By John Walker on July 8th, 2009 at 12:25 am.
Just a tiny snippet of almost-news before bed. Valve have slipped out the information (via IGN) that joining Left 4 Dead 2′s arsenal of melee weapons is a cricket bat. The awfully British sports-stick will be yet another way to brutally smash zombies out of your path. Having previously played with both the axe and the frying pan, I can assure you that the melee combat is something pretty special. With the freshly regioned bodies of the Horde, taking aim before lashing out brings gruesome rewards. While no one’s seen the cricket racquet in action, it seems safe to assume that aiming at legs is going to produce something dreadful. As for faces – there’s a hint in the pic above. Click on it to see the full version available on IGN’s site, with a fat IGN logo on it to ruin your desktop. (In case you’re wondering about the lack of cricket puns here, Orlando Parfitt used them all up in IGN’s story, leaving a global drought for all other sites.) Read all our Left 4 Dead 2 coverage here.
Allow me to be the latest to say
“We take Pete’s car, we drive over to mum’s, we go in, take care of Phillip – “I’m so sorry Phillip”. – then we grab mum, we go over to Liz’s place, hole up, have a nice cup of tea and wait for all this to blow over.”
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Yes. YES. YEEEEEEEEEEEEES! “Yeeeaaaah boooiiii”!
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Umm.. This is set in America, right? Is cricket even invented there yet?
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No, Po0py, but plenty of folks here have seen Shaun of the Dead.
And that’s really the point.
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Lovely!
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I love that screen pic…a man wearing a cap with the England flag twatting a zombie in an Auzzie shirt…will this be reflected in the Ashes this week?…we can but hope
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Really should have read the IGN report before pretty much saying the same pun :(
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Also, let’s scream Howzat at a Hunter. I guess we can scrape something from the pun pool!
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Deadjim: no, no it wont. If anything the Brits will be clubbing themselves to death.
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This guy better be able to double jump.
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Cricket bat YES.
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He’s got red on him.
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@Deadjim
“will this be reflected in the Ashes this week?”
What’s this ‘Ashes’ business? I keep seeing it mentioned but I have no idea what it is.
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You could say you were left stumped, right?
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@The_B: We have a winner, folks!
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How’s that for a slice of Fried Gold?
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@The_B: That one had me bowled over.
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More melee weapons are welcome, but nothing beats humiliating your zombie friends by killing them with a medkit.
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I’d like to see a can of coke in a sock as a melee weapon. Or a tin of beans, doesn’t have to be coke. Very effective improvised weapon in real life… if you have the time to make it.
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First person to make a convincing Simon Pegg character skin for L4D2 will get a reasonably cheap Steam game gifted to him or her by me! :)
Even better, Shaun of the Dead skins for the whole team? Or evener bettererer, two different teams – one skins of Pegg’s group, the other of Jessica Stevenson’s!
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The Ashes is the Superbowl of international Cricket (well… kinda). More on Wikipedia >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ashes
PS. Australia is going to win and be covered in glory. Hahaha.
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M.P. for president. Of Valve?
Anyway, this makes me very happy.
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This makes me feel better about Valve doing a wrong’un by making this.
even if it didn’t have a cricket bat, I would buy it anyway probably ¬_¬
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I wish, I’d sell out to MS and become filthy stinking rich :(
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Thanks for the wiki article, squadman. This is why I love reading about international sports–creepy/incomprehensible terms followed by misunderstood definitions and weeping.
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Fickle crowd.
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Wow, a cricket bat gets a front page post on RPGs?
Why not turn it into premium DLC, available for only £4.59. Or better – L4D3 – Mission Commonwealth!
… sorry about the cynicsm, but Valve selling us frying pans as major game improvements just doesn’t fly for me… :(
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Not quite sure if this is an all-out appeal to the Wisden-owners among us or not, but now is offically the time I make the declaration of my interest in this game.
Ok I know this is a silly point to make but its a pity there’ll be no ball in play. I’m fully aware I must be the third man to use this pun. (Yes there is no way I’m gonna let any cricket pun go bye unused)
Shit I think I’ve run out.
DUCKWORTH-LEWIS.
