Wow, well this episode is going to be about Team Fortress 2.  The game is just freaken awesome!  If you pick up the pre-order for the Orange Box right now you'll find youself in the Team Fortress 2 beta.  It's not really a beta though, it's more like a pre-play of the full game as it has all the full maps.  They have been adding a few new things to it while you are playing though, in particular when you die you get a chance to take a screenshot of your death with whoever killed you.  The thing they just added though is that there will be these markers pointing to your body parts.  For example I just got killed and it does the freeze frame and there is this arrow that's point to my head "Here is your head"  oh and then there is another arrow that says "Here is your torso" or other random body parts.  It's just those simple parts they've added that is just awesome.
 

Team Fortress 2 just really puts together a clean fun game and adds a comedic value to it that just makes you want to keep playing.  The maps are just extremely well done also, you can just hop right in, get a small briefing on a map and then start playing.  Who remembers 2Forts?  I do, I've been playing TF since the days of the original Quake Team Fortress mod that came out.  Though there is only like six maps right now, they have some awesome replay value.  For example, one of the maps will change as you play it, each round enterences will close and new ones will open...  completely changing the game play.  Another one, dustbowl I believe it is, will have multiple mini control point maps that you are either the attacker or the defender.  I'll be honest, when I start playing I can't stop.  I just came into work about an hour ago and I almost forgot about work while I was playing.

Another great point is the stats, they don't really mean anything besides looking over what you've done.  Right now I have about 8 of the 17 achievements that are in the game right now.  Some of them are pretty hard to get while others are pretty easy.  You also get a class by class stats that tell you how long you've been playing one, how many kills you've gotten and how many points you've got.  This brings up another neat little fact, while you are playing if you beat one of your top stats it will tell you while in game.  When you did, it will say you lasted longer this time then your last, or you got more kills on this life than the last.  It's just all these neat little extras that makes this game so much more.

Anyhow, I just wanted to write up this short little post right now to tell you about Team Fortress 2 and just how great it is.  I would definitely pick up the Orange Box right away.  Oh, also... if you already have HL2 and Episode 1, once the game is released, you can give your extra copies to a friend.  It's cheaper that way, trust me...  GET THE ORANGE BOX if you are a HL2 or TF2 fan.  I'm also looking forward to Portal, I love puzzle type games.