Rezzed, The PC and Indie Games Show. Brighton, 6th-7th July 2012

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Son, We Just Crossed The Street

By John Walker on October 31st, 2008 at 10:52 pm.

Behind you.

Ooh, I’ve got zombie fever. Just watched the penultimate episode of Dead Set, packing to head off to Valve to play Left 4 Dead, and of course that my parents are half zombie. So get yourself in a similar mood with the opening movie of Left 4 Dead, released into the wild today.

What a bloody brilliant intro video. And while it’s obviously seen in first person, without the super-sleek direction, this really is how the game plays. That crying… Oh God, that crying. It’s so damned sinister.

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82 Comments »

  1. 31/10/2008 at 22:56 Fumarole says:

    I can’t view the video. Some sort of undefined error. *sniff*

  3. 31/10/2008 at 23:01 Fumarole says:

    That works, thanks much.

  4. 31/10/2008 at 23:04 Optimaximal says:

    Why have RPS stopped linking to Youtube and Gametrailers? You know, streaming video that WORKS?

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbi7A5BnVm8

  5. 31/10/2008 at 23:12 James G says:

    Looking slightly more light-hearted than I had expected (I haven’t been following it all that closely). Its necessary though, because if everything gets too bleak, and it is clear that no-one else is alive, then suddenly getting to the end seems a bleak prospect. Afterall, where does that leave you, holed up in a slightly nicer place to die.

  6. 31/10/2008 at 23:12 The Poisoned Sponge says:

    Me love this video long time.

    Seriously, what a great opening cinematic. It establishes what the game is about by introducing all the key elements, and yet doesn’t feel contrite or forceful. And the dialouge is brilliant.

  7. 31/10/2008 at 23:14 A-Scale says:

    Why the hell does it require me to put in my day and month of birth? If I’m 17 I’m 17, and if I’m 18 I’m 18. No need to tell me whether my birthday has come and gone yet. Also, who in their right mind would put in their true age if they wished to watch the video? Is not a simple disclaimer and button saying “Ok, I’m sure I want to watch” sufficient? There are no FCC rules for internet videos, so whats with all of the moronic log in methods?

  8. 31/10/2008 at 23:19 A-Scale says:

    Actually got to watch the video. Holy shit. Glad I preordered!

  9. 31/10/2008 at 23:21 Rei Onryou says:

    That video is the definition for a geekgasm. Excuse me while I change my underwear.

    Oh god, that crying is going to haunt me. Last night I dreamt of L4D in a good way. That won’t happen again tonight…

    Also, Tom Francis sums up the witch pretty well: http://www.pentadact.com/index.php/2008-10-31-right-to-live

  10. 31/10/2008 at 23:25 Weylund says:

    That was… um, awesome. I may send this along to my undecided friends.

  11. 31/10/2008 at 23:33 Chris R says:

    Here’s the Youtube link in case the video above doesn’t work (didn’t work for me)

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbi7A5BnVm8

  12. 31/10/2008 at 23:39 Simon Jones says:

    Wow, that’s a seriously good intro movie. Looks like it’s more-or-less in-engine, too, albeit with lots of added sexyness that won’t be actually in-game (I suspect this sentence features too many hyphens).

    What’s remarkable about it, as John pointed out, is that the game does actually play like this. There’s very, very little here that is exagerrated – the only thing I can really think of is the crumbling staircase at the end.

    Impressive how the video shifts so effortlessly from genuinely scary to funny to exciting, without compromising itself tone-wise. Reminds me a bit of Buffy and Angel at their best.

    Having had a chance to play this at the Eurogamer Expo, I really can’t wait to play this with a mouse. Anybody that’s interested can find some shakey-cam video and more detailed thoughts on my blog – http://potentialgamer.com.

  13. 31/10/2008 at 23:46 Nimic says:

    Holy Valve, that’s…. awesome. Truly. Awesome.

  14. 31/10/2008 at 23:47 Monchberter says:

    Valve seriously have the monopoly on cinematic excellent, and i thought Dead Space, Crysis and Far Cry 2 were just pipping them for a moment there.

  15. 31/10/2008 at 23:48 Fede says:

    Wonderful. A pity my old pc can’t handle it.

