PSA: If It Sounds Too Good To Be True...

We've seen this kicking around and just to make sure people are not falling for this scam we want to point it out. Apparently there is a link that scammers are posting that promises to enable you to change the quality of items in your backpack.  Details are in a safe link here.  As with anything, if something sounds too good to be true it usually is.  Even if this were possible, once Valve found out, your account(s) would likely be banned and you would lose everything.  And seeing as this isn't possible and the scammers are just pointing to a phishing program, if you were crazy enough to install it you would likely lose all your items or some trojan would be installed.  Either way you lose.

Stay safe, don't download anything like this.  Duping is over and these schemes aren't even worth attempting.  If you want to make a profit at trading take the time to understand prices and earn it.

update: a few people have wrote to us and tried to equate duping with Valve replacing stolen items.  While the result of both are indiscernible to anyone outside of Valve, it is not the same.  Duping was the uncontrolled copying of hats via the old steam strading and in-game trading glitch. This is fixed.  The other issue is when a player has a stolen/hacked account and items are replaced by Valve, effectively creating doubles if the offender is never caught.  This has always existed and is a smaller scale issue.  It is controlled by Valve and is not "duping".  If this practice upsets you tell Valve about it.

Non-TF2 related: Diablo 3 Beta for PC/Mac for free

Until Monday the 23rd at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, Blizzard is offering free signup to the open beta for Diablo 3.  This is available for both PC/Mac users, thanks for Dealnews for the story here.  You will need a Blizzard account to sign up for this.

Tuesday night update...new items

Team Fortress 2

• Added the Texas Half-Pants and the Bolt Action Blitzer
• Updated the Teufort Tooth Kicker so it can also be equipped by the Engineer
• Updated the Scrap Pack so it can now be crafted, gift-wrapped, and traded
• Updated the Short Circuit
  • Fixed projectiles not being cleared if they were blocked by buildings or other projectiles
  • Fixed not incrementing the "How the Pests Was Gunned" achievement for destroyed stickies
• Fixed being able to place buildings in nobuild zones
• Fixed Red team Pyros being able to grief teammates by attacking them with the flamethrower and then switching to team Spectator during the attack
• Added the ability to remove Strange parts via the Restore button in the backpack
• Added the ability to reset scores on Strange items via the Restore button in the backpack
• Crates now display their series number in the backpack view
• Added new "tf_hud_no_crosshair_on_scope_zoom" to the Advanced Options menu
• Fixed using the "inspect" command to Spy-check teammates
• Fixed the Bazaar Bargain increasing its head count while shooting at ÜberCharged enemies
• Fixed defense buffs reducing crush and telefrag damage
• Fixed a bug that would cause Medics to reduce the health of heal targets if the target had earned more health than their normally allowed max overheal ^[1]
• The Cozy Camper’s description now correctly reflects the actual speed reduction while scoped and is now applied correctly when using the Huntsman (speed for the other rifles remains unchanged)
• Add the object entindex to the object_deflected game event
• 本地化檔案已更新^[2]

Undocumented changes

• Dispensers and The Quick-Fix no longer maintain overheal

Notes

1. ↑ This also applies to dispensers and payload carts (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30352380&postcount=136)
2. ↑ Traditional Chinese for "Updated localization files"

Valve teaming up with Apple?

Does the lack of Team Fortress 2 updates for over two weeks have you thinking conspiracies?  Back in March we highlighted an article about a rumored Steam console (link here).  Well today Dealnews, our favorite PC/Mac game freebie site among other deals, talks about a possible Apple / Valve collaboration (link here).  Steam is a powerhouse in the gaming sales and eclipses Apple's itunes service in that department, but a team-up of the two could mean a big upheaval and lots of innovation.  Apple is developing its own television or set-top-box currently and a deal with Valve could fit right in with this.

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.