left 4 dead

a zombie 360 exclusive, again. *sigh*

^this is why The PlayStation 3 will be one of the worst game consoles ever made.

I'll likely buy it, contingent on the first month of reviews. From the previews, it looks like run & gun toughness. Hoping OXM has a demo, when it's released.

Not a 360 exclusive. It's Valve.. buy on PC if at all possible... if you want frequent updates and new free content, a la Team Fortress 2.

Yep, I'll be playing this on steam.

i am still bitter at steam for the half-life episode 2 bug.

but i will buy this for 360 obv

Hey - if you pre-purchase it on steam you can play the demo right now. If you don't pre-order, I think the demo is out for everybody sometime next week?

I didn't know the game was shipping with a single player mode too. A nice addition.

Anyhow, I'm downloading the demo now & will hopefully be playing tonight and/or over the weekend. When the game actually comes out, hopefully we can get some ILX games together, as you only need four players per team. Recommended specs aren't too high.

it begins! de_dust in Left 4 Dead demo...

I'll try to give this a shot when the demo goes public next week.

Trailer is OTTERSOME

just watched the demo, sorry i can't get excited about what i've seen looks just like any old fps blaster which i have vast amounts dripping from my steam list.

graphics look like circa '99

Huh? Did you play it? Graphics look really nice & it runs really smooth.

It's fun, but I was surprised that at least in these two demo levels, there are a lot of zombies just standing around - which makes it a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. On the other hand, when you're attacked by a wave of runners, it's pretty fucking intense.

the video posted a few posts ago makes the game look pretty generic. i might hold off on getting this until people have a chance to play the full game for a little while.

http://jl13.com/images2/left4dead01.jpg

http://jl13.com/images2/left4dead02.jpg

http://jl13.com/images2/left4dead03.jpg

http://jl13.com/images2/left4dead04.jpg

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/l4dearly/default.aspx

just put in five random digits in the transaction id field and after 24/48hrs you might get a code; mixed reports across the forums and only a few days until it's released for real anyway

I played this for a bit last night. Pretty fun! Valve is really one of the best at video game characters. They don't always have the best graphics, but they get the nuances better than most other games. I would suggest that people who enjoy FPS's should at least try it out for awhile.

anyone want a code for the 360 demo? e-mail me d.w.howie at gmail.com

all gone

this game is weird; it looks both MOR and amazing at the same time

some of the stuff to do w.'the director' sounds really interesting but then it is just shooting zombies over and over; the teamwork I guess will be what raises it above the MOR

http://www.viddyou.com/viddstream?videoid=45534

http://www.viddyou.com/viddstream?videoid=45570

this game looks amazing; think this could be the real gem in amongst this winter release madness

MOR?

the dmeo was funnnnnn! anyone else hoping to play it on pc? we should have some ILXOR steam games when it comes out :)

i even know a ventrilo server whose info i am allowed ot give out (assuming folks don't pay it forward, since my buddy is paying for it out of his own pocket)

Will be up for some steam games. My biggest concern with the L4D is finding good teams to play with - as it'll get frustrating quick if you keep getting stuck with, say, random team killing griefing douchebags. My second worry is that playing through the same maps, where the path to success is always the same, won't have as much replayablity as one would like in a multiplayer game.

I am pretty sure I know six other people who will have this game. I'll hook you up with their contacts on Steam so you have fun people to play with.

This should answer some of your questions, Jeff. It appears that the game is good at not giving you the same experience twice.

sorry, nhex, mor: middle of the road

demo is up; anyone for some co-op?

don't shoot the witch!!!!

Downloading the demo now. Hit me up on Steam, I have the same username.

apparently this is awesome online. I've kind of given up on using my comp for gaming though - it was top of the range in early 2004, so now quite shit - so will probably be Xbox for me (and thus less online community folk I know to play with).

Very cool - I love the way communication and co-op play is encouraged, the general atmosphere, the (admittedly necessary to keep things from getting boring) Director AI tweaking things here and there.

BTW steam people, there is an "I Love Games" group up on there!

Argh I can't decide whether I want this on steam or on 360. Lots of folks I'd like to play with on each, and I don't want to buy it twice...

well, it's cheaper on steam, and will get more frequent updates to fix exploits and the like (probably including free new maps and stuff first), plus mods and user maps.

I would go steam if I had the option, for all of jeff's reasons above; tho I think the friendslist wd be the ultimate deciding factor for me

plus better controls for this kind of game on a pc, though there is pad support for the freaks.

L4D given 9.5 rating in new issue of OXM. Same score as Gears of War 2.

True, true, steam is tempting. Well, I'll give the demo a spin tonight and see how it fares on my increasingly rusty DX9 machine.

this game is the new gauntlet

btw, "unable to find Nhex, hit 'back' if you want to try and search again"

I get that glitch sometimes too when trying to add people. nhex is on my friend's list Jim, so you should be able to add from there if you click through. I hope your pc is up to the task!

Ah, I used a capital N in Nhex, and it didn't like it. Silly steam.

okay this is great fun - dig how arcadey it all feels. first go i seemed to end up with people who already knew the maps far too well, which really impairs the feel of it - like, moving slowly and exploring is completely absent in that situation. second go i had a good balance. third i had a bunch of people who couldn't work out that the verbal clue at the beginning about 'hey, maybe we should take the subway' meant that when we saw the subway entrance we ought to go down it, and hung around on the street for ages. ideally there would be a balance between knowing it inside out and knowing nothing : /

i was confused at how people had already started complaining that the graphics weren't up to snuff and i had to ask a friend to explain and realised i had no idea what up-to-date videogame graphics even look like anymore. this made me a little sad.

Valve never has fancy graphics. That just isn't what they do.

this game is the new gauntlet

OTM

What's an example of a game with amazing graphics right now? Is Fallout at the forefront? DeadSpace?

