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It's official. Team Fortress 2 arrived on the mac a few hours ago. Along with the launch of the game on the Apple platform, Valve also launched a new offline practice and tutorial mode for new players. So far the only playable class on the tutorial is the Soldier, but more are expected at a later stage. The tutorial helps new players to understand the mechanics of the game and the best weapons for each situation.

Besides the game update, a website was launched to celebrate the Mac update. On it there's a small page with information about the Mac launch, the practice mode, a comic and a video. The video, besides moking the eternal "Mac vs PC" debate also shows the engineer carring a weapon we never seen before. It smells like Engineer update! (which should be right around the corner!)

Click here to visit the website and check out all the juicy information by yourself!

Oh, here's the shotgun:

GameReplays.org will be hosting a 200$ prize pool tournament sponsored by SorenGrau web design company.

The tournament will be split into two parts. On June 12th there will be a Swiss Style Tournament that will be open to everyone and the top 16 players from that tournament will go on and play in the Double Elimination Tournament.

You might be thinking: "There's no way i can win this because that guy signed up." Rest assured that you can still win some money if you get one of the other top 4 spots in the Double Elimination Invitational Tournament.

The tournament maps will be Open Palms, Arctic Refuge, Coalition Shipyard, Finn's Revenge and Trellarch. Transports will be banned in this tournament due to them being easily exploitable. More info on the rules

Our beloved Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games, will be commentating on the finals.

Sign up here!

Here's the 17th episode of the (in)famous GPGblog. With the E3 around the corner the devs are working even harder to get the demos ready for the expo. This blog gives us a taste of the stuff we will see on the E3. Enjoy!

A new update was released for Supreme Commander 2. Here are the patch notes:

Improvements:

• Skirmish Save/Load. Skirmishes can now be saved in game using the Menu > Save Game Function. Skirmish saves can be loaded while in a skirmish game or from the main menu under Skirmish > Load Saved Game.
• Players who have been eliminated in a skirmish or multiplayer game, but have remaining allies that are all AI, will be set as an observer will full map view, and may exit normally at their discretion.
• AI Engineers and Land Scout platoons will now execute optimized pathing (performance improvement).
• A user friendly version number will now be shown at the top of replay files. Replays that do not have the matching version number of the build will generate a “failed to load” message.
• The default folder for save games, replays, screenshots and log files has been updated to \My Documents\My Games\Square Enix\Supreme Commander 2\.
• Added redundant checking on games returned by Steam in matchmaking. This check ensures that the game fits within the filters specified for Steam. Previously old data could be called when rapidly narrowing a search.
• Illuminate Bodaboom aura range now displays as a weapon range.

Fixes:

• Fixed condition where the first player leaving a multiplayer game would stop automated replay recording.
• Further refinement of search filtering for ranked. It was possible that someone could join a ranked game because they met the criteria when they initiated the search, but then narrowed their search and no longer met that criteria. We now check for this case and reject the connection.
• Fix for most common case of players getting in an unable to join state when closing a multiplayer game from a lobby.
• Artillery Weapon Range boost will now correctly affect Long Range Artillery, increasing its range.
• Fix for AI violation of Research build condition.
• Fix for AI not building enough research stations.
• Fix for AI not building enough factories late game.
• Fix for Naval AI not building a Naval factory at all, and for secondary condition of not building them outside its starting base location.
• Fix for uncommon case of units not doing anything when running away.
• Fix for AI Land platoons not running away.
• Fix for AI not properly utilizing the Noah Unit Cannon and Carriers for building.
• Fix for Defensive builders going to the wrong task state when they fail to find a build position.

Balance and Tuning:

• Engineers will no longer circumvent assist mitigation when ordered to assist open ground.
• AI has improved seeking/hunting capability against hidden commanders.
• AI will only build Artillery/TML in their base if they have enemy structures in range.
• AI will build more generators after they have a Mass Converter (or the research for the Cybrans).
• AI will normally only build shields in their bases when there are structures there to protect.
• AI will not build excess mass extractors.
• Illuminate ACU Energy Income Boost research decreased to +200%, was +300%. Decreasing Mass Income Boost to+250%, was +400.
• Decreased Rate of Fire on Illuminate flares by 33%.
• Added a 25 second rebuild time when the Proto-Brain is destroyed. Added a Cybran Proto-Brain crash damage of 2000.
• Increased minimum radius on Long Range Artillery to 150, was 50.

Known Issues:

• Replays cannot be created from a game that has been loaded from a Skirmish save, the UI does not currently reflect this. Although it appears to save, it does not, and the “Replay LastGame” feature will actually play the last valid replay.

If you pay attention to the GPG Video Blog this is not new for you. Although if you don't you should watch it all from the start. GPG has been revealing some interesting details about their upcoming Kings and Castles. Here's the 16th episode:


Don't forget to check our forums by clicking here for the full episode list.

For those who stay tuned to Team Fortress 2 news, the "Fancy vs Nasty" update is not new at all. What you might not know is that Freemon here contacted the author about his creations.

When asked about the inspiration and ideas behind the project, Mr Royzo said "This project was actually two merged projects I was doing. At first I made a pack of melee items, then I decided to finish the pack of hats I had lying around and showcase both in one update. The whole Fancy vs. Nasty theme came from an attempt to intertwine the two packs.

It's actually not the first time I've done this, and it's not going to be the last one either."

Among the previous creations of Mr Royzo you can check out Royzo's Party Shop and The Island Update. Both are very well done with great TF2 items in them. I can't wait for the next creation from Mr Royzo!

The video above, posted by MGX on the chatbox deserves all your attention. I bet you all died to "fishing" techniques like the one used by that spy. However, not many are actually willing to admit it. Oh the shame. Being backstabbed while looking at some...curves. That's an evil strategy alright, but it's a strategy many spies use. Don't let the boobs distract you next time.