<img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/trading_live.jpg" height="242" width="420" border="0">

It seems like just yesterday that we announced the <a href="http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=6040">Steam Trading Beta</a> on the Team Fortress blog. That's when we looked it up and discovered we actually announced that four weeks ago, and over one million items and game gifts have been traded by beta testers since then. And that's pretty inspiring. Also, frankly, terrifying. Because when we say it felt like yesterday when we announced that, we mean we literally have no memory of anything from that blog post up until the entire TF2 team woke up in a tub filled with ice cubes this morning. We can't pinpoint specifically which organs we're missing, so we figure our best bet is just to play out the day and see if anything jumps out as different (no heartbeat, inability to go to the bathroom, missing circulatory system, etc.).

At any rate, as of today Steam Trading is officially out of beta, in the Steamworks SDK, and available to everyone. Two new games will now have tradable in-game items: Spiral Knights, the cooperative adventure from Three Rings and Sega, and our own Portal 2. And remember, this is just the beginning. We can't wait to see what our fellow gamers and developers are going to come up with to move Steam Trading forward.

To celebrate, items are on sale in the Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, and Spiral Knights in-game stores.

If you've gotten this far into this blog post and still have no idea what we're talking about, don't sweat it: There's an entire <a href="https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6748-ETSG-5417">Steam Trading FAQ</a> online to answer any questions you might have.

If, however, you've gotten this far into this blog post and have no idea what we're talking about because you woke up in an ice-filled tub this morning, and are wondering whether that queasy feeling you're having means you "have an upset stomach" or "are liverless", please get in touch with us, because we'd like to compare notes.

It seems like just yesterday that we announced the Steam Trading Beta on the Team Fortress blog. That's when we looked it up and discovered we actually announced that four weeks ago, and over one million items and game gifts have been traded by beta testers since then. And that's pretty inspiring. Also, frankly, terrifying. Because when we say it felt like yesterday when we announced that, we mean we literally have no memory of anything from that blog post up until the entire TF2 team woke up in a tub filled with ice cubes this morning. We can't pinpoint specifically which organs we're missing, so we figure our best bet is just to play out the day and see if anything jumps out as different (no heartbeat, inability to go to the bathroom, missing circulatory system, etc.).

At any rate, as of today Steam Trading is officially out of beta, in the Steamworks SDK, and available to everyone. Two new games will now have tradable in-game items: Spiral Knights, the cooperative adventure from Three Rings and Sega, and our own Portal 2. And remember, this is just the beginning. We can't wait to see what our fellow gamers and developers are going to come up with to move Steam Trading forward.

To celebrate, items are on sale in the Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, and Spiral Knights in-game stores.

If you've gotten this far into this blog post and still have no idea what we're talking about, don't sweat it: There's an entire Steam Trading FAQ online to answer any questions you might have.

If, however, you've gotten this far into this blog post and have no idea what we're talking about because you woke up in an ice-filled tub this morning, and are wondering whether that queasy feeling you're having means you "have an upset stomach" or "are liverless", please get in touch with us, because we'd like to compare notes.

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Added an additional diagnostic message when a player is dropped from a server due to Steam authentication failure
  
• Added "startmovie" support for resolutions above 2048x2048
  
• Fixed a client crash caused by running "startmovie" with the h264 codec without having QuickTime installed
  
• Fixed a client crash related to rendering replays
  

Team Fortress 2

• Reorganized the tabs in the Mann Co. Store into Bundles, Guns, Hats, Misc, Tools, and Maps to make it easier to find specific items
  
• Added a new Hot Items tab to the Mann Co. Store to show real-time popularity of items in the Mannconomy
  
• The Diamondback now correctly gets guaranteed crits if an Engineer changes class while their buildings are sapped
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause the Gunslinger to draw a normal Engineer hand first-person sometimes when wielding other weapons
  