  16. 31/10/2008 at 23:57 mashakos says:

    wish the game had dialog like that. Sadly the dialog in the game will just be a lot of “fire in the hole!” and “help me!!!”.

  17. 01/11/2008 at 00:00 TooNu says:

    Yea, I preordered this, yea good move /pats himself on the back

  18. 01/11/2008 at 00:00 John Walker says:

    The video works fine. It’s likely you’re adblocking/flashblocking our site. You know, maybe don’t do that?

    Opti – we’ll rush to address your problems a lot more quickly if you talk to us like human beings, and not your slaves. Thanks.

    mashakos – you say that with a lot of confidence for someone who’s completely wrong : )

  19. 01/11/2008 at 00:03 Anonymous says:

    Bricks and buckets gentlemen… bricks and buckets.

  20. 01/11/2008 at 00:06 Simon Jones says:

    mashakos – not the case, I’m happy to say. During my brief play, a Hunter was heard off in the distance. None of use knew where it was, and the gruff bearded guy muttered something along the lines of “There’s a Hunter here. Where are you? Come on, show yourself….”

    Was a very cool bit of unexpected dialogue. Made the moment much more tense as we waited for the Hunter to pounce.

  21. 01/11/2008 at 00:07 Idle Threats and Bad Poetry says:

    The video doesn’t work for me, either. I have no ad-blocking software or anything.

    John, you mean you’re not our slave? Don’t give me any of that abolition nonsense. My linens need cleaning.

  22. 01/11/2008 at 00:08 Idle Threats and Bad Poetry says:

    Correction: Now the video works. Go figure.

  23. 01/11/2008 at 00:09 MacBeth says:

    My word, that’s a stunning trailer. Having played a little bit at PC Gamer Showdown, it definitely *feels* right, conceding that it’s been cinematized (it is a word, OK?) a bit.

    So excited about this game now. I have Dead Set all recorded (hey, it’s been a busy week) plus World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide ready to read. It’s all about the Zeds yo.

  24. 01/11/2008 at 00:35 Weylund says:

    Read WWZ and ZSG first, man! Then you’ll know how to kill ‘em!

    God, my wife laughed when I bought the Zombie Survival Guide back when it came out. She was NOT laughing when I told her the “zombie plan” which included removing our stairs, or when I came home with crates of packaged water and dehydrated food (hey, we live in an earthquake area!). She has so far managed to deny me a shotgun, mostly I think based on the fear that that might also be part of the zombie plan. :-)

    And World War Z is just a great book – get started already so you’re steeped in the awesome that is zombies + Max Brooks.

  25. 01/11/2008 at 00:42 Gap Gen says:

    I tried the video without an ad blocker on IE and it didn’t work, but the direct link to Gamespot worked fine. Anyway.

    Also, Tom Francis’s guide to L4D is excellent: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=200774

  26. 01/11/2008 at 00:45 Charlie says:

    That was amazing, very excited about this game. After watching that I may well pre-order it on Steam for the early demo!

  27. 01/11/2008 at 00:55 Y3k-Bug says:

    Its scary how talented Valve is. They are teaching you gameplay mechanics while entertaining you with the video: the Witch is harmless unless you provoke her with light/sound, the Smoker attacks with his tongue, the Hunter can scale buildings and pounce on you from a distance, and the Tank is just a bad mutha. They even establish that the pipe bomb attracts zombies to it, which I didn’t even know.

  28. 01/11/2008 at 01:03 Xyzzy says:

    Holy moley, that’s amazing.

  29. 01/11/2008 at 01:09 Yak Jazz says:

    So, I’m the only one who didn’t like the trailer and felt that it condensed much of what is terrible about modern cinema? :-(

  30. 01/11/2008 at 01:14 Digit says:

    Ok so that was probably one of the best videos I’ve seen recently. I hate VALVe, they make me feel like a bad designer. :’(

  31. 01/11/2008 at 01:15 mashakos says:

    mashakos – not the case, I’m happy to say. During my brief play, a Hunter was heard off in the distance. None of use knew where it was, and the gruff bearded guy muttered something along the lines of “There’s a Hunter here. Where are you? Come on, show yourself….”

    I will have to see it to believe! As it is the concept is great, would love it even more with these little touches

  32. 01/11/2008 at 01:37 Saflo says:

    So, I’m the only one who didn’t like the trailer and felt that it condensed much of what is terrible about modern cinema?