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The United States does have an international one day cricket team so there are cricket bats over in the states so… oh who cares! Using cricket bats as melee weapons has been awesome ever since The Young Ones and using cricket bats as melee weapons against zombies has now been elevated to classic status by Shaun of the Dead so lets just give Valve some artist license ‘kay. It’s just awesome, is all!
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@ M.P.
http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=package&Itemid=2&packageId=191
Not mine, but hey.
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It’s a wind-up, right?
I mean, the ‘screenshot’ is clearly a mix of in-game graphics and concept art (look at the Australia jersey and cricket helmet). Besides, a cricket bat doesn’t fit at all with the southern USA setting.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see a cricket bat in L4D2. I just think that this particular article is a spoof.
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@Noghri: Hah, it’s terrible but it could be far worse.
Now they just need one (mini?) finale to make L4D2 the greatest game ever…
The Winchester.
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Valve’s Chet Faliszek says that “I once joked that we could put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it, and someone’s going to complain.”
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I think I’m with David on this one, that screenshot must a joke from somebody, right? IGN seem like the most likely culprit.
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this pictures depicts the only way anyone english could ever beat an australian with a cricket bat* i.e. if the australian was a zombie and was lacking the faculties required for this greatest of all sports
*2005 doesn’t count, smarty-pants
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@sheeple
And that kind of comment is the reason my opinion of Valve is rapidly deteriorating. They really need some new PR people, their handling of this mess has done nothing but exacerbate the problem.
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John you know the Aussies>Poms in cricket, that picture is lies and slander
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Valve: We are adding 4 new maps. Reskinning the models and adding melee weapon. And all this for mere 50$ !
Fans: Yay! I have bought unsupported , mini game L4D.
And I am surely going to buy L4D2 , cause i am sucker !
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Ugh no edit button, I’m sick and tired of people getting so worked up over all of this. These are the guys who made: HL, HL2, portal, tf2, cs etc, all amazing games, and they bring out a sequel to a game to quickly and everyone is up in arms? Go bash someone that deserves it, EA is a good start.
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+1 for Ashes-related humour.
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>>Valve’s Chet Faliszek says that “I once joked that we could put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it, and someone’s going to complain.”<<
This was slimy comment , insulting to gamers that are very people buying your game , and once praised Valve.
I really dont know what happened to them. What a slip.
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@Lobotomist:
It’s still a true comment.
You simple can’t please everyone and if you try, you’ll just end up screwing things up more (see the TF2 item drop update).
I guess people just aren’t use to valve releasing games this fast, since L4D sequal is being released faster than say a Half life 2 episode.
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Thing is, Chet’s right.
I mean, Orange Box was ten bucks a few weeks back. That’s a party in the streets level deal, and one game (with unannounced price) coming out as a larger sequel leads to riot worthy anger?
I mean, L4D2 for 50 bucks would be… unfortunate, but c’mon. Wait for the price at least before being too up in arms.
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@Bret
Umm, the price IS $50:
http://www.amazon.com/Left4Dead-2-Pc/dp/B002BRYXRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1243962764&sr=8-1
If this were a $20 (or even $30) expansion pack I doubt you’d see any significant bitching.
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Vinraith, your link isn’t loading for me.
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Wait, NM, it worked on a second try. Shit… I’m still holding out hope for a discounted version on Steam for L4D owners (after all, if you don’t own L4D then it makes perfect sense to pay $50 for L4D2), but we’ll see. At the end of the day if it turns out to be a ripoff my friends and I can always move on to other games. We already kinda have, really.
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Hahaha.
England won’t take back the ashes. Keep dreaming fellas, it’ll be a fair while yet.
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@invisiblejesus
It’s just a link to the amazon.com store page for L4D2. All you’d have to do is go to Amazon and search for the game. The pre-order price is $47.99, indicated as a $2 discount from the MSRP of $49.99.
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@invisiblejesus
Ah, worked after all, nm then. I still think the whole thing would have made more sense as an expansion. Integrated servers, integrated content, backwards compatibility with L4D mods, all of these would be givens under those circumstances. The price would be easier to swallow, and there’d be no sense that L4D was being replaced. I genuinely can’t fathom what they were thinking marketing this as a full priced complete sequel…
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Ah, the sound of willow on face. I called this when l4d came out.