(I just realized that I haven't heard about a game having AMAAZING GRAPHICS in awhile.)

With all the "film" effects, color correction, etc. (see this blog) I think as a whole it looks pretty great, even though in terms of polygon count it doesn't look as realistic as some current titles. The GUI (outlined objects, various overlays) is superb.

The problem I've had so far actually is that you'll often get one guy who moves way too fast for the group, which leads to zombies getting him or the rest of us with less backup. Have you tried it on a higher difficulty that Normal? It gets much harder to just run and gun, I've found it's much better to move slowly and pistol snipe the standing hordes from a distance as often as you can.

What's an example of a game with amazing graphics right now?

Gears of War 2, technically speaking.

Ah. That makes sense.

I also think the graphics of Little Big Planet are kind of amazing.

Graphics-wise, LBP reminds me of when I first played Donkey Kong Country.

Crysis is still the peak graphics-wise, if you have a computer that can run it.

Left 4 Dead looks pretty great, at least on my computer (1080p, 4x AA), and runs great. The graphics have to be toned down a little on the 360 version, so if that's all people are looking at, it's not exactly fair. The Source engine is maybe a little creaky for some things (compared to the flashier effects you might get with new Unreal, or Crytek stuff), but the games run good and that's what counts most. I think the stylized graphics of Team Fortress 2 makes it one of the best looking games I've ever played (on PC).

OTM on TF2. As realistic as these games' graphics get, TF2 was the last game I was seriously impressed by, not just due to the technical achievement but also for the strength in creative art direction and personality. Even the taunt and idle animations are wonderful.

During my few demo playthroughs on the 360 there seemed to be a lot of communication due to pretty much everyone having and using headsets. I tried a few rounds on the PC version and it seems like only a few people used headsets and barely anyone used the point-and-click command system in the game.

The PC version seems to be the ideal version to get for several reasons, but as far as straight communication (kind of a big deal with a game like this) the XBOX seems to win out.

WAHT TO DO

Inspired/reminded me to make a poll about that very subject.

This is great, but yeah: the constant background mumbling is not helpful and I seem to keep playing with morons who think it's funny to randomly kill another party member.
It took me three party resets to get a group that could handle making it to the first safe room.

I dig that Valve seems so willing to go this retro route. For a generally forward looking company that's pushed the medium forward in so many ways, I appreciate their efforts in cultivating these distilled, Old School sort of projects.

That said, it feels like the game (as much fun as it is!) should be around $30.

I played the demo co-op with my brother today. Lots of fun!

^^Yeah, the shame is this is the kind of game that will probably not be as active online when the price drops to a more reasonable level, unless they push out constant updates like they've been doing with TF2 over the last year (though even then it'll probably be forgotten for Call of Duty 6 or whatever).

Yeah. I assume the Left 4 Dead PC community would be taken care of fairly well. The 360 version I have to wonder about though.

You can always play locally.

The screen splits 4-ways, right?

valve have promised they'll try to support the 360 one a whole lot more than they did on TF2 - it's M$' rigorous certification program for live-distributed content that stifles them

i think you can only play 2-Player locally on 360. could be wrong. i will probably buy the game, but the platform decision is killing me. a lot of pro/con weighing.

Yep. I think I'm being pulled toward 360 and away from steam by two words though - resale value.

i just pre-ordered this on amazon uk for £19.99, which is the "about $30" mentioned upthread. although only because the exchange rates have gone to toss.

played the demo last night.

ugh this game is ugly looking, and gameplay was basic. Let's just say I wasn't too upset when it crashed.

(i played single player, it's probly more fun with other people i guess)

Single player is absolutely pointless; multiplayer is interesting and occasionally addictive.

ooh - I just checked steam and this unlocks in approximately 8 hours (I thought it wouldn't be out until tomorrow)!

surprised to hear ste say this game is ugly; I know the source engine is starting to show it's age a little but I think the game is really good looking (well lit, highly detailed environments)

anyway, does that mean it's out in america now?

http://i33.tinypic.com/zul7rn.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3129/l4d4ji9.png

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7669/l4d1pe1.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v204/psychotiker88/l4d_farm04_barn0062.jpg

my environments were definitely not that detailed.

i don't even remember seeing any blood, my zombies just keeled over and then they vanished.

I should be on steam this evening after 5 pacific time, if anybody fancies a game or two. Only got to try out one new map late last night because I had a really hard time connecting to steam for some reason, but I was loving it. Can't wait to play more.

so is this playable solo or do I actually have to make friends

This seems like it would be pretty terrible and pointless to play alone. Play online. Online Gamer Dudes aren't typically as douchey in co-op games.

But yes, the option is there to play alone, offline.

Not sure what difficulty we were playing at (did a quick match), but the game is HARD, especially when you don't know where you're going and the team isn't doing a good job of communicating. Took about an hour to get to the end of the 4th map on Death Toll, where our three reamaining team members all died - I could see the damn safehouse.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9876/l4d7fq0.png

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1377/l4d8go7.png

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4524/l4d10nz6.png

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/9161/l4d12sm7.png

those graffiti messages are a bit too clean

"I miss the internet"

http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=2026
I really do like these guys.

so everyone i talk to is flipping their shit over how much fun this game is. damn this time of year.

yeah, mine just landed on my doormat. it is so much fun, it's crazy; the thing is you kinda need to play with folk you know, else you'll get twats and achievement whores

"OH SHIT THERE'S A TANK IN THE SAFEROOM!!!!!!!!!!" <--- me screaming like a kid down xbl

I had a great time playing this with a bunch of friends yesterday. The game is so fucking cinematic.