    Yes.

  33. 01/11/2008 at 01:42 Weylund says:

    The earlier trailer – the 30-second one – I thought was awful.

    This one… if I had an empty L4D display box, I would do indecent things with it while watching this trailer a second time.

  34. 01/11/2008 at 02:03 Tei says:

    I can’t see the video, it only show “undefined”. Argh..

  36. 01/11/2008 at 03:56 Eveningfall says:

    I love Valve’s videos. The hi-res version is on Steam.

  37. 01/11/2008 at 04:12 Grandstone says:

    @ Yak Jazz:

    Stating this in the least passive-aggressive and most honest way possible, I’d love to hear what you thought was wrong with it. Yeah, it looked like a Hollywood action movie, but Left 4 Dead is a blockbuster, so it’s appropriate. It’s not like the game’s pace is suited to the Ozu treatment.

  38. 01/11/2008 at 05:02 Akirasfriend says:

    Watched the hi-res Steam version, and dear lord, this game promises so much. The characterisation, as expected from Valve, is fairly subtle and bloody brilliant. The animation is always nice, but the facial expressions in this and other videos (such as the ‘Meet the…’ TF2 vids) are astounding.

    This video excited me so much, it made me, a full-time slacker, feel motivated to get a job just so I could buy a new PC to play this beauty on.

    Best. Hype. EVER.

  39. 01/11/2008 at 05:18 daveWI says:

    I too am downloading the vid from Steam, looking forward to watching it after reading all these comments.

    I told myself I would wait until reviews come out before I purchase it, but I’ll probably break down and buy it as soon as the demo is available for preorderers.

  40. 01/11/2008 at 07:13 Leeks! says:

    Man, that was terrific. That thing Girl does when she saves Black Guy from the Jumpy Monster is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen done with pistols akimbo, and that’s a pretty God damn high bar.

  41. 01/11/2008 at 08:07 Aldaris says:

    Fu. Cking. Awe. Some.

  42. 01/11/2008 at 08:18 mister k says:

    Does anyone bother putting their actual birth date on those things? I always end up being born on the 1st of January at the turn of the last century….

  43. 01/11/2008 at 08:25 MeestaNob! says:

    Christ that looks good.

    COME ON AUSSIE DOLLAR LIFT YOU BASTARD!!!

  44. 01/11/2008 at 08:56 Muzman says:

    I ain’t blocking a thing and I can’t see it either, FYI (the embedded one). Server is hammered maybe?

    Looks great though. I take it the crying thing is the infamous witch? What’s so special about her, aside from general unpleasantness? Or is it a surprise?

  45. 01/11/2008 at 09:13 Tei says:

    I hate plugins that work the 50% of the time. I hope the W3C raise a standard for video, because this suck.

  46. 01/11/2008 at 09:23 Heliocentric says:

    I run 4 browsers, opera, firefox, chrome & ie.

    Some cases only one of them works, internet media is in a dismal state.

    All 4 run youtube, rps videos too. But this one doesn’t work on anything on my pc.

    I use ccleaner to block windows weak points via its “immunise” function. That may be my issue, don’t ad block just pop up block.

  47. 01/11/2008 at 09:54 Tom says:

    Awesome, awesome, awesome… i got wood.

  48. 01/11/2008 at 09:54 Tom says:

    And that’s all in-engine!… awesome…

  49. 01/11/2008 at 10:06 Optimaximal says:

    Opti – we’ll rush to address your problems a lot more quickly if you talk to us like human beings, and not your slaves. Thanks.

    Sorry about that, didn’t mean to sound like an ass :)

    But I don’t think i’m the only one who has noticed that you aren’t linking to known-working players such as Gametrailers or Youtube anymore, instead preferring to link to GameVideos, that strange(ly awful) GamersHell FLV player and other obtuse players that people seem to be producing left, right and center.

    Personal Preference, or boycott of GT? :)

  50. 01/11/2008 at 10:15 Nimic says:

    I couldn’t get the video in the article to work either (undefined, for some arbitrary reason), but just knowing it exist makes it easy to find elsewhere.

    Also, someone posted a link to it in the second comment.