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@ Vinraith
There’s a one word answer to your last question… Xbox
It makes better technical and financial sense for Valve to release L4D2 as a separate game on the 360 That’s partly because of the way that Microsoft charges developers for patches and DLC, and also because Microsoft limits achievements for add-on DLC.
The 360 version of the survival pack had no new achievements because you can’t have them in free DLC for example.
Of course releasing as a separate game shafts the PC version because they want to keep the two SKU’s with essentially the same content.
I agree that L4D2 would have been much better as a proper add-on expansion to the first game. It’s a shame that Valve have sold out to the console market, as so many other PC developers have these days.
However as long as L4D1 and L4D2 have some degree of interoperability, so you can play both games from a single lobby/browser – something valve have said they’re working on – then I’ll be happy.
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I was excited for L4D. Cricket bats make me more excited. Seems plausible enough given they have dropped other zombie movie references in, right?
And, ps, if you reckon it’s too expensive for the sequel no-one’s making you buy it. Seriously. No one at all.
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I keep forgetting the name of the Australian guy at Valve. Robin Walker?
Regardless, I’d say this was his doing. Yes, it’s the Ashes
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How can most of you not see this as a faked up screenshot? It will not be in the game.
Go Australia!
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@GekkoX says:>>
@Lobotomist:
It’s still a true comment.
You simple can’t please everyone and if you try, you’ll just end up screwing things up more (see the TF2 item drop update).
I guess people just aren’t use to valve releasing games this fast, since L4D sequal is being released faster than say a Half life 2 episode.<<
While in essence its true. Its still no way to treat your customers. Basically saying you are all greedy spoiled , while we are mother Theresa.
It might be true that Orange Box was deal of year. And it might be true that TF2 had ton of free upgrades.
But Valve did make profit, and we did pay.
So they are not giving us 20$ for 10$. Its arrogance to even put it that way.
Its no wonder Valve put the L4D2 move , if these type of PR people are running the show now.
Losing respect is worse than losing (short term) profit
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[Shaun of the Dead quote]
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That zombie should have gone for a duck there, as it is he’s been hoiked to cow corner and left in a bit of a spin.
@ Pace:
Yes it’s obviously mocked up, but why would that suggest that it wasn’t Valve’s doing? It’s clearly a silly piece of PR they’ve knocked together for the start of the Ashes.
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Will there be cornettos too?
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Robin Walker’s not allowed back for letting that picture out of the shop.
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Well.. this open space for more randomization. Imagine if the game ship with textures (just the logo) for *all* cricket teams, and the game randomize it just before the game start.
Wait.. I have read what I have writte. No problem, I am going to punish myself for this. Sorry!.
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People still holding a torch (Badumptshh) for the Valve that spurned them eh? And I think I can guess what sort of complaints would be made if they put $20 in a box and charged $10 for it – And/Or, that it should be more than $20, that there isn’t enough units in stock for us to buy.
If this is charged at £35/$50 then I doubt I’ll buy it because honestly, maybe it is a bit too soon for a sequel where I’m not sure just how different the gameplay is going to be. I’ll probably wait for it to hit a weekend deal or otherwise go down in price, unless perhaps the positive buzz is absolutely massive.
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I don’t like cricket.
I love it
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It has a cricket bat? Well, that makes it completely different. I guess I’ll pay 50€ for this expansion after all!
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@Lobotomist
how melodramatic. Do you realise the point he is making? Everyone views what something is worth differently and you can’t please everyone. I’m not sure why some people view valve as the “enemy” based purely on speculation and the fact a quickly produced sequel is on its way. I’m hard pressed to find another developer that produces post-game content and smash hit titles as well as these fellas do.
Just for the record I don’t plan to buy L4D2, while I enjoyed L4D, I know that its replayability (for me) is fairly low. I might pick it up when its on sale. End of story for me, I’m not holding a grudge or something else childish.
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Oh my! Excitement overspill!
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As long as one of the characters is Bob Fossil and his taunt is the Dreadlock Holiday dance i’m sold.
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“I once joked that we could put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it, and someone’s going to complain.”
Indeed. It’s a douche move to make that statement public. Valve surely made at least half a billion from gamers goodwill over the past decade (I don’t know the exact numbers since they refuse to tell them).