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/heres-your-left-4-dead-shopping-mall-map/561/

I'm not as into this yet as I thought I would be. It's not really a multiplayer game, it's actually more of a co-op game. For my tastes those co-op games last too long, especially playing with strangers. You can't just drop in and out. Everytime you start up, it's going to be at least an hour of moving through the maps. The versus mode is even longer with all the taking turns. I do like playing the infected though - it's different, at least. I wish you could just play infected sometimes and not have to switch sides. There's just tooo much shooting involved with playing the survivors - it really wears me out.

I agree it is tiring (esp. with all the shooting, and the intensity) and the games do last a while (esp. on the higher difficulties) but it's still heaps of fun and definitely need to play with 4 humans (friends, even better)... obv you can use the 'take a break' feature (essential really; I played a game the other day that lasted 2 and a half hours, and I took several phones calls, ate 1x salad, made 1x pot of coffee using that feature); the calling a vote function should be included in all games

more than anything the game is so perfectly balanced; I can understand why it took so long to ship, even after early vns looked very finished

goty

GOTY

Yeah, it seems like a definite GOTY candidate to me.

I've not had as much fun playing any game this year. I was playing the defend-the-rear position and literally just beat a Tank into the saferoom by 1.5 seconds, everybody in the room shouting SHUT THE DOOR SHUT THE DOOR SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!

We played 2 player though and the AI for the other characters was kind of annoying.

Also it is pretty fucking scary.

Fuck you AI Francis for using the medpack on yourself at +88 health when I am at +14 you fuck.

the AI dudes are too good, it lessens the tension a lot even with just one AI-controlled survivor

have you tried any of the versus, nick? it is intense... and a lot of fun

I quite like playing with random folx on xbl (as long as they don't trash talk and work like a team); it heightens that sense of being thrown together in the post-apocalypse

I haven't tried the versus yet. Probably will tonight.

Also I have only played this so far with actual people in the room with me...am looking forward to playing it live though over the holidays with the same friends when we are spread out all over America. I do want to try playing it with strangers at some point though.

the infected are really difficult to play well; but when you do it's really satisfying

last night as a smoker, I pulled one of the survivors straight into the path of a witch; ultimate win

I like how the intro movie is really just a very cinematic tutorial

the achievements are great too: it's very liberal with the first 700 so gamerpoints but those remaining points are hellish (survive all campaigns on expert, survive a campaign using only pistols, no survivors take any damage after calling in the rescue... um, seriously?!)

I mean, yeah, you can earn them on 'easy' but that's not cricket is it?

haha, there is a weird glitch that if you try to join another person's game but someone else fills the slot in the interim, it still lets you in but in spectate mode... which is all fine and dandy but you still have the ability to call votes!! I am spectating now and calling votes for a laugh but the guy who took my place initially has left, so to the other folx it must look like the AI is calling votes to kick them!!

i'm gonna get this

same, making myself wait until after thanksgiving so i don't neglect the fam

hahaha, great one czn

there was actually an MP3 file i got like 10 years ago when the internet was new, it was the same thing except for resident evil 1!! i wonder if that's somewhere on youtube, shit was CLASSIC.

Yay!

http://img.skitch.com/20081126-gdbaqqgwgyd6we5ifpspspeiku.jpg

http://img.skitch.com/20081126-2ha9c26uppgf5dc82eu29qc8t.jpg

o_O

you know, i think one of my friends or me got "lamb 2 slaughter" last night!

also, i got witch hunter last night! she got stuck on a dumpster, and was on fire!

I'm surprised about the Expert thing, but not so much about Untouchables. Even on Easy I imagine that one is hard to pull off with no one taking a scratch.

Finally picked this up at the weekend. Had my first proper session last night (sorry I couldn't join you czn, already had a gameful), and I am in love. Funnest multiplayer game I've played since goldeneye, easily. Seems way hard though, even on normal!

no worries; we were playing a 4vs3, hence the invite

it's brilliant, isn't it? I've never laughed so much when playing a game than I have with this

I may grab this today. do you have to use gay headsets to play? i know its bad form in some multi not to.

It would be pretty difficult not to, but the headsets aren't so bad if you're playing with people you know or at least like.

There is actually a nice little voice macro key, for using the pre-recorded voices to issue alerts/commands. It brings up a little dial, then you move the mouse/key in the right direction to say "Hello", "follow me" etc. -- for basic stuff it was pretty good. For stuff like "there's a witch on the right off the side of the train" it's not so great.

I was playing the hospital level solo in the first campaign, and on the elevator following another WTF zombie assault (where I was snagged by a smoker on the opposite site of the assault, and was knocked down and squirted at least three times & needed AI reviving), Army dude starts spouting off doom and gloom stuff about this and that re: hope being lost &c, and after he finishes, Zoey does the "GAME OVER MAN" bit from Aliens, and everyone laughs. :D

^^awesome! my other favourite bits of AI dialogue are "francis, is that you or the sewer?" and zoey's "what's with these fast zombies anyway? I call bullshit on that one"

some of the achievements on this are unholy, even on easy

So is this enjoyable at all with just the AI as the other 3 members? I like the idea of a team of 4, but don't know 3 other people with the game and don't want to play with kiddies online...

It's enjoyable as hell with one other person and two AI characters, but I can't speak to the 1p.

