It's a good day for all hardcore Team Fortress 2 players. Valve today informed that the long-awaited PC update for TF2 has been released. This update includes 39 new medic achievements, three new medic items: The Blutsaugher, The Kritzkrieg, and The Ubersaw and a new Goldrush map for all players. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. In other TF2 news, a worldwide Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend will begin Friday at noon PDT, and offer free access to the entire game for anyone with a free Steam account from May 2 to May 4. 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.

Source Engine

• Improved particle performance on multi-core machines
• Added FOV slider to Options | Video | Advanced for all games (moved there from TF2's multiplayer options)
• Fixed surround sound initialization problems with new speaker modes defined in Vista

Team Fortress 2

• Added Goldrush
• Added Character Info and Loadout to the main menu
• Added 39 Medic achievements
• Added unique Medic items: The Blutsaugher, The Kritzkrieg, and The Ubersaw
• Added new attack animations to most melee weapons
• Added new speech for the Heavy and Demoman
• Added Stopwatch mode to Tournament mode
  - Automatically used on Attack/Defense maps
• Teleporter effect no longer shows up on invisible or disguised Spies
• Spies disguised as their own team can now capture control points
• Increased force taken by pipebombs by bullets and explosions
• Target ID hud is now colored red or blue to match the spectator target
• Tournament mode no longer ends matches early if the time limit is nearly up when a new round starts
• Fixed exploit where clients could start benchmark mode on servers
• Fixed drowning exploit that allowed players to regenerate health
• Fixed reload exploit that allowed plays to fire instantly after switching weapons
• Fixed flamethrower bug where a player flush against a wall couldn't be lit on fire from the front
• Fixed invulnerability overlay not drawing if the invuln player was previously on fire
• Fixed "times used" entry in teleporters maxing out at 32
• Fixed rare client crash on level change during control point capturing
• Minor fix to stat gathering to prevent players using sv_cheats to easily garner achievements
• For mapmakers:
  - Mapmakers can now directly place the tf_gamerules entity into their map. Fixes Hammer thinking the inputs to it are broken
  - Mapmakers can now place Engineer buildings directly into a map, with an option for them to be invulnerable
  - Added "AddRedTeamScore" and "AddBlueTeamScore" inputs to tf_gamerules
  - Added "SetRequiredObserverTarget" input to tf_gamerules. Force spectators to use the specified viewpoint
• Granary
  - Added setup time logic, and gates to the middle
  - Fixed an overlay alignment bug on one of blue's gate signs
  - Minor lighting fixes in red/blue spawns
• 2Fort
  - Added medium ammo and health to basement hallways
  - Added small ammo and health to top of spiral
  - Fixed a clip brush exploit outside blue sniper deck
  - Fixed number "2" overlay on front of red base not being assigned to the brush face
• Portal
  - Fixed a rare crash related to bone setup