For general feedback about the game.
Steam SupportVisit the support site for any issues you may be having with the game or Steam.
...the Soldier!
Sorry, Demomen. You fought the good fight and kept it far closer than anybody could have predicted. But in the end, at the noon Thursday deadline, the Soldiers kept their razor-thin lead, with 6,406,065 killed Demomen to the Demo's score of 6,372,979 killed Sollys.
What a week it's been. We're really big fans of both the police and the fire department, so it's been a real treat for us, as they've been here pretty much non-stop since last Thursday. There were the arguments between Demo and Soldier-supporting staffers; that unexplained knifing in the elevator; Drew Wolf; and a host of other calamities that resulted from the creation of this massive update. At one point we even saw a police officer and a fireman in a fist fight over who was more mad at us.
Anyway, it was all worth it to give you this update. Which is now live. Enjoy.
Victory on the Internet Day has been declared! The war is over! Who won? We don't know! Yet!
Luckily, I, Robin Walker, was up all night building a kill-calculating machine for just such an eventuality. We turned it on, the building filled with smoke, and right now a fireman is yelling at me to leave the building with everyone else. I'll leave when they pry this tiny netbook out of my cold dead hands. Or when an angry fireman fireman-carries me out of the office, which is what is happening right now. Anyway, once all the firemen calm down, we'll announce the War results with today's huge update. To pass the time, go get yourself a fresh mouse and start reloading this page as fast as you possibly can.
Please note: Beginning now, we're going to start transitioning the new inventory system into the game. Until the update goes live later today, you will not have access to your inventory.
You heard right As of noon PST today, the Demoman/Soldier WAR! is over. The score is, as of this writing:
Demoman Killed: 6,323,921
Dead Soldiers: 6,298,465
It all comes down to this. I'd give you a motivational speech right now, but the time you wasted reading it would be less time you spent making a difference on the battlefield. Go ahead and break the bad news to your grandfather: YOU are officially now the greatest generation.
Adding in the points awarded to our recent Propaganda Contest winners—60,000 frags added to the Killed Demomen score and 25,000 added to the Killed Soldier score—the war currently stands neck-and-neck at 5,727,928 Killed Soldiers to 5,742,720 Killed Demos. We need to stress to you that we have not gamed these numbers in any way: After a solid week of gut-grinding combat and an astonishing 11,470,648 total kills, the Demomen and Soldiers are separated by a mere 14,792 points.
When we first hashed out the idea of a Soldier/Demo War, some of us were worried about the very real possibility of an embarrassing one-sided blowout. The fact that we're now just one day away from the war's end and it's still anybody's game is genuinely cool.
In Update news, how about some weapon reveals? Don't spend too much time discussing them in the forums, though. This war is ALMOST OVER, and your class needs you.
Back when we launched the Propaganda contest, we originally figured it'd be a cakewalk to judge. You might not know this, as it's a well-kept industry secret, but normally with giveaway tie-in contests for video games, you get about 10 entries. Seven of these are virulently racist. The other two are pornography. The last one, regardless of its quality, wins by default.
However, the recession must be a lot worse than we thought, because apparently all of you are unemployed and have nothing better to do than spend real hours drawing incredibly time-consuming art for virtual prizes. No joke: as of contest's end last night, we have in excess of 11,000 entries—and almost every one of them deserves to be framed on the wall of one of Gabe Newell's castles.
In fact, while we've managed to wade through your mountain of entries carefully enough to select a first, second and third place winner below, we're nowhere near through categorizing our many favorites, and we've got plenty more prizes to give away. So just because you don't see your entry below, don't assume you haven't won anything. (Still, with 11,000 entries, don't bet against it, either.)
FIRST PRIZE
Customized In-Game Item
50,000 War Points to Soldier
"GIVE 'EM THE BOOT" by J.Axer's Dapper Topper
With some entries, we loved the art but didn't care for the slogan. Others had an awesome look, but didn't capture the spirit of a propaganda poster. Still others had a killer propaganda slogan, but not a heck of a lot else. "Give 'Em the Boot Right in the Fruit," on the other hand, is a triple threat: It's funny, it looks great, and it makes us want to kick a Demoman in an extremely precise area (that the bean counters won't let us mention because they're all such huge extremely precise areas).
SECOND PRIZE
Slightly Less Impressive Customized In-Game Item
25,000 War Points to Demoman
"THAT BLUE DEVIL" by Amber's Rad As All Hell Item
We liked this one because it looked like art and made us feel smarter every time we saw it. It says something profound about evil. It exists, and it's bad. Hold on, we need some back-up here. Let's get Jeremy Bennett in here to explain why we like it: "I appreciate the strong composition, coupled with the limited Prussian blue palette, accented by the spot red. It's reserved, yet sophisticated—a first-rate homage to period propaganda." We agree.
THIRD PRIZE
Less-Impressive-Than-the-First-Two Customized In-Game Item
10,000 War Points to Soldier
"DO THE RIGHT THING" by John Freeman
The majority of the entries we received were pretty lighthearted, and that's what we liked about them. This one we liked for the opposite reason: it isn't funny. It's just legitimately bad-ass. We don't need any artists to tell us what's great about this one. Look at that guy—he just killed twelve dudes. With a shovel. We didn't think there was any way to make that not funny, but John Freeman somehow did it, and for that he gets third prize.
The in-game prizes these lucky winners will receive are being custom-designed for them as we type. We'll be sure to release images of them soon. And don't forget—there'll be more winners (and more prizes) after the update.