You could always play with us! (if you give us your gamertag). :)

yeah, srsly, let's have some ilx l4d soon

With only 1P it totally sucks. Stakes are higher when theres other people involved.

somehow I only found out about this game today, I will by with any xmas $ I get. so excited, you guys.

buy

new gun confirmed as DLC:

sry jim, some funny buggers goin on there with the join party leave party stuff; it's kinda fun to play in a party (lulz innit) but you lose a lot of the tactical element : /

Yeah, my connection was well flaky last night anyway and I kept getting booted from Live, which didn't help, so I just had to give it up in the end. Ace fun while it lasted though. And I did my first ever damage as an infected!

o_O

I got it today. pretty fun if exhausting.

valve on making the intro movie

So have they been fixing the discovered exploits on the console version yet? There have already been quite a few updates on the PC side. I'm vaguely tempted to pick up the 360 version, because that's where all my friends seem to be playing it :(

If they're not fixing stuff console side, one could easily look at the PC fix list and learn the good exploits I guess. For instance yesterday's PC updates... Fixed Infected Players melee pushing large objects to block the survivors path... Fixed exploit of "hugging" the Witch from behind where she can't hit you... Fixed players not being kicked from a vote by changing their name before it succeeds

no updates for the 360 one yet but the witch hugging exploit, the fast melee exploit and some others are PC exclusives

this is the fix list, and only the ones in bold affect the 360 vn. in my experience

- Fixed Infected Players melee pushing large objects to block the survivors path
- Fixed +lobby exploit
- Fixed exploit of "hugging" the Witch from behind where she can't hit you
- Fixed players not being kicked from a vote by changing their name before it succeeds
- Disabled difficulty change votes from the console in versus mode
- Finding a dedicated server when starting the game from a lobby is now faster and more reliable
- Versus mode is now locked to Normal difficulty
- Difficulty on a server is now locked to the one set by the lobby reservation
- Fixed lagouts/spikes after level transition
- Fixed directory issue with spray logs in some cases
- Fixed video settings not saving after closing video options dialog
- Corrected a boomer suicide exploit
- Several minor localization fixes
- Fixed disabling cheats incorrectly resetting data

of the ones not mentioned above, it doesn't seem like they've fixed the map exploits where you can avoid the crescendo events using some careful platforming on the PC yet

I would imagine they're saving all the fixes up for a big catch-all patch on 360, given M$ arduous certification process for xbl content

that tank one is pretty funny (I did it in a vs match the other night against friends and they weren't best pleased) but totally unfair: i. they can't get to the safehouse and ii. when they try, touching the car sets off the alarm and sets off a massive horde

: /

also, goatse
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/left4dead411/l4d-goatse-fr.jpg

Finally beat a campaign (no mercy) in versus. It does really feel like an accomplishment, this game is awfully tough. I thought the more I'd play the more I'd get sick of it, but I'm definitely getting more into it we go on. Every experience so far is pretty different. I do like playing versus a lot, especially the infected. There was something very satisfying in beating the last map as the survivors, then stopping the other team from doing the same (and winning the game by 2,000 points). Still, I feel like those versus games go on for too long (there goes an afternoon practically).

On the bright side, my current steam rank has become "Halfway Cool."

You xbox bastards just made me double-dip on this. I hope I actually get to play some game with you!

p.s. Left 4 Dead is only 40 USD on amazon right now

ha, great! I plan to be on there tonight, from about 10GMT.

I won't have the game for another day or so, will probably be on a lot next weekend, I think.

Does anybody have any tips for playing the smoker? That's the one class I've so far been completely useless as.

Interesting to have played both versions now. I think it controls fine on the 360 (except for climbing ladders). It pretty much plays exactly the same. The shooting seems fine and smooth - maybe it helps that accurancy isn't all that important when shooting at a horde of zombies. The 360's graphics do take a hit, compared to playing on my average PC that can run the game in 1080p, with lots more detail, and lots more AA, but I don't think the 360's graphics are as bad as some people were making out.

http://img.skitch.com/20090120-fex5hryi3xuxypfsrejx2dmy62.jpg

game of the year, if not the decade, hands down.

like Portal, it's a game for gameplay. as much as it emphasises its cinematic aesthetic, it doesn't bill itself as an interactive movie, there's no backstory fluff, no slow discovery of zzzsome plot points, no aimless wandering after getting lost, no in-game tutorial snores. It's all about being a GAME, with no pretense to being anything else. The gameplay is fun and addictive, well balanced and tweaked with replay value enhancers to keep you coming back for more. I adore it. More games like this in 2009 please.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/2223/

"The first L4D DLC — dubbed the L4D Survival Pack -- is due for release this spring and introduces a new multiplayer game mode entitled, Survival, plus two complete campaigns for Versus Mode"

Selfishly I was hoping for a retail price drop sooner, but I guess it'll delayed a little while longer...

retail price has dropped in the UK, folx

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/02/11/left-4-dead-dlc-4-free/

Valve, props for not succumbing to the commercial temptation. I mean it!

oh for fucks sake this thread just reminded me that i totally spaced a 4-way co-op game of this last night with some dudes i know. probably going to be pissed.

re: free DLC - so smart

so if I hate shooters and suck hardcore at them, there's no reason to get this game right

yeah I've been wondering the same thing; I'd love a great co-op game but if this is just a hardcore shooter then I'll stay away.

It isn't very hardcore in the sense that you don't have to be especially precise, but it is definitely a FPS.

IDK, it has a lot more stealth/strategy vibe to it in a lot of ways, if you just go for gonzo shoot everything you will no question get your ass handed to you. still, its a great shooter with a bunch of really ingenious twists, but its still a shooter, and theres no point in denying it. so probably not for dan, maybe for euler?

xposts

I'm waiting on used copies to come down in price, and hope there will still be a co-op community by then. Does the game find co-op partners for you on xbla, if you don't have friends currently willing to play?

i assume so? never tried, but i have to imagine that they would.

It does, yeah.

guys this is half price on steam this weekend fyi

well, in england it is. apologies if it is not, in america, and you are american

imo, this is a co-op survival/strategy game first, FPS second. BUT only on Expert mode.