“Hahahaha, our fans think we’re ripping them off! STFU, fans!”
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“I once joked that we could put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it, and someone’s going to complain.”
I thought that was quite funny actually, as was the Hard Casual take on it…
http://www.hardcasual.net/2009/06/12/beloved-game-company-punished-for-announcing-the-release-of-another-great-game/
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“This was slimy comment , insulting to gamers that are very people buying your game , and once praised Valve.”
Er, no; it’s an insult to the minority of Angry Men who get outraged over the most minor things. I mean, remember the people who went crazy over Valve charging £30 for three games – probably the same people who’ve dropped $50 on a single console game.
P.
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Perhaps its the “minority angry men” that got offended by Valve. But just before L4D2 announcement – everyone was praising them.
Now you have lot that are praising Valve, and minority that hates them. And with reason too.
And that minority is like rust, corrupting away towards the core. Until Valve good reputation is all but history.
Good reputation is worth more than single game sales
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I believe you have drawn an incorrect conclusion from your arguments there. If the majority of gamers still praise Valve then why should they worry about their reputation?
Catering to a minority of people rather than the majority would seem to be an extremely decision.
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*extremely unwise
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Whats the matter David? Never taken a shortcut before?
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People who are happy don’t tend to make as much noise. Lets put it that way.
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Oh god, it’s now impossible to talk about l4D without all the blah blah blah.
This is just adding to it.
I’ll get my coat………
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This update causes geat anxiety for me since I play L4D with randoms. I’m afraid that I’ll end up having to pick up the cricket bat and everyone will laugh because I’m using it wrong and they are from a cricket playing country. I don’t know anything about cricket; I thought it involved darts. I went to wikipedia once and looked it up. After a few minutes I left all red in the face. I hope no one noticed.
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Don’t worry Clovis, just hit people with it!
There should totally be a cricket mod for L4D2 now, unless you cant hold it properly, and you could use the scout ball! THIS IDEA IS BRILLIANT!
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It always amuses me when people accuse companies of selling out.
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Brilliant.
In other news, that pitcure is now my desktop background, as a guy in and england cap knocking out an Australian Zombie crickwet fan just in time for the Ashes is awesome… :o)
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HOW DARE THEY ASSOCIATE L4D2 WITH THE GLORIOUS GODSENT GAME OF CRICKET
I AM WRITING TO MY MP
AND KEVIN PIETERSON
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And that minority is like rust, corrupting away towards the core.
Until Valves hearts are filled with BLACK OILY PUSS, filling the world with darkness and loathing and dark despair. And melodrama.
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His hand position on the bat is just appaling, you’d not make a school team with a grip like that!
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Haha. :D
Good , one.
Still. I wouldnt be so quick to disregard the minority.
I could give you at least ten examples of games that failed because of bad reputation…
And other way around
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I use to be game dev, now I am not anymore. But I know “my public”. There are a horde of gamers that *only play sports games*. Followed by a small horde of people that play race cars games.
For some reason ( and I love it!, since I HATE sports!) most games release sport-less. That is a bad idea. Is kinda easy to release games with a “soccer” or other style sport. Much like a CTF mode, but less gamey and more sportlike.
Sports work like this:
– Absolutelly generic, not personalization enabled, everyone look like everyone else. Red vs Blue.
– No personalization of traits. All people equally strong and fast. The game will be win by the more skilled, not the one with the best gear/stuff/toon.
– Absolutelly generic and cristal clean map. A green square will do.
– A score board.
– A time limit.
– Make easy to /screenshot the final result scoreboard.
You follow this, and add some system to one team to score, and the other team to stop it, and you have created a sport.
I don’t think L4D2 will include any of this. Maybe a area with zombie hoolygans, but thats is.
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@Lobotomist: Way to over react. :S
“So they are not giving us 20$ for 10$. Its arrogance to even put it that way.”
Well, they are, basically. Exactly how much have you received from TF2? We’ve received quite a few updates now, all free, and you’d probably have to pay for them if it was any other gaming company.
They’re actually telling the truth, but you can’t see it because of your Chris-Crocker-esque rage directed at Valve.
There are a lot less people who have hated Valve when L4D2 was announced. People are beginning to move on and realise that this is another great game made by the company they love.