  51. 01/11/2008 at 11:02 Andy says:

    er wow. it’s a pity most of the comments are complaining about the embedding method. just watch it on steam in HD and be stunned, it left me completely speechless.

  52. 01/11/2008 at 11:43 Mogs says:

    Meh. Well yes, it was awesome, but then do you expect anything less from Valve?

  53. 01/11/2008 at 12:03 Vollgassen says:

    God damn it looks terrifying. I’m so glad I won’t be alone.

  54. 01/11/2008 at 12:06 Carra says:

    Pre-ordered :)

    Always been a fan of Zombie movies. Great fun to see people locked up together with a sea of zombies around them.

    Hard to believe noone else got this idea before!

  55. 01/11/2008 at 12:21 Dinger says:

    I dunno, if I ran a website that depended on ad revenue to keep the expenses down, I might prefer a viewer that didn’t work with Adblock+ either. That way, every time someone screams “it doesn’t work”, everyone suspects that person of being a freeloader.

    (Disclaimer: Yes, I use adblock too, but only to nuke the adverts/sites that don’t play by the rules).

    Anyway, the video in all its HD glory is now available on steam.

  56. 01/11/2008 at 13:21 Heliocentric says:

    Eventually the video won’t be one i can find elsewhere.

    Then the broken movies will make me sad.

  57. 01/11/2008 at 13:29 Pod says:

    He done a poo in the room and it stank!

  58. 01/11/2008 at 14:23 Homunculus says:

    Thanks for the Dead Set recommendation and link, John. The characters and gore proved a hell of a lot more unsanitised than I thought they were going to be (unlikeable, flawed humans and, holy shit, fire extinguisher scene) and it neatly paralleled Dawn of the Dead’s jabs at consumerism, just aimed squarely at those who enjoy the lowest forms of television instead.

  59. 01/11/2008 at 14:25 Homunculus says:

    Additionally: Davina McCall in convincing acting shocker!

  60. 01/11/2008 at 14:59 grey_painter says:

    I haven’t seen Dead Set but isn’t Davina more or less playing herself?

    That intro is very tasty to watch. I’m just curious if a zombie apocalypse turns you into a complete badarse or if you have to be a badarse to begin with, because clearly all four of those survivors are badarse.

  61. 01/11/2008 at 17:14 Jochen Scheisse says:

    I admit to using a scriptblocker, primarily against these pesky dataminers like google analytics.

  62. 01/11/2008 at 18:02 x25killa says:

    Got the intro on Steam media files. It’s awesome. Cannot wait for 6th of november.

    Oh, and bring something back John, just not the zombie infection okay? ;)

  63. 01/11/2008 at 18:21 egg says:

    This trailer makes me glad I just bought a new rig for playing L4D (which I pre-ordered on a whim – a very good one at least). For a Brazilian dude, it’s a sucky situation to have to upgrade your machine, seeing how everything is so craptacularly expensive here.

    Still, me is happy. It’s gonna be a fun end of year for me.

    I just hope the Valve dudes treat L4D as well as they’ve been treating TF2, with constant and meaningful updates.

  64. 01/11/2008 at 19:59 Zed says:

    “Looks great though. I take it the crying thing is the infamous witch? What’s so special about her, aside from general unpleasantness? Or is it a surprise?”

    IIRC: Fast as hell, can take as much or more punishment than the tank… and can flatten a player with one hit. Original news said she only showed up on medium or higher difficulty, but according to Left4Dead411, that’s changed.

  65. 01/11/2008 at 20:10 Leeks! says:

    Also, I’ll add that I’m adblocking no one, and I had to go to Oxi’s link to see the video. The error is actually from within the embedded player, so I think that the brutal, sweeping assumption that we’re all lecherous little goons who are trying to sap RPS of its lifeblood is a bit hasty.

  66. 01/11/2008 at 20:24 Metronome says:

    does this game need high graphic card requirement?

  67. 01/11/2008 at 21:53 Klapperman says:

    @Metronome nope the system specs are very reasonable. If you can play HL2: EP2 and TF2 your guaranteed to be able to play this game. The precise system specs can be found here.

