Last month the Internet said goodbye toRick May, a performer, professor at Rekindle School, and voice actor known for playing Peppy Hare and Andross inStar Fox 64, Dr. M inSly 3: Honor Among Thieves, and Soldier in Valve’s team-based first-person shooterTeam Fortress 2. In an update toTeam Fortress 2released yesterday, Valve paid tribute to May in the form of memorial statues throughout the game.
By standing near the statues placed across different maps, the player is able to hear Soldier voice lines. The game also has a new main menu featuring Soldier standing at attention as a rendition of “Taps,” the melody used to pay tribute to the deceased during U.S. military funerals, plays in the background. According to the news listing withinTeam Fortress 2, these tributes will last throughout the month of May.
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The voice actor passed away after contracting coronavirus in a nursing home where he was rehabilitating from a stroke in February, according to the announcement put out by Rekindle School. Complications due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down schools, businesses, and social gatherings around the world, have also led to thepassing of well-known figures like Julie Bennett, who voiced Yogi Bear in the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
The May 1 update inTeam Fortress 2also included other major changes, which should be a sigh of relief for some after rumors suggestedthe game’s development was on holdlate last year. This update included changes to localization files and fixes for issues like a client-side crash which occurred due to “malformed custom spray files,” as well as an exploit allowing sentry guns to fire through thin walls.
However, the game has faced more serious concerns as of late following the leak ofold source code forTeam Fortress 2andCounter-Strike: Global Offensive, other Valve first-person shooters. While it was believed this could leave to players getting malware on their PCs,CS:GOdevelopers announced that they think it should not cause any issues in current builds.
As a result of concerns due to the ongoing pandemic, Valve has also elected to indefinitelydelay its championship esports tournament forDOTA 2, The International. With much of the world in disarray because of these global circumstances, it’s nice to see the company take a step back and pay tribute to a popular man who helped give a lot of personality to one of its biggest titles.
Team Fortress 2is available now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