Frankly, I think there was a lot more uproar when they announced TF2 wouldn’t have grenades.
“And that minority is like rust, corrupting away towards the core. Until Valve good reputation is all but history.
Good reputation is worth more than single game sales”
I think EA will have to disagree with you there. But you’re just overreacting. If everyone hated Valve, would we be playing their games? Are -you- still playing their games?
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The ““I once joked that we could put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it” comment isn’t that rude if you considered there was a large amount of complaint raised at the Orange Box for including HL2/HL2:EP1 even with gift option.
Apparently people felt better if they weren’t included at all (but the price left the same) because they felt they were “paying again for the same game” – despite what great a deal Orange Box was/is.
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I’m looking forward to bowling the Infected hordes a googly by twatting them in the noggin with a cricket bat. I approve of this.
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Puffins; right, Valve could have done it too, it just seems like an odd thing for an American company to release, it was almost certainly done by an Englishman. (though yes of course there are probably some Brits working there.) Also, IGN didn’t reference where they got the image from, just that Valve released it. How? When? Why? But who knows, maybe that’s just the way they do things. Just seems a bit odd.
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I honestly don’t get the big deal around the whole L4D2 thing, except maybe for people hacked off because they thought they bought more than they did with L4D.
Here are the facts:
- As a consumer (for a luxury/non-essential product such as a game) it is YOUR responsibility to decide if you want to buy something or not and it is your choice whether a price is worth paying or not.
- Once you’ve purchased an item that is it, you’re not entitled to anything extra beyond that (unless the product is contracted to offer extra things down the line).
- If you buy something and it later drops in price, then that is tough – If you paid X for it then you must have decided it was worth that. If you buy games for full retail unsure or knowing that it’s not worth the value (but it might be later), then you’ve no one to blame but yourself.
Finally and most importantly
Valve have stated that the support and even free updates for L4D will NOT end with the release of L4D2.
Personally, when L4D came out I was expecting £20 ($35 or so at the time), a online only 4 player co-op game with no story or plot.
It came out at £30 and you know what I did? Waited.
Simple as that, I waited until I could get it cheaper either via retail or as it happened, a sale on steam for £17. It was worth 17 to me so I paid it, because of that I don’t feel I was ripped off one bit.
The nature of L4D meant that if you were only going to play each map once and never again then you would never, ever get value from full retail.
I’ve Played L4D for 100 hours and 56 minutes – not bad for 17 Quid.
The bottom line is, if when L4D2 comes out and you think it’s just a reskin with some new weapons and not worth the price of a full game, then wait. If you can’t wait for a sale, to pick it up at a price you are willing to pay, then tough you pay full whack. If you want to be an early adopter you have to pay the higher premium, simple as that.
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@Rosti: “I don’t like cricket-”
…And that’s why I don’t like cricket.
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The “just don’t buy it” crowd seems to honestly not get that an improperly intergrated L4D2 kills both the mod community and the player base for a game I already bought. I’m not worried about L4D2 in the slightest from the standpoint of buying it, I frankly think it looks terrible, but I most definitely care how it impacts L4D1.
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@Clive dunn = you miss understand mate. He’s not hitting a . .. cricket ball ? I dunno what those things are called. Any how, he isn’t batting or racketing or anti-bowling or whatever you guys call it, he’s hitting a zombe across the face. In this case his grip on the bat is perfect ;) Then again his left hand seems a little high, maybe you’re right.
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Well said Starky. But there is one thing you missed, Amazon (and I think Play) were selling L4D for £18 on pre-order so there was absolutely no need to wait. Anyone who spent £30+ should really have done a little research before plonking down their cash. I’m hoping that there will be places selling the sequel at this sort of price, but if not I will do as you and be patient.
This isn’t simply a reskin and some maps. We are getting 5 new campaigns (hopefully all playable in VS from the start this time), 4 new characters each with brand new voicing (the quantity of speech in the original was huge, I expect it will be the same again), new zombie types, new damage system, new types of map events (e.g. gauntlets), a new tier of weapons, masses of new melee weapons, inflammable ammo (welcome home flaming hunter damage) and these are just the so far announced changes. Sounds like enough for a new game rather than DLC.
