Not a hat or a map, something big this way comes

Although things are still far quieter than we'd like on the Half-Life front, Valve is continuing to toil away at new content for its insanely popular multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2.

According to a short post on the TF2 Blog, the Half-Life, Portal and Left 4 Dead developer is working on a "secret project... for 2012."

Before you dismiss this as just another new hat or something equally insignificant, Valve has said "it isn't a hat, it isn't a map." Beyond that, all it is saying is "it's really cool".

And for those wondering where the 'Meet the Pyro' short is:

"This year, the lovable, indecipherable Pyro finally gets some time in the spotlight. There will be blood. And not like in the movie There Will Be Blood, either, where there was only blood at the end, and not even very much of it. Ours has lots of blood pretty much all the way through.

"If the butterscotch mint-sucking old mummies who pick the Academy Awards thought Look Out, There Might Be a Little Blood was great, wait'll they see how many gallons we managed to cram into our movie. They're going to have to melt down Fort Knox to make all the Oscars we're going to win."

A group of Half-Life fans have started a Steam group requesting Valve offers gamers better communication about the status of the franchise.

[ Source: Team Fortress ]