• Fixed a server crash related to bots
  
• Fixed a client crash related to breakables/gibs
  
• Added item sets to the GetSchema WebAPI
  
• Updated the Spiral Sallet to be equippable by all classes
  

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Team Fortress 2

• Added a checkbox to the Advanced Options dialog that will hide the HUD during freezecam screenshots
  
• Added a checkbox to the Backpack dialog that will colorize items based on their quality
  
• Fixed a server crash exploit caused by invalid player viewangles
  
• Updated the color used for Strange quality items so it doesn't conflict with the color used for Unique quality items
  

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Fixed snd_restart breaking voice recording
  
• Fixed a rare crash creating a listen server
  

Team Fortress 2

• Item found notifications now correctly show up in chat
  
• Added Tropico 4 promotional content
  
• Added BleedPlayer input on player for mappers
  
• Updated localization files
  
• GetSchema WebAPI changes
  
  • Added "kill_eater_score_types"
    
  • Added "account_info" for attrbutes where the value is a Steam account ID
    
  • Added support for Romanian, Turkish, and Hungarian (ro, tr, and hu respectively)
    

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a client crash during demo playback
  
• Fixed a SourceTV crash
  
• Dedicated servers can now have both SourceTV and Replay enabled at once
  
  • "replay [config file]" and "+tv_enable 1" should be used to launch the server
    

Team Fortress 2

• Added TF birthday replacement models for health kits and ammo packs
  
• Added TF birthday Party Hat and Noisemaker
  
• Fixed The Short Circuit attacking friendly projectiles
  
• Fixed The Short Circuit being hidden when the Engineer taunts
  
• Fixed an infinite crits exploit using The Diamondback
  
• Fixed The Widowmaker not returning the correct amount of ammo when multiple targets are hit
  
• Fixed supply closets regenerating players while they are taunting
  
• Fixed the Select Style UI text overlapping the image of the model
  
• Fixed the sunbeams hat effect
  
• Updated the localization files
  
• Updated the gamehaptics file:
  
  • Added draw/recoil forces for The Widowmaker, The Short Circuit, The Diamondback, and The Machina
    
  • Added crit fire force for The Widowmaker and The Diamondback
    
  • Refined reload force for Flare Gun/Detonator
    
• Bot changes:
  
  • Fixed crash with Demoman
  • bots trying to detonate stickybombs that had already been destroyed
    
  • Added tf_bot_kill console command (syntax identical to tf_bot_kick)
    
  • Bots obey melee only mode a bit better
    
  • Added func_nav_avoid to allow map creators control over where bots "like" to go
    
  • Fixed issue with Demoman bot reloading between each stickybomb he fired, causing him to be very slow at setting traps/destroying sentries
    
  • Bots never taunt if carrying the flag now
    
  • Aiming logic for Huntsman sniper bots
    
  • Sniper bots prioritize enemy snipers more aggressively, as well as enemy engineers now
    
  • Improved Demoman bot sentry gun sticky bombing
    
  • Bots will no longer try to use health entities assigned to the enemy team
    
  • Added simplistic behaviors for Chargin' Targe, and various consumables (Bonk drink, sandvich, etc)
    
  • Medic
  • bots stay a bit closer to their patient now
    
  • Sniper
  • bots go after very nearby enemies with their melee weapon now
    
  • Added func_tfbot_hint entity to allow map creators to tell sniper bots good places to lurk
    
  • Sniper
  • bots opportunistically fire on viable targets they encounter while on the way to their desired lurking spot
    
  • Spy
  • bots are more aggressive about backstabbing an engineer before sapping his nest now
    

<a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/deus-ex/"><img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/deus-ex.jpg" height="184" width="420" border="0"></a>

Younger TF2 fans might not understand the significance of the upcoming game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. For those of you who weren't around during gaming's golden age, it's the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic dystopian shooter Revolution X, starring and programmed by Aerosmith. You'll once again play as Brad "The Deuce" Whitford. Part human Aerosmith bass player. Part robot. ALL trouble.

