A monster update has hit Team Fortress 2 to celebrate the first birthday of the Mann-Co store, which started selling hats and weapons to players almost exactly one year ago. The Manniversary update adds new community-made items, Portal 2 style high five taunts, a new map called Gullywash, slow motion and shaky-cam for replays, customisable load-out presets for each class, the Steam Workshop community item hub and extra miscellaneous item slots that will let you live the Abe Lincoln dream and wear a hat AND a beard at the same time.
The typically hilarious Manniversary Update page mentions that community item makers have earned two million dollars in total so far from item sales in the Mann-Co Store. The Steam Workshop hopes to encourage people to make even MORE items. If you've made a hat, you can submit it to the workshop, and it'll be rated by players and Valve. The best items then stand a chance of making it into the full game. Then, profit! Team Fortress 2 is the only game listed in the Steam Workshop for now, but it looks as though the system is designed to support other games in future.
The new weapons and the taunt are now on sale in the Mann-Co store, and many items are on sale as part of the Manniversary festivities. You'll now also be able to try out each item for six days before buying. The weapon will land in your backpack, and look and act exactly like the fully purchased version, then after six days it'll make like Keyser Soze and drive a fast car outta town, unless you throw down cash, of course.
Log in to TF2 now and you'll receive a Manniversary crate with a free gift inside. If you're curious about making items for Team Fortress 2, check out Valve's guide to creating an item, and their recent blog post detailing the creation of the skull cap . TF2 went free to play earlier this year, and we think it's better than ever. Read our Team Fortress 2 review to find out why, and check out our look back over the last year of Mann-Co madness .
