Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Crivens – and here were we all thinking the first L4D2 DLC would involve fictional hoary old rockers the Midnight Riders. In fact, Valve are doing something gosh-wow-what? different.

First DLC The Passing arrives in Spring. It features four very familiar faces. Clue: it’s not Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey.

There will be much rejoicing. Except by people who don’t do that sort of thing.

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Here’s a capstone for one of the year’s biggest stories. Kyle Orland at Crispy Gamer looks at the turbulent history of the L4D2 boycott. “Did Valve change its plans to gain the approval of the masses, or did it effectively pacify the Internet throngs with nothing more than a couple of plane tickets and a hotel reservation? In other words, was the boycott successful? Well, it depends on what you mean by “successful.”" Well, obv. Luckily Kyle follows on to do the heavy lifting with a well-balanced piece. It’s a little revisionist about their early days – not touching on the initial frenzied nature of the group which lead to the initial press being so negative, rather picking up at the slightly-more-reasonable manifesto stage (Though the “L4D424FREE” point remains – to be polite – somewhat naive). I suspect what the boycott achieved will remain a controversial point. Personally, there was only one question which was never answered satisfactorily. Whole new campaigns was never realistic, ever (As in a standard MP level is a hugely different thing from a Co-op level in terms of resources). Why did Valve, even in an interview setting, imply it was.

Oooh, interestinkosity. Let’s go with Destructoid breaking the story. Those who have played Left 4 Dead’s Dark Carnival level (i.e. Everyone but me, as I’ve been Modern Warfare-ing, a week behind the zeitgeist) will have been enamored with its stage-based conclusion. Well, the band who owns the stage in question – The Midnight Riders – have a website. And apparently – from the mouth of hive-mind out-brain Phill Cameron – there’s an achievement for completing all six campaigns. But there’s only five shipped with the game. Is there maths to be done? If so, do the maths. Since there’s no footage currently available of whatever this is – and, Crikey, can you imagine the cry from the forums if it’s paid-for-DLC – here’s the video to Smart Dressed Man by ZZ Top…
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There’s been some confusion regarding the UK digital release of Left 4 Dead 2. It seems that those Brits who pre-ordered the game found it unlocked at 5am Tuesday (Valve time) as expected. However, anyone who’s bought it from Steam since has discovered it won’t unlock for them until Friday. Which seemed strange, since the game was announced for a worldwide digital release, the retail dates separate. We contacted Valve to find out why this happening, and it seems to be about the UK being at the back of the queue for retail copies.

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While wandering the long, barren corridors of Valve HQ I stumbled upon Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw, the two men who a few years ago made up the members of Old Man Murray. Bundling both of them into a big sack I carried them into a room packed with buzzing PCs and forced them to join in on a podcast to discuss the release of Left 4 Dead 2. You can listen to the results below.

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Having had a chance to sit down with L4D2 on PC for a couple of days, playing all five campaigns, the new Realism and Scavenge modes, and a good chunk of Versus, I think it’s about time I told you wot I think.

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You’ll be seeing it all for yourself soon enough, but here’s a selection of some favourite moments during my review. Click on each pic for full size.

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John B noticed this little quote-span-into-article over at C&VG where Chet opines that the British are “notorious non-talkers” in online games. Basically, while Americans yabber constantly, the Brits take a more taciturn approach. This will, apparently, cause some major problems when playing L4D2’s realism mode. Talk or die. TALK OR DIE. What do you make of it. Is this true? Or is it that Americans think that because Brits just don’t like speaking to you. And understandably. Give us our tea, you bastards. You don’t even drink the stuff.

In case you hadn’t spotted, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo is now open to all, whether you’ve pre-ordered the game or not. Which you could well argue is the point of a demo. It’s the first two levels of one campaign, so while not offering a big finish, will give you a taste for the new special infected, the melee weapons, and of course what it’s like to play L4D in the sunshine. They say to go to the official site for more details, but I can’t find any there. So instead open Steam. (Oh, and in exceedingly stupid news, if you pre-ordered L4D2 you will now also have a new hat in TF2. I feel like I’m writing news about a Barbie game.)

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is go. If you pre-loaded it on Steam, it should have unlocked now. (If it isn’t showing up for you, quit out of Steam and restart.) If not, get downloading. And then let us know what you think below.