Australian Christmas

This article is for content released in the update. For the patch itself, see December 17, 2010 Patch.

“

You demanded a Holiday update, and by gad, you're going to get it and like it, pal. We've cooked up a fine feast of new weapons, garnished it with more headgear than you have heads, and left it simmering overnight in a new game mode. What are you waiting for?! Get over to the Update Page and chow down! — TF2 Official Blog

”

The Australian Christmas was a major content update for Team Fortress 2 and was released on December 17, 2010 Patch. It was the first in what would later become the annual Smissmas event.

A new game mode, Medieval Mode, was introduced with this update. It featured a new map, DeGroot Keep.

The update also increased default backpack slots from 200 to 300, and added the ability to acquire additional slots (100 at a time) by purchasing the Backpack Expander item. The maximum backpack size became 1000 slots.

As part of the event, the Festive Winter Crate was added. These were unlockable with a Festive Winter Crate Key, that was only available as a purchase from the Mann Co. Store for $2.49 / £1.99 / €2.49.

This update also introduced the Itemtest map for the first time.

Background

On December 18, 1788, less than a year after the first settlers colonized Australia, an old cutthroat named Nicolas Crowder arrived on a boat with some other new settlers, took one look at the heat and privations, said "screw this," commandeered the boat, and set course on a one-man voyage to conquer the South Pole. Legend tells that he lives there still.

Every December 18th, "Old Nick" returns down under to find out if Australia's children have been naughty or nice. The nice children are given the greatest gift of all -- they are not abducted along with the naughty ones and carted off to the South Pole.

For the next twelve months, the naughty children make toys to Old Nick's exacting specifications. Then, on December 17th, the presents are gift-wrapped, placed in a sleigh, and driven to Old Nick's mansion, where he opens them. Naturally, given the sheer number of hats and weapons Old Nick receives, there are bound to be duplicates – and every December 18th, he posts them online, selling them at prices so low that he's practically giving them away.

Additions

Tools

	Backpack Expander	Expand backpack by 100 slots (to a maximum of 2000 as of 11/21/2012).
	Map Stamp	Buy Map Stamps to support community map makers. Once a stamp is purchased, a player will receive a hat that includes a stamp particle effect. The particle effect only occurs when a player has purchased a map stamp for the map upon which they are playing.
	Festive Winter Crate
	Festive Winter Crate Key	Used to open unusually festive locked winter crates. After 12/31/2010 these turned into a normal key.

Maps

Name	Picture	Game mode	File name
DeGroot Keep		Control Point (Medieval)	cp_degrootkeep
Itemtest		None	item_test

Update gallery

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  The Australian Christmas update page

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  1st Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.

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  2nd Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.

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  3rd Christmas Announcement from Mann Co.

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  In-game announcement of the update

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  In-game notification of the Stocking Stuffer Key

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  The Hat Sale advertisement

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  Crate expiry warning

External links

• Australian Christmas