And yes, this is obviously photo-shopped. I don’t think they will be including zombies wearing Aussie cricket shirts and cricket helmets, and a guy with an English cap on. Now that would be incongruous to the Southern U.S setting far more than a random cricket bat. The bat itself looks like a model.
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Vinraith:
Haven’t Valve said that L4D2 will be fully backwards compatible with anything made for L4D? I’m pretty sure they have but not 100%.
So anything anyone makes for L4D will work in number 2, so it’s not really splitting the mod community. They can do both, though I suspect anything using L4D2 assets won’t work on L4D, but given the rebuild of the game engine, but the same has been true for all the HL games, you make a mod using HL ep2 assets and unless someone owns it they can’t play it using HL2 alone.
Besides, I’ve always been under the impression that Valve didn’t have a mod community per game, just one big mod community for the entire source engine.
As for splitting the player base, I think that’s a bit rubbish also, given that the player base exists through steam friends or external sites and those communities will be utterly unaffected.
The only thing I’d like to see from it is that if you own both, it lets you launch the old campaigns from within L4D2.
I’d love it if it was fully backwards compatible. Intergrated fully.
Kind of like a standalone expansion.
In the end though, so L4D2 might just be massive DLC (or as I said above more a standalone expansion) with a content value equal or higher than the original L4D – if you don’t think that is worth £30, or $50 or whatever full retail is where you live, wait, wait and you’ll find it cheap eventually.
Personally I probably won’t buy it until it drops to around £15, maybe 20 if it gets good reviews and feedback.
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Vandeley, Yeah I missed that, but then I never pre-order anything, I never take that gamble – now Valve may be near perfect (I’ve loved pretty much everything they’ve made) but even then I’d not blindly purchase it.
Okay the truth is less to do with the gamble and more to do with that I’m cheap and almost never pay full retail for any game.
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@Starky
“I’d love it if it was fully backwards compatible. Intergrated fully.”
Me too. If it is, I have no further complaints, since as I said I’ve no intention of buying it anyway.
“Kind of like a standalone expansion.”
Which is what it should have been in the first place. All this acrimony could have been avoided if they’d announced it as such.
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Shit. I think I missed the bit where Valve said they would force you to buy the sequel.
Now I am pissed.
Grrrrrrr r r r.
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there is really no difference between a stand alone expansion and a sequal. Calling it a stand alone expanison just lets them get away without adding a whole lot to the newer version (Saw the 40 DOW games or Company of Heros) Since these games contain new campaigns and new units armies ect they could just as easily be called sequals as stand alone expansions. It’s all just a naming game, the content is no diffrent. This game is going to feature things from the previous game but have totally new characters and campaigns, making it a sequal.
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@Serondal
Calling it a sequel implies replacing the original game rather than adding to it, and that implication is responsible for a large percentage of the hostility to L4D2′s announcement. If it turns out that Valve makes the whole thing compatible and integrated that’s great, but calling it a sequel strongly implied otherwise and generated a (in that case) totally unnecessary PR shitstorm.
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What the hell is a “cricket racquet”?
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Which is what it should have been in the first place. All this acrimony could have been avoided if they’d announced it as such.
Because obviously keeping the angry hordes happy is Valve’s number one priority, rather than selling games, and that. Following up on their second successful foray into consoleland and trying to consolidate that new audience seems like good business sense. Me presumes the console market’s worth much more than the PC market at this point (and comparitive sales figures?)
Its not all about you all the time…
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“What the hell is a “cricket racquet”?”
It’s the noise the Ozzies will be making in a few days when they win.
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Jonny: I always think of that as more of a braying…
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@Funky Badger
PR foul-ups that result in this much public outcry to not help game sales. This was bad marketing, plain and simple, and it’s cost them a lot of good will (a commodity they’ve traded heavily on in the past). Worse yet, there’s no reason for it, since the product in question is likely to end up as an expansion in effect anyway.
Why create hostility when no hostility need have existed for them to do exactly what they’re doing?
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Vinraith:
What do you mean by “improperly integrated”?
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@Obdicut
In order for this to work, mods for L4D1 need to work with L4D2, servers need to be able to run maps from both, and if you own both games you should be able to play both from the same interface. This way there’s no player community split and no modding community split, so no one gets screwed.