On easy, normal, advanced, it's your typical shooter.
Expert is a whole different game, and the only way to play.

i have noticed shooting thro survivors is an entirely valid strategy on any level below expert, which i guess is a part of that

also it seems one in three games i end up joining is full of people who are obsessively going thro quickest routes / most efficient chokepoints / cheap tank-dodging exploits 100% of the time, which is a bit annoying

i have noticed shooting thro survivors is an entirely valid strategy on any level below expert, which i guess is a part of that

yeah, this is a major game-changer and most changes in playstyle on Expert mode stem from this.

you on the xbox, g-kit? anyone else who's still playing this too, hit me up, i'm reg delmot.

Nah, I'm PC. I can't imagine playing this game with a noobstick.

yeah that's what's putting me off getting the xbox orange box, even tho i can't play it on my pc cause of crashing. fuckit i should just get new pc.

thoughts on survivor, anyone?

Only had a few goes, managed 4 mins in the lighthouse. I love the limited time high intensity gameplay style, I wouldn't call this zen gaming but it's still in the same school as wipeout zone and geom wars pacifism. Short n sweet.

methadone headspace all time

they seem to have nerfed the melee a bit. also, i swear it took multiple hits with the hunting rifle to kill regular infected earlier, which is just not on.

more dialogue lines = welcome tho

oh ok the melee fatigue was added on march 25

also this from the current update:
"Fixed an exploit where you could load the chamber of a weapon with bullets by holding down the melee key"

when they actually fix the whole reload-while-meleeing glitch and not that instance no one will be able to finish the game anymore

some college bros and i have started playing this together; I'm terrible.

Loving survivor. Got 16 minutes in the airport first time - and then found out our server dude had left cheats on so it didn't count. Head for the corner opposite the escalators, next to a nice wooden desk, if you don't get gold first time you're a n00b. Street is pretty easy too, go for the fence at the other end from the barricade. Haven't found a good spot for bridge yet.

if you don't get gold first time you're a n00b

Um surely by definition everyone is a n00b, first time?

shut it, n00b.

Survival mode is the tits. Love it.

i recommend playing this all nite until 4 am and leaving the windows in your apt open so that at 6 am your awakened by the wind and rain and traffic its a v exhilarating experience until you realize that your c/p isnt a gun

survival mode is rad btw

ppl on the hospital level that try and survive by standing by the elevator the entire duration = make me too annoyed to reasonably justify in any kind of videogaming experience

It's free today on Steam, and the price is down to $23 for the weekend. I'll sit this one out, but mentioning it just in case anyone was interested.

A week too late, fuggers.

What's by the elevators?

are you playing on xbl or pc, ledge?

"What's by the elevators?"

nothing

In Campaign mode you're waiting for the elevator to arrive and have to hold out for two minutes as dudes break through the walls around you, obviously it makes sense to wait by the elevator so you can just run inside it and leave

in Survival the elevator never arrives and it's just a really stupid place to stand because there's no long range sightlines anywhere - it's one of the levels set up to avoid the standard tactic of 'find a defensible place and stay there as long as you can hold out', but people who play videogames on the internet feel this need to find ONE CORRECT WAY TO DO THINGS and stick to it, which really fucks me off - it's more the larger issue than this particular example - it's, like, people have lost track of the whole notion of 'games' and 'play' it seems

The other night in a team of randoms someone was explaining the way to beat this one level and specifically ordering people: "Right, you get weapon x and stand there, and you get weapon y and stand there, and don't move unless I tell you to" wtf f off fhead

czn im playing on pc

Playing this made me realize I need to buy a gaming headset. It's very annoying when your teammates are talking and you're saying 'weapons here!'

Also, survival mode is great. Played the terminal and the roof levels with this guy MajorCommie who was so relaxed during the game it seemed he was on vicodin.

are you playing on xbl or pc, ledge?

both! my steam id is, er, steamfuck.

my nickname whatever thing is ledge

Played survival mode with some friends and we could not for the life of us get to the three minute mark, let alone four minutes for bronze.

Didn't help that I am complete garbage at fps's.

I feel like it's WAY too soon for L4D2...

Yeah, this is disturbingly out of character for Valve.

Was L4D 1 a big seller?

Biggest selling new IP of last year apparently.

But yeah, sequel presumably means no more updates to the original. Which is a bit cheap, they'd promised lots then took a long time to produce any at all.

colleague next to me is on phone creaming his pants over this. and arma ii.

I'm pretty excited about the chainsaw meself. and the frying pan.

I got my $45 US worth out of L4D and I'm not even done playing it yet. I have yet to even try the new modes due to my internet dying. I have no qualms with them releasing a sequel this soon, assuming it's up to snuff (apparently they had so many left over ideas after 1 that they couldn't even fit it all into patches and such so they immediately started on 2).

They have stated there's more content to come for L4D1. (Which would make sense: dropping it would create huge bad blood with the people who already demonstrated an interest in the franchise: which would, you know, help not to sell L4D2.)

I'm kind of amazed how full the internet (not here) seems to be of people going I PAID FULL PRICE FOR THE FIRST GAME, HOW DARE THEY: seriously, I would have had to try quite hard to find a week where it WASN'T being massively discounted somewhere, on steam, online, or in, you know, a shop. (And if your time is too precious to spend 5 mins price-checking then either you don't have time to be playing games or you earn enough to pay full price, jeez.)

That said, I'm really not all that bothered. I kind of wish they'd made zombie Planetside for the sequel. Brownie points for trying to design the new levels to fix broken player behaviour, I love that.

if they sold like 3 million copies or whatever, SO few of those people are "plugged in" enough to actually, you know, care about the DLC/etc. Just releasing a sequel with "sequel to game of the year" box quotes and a mercury prize winner in the tv spot will help sell 3 million more.

well, also that.

I'm less pissed about the quick sequel/omigod they're screwing L4D1 OHNO!!!1 thing than I am about the new Survivors. It's way too early to make the call obviously, but they just seem so much less appealing than the original four. There had better be a patch or something to play as them.

