Non-TF2 related: Awakening - The Dreamless Castle for free

Another free game for PC and Mac (we swear this time!) users.  Dealnews has the rub here.

Extreme TF2 Data

If you're anything like us, you love your TF2 data.  You come here to get a sense of what items are worth in the marketplace.  There is a lot of mystery to the marketplace due to the sheer amount of accounts and items out there circulating.  With the migration towards F2P and the influx of many new gamers everything got a whole lot more complicated.

While much remains a mystery, base64 has taken things to the next level with his insightful analysis.  His historical earbuds price chart (link here) is very interesting as it shows the movement in the price of buds recently.  Also his estimated money supply page lays out estimates of in-game currency (link here).

Comments and discussion welcome.

Non-TF2 related: Aion - Ascension for free

Another day, another free game for PC users.  Aion: Ascension a MMORPG is now free to download.  Details here.

Non-TF2 related: Microsoft Flight for free

Xbox LIVE marketplace has Microsoft Flight for PC's free of charge.  Details are here.  Looks like you need an XBOX live account, which if you don't have you can sign up for free.  One of our posts by "TheGoingDown" points out that this game is free in the Steam Store also.

B.M.O.C. and Ebeneezer pricing

Something is amiss in TF2 trading land.  Suddenly sellers prices for B.M.O.C. and Ebeneezer have jumped.  While the last price for B.M.O.C. of around 6 keys was semi-stable, all of the sudden people began asking buds for them.  Our contributors witnessed several trades for higher prices, of '10 keys', 'white painted Bills hat', and '2 Ebeneezers + key+ craft hat' and we based the bid or lower range of our prices on these trades.  However, just to be sure we will take the price down until this shakes out.  When the supply of these items is taken into account, a case can be made for a price higher than 6 keys.  However, a jump from this price to buds does not happen overnight.  Sites such as TF2TP and TF2outpost have many 'pie-in-the-sky' prices and we suggest you look around before buying such items.

update:  We all agreed that taking the price down for Ebeneezer & BMOC was the right thing to do.  This manipulation was organized and we will be all over these jumps in price from this time forward.  Our new policy is that if any item (excluding newly released) has a sudden move up or down in price for anything that looks suspicious (around 50% or more) we will do close to what the real stock market does: take a breather, follow the activity but keep the same price for as long as it takes to determine if the move is real or not.

Thanks to ConfusedCactus for alerting us.

(final) update to the update: Lots of comments flowing in, and while any discussion regarding the hats and the issue here is welcome, hearsay like "I sold my BMOC for XX!" is not useful and will get you nowhere.  In fact, from the comments coming in it is clear that there is a concerted effort to push the price of these items higher.  Price comes from what real people pay in real items.  We will not put up a price until we get clear evidence of what these two hats are worth, however long that takes and we are not in a rush.

Non-TF2 related: Fallout for free

Once again, Dealnews has the scoop on a freebie PC game.  This time you PC desktop and laptop gamers can download Fallout for $0!  Link here.

New patch, new rewards

Team Fortress 2

• Added daily periodic reward hats for duel wins, map stamp purchases, and gifts given^[1]
• Updated YouTube replay publishing functionality to automatically include a link to the uploader's Steam Community profile
• Did not update the localization files that did not need updating
• Updated cp_gullywash_final1
  • Removed ladders that looked like they could be climbed
• Note missed from last week's update:
  • Updated the in-game tips with community submitted versions

Undocumented changes

• Removed series #30 Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate from the drop list
• Added series #40 Salvaged Mann Co. Supply Crate to the drop list
• Fixed several tips clipping outside the text box during the respawn sequence.

Notes

1. ↑ Dueler, Gifting Man From Gifting Land and Philateler

Summer/Winter crates still haunting backpacks

We've had a few people ask us about the Summer and Winter crates since they are still kicking around and we don't offer prices for them.  First off, a little history:

1. Festive Winter Crates first appeared around Christmas of 2010.  They were given out and removed if unused from backpacks (when going in-game) on December 31, 2010.
2. Refreshing Summer Cooler (crates) first appeared in the summer of 2011 and had a similar usage requirement.  They were then removed in July of 2011 from backpacks when players went in-game.
3. Naughty/Nice Winter Crates which most of you are familiar with just came out this past Christmas and unused ones have since been removed from players backpacks when going in-game.

As of now they are removed only if a player goes in-game.  They are very tradeable now and presumably into the future with steam trading.  Are they collectable?  Yes, but their unknown status, ease-of-loss (and hell, you can't use them) make them not as sought-after as your standard high-tier crates (1, 19, 20, 30, and soon-to-be #40).

Moreover, think of it this way.  To keep them from being sucked out of your backpack and back to Valve software headquarters you would need to have at least 2 accounts.  One would either need to remain unused in perpetuity OR you would need to trade these crates between the accounts before going in-game.  If you've got a short attention span or just plain forgetful collecting these crates may not be for you.  Also, keep in mind if you chose to keep them in one unplayed account you would lose out on your drops over time, adding up to some very expensive, unusable crates.