Team Fortress 2: Now Free to Play

I have never played Team Fortress 2 (or the first one in the series) and so haven't really kept up with the news about it. Well, until today.

It has just been announced that Valve has made Team Fortress 2 free to play. How is Valve going to make money from the game if you don't have to pay to play? The in-game store is going to be the one source of Valve being paid for the game.

On one hand this is a good thing (as it's always nice for a game to be free). But, on the other hand, how will this hold up through time? Will the items released in the shop be the only way to play the game well?

Only time will tell and I hope, for all those that play Team Fortress 2, that things work out for them.