KritzKast

If your expecting a huge talk about the end of the line, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait, this episode was recorded before the update was released. So instead we talk about the rocketing price of keys and there impact on the economy. We also take a look at streaming over steam. Yep steam broadcasting service is now available for everybody….as long as you opt into it. We also discuss how the Tomb raider promo items turned out and if we like the process. Do we think this is the way promo items will be produced from this day forward? Also, can we please point you in the direction of tf2mixup.com? how about the yogcast humble bundle. Ok, technically they are the same thing. Check them out, you can help out a great charity and get yourself a “Thought that counts” medal.

300 is just a number, no more important than the annual celebrations of the escaping from your mother’s womb. So making a big song and dance about having recorded 300 episodes of the Team fortress 2 podcast may seem a little self congratulatory of us. You know what, fuck it! This is our show and we’ll feels if we want to. For our 300th episode we’ve brought previous hosts, B00bies and Postman Pat to talk about the times that was when we were young and impressionable and we thought we had it all figured out. And I’m not just talking about last Tuesday. This is a long episode. We’re not going to apologise for that. It took a long time to edit, and even longer time for the hats we gave out at the end to be released. So long as there is Team Fortress 2, there will be KritzKast.

TF2 Mercs have been cropping up in the latest steam sale, exploring the world and generally doing things you don’t normally associate with killing each other. Speculation as to this activity is rife. Which was lucky because other than that, and the Jazz Minigun (link through the picture) it’s been all quiet on the Eastern Front for TF2. In Overwatch Watch; the Blizzard dev interview (where someone dared to compare their class driven Team FPS game to it to *gasp* TF2) has been doing the rounds. And Tracer becomes the first character to become immortalized with her own statue.  Buy it now and they’ll deliver it sometime in April next year.

How do you follow 300? Why, with a super dooper pl_upward update (okay, it’s an extra stair) of course. In the same week that TF2Maps.net launches the final voting on the Mercs vs Aliens Fubar launches his own mini map-pack.  Muselk raised circa. $5K AUD for THP Australia. In our new section Overwatch Watch: nothing happened last week, as confirmed on fan site Overwatch Universe. Oh and Ruskey, if you want even more Medic Sloth, [S.T.A.R.S] TotoroTrash has you covered.

Overwatch could very well be an attempt by Blizzard to muscle in on TF2’s territory. We talk about its potential future impact on the game and the community. Also this week; how Square Enix are out sourcing their promo items to the workshop. We’ve played Instant Muffins TF2Kart, a game mode in development before Halloween’s bumper cars. To round it off, there’s an 8inch 3A Ghost of Zepheniah Mann figure which you just can’t buy. Har Har!

If this is the first time you’ve listened to KritzKast, I feel I should apologise for the show name. It’s a gross misrepresentation of the content. No holes were destroyed in the making of this show. Although that may be a better explanation for Scream Fortress 6 [*shudders] than Valve came up with. Along with the actual updates, and the gifts there’s been rampant speculation that we may be getting another WAR themed update. Soldier, jump in your cart, bring your rocket launcher and play some  match making TF2.

The horror that was the NECA spy has been rather cleverly hidden with a paper mask. TF2 hits over 100,000 concurrent players. The HoUWaR creeps closer to becoming a reality. Valve makes $2m a year just from reselling keys. TF2 makes its way into CS:GO and Speedrunners. BETALAN happened, as did the ETF2L & Teamfortress TV’s Highlander Invitational.

Look, Look. RD_Asteroid looks like a Moonbase. Looks like Team Moon takes the lead. But for how long? We talk about the changes to the map above and also the vote system created by this weeks update. We also return to the comic like we promised. Sir grey is here to give his opinions on the story and the direction its moving. On top of that he also brings news of the most expensive trade topping out at close to $17,300. What did they trade. Listen in to find out. PS, want to see a hidden spy…..we know how, but can valve stop it?

What do you call a mod made by Star? Why, Starmod of course! Just as you’d name doors that appear only big enough to fit little tiny pixie man, TF2 Fairy Doors. End of the Line is ramping up the hype (again) with their EotL Tee and poster. Don’t Starve has an unused Pyro class, and Monopoly Fortress could be the next game to appear in WeLoveFine. Well it’s not, but how cool would that be?

Tempest is back! In other updates.. there’s been another update. Theoretically this makes macs more stable, you may disagree. There were another few changes to things like voting for alltalk and teambalance to be disabled. But the thing that’s big for us today is the 4th annual Saxxys. As with any event where there are winners and looses, we get deep into it. Finally the 4th comic is out too.. huh, 4th Saxxys, 4th comic.. huh. Which is almost more than we are prepared to talk about the comic this week.  Don’t worry, we’ll get to it. There’s a completely legit Engineer wrench for sale at ThinkGeek.com. Lastly.. play along at home with Terrzyl’s KritzKast Bingo.

The 4th Annual Saxxys are on us again. The official blog brings to our attention a new TF2 mod, Respawn:Arena. There are updates a plenty with 9 new items, all part of the Limited Late Summer Pack. BETA Lan gets their own medal and Captain Canteen is finally killed off. Finally a fair favourite of Sir Grey, a small sculptured bust of a Spy. And yes, he has ordered one for himself.

This was recorded the week the 2014 Saxxys started accepting entries! The Horace hat is finally revealed in all its fury goodness. There’s been a boat load of updates (admittedly that’s true of every week recently). Battle Nations is a thing with TF2 in it and Alien: Isolation is a thing with its thing in TF2. The only thing better than Chris’s configs, it seems, are Rhapsody‘s. There’s hat related Flair for everyone in our reddit group, and then of course there’s the video of the week.

We are joined by Backpack.tf‘s creator Brad Pitt and their lead developer Fiskie to discuss such important issues as the latest TF2 update, Cranwell86’s worst ever trade and WeLoveFine’s recognition. Did you know some of the Blind Box Merc’s are actually made of Australium? And are available in Europe now too? Binding of Isaac items have been sudo confirmed. And lastly the cart can be moved, if incredibly slowly, when the other team is on it.

We all love welovefine.com, almost as much as the guys in that brass band at PAX Prime’14 like playing their music LOUD! Most especially this week because they have given us lots of TF2 merch including the Portable Merc Blind Boxes. We can unbox them while we listen to our SteamMusic while watching Russian TV mistaking TF2 propaganda for real propaganda. Honestly, it’s not like there’s anything better to do while waiting for McVee’s SFM to render. That is unless you want to try your hand at building a TF2 Lego sentry gun.

Highlights from this week’s update include; all community weapons being renamed as “map” items, Australium Scattergun now looks purdy, RockPaperShotgun’s Horace the Endless Bear promo item added, and stage 2 of cactus has been cut. Amazon bought Twitch for $970m in cash (not in REF), the bi-monthy comic isn’t out again and TF2 has characters in Super Time Force.