  68. 02/11/2008 at 01:06 Whiskey Jak says:

    @A-Scale: I’m no authority on the subject but from what I understand it is because it is intended for “Mature” audiences a.k.a. 18 years and older (I guess 21 or even older for some countries) and they have to take some measures for legal reasons. So the principle is that they don’t care if you lie or not, but that way, nobody can say that they allowed a 8 years old to watch that stuff without taking any kind of predisposition to prevent him from doing it. If he lies about his age, nobody (like his mom for instance) can file a complaint against them or whatever.

    I don’t put my real date of birth even if I’m more than three decades old, I just take the first year that my cursor falls on that “makes me” more than 18 years old so that I can watch the damn video.

    In short: it’s just legal protection.

    Now, the video is really frigging awesome and as many suggested it, I’m going to download the HD Steam version to compare.

  69. 02/11/2008 at 01:10 RabidZombie says:

    “I haven’t seen Dead Set but isn’t Davina more or less playing herself?”

    Sort of.

    (Couldn’t resist. Dead Set was awesome.)

    Anyway, as the the intro, it’s so, so epic. <3 Valve.

  70. 02/11/2008 at 12:31 Rei Onryou says:

    So far, I’ve watched the intro at least 3 times a day since its release. Pre-ordered the game on Steam (even if it is cheaper off the net, I’d rather guarantee that I’ll be able to play on release day) and literally cannot wait.

    Everything in that intro is just so perfect and spot on. I showed my dad it and for someone who hadn’t heard about L4D before, his response was of definite interest and he said “That looks really good. Like it could be made into a full movie” and that’s the point of it. A taster of the game’s movies. ^.^

  71. 02/11/2008 at 16:38 Darth says:

    For anyone else that played it at showdown; does the roof at the end of the video look a bit like the roof you start on in the level we got to play?

    Would be interesting if all the levels were linked together through these ‘meet the team’ style of video release we’ve been promised with patches.

  72. 02/11/2008 at 17:02 Lobster says:

    The video leads up to the start of the No Mercy campaign. All the campaigns are meant to be linked together, so maybe each has a short introduction like you say.

  73. 02/11/2008 at 18:46 Zed says:

    Oh, and for my fellow non-UKers who can’t access Dead Set online via the Channel Four website, a little bird told me that some guy upped them to youtube. I think it’s… dodgydave1989. I’m sure it’s around elsewhere in better quality, too.

  74. 03/11/2008 at 01:07 MacBeth says:

    It certainly is the roof at the start of No Mercy, I recognised it straight away – except for the tarp, which I don’t recall being there. I’d be fairly sure there will be similar videos for each section transition – and I’d strongly suspect they are the main reason the game wasn’t released weeks ago when all the previews were saying ‘This game seems practically ready to release’. That level of polish must take up serious resources.

  75. 03/11/2008 at 09:39 megaman says:

    I couldn’t get the video to work, neither here nor directly on their site. Thanks for the youtube link, or I would have missed a great video.

  76. 03/11/2008 at 12:27 Óli says:

    The video didn’t work for me either, but when I went to the gamespot site and watched the video there (via the link from Teo), but when I went back to RPS it worked there…

    Perhaps you are missing some validation utils from gamespot??

  77. 03/11/2008 at 12:29 Óli says:

    Forgot to explain further:
    The age validation didn’t work on your site, but worked on Gamespot and when I went back to your site (and the Gamespot video player remembered that I’m old enough :) ) then the video worked

  78. 03/11/2008 at 20:00 Weylund says:

    @Zed: I thank you.

  79. 03/11/2008 at 23:13 LunchBox says:

    Did Valve ever release a location for L4D? I noticed during the hunter section of the intro a set of Pennsylvania tags on the car (I think). This state of America would make sense because it offers a large city with international airport, farmland within stone’s throw, and rabid Philly fans. Little known fact: The “infected” were chasing the survivors for a signed Shane Victorino bobble head.

  80. 04/11/2008 at 00:59 Lobster says:

    They mentioned a while back that the ‘No Mercy’ campaign was set in Philadelphia, with another set in Pittsburgh, as a nod towards the Romero movies, which were set in the same area.

  81. 04/11/2008 at 01:36 Erlam says:

    Tried to watch it on two computers, get ‘undefined.’ Thanks for the other links though, guys :)

  82. 04/11/2008 at 03:37 LunchBox says:

    Lobster: Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

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