"Wow! Can you let me play it now?" you ask. Dream On, Aerosmith fan. The game's not due for a week. (Joe Perry's still coding some shaders.)

"Well, is there anything I <i>can</i> get now?" Yes. As of right now, you can Walk This Way if you Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, because Janie (i.e. you) Has Got (i.e. can obtain) a Gun (i.e. <a href="http://www.teamfortress.com/deus-ex/">eight new Deus Ex-themed TF2 items</a>, FREE, by pre-ordering the Aerosmith game). The items are also available separately in the Mann Co. Store and through items drops and crafting.

Head to <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/28050/">Deus Ex: Human Revolution's Steam page</a> and pre-order now. Then, as long as you’re Living on the Edge, flash your parents the Devil sign and rock over to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/aerosmith">Aerosmith's official Facebook page</a>. Don't let the cops catch you! It's dangerous!

Younger TF2 fans might not understand the significance of the upcoming game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. For those of you who weren't around during gaming's golden age, it's the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic dystopian shooter Revolution X, starring and programmed by Aerosmith. You'll once again play as Brad "The Deuce" Whitford. Part human Aerosmith bass player. Part robot. ALL trouble.

"Wow! Can you let me play it now?" you ask. Dream On, Aerosmith fan. The game's not due for a week. (Joe Perry's still coding some shaders.)

"Well, is there anything I can get now?" Yes. As of right now, you can Walk This Way if you Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, because Janie (i.e. you) Has Got (i.e. can obtain) a Gun (i.e. eight new Deus Ex-themed TF2 items, FREE, by pre-ordering the Aerosmith game). The items are also available separately in the Mann Co. Store and through items drops and crafting.

Head to Deus Ex: Human Revolution's Steam page and pre-order now. Then, as long as you’re Living on the Edge, flash your parents the Devil sign and rock over to Aerosmith's official Facebook page. Don't let the cops catch you! It's dangerous!

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Added libgcc_s.so.1 to supply dependency for some Linux distributions that do not come with this file
  

Team Fortress 2

• Added the Deus Ex promo items
  
• Added a bell when the Sniper Rifle is fully charged
  
  • Toggled in the Adv. Options dialog
    
• Fixed disguised Spies showing their critboost status
  
• Fixed a replay render bug where .wav files did not get written for raw TGA/WAV export
  
• Updated the localization files
  

<img src="http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/trading_beta.jpg" width="420" height="162" border="0">

As we all know, Jonas Salk invented money in 1955 so he would have a way to earn a living from his polio vaccine. Before that, people just traded things they found for things that other people had found. So you might "sell" somebody a scrap of carpet, say, in exchange for an old bottle. It was a perfect system with only one drawback: people spent their lives bartering for piles of garbage before dying of polio.

But wait. What if we told you that you could barter for things that weren't garbage, AND not die of polio? Steam Trading Beta lets you securely trade your in-game items for other in-game items from participating games. You can also trade Steam gifts (games on Steam that you've purchased but not yet added to your Games Library).

Want to try it out? In Steam, go to Steam > Settings, and opt into Steam Trading Beta. That's it! Now your Steam Community profile will have an item inventory, and you'll be able to view the item inventories of every public profile in the Steam community.

Now that you've opted into the Trading Beta, you can invite people to trade through Group Chat, and trade with anybody in your Friends List who's also opted in. Just right-click on their name and select "Invite to Trade" from the dropdown menu. Once your friend accepts your offer to trade, a trade window will open up. The first time you open the trade window, a step-by-step walkthrough will guide you through your first trade.

That's it! Opt in and get trading, or surf over to the <a href ="https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6748-ETSG-5417">Trading Beta FAQ</a> for the nuts and bolts. And remember: Trading is still in beta, so don't forget to give us your feedback here on the <a href="http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2047727">Forums.</a>