Chet Faliszek: You know coach Cutty [character Denise "Cutty" Wise on The Wire, played by Chad L. Coleman], the guy that works with the boxing kids? He voices Coach.

Shack: No way. That's amazing.

^ sadly, now i will buy this

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/04/valve-on-l4d2-trust-us-a-little-bit/#more-12542

RPS: So is there any chance of new content like new maps and new campaigns in the original L4D?

DL: Yeah, there’s certainly a chance of that, and we’re not announcing any of the specifics of that today. Like I say, stay tuned, there’s more coming, there’s more information we’re going to talk about for the sequel, there’s more content coming for Left 4 Dead in the fairly near term, that I think will sort of add to this picture and hopefully change some people’s opinions of what’s happening right now.

I never even picked up the first L4D, maybe I'll just wait for the sequel to come out. But one year seems really quick to cut off a new franchise, primarily multiplayer game off at the knees. (though I'm sure there are other bad examples of this, like Call of Duty? still weak, tho)

God dammit, Valve, why you gotta pre-empt my whining like that

Okay, let's see if THIS works: this had better work as a combined install with the first L4D for PC users with a single server browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-db9qgn99o

now that's A LOT scarier than zombies! ...much more like my true nightmares

a friend is convincing me to buy this to play online, now that the price has been cut. but is it really worthless as a single player game?

(btw i typed in "left 4 dad" in the search engine, lol)

i enjoyed the single player, but i am prob the exception to the rule wrt that. the one big problem i had with the single player is that it is a long time commitment that kind of doesn't amount to anything - i mean you finish the level and then uh play it again some time.

It also is VERY fun with a bunch of people.

id think of the single player as the same as single player in a fighting game - u can use to train and it might be fun but thats not the point of the game, at all.

on line in this has kinda suffered imo ~ everyone is either way too good and exploits or has stopped playing

cosign that i think. well i'd say 'they're a bunch of twats' rather than 'way too good and exploits' but you know same difference

i think the ideal way to play this is probably on a 360 locally with a bunch of ppl who haven't played it much more than you tbh

i've been playing street fighter II against the computer for years, so maybe i will like it.

there's lots of fun stuff in street fighter games when it comes to story and crap, even though it is clearly secondary

too bad i didn't jump on l4d when it was $15 a week ago, ah well, figured nobody was playing it anymore. it might very well be done after L4D2 comes out anyway

sad that crash course isn't available for vs. mode :< thats the only way to play imo

will be playing this for the first time tonight w/a couple friends, over xbl. hopefully all my HL2 playing will help out, at least a little?

the controls are a little different/simpler but it's similar yah

actually i dunno if it's simpler w/r/t controls! fewer weapons certainly

#1 hint - its really really easy to shoot the living bejesus out of your teammates, which is bad

oh yeah i will probably be doing this A LOT

damage is scaled back on teammates, so if someone is getting mobbed its usually better to risk plunking them a few times to kill the baddies.

learn to listen for the tank soundtrack change.

really did not like this on multiplayer. too many dickhead teenagers and dudes who felt like going off and fucking with the banshee thing alone was a good idea.

haha but the most vicious argument i ever heard online, srsly ott yelling fuck you faggot type stuff for minutes at a time, was during a CoD5 game on zombie mode. like, wth are you doing playing co-op??

good story.

The trick is to play it with people you know and not with strangers, but that's easier said than done I guess.

yeah, i'm not trying to play any game online with strangers.

okay this game is awesome. it was really, really fun playing with friends after we got it going, and i felt like i picked it up pretty quickly (all that HL2 totally helped). we had a couple hilarious false starts on certain chapters (like when i accidentally jumped to my death off of a tower, then kept getting vomited on & swarmed by zombies) but ended up getting through the 'death toll' campaign.

i'm not trying to play any game online with strangers

i think maybe i should make this a resolution : /

Playing with strangers is fine as long as you are murdering them.

i found the vs battle mode where you can play as the boss zombies to be totally incomprehensible

how so? it is mad fun.

i think it suffered from the "CoD5 problem" which is everyone seemed to know exactly what to do with each character type in each corner of each map, and i bumbled around for a little bit getting pwnt like a beitch and then said fukit

yeah it takes awhile and infected are very easily killed. try to spawn on top of buildings or around a corner. worst thing you can do is not be in the fight, that will get you booted out of games.

a lot of it is not about your damage but separating and slowing down the survivors.

ha well i don't own the game anyway! borrowed it from jjjusten for a spell. have fun!

getting the pistols-only achievement: awesome fun
being in multiplayer games where dudes are trying to get the pistols-only achievement: on your own time, son.

line from l4d2 :D:D:D:D:D

"Are you really going to shoot a guy in a three-thousand dollar suit? COME ON!"

^hope this is a zombie line.

d/ling demo now!

Still for preorder peoples only, yes?

nope open access now! hope to get some games in this weekend!

DOWNLOADING

goole (and whoever) if you are online and coop is open plz to hit me up yo

download is slooooooooow

ha i been playing gay tony while waiting

unfortunately i might not get a chance to play the demo for a week or so. maybe i can sneak in a game tomorrow or thursday. jjjusten, are you in the ILG steam group?

no i am one of those sad xbox/mac dudes ;_;

70%. jesus christ

ha lemme know when you got it

do i have to wear a headset? because i am pretty sure that that is in a box in the garage

http://images.chron.com/blogs/txpotomac/mission_accomplished.jpg

have created lobby.

dude go get your headset!

see now i has my headset but i am ded.

good to see that the griefers are in full force from our first game where that random douche kept closing the last safehouse door.

yup!

loving the swampy new orleans vibe

pricks aside, that was totally dope.

