steam and Steamworks, all of the files needed to join the Free Weekend are available for pre-loading now.

The Free Weekend is open to players around the world, and there is no obligation to purchase to participate; all that is needed is a Steam account to join.

To start pre-loading everything you need to play on Friday and learn more about Team Fortress 2, please visit www.steamgames.com/goldrush

That’s tomorrow! No, really! Neowin has claimed that after a visit to the Valve offices that

The update will be released this Tuesday, April 29th.

Surely Valve wouldn’t twist the screws by delaying it again… right? It’s not an official announcement though, so I’m only 95% holding my breath. Of course that’s only slightly more than I hold it when there hasn’t been any word of a release, so take it as you will.

In other, more disturbing news, there’s a rumour out there than Valve has scaled back the difficulty of some of the more onerous medic achievements - most notably Chief Of Staff being scaled back to only 1 million total healing, but a few others too. Check out an apparent list of achievements over at flickr - Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 and Page 4. It’s either a ‘correction’ by Valve or a damn good Photoshop job… time will tell.

UPDATE: Clearly the update isn’t live yet, but I have word that it is expected within the hour. Stay tuned!

It can’t be long now! Valve’s brand new Meet The Scout video has hit the tubes, and surely the update is just around the corner. So head on over to the Scout Videos page and Meet him (3rd video down). Or if you’re the picky sort that needs HD, type the URL steam://run/5032/ into your browser and Steam should get to downloading it for you. “WOOHOO!”

And speaking of the update, a few images of the weapon customisation system have surfaced over at PRiSON.ro, and as such the little linky pictures in the Medic Overview have also had a bit of a touchup. Better quality to come post-update, of course.