It’s weekend and the Rant returns!

When you’ve been unable to play TF2 on anything other than a laptop that struggles graphically with World of Goo and a mouse that resembles a chicken nugget, you start to go a bit crazy. So rather than waste my time going outside and socialising what better to do than survey the state of TF2 and the prospects for it in the new year! In doing this several things have come to my attention; most notably that 2011 should be an extremely interesting year for the future of TF2, both in terms of the game itself and its wider appeal. The reason for this being the somewhat lacklustre end to what has generally been a great year for this shit cartoon game.

- Foster

Firstly, you’ve had bored FPS “pro gamers” who watch finals like i39 and i40 and wonder why they’re playing greyscale repetitive shooting games and not something that looks like how you’d imagine it when high, when you’re not even high. This and the sheer enthusiasm displayed at said finals makes for a very appealing game, not even taking into account the waterboarding, TF2 Tent and amazing LAN frag vids . No doubt this is a key reason for ETF2L getting bigger and bigger (not to mention TF2.com dropping several million yanks onto the recruitment forums thanks to the highlander cup, cheers.)

Then there’s been the influx of match coverage and general ‘pro tips’ from the likes of TF2TV and MGE, despite the latter making you fork out for the best bits; somewhat reflective of the way they do TF2 over the ocean. ETF2L has provided two proper seasons, one not so proper, and in season 8, the introduction of the “premier league” with REAL prizes, in an attempt to make it slightly more classy and to spice division one a bit, which it certainly did. A bit.

Then there were some not so good things…we’ve had the diarrhoea of weapons and hats that, while keeping the pub scene chugging along (and giving the hardworking community designers some beer money in the form of the MannCo store!), has made things a bit messy for tournament organisers and those who like to keep a minimalistic backpack.  There was also i41, and the shit that went down when Gonzo had a little poke at the laziness of the UK scene. While what Gonzo said was a teeny bit unfair, the resulting backlash of apeshit TF2 players almost resulted in the complete purge of TF2 from the pages of Cadred. And then of course there’s the standard cries of “lol dead game” and “WoW update cy@”, without which the cycle of game popularity just wouldn’t be the same.

Gonzo figures out the best way to deal with the comments section of his i41 TF2 rant.

But what then, for 2011? With the graph of win for TF2 staggering somewhere between massive success and “afs was shit”, what will the crests and troughs be for the new year? Well, first on the cards is a torrent of LANs : February’s EpicLAN, located a bit north from the iSeries, and sporting a handsome £1000 prize fund, is sure to attract at least three TF2 teams, the rest of the UK scene too busy doing fuck all to care about keeping anything other than Multiplay’s prize money turnaround staying under two decades. Despite the crushing disappointment of nVc probably winning a LAN for the first time ever, he fortunately won’t be able to win MAXLAN, ONLINEGAMER.SE or Winter Assembly, because they’re either too far away or have good teams actually attending.

There will also be a new season of ETF2L for people to moan about division placements in, and hopefully a few great games to be watched between what could potentially be one of the most openly contested seasons since last season. Then around the time of chocolate eggs and resurrection there’s i42: the standard Easter offering from Multiplay that could potentially be good, with rumours of people coming from abroad and even some English players making the pilgrimage to meet and be merry. However, we’re still waiting on the prize fund for this to be announced, and what with our last showing at Newbury and it traditionally being the ’middle-sized’ LAN, it might not be quite as large a fund as previously seen.

But without a doubt there are two bricks and mortar events which people are looking forward to that will effectively make or break TF2. The one we know will happen is i43; the 2000 person equivalent last year attracted a huge sweaty TF2 tent full of intoxication and chatroulette. At least in terms of the number of people who say they’re going, it could be a big one. The other, frankly, more interesting LAN I was referring about is one of the most established in the world, currently holding the record for the largest attendance for any LANParty. Tis indeed Dreamhack. But what would some LAN full of nutcase Swedes want with our cartoon game? Well, internet tough guy and ex-Dignitas heal man Dunc has been flying the flag for TF2 by shouting at people until they give him what he wants, which is TF2 EVERWHERE. Whether he’s flying the flag, or sticking it through people, it doesn’t really matter if he can get results, even if he can’t get them in an actual game of TF2.

Dreamhack: The future for TF2?

So we are left in a TF2 purgatory of sorts. We have the usual handful of TF2 LAN events and online tournaments that should rollout as standard, but is this enough to keep the ball rolling for TF2 these days? With the actual game being out for more than three years now, it starts getting to the point where colouring in hats and hitting people with fish just isn’t enough. The game-changer for sure is whether Bob ‘Dunc’ Geldof shouting “give me the fucking tourney” at everyone to do with Dreamhack is going to be enough to make it a reality.

Thus the TF2 community waits with baited breath to see whether their beloved comedy fps can finally hit the big time. Next year, will it be a question of how many digits on the end of a LAN first place cheque rather than how many people can be bothered to go? Or will Dreamhack become a nightmare, ending in empty hands and a broken heart? Everyone’s favourite Finn Darn said it best on ETF2L: “Unless TF2 gets a proper LAN tournament in 2011, it will be the last year.”