aside from you being horrible you mean!!! j/k

hitting zombies with a guitar: great

hearing a dude on the headset going: "goddam i just hit that motherfucker with a guit-tar and it went like beerrrnnk man that's some funny sheeit": totally great

well yeah i suck. sigh.

played about 4 more games after you were done. the way it keeps throwing different stuff at you is kind of insane, seems more well thought than lfd 1. diggin the new zombie types too, the armored cops are a nice addition as well.

yeah that's a terrific idea!

i think the special zombies have been toned down a little? the banshee is still there, and it seemed less of a big deal (tho it did kill me lol) and the big hulkamaniac one (difft name this time?) seemed easier to take down too. they are less like big-deal bosses now and more thrown in the mix with the rest.

awesome music too, a little bottleneck guitar to go with your machete. i wonder if each level will have its own location/sdtrk, or if it's all in the south this time...

big dude is called the pummeler, but i think the tank is still around too? at one point they mentioned there was a tank coming, idk. not sure what i think of the jockey yet, or the toxic goo spitting guy.

actually wait the boomer and the smoker and the hunter all showed up too, so i guess there are now 8 special zombies instead of 4 (plus the witch)?

i think the toxic goo spitting on is a lady zombie.

also:

The Director

As in the first game an artificial intelligence system called the A.I. Director drives gameplay by procedurally spawning enemies, weapons and items based on the players' performance. In Left 4 Dead 2, the Director has been improved to encourage more participation by players, forcing players through difficult gauntlets to reach the extraction point. It will also have the ability to alter elements of the level such as placement of walls, level layout, lighting, and weather conditions, making each play session unique.[4] The Director will now reward players for taking longer or more difficult paths through each episode by providing more useful equipment, such as incendiary ammo, along these riskier paths.[3]

oh yeah that makes sense because at one point the fucking door out of the first safehouse moved

which led to a bunch of confused peeps swearing into their headsets, which was kind of amusing.

yeah the gun and ammo locations were randomized a little bit too -- same places, but what's there changed a lot. anyway, i'm hyped for this!

was there more swearing in this than the last one?

i thought so

psyched for this. anyone going to be playing next week?

kind of a cool idea but if the location of stuff moves DURING the game that's just goofy imo

i don't think that's the case? but if you die and play through a stage again, shit is different (like how it is in l4d currently).

ya that makes sense.

otherwise it would just like be an endless nightmare!!!

ya sorry i dont think i was clear, the door i was talking about was relocated, but it was after like my third playthrough, not during the course of the play through (and it was at a safehouse, so it wasn't really anything that was mindfucking, it just obv had realized how bad that particular group of players was and gave us a quicker more direct route).

sounds like a nice door

i hope to have that door around in the coming zombie apocalypse.

ok i think actually it might have been a glitch (or a live patch) because i have not seen it move since - either that or i am so consistently terrible at the game that they have permanently moved that door.

btw this game is just a shitload of fun, but i have so much unplayed stuff that i just dont know if i can justify buying it

which is normally followed by me popping up on the thread going "oh hey i bought it" but i think im going to try to keep myself in check this time.

anyone going to be playing next week?

pc or xbox? IT DOESN'T MATTER I'LL BE ON BOTH

xbox!

Anyone on Steam up for trying out the demo this weekend? Or tonight?

HEY THIS IS OUT

Man do I suck at this game.

Still fun though.

I like the fat coach guy the best I think.

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/27109

Hammered this for about 4 hours last night, played most of Dead Centre (claustrophobic smoke and fire! GUN SHOP!! <3 <3) and all of Hard Rain (terrifying thunderstorms!) - except I was the only one (out of three) not to make it onto the boat ;_;

i only was able to sneak in 10 minutes on this last night but shit was bananas. had to turn it off right after coming out of the elevator and being attacked by a flaming zombie hoard in a smoke-filled room while wielding a chainsaw, but holy shit.

damn, endgames seem a lot harder than in 1.

played through the first campaign last night w/a friend on split-screen. the end was easy, but the mall was ridiculous. we died like five times before realizing that just running through the stage as fast as we could was preferable to trying to methodically clear each room.

the end was easy?! what difficulty?

normal. the gas cans? we just ran through tossing them down to the first floor, then one dude poured them all in.

we wer eon advanced, had the same approach but kept on getting pwned. same prob with dark carnival, eventually we switched to normal and made it pretty easily.

yeah, we made it to the roller coaster on dark carnival last night but by that point i was pretty tired and burnt out. i was shooting bots on my team just for trying to heal me when i wanted to be put out of my misery.

what so i have to go to a SHOP to buy this on the xbox?!

LAN party last night, with the PC version. Scavenge mode is fun but I still don't really appreciate Versus. Realism is genuinely scary, and seems well nigh impossible on Advanced, let alone Expert.

there's a new best game in the world, and it's L4D2.

but i do miss zoey

Yeah, characters aren't as zingy, but levels and environments and set pieces are all pretty WOW.

agree with above

This game is so much better at character than almost every other game.

Yeah, characters aren't as zingy

Counterpoint: Chocolate Helicopter.

Chocolate Helicopter was barely funny the first time. These characters are flat as pancakes by comparison to Zoey, Frances and Louis. It's like playing with four Bills.

ok i was trapped by best buy black friday and bought this tonight, so 360 dudes that own this should make sure we are friendlisted or whatever

Finally grabbed the first one on Steam off the sale today. Hit me up!

My husband looooooves this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg2BEzkCUgE&feature=player_embedded

so 360 dudes that own this should make sure we are friendlisted or whatever

add me, it's "bassdrumslim"

done and done. am nnnnnggggghhhhh btw

oh man this game is so great

Perfected our Swamp Fever endgame technique last night. Group at the top of the stairs for the hordes. When the tanks come, run out into the garden, set 'em on fire, and just run round the perimeter till they die.

tried hard rain on single player last night, the escape back through the storm is pretty scary & awesome. of course, i couldn't remember which way the dock was after the rescue boat showed up, and got swarmed.

also, if you're playing with bots and they go into the safe room first, you're fucked (i got pinned down and they're too dumb to come out of the room to help out).

