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Team Fortress 2 is not just for the veteran gamer, oh no! As with Unreal Tournament one of the aims behind TF2 is to help the first time gamer into getting started. TF2 will include far advanced training "missions" and also an excellent new initiative called 'player coaching'. Effectively, one player will be able to jump into the newbies body and show them what to do, akin to a car instructor if you like. This shows great potential for clans who want to help with the training of players new to the online gaming scene (and something the scene has been sadly lacking), TF2 will be changing the way clans play their games and provide scope for an infinite wave of tactics.

Intel's new scaleable multi-resolution mesh technology for optimised rendering of highly-detail 3D models will be first used in TF2 making sure that a high frame-rate and a great amount of graphical detail can be kept on screen at any given time. In English that means the things you see in the game will become less and less detailed the further away you are from them meaning you will have a speedier game to play. This also makes way for the opportunity to scale down the 3D world so that Team Fortress 2 can run on lower spec machines. TF2's other new graphical feature is advanced parametric animation for realistic character movement, if you've seen TF2 in action you will no doubt notice the parametric animation that adds just that bit more realism and believability to the game. The new animation method also means that instead of having to play a whole animation sequence or cut it off half way through and then playing the next animation (like being hit in the arm and then the leg), the animation merges into one another so the "jerkiness" seen in other games will be put out the window and run over by a passing car.

Team Fortress 2 is looking better and better all the time and looks to be a huge success with the online community once released. Its main contender at the moment is the promising Tribes 2. Judging by the success of its predecessor it looks a very strong contender at that. Finally, the reason TF2 is so late? I'm sure you can tell by now but it's all the features and a change of graphics engine since first conception of the game - and that is Team Fortress 2.

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