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Vinraith
I’m sorry, but why do you feel that way? They both (I’m assuming) use the Source Engine, and porting stuff from one to the other should be, if not a breeze, then at least relatively simple. I’m not sure mods will just work out of the box– attention would have to be paid to where there was change– but unless they’re not actually using Source, it shouldn’t take that much work.
I’m not sure why you think people get screwed even if the worst case scenario occurs: where Valve says, “We’re not going to be even supporting modders for L4D anymore, or updating it at all.”
I haven’t encountered a single bug in the game (except hordefail, which is a necessary balance bug), it’s far more polished than the average AAA release, and I don’t feel it needs mods to keep it alive.
I’m really unsure why you think that both games need to be played from the same interface; it’s something not even all expansion packs have, and most mods don’t.
Now what I’m unclear on is what you mean by “in order for this to work”. It seems like you’re speaking half from the perspective of an individual gamer, and half from the perspective of someone giving business advice to Valve.
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All this acrimony could have been avoided if they’d announced it as such.
“Well, I wouldn’t have had to hit you if you’d just do as you’re told, darling”
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@Obdicut
It’s pretty simple from my perspective: if they fail to support integration the playing and modding/mapmaking communities for L4D1 will die as a result of L4D2. People are saying “if you don’t like L4D2 don’t buy it, it’s not hurting you!” but rather clearly it would be under those circumstances. Taking a game and completely obliterating community support and available player base a meager year after its release is going to piss people off, and rightly so. When the company that does it promised significant, long standing support for the game in question it’s going to piss them off even more. When the company in question trades on its good reputation for supporting multiplayer games long into the future, it’s going to cost them that good reputation.
Some people don’t seem to understand why people are angry, I’m trying to help them (and Valve) understand. This has been a PR mess for Valve, they’ve gone from having a rabid fanbase to having a partially rabid fanbase (see RobF above) on one side and a horde of apostate detractors on the other. That’s not good for business, and it’s not good for gaming. When Chet’s running around insulting people with legitimate concerns, it only goes to exacerbate the problem.
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@RobF
Did you just compare advising a game company on how they could have avoided a PR mess to spousal abuse?
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“Not Out”
And I concur with amesace.
“this pictures depicts the only way anyone english could ever beat an australian with a cricket bat*”
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Vinraith, it was a flippant remark but not entirely off the mark man, y’know?
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You guys are all starting to sound like Gillen, y’know?
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Although I am entirely in favour of releasing a sequel, I do agree with Vinraith’s point. To be honest, from the initial announcement of L4D2 I assumed that the originals content would be playable in the sequel, but I am not sure if this has ever been confirmed or dismissed by Valve.
I actually think that the outcome could be potentially worse than what Vinraith suggests, as some modders will stay with the original whilst others will move to the sequel and the same will happen to the play base. Neither will ever be able to thrive under those conditions and both games will eventually die out.
I think the best way for Valve to release this game would be with the original fully integrated. If you own the original you can buy it at a discounted price (£15-20) or if you don’t you buy the bundle which could be priced as a standard full price game (£30-35). That way there would be absolutely no split in the community, servers won’t have to double their efforts and modders would just have the single package to work with. I can’t really see anyone complaining about that.
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Vinraith:
I kind of understand, in a vague way, why you think that you have the right to expect that a game being heavily supported included making sure it’s got a thriving mod community.
I have no clue, however, where you derive that it is Valve’s responsibility to keep the player base for L4D, or for any game, high. That’s just, to me, extraordinarily silly.
Added on to this, of course, is that this is just a timing argument. Nobody is making the argument that they shouldn’t make a sequel. The only argument that’s being made is that the sequel is being made ‘too quickly’.
I’m not certain, again, why people think that there’s a specified amount of time that is supposed to pass before a sequel occurs, and that Valve is violating it. I guess it’s part of those people who consider sequels as supposed to be ‘better’, rather than supposed to be ‘different’– which isn’t the way I look at things.
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@ DarkNoghri
Haha, that’s absolutely terrible! :D
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FOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!
Seriously, can this game get much more awesome?
Answer: Yes
But only with zombie strippers
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There’s also a map floating around, Left4Winchester. Not finished, and I’m too lazy to look up a link.
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