Ok so this game is better than the first on like a million levels. Most notably due to the melée weapons, which I am using the fuck out of.

haha iphone spell correct makes me say melee like a smart dude

also harder imo. the mall level is just ridiculous...i played online with a few friends last night and we died at least five times before giving up and doing 'hard rain'.

the dash through the gates in the middle - not even the end! - of dark carnival is my current bete noire. i think for a few of them it's just a question of finding the right strategy.

yeah that part is crazy. speaking of which, seeing another player spinning in circles with the chainsaw is hilarious.

this game is much harder than the first one, got pwned about a million times on that god damn bridge

this is fun but playing with strangers is a drag, especially without a mic. xbox live users are the most disgusting savages imo.

so 360 dudes that own this should make sure we are friendlisted or whatever

mine's "baconboy82"

Scavenge mode is <3

Xbox gamertag is HeavyWarper.

Love this game

oh so for dudes that are wondering about the friend request from nnnnnggggghhhhh, thats me

finally got this for xb but am going away for the w/end, dang.

i might be up for playing tonight.

i have a ton of housecleaning to do to get ready for a party on sat, but given my typical self-destructive behavior, when i get irritated and wander over to the xbox ill look and see if yer on there

btw i am now convinced that it is impossible to beat the bridge level on single player because your dumb AI buddies WILL NOT RUN

The bridge finale is the only instance where my friend and I escaped with the other 2 cpu players intact. All the other ones we lost at least one dude. I was mystified.

when i play on single player i take it for granted that i'll be the only one to make it out alive. a.i. basically sucks on the final scramble, and i feel no remorse about letting them die.

I hate the team AI. Me and a buddy have been trying in vain to beat Blood Harvest, but the AI's random, stupid actions basically have condemned us to failure.

yeah see the problem i keep having is that i get into the chopper, and then the dumb AI keeps barely surviving back on the bridge enough to keep the pretense of potentially surviving, and then a tank comes and slaughters me inside the chopper cargo bay. and then i do it all over again

seriously considering systematically executing the remaining AI players at the end of the bridge. think theres an achievement for that?

oh i have totally done that on other campaigns.

also, a l4d morality question: you make it to a safe room in bad shape, and your last remaining bro gets trapped outside by a hunter or whatever. do you go save him and risk getting killed/doing the whole stage again, or do you let him die knowing that everyone will be revived for the next stage?

I think most people would rather just move on than redo an entire stage, so save yerself + everybody's time. If there are other people alive in the safe room, sure why not.

Ok so this game is better than the first on like a million levels.

yes!!!!

also jordan: finishing is more impt. rip remaining bro

I find it kind of ridiculous that the co-op cpu ai is incapable of using melee weapons.

as i feverishly clean my living room with the last.fm xbox on, i keep seeing that a couple of you are online playing this and it makes me sad

i had one awesome scavenge game last night, ie it was fun and both teams actually worked together, then played about 5 really shitty ones trying to recreate the magic.

we should have an ilg scavenge match.

ok not going to sleep until i get this goddamn gnome chompski achievement

aaaagagggggggghjhhhhhhhhh. so btw, do not set down the gnome in the chopper, because apparently then IT DOESNT COUNT

i am however now faster and stronger than moustachio, because useless achievements are the best ones.

also i would be totally down for some ilx scavenge action

I heard the portal song on the jukebox! Then I told my friend and he came along and went "what? what?", and changed the disc with his fat fingers, and after that we couldn't get it again.

i'll be playing a couple games of scavenge tonight with some bros around 9 or 9:30 cst, if anyone is interested

unfortunately we are replacing our living room carpet and all my stuff is going to be piled up in some other unconnected room, so i am out for tonight, but SOON

this is getting cheaper and cheaper in the uk... almost at my dipping pt.

oh god Versus mode is painful and super-stacked all the time. largely because i suck

played it with some friends, i suck at being infected but rule as a survivor. basic strategy is to run through the level as fast as poss, don't stop to engage zombies if you can avoid it.

r u on 360 ledge? who else plays on 360 here? jim?

360 and pc, usually the latter but will try and get some more 360 games in given that i paid twice as much for it as on pc. might be on tonight and/or tomorrow night.

jim ain't getting on the l4d bus i don't think.

Nah, I was rubbish at timetabling games in L4D1, so not going to bother picking up L4D2. Rittai Picross is eating all my gaming hours at the moment anyway.

still interested in playing the original L4D on PC, if anyone else is

check out the original (pre-Valve acquiring) character designs

http://designreboot.blogspot.com/2009/11/visual-clarity-in-character-design-part.html

I tried to get back into this last night. I joined a survivor game, was immediately killed by my teammates. Joined another game, was immediately voted out by my teammates. So I tried versus mode. Started as a survivor and was immediately abandoned by my team to die once I joined and had a jockey riding me to my death.

yeah this game basically sucks unless you are playing with people you know, in which case it is awesome.

Im debating re-selling my copy for xbox and getting it for ps3 so I can play co-op with my roomate in the living room. But that plan might be too ridiculous.

The Passing was pretty fun! I played through it a couple of times and the M60 is awesome Rambo fun times. Anyone else given it a whirl yet?

Played the first campaign in L4D2 today - man, this game is great. The carry missions and melee weapons are really fantastic additions.

what is all this l4d3 leaked trailer nonsense

one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dt-ebknjIE
another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIsxufNSJdI

^ these things are very different

sooo the sacrifice

kinda disappointing.

and yet i am still debating to myself whether i should gift the on sale bundle w/both games to a friend. $10!