L4D 2 annouced.

[Kerberoz]

Honestly, even with the supposed randomness, I don't see how people can keep playing L4D for more than 100 hrs or so. It's a fun concept, but it's basically a mod. Would be fun as a server mode. An entire game? Loses the fun after you've wasted a couple weekends on it.

[Kaisha]

I know fully well that given the people I typically play with and my own playstyle we'll have the maps memorized and expert tactics for whatever path the director decides to give us, but still... breaking up the "okay, crescendo, get in the corner or rush to that closet" will make the experience more fun and replayable.

Personally, I'm hoping for the director to be able to play around with furniture placement on a preset basis as well, as well as forks in the maps to go different routes, as it'd break up that tedium, as well as making the maps more interesting the second time through.

Oh, and the solution to corner camping:

Spoiler: show

Round rooms, duh.

[Cheerios]

I am going to wait and see if the original content from L4D will be included in L4D2 if they do another orange box type deal where they are packaged together in one box for the same $50 and you can access all of the original L4D content from the L4D2 disk then it will be really worthwhile and done right. There is no reason to have the old campaigns and characters separate from the new campaigns and characters.

http://jogaste.com.br/web/caixa/phan...uminus-ps2.jpg

[Kisamoo]

Anyone bitching is just cheap and would be better off begging mommy and daddy to buy L4D2 for them instead of trying to convince Valve of anything. Valve is a great company and doesn't deserve any of this.

Also:

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)

1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty: WaW
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Gears of War 2
5 GTA IV
6 UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
7 FIFA 09
8 UFC 2009 Undisputed
9 Left 4 Dead
10 Fallout 3

Same situation, no free updates. People are all talk.

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-mov...ylist=featured

One of my favourite memes.

[geno]

Maybe I am spoiled, but I do it to myself. I don't buy a lot of games, so when I do I make damn sure they are worth every penny. Every time I've purchased a game, I can honestly say the developer deserved every dollar I've given them and in most cases more.

The bottom line is, it took the L4D2 team 1-2 years to develop the sequel. No matter how much new content and how awesome the new game is, that is always going to weigh heavily on my mind. I realize this isn't exactly uncommon in the gaming world as a whole, but it is amongst the titles I've purchased, and it is amongst Valve titles.

The team may be excited about continuing to work on L4D2 and taking it to levels beyond DLC, but that is nothing to be proud of when releasing a new $50 game. 'This game has just enough content to warrant a new release instead of DLC' is a pretty pathetic benchmark as far as I'm concerned. It is true from what I've seen that they have put in enough effort to warrant making a new product (though I disagree with their decision to do so before further updating L4D), but given their predicted release date, just how much more? At what point did they decide to not use the content as DLC and instead decide on a new game? And then how long later did they decide "Ok that's enough, gotta save some for the next new game!"?

What could they have done with a 2 year timeline? What about the other Valve releases that were in the works for 2-3 years, or the Blizzard releases that have had 4+ years put into them (including SC2 this year)? When I buy a game, I'm always thinking about where my money is going. I'm not just paying for the hours I spent playing the game (if I was, I'd probably owe a lot of money for DotA and Natural Selection as free mods). I've purchased a lot of Blizzard and Valve games in the past because they've always fostered a development model I really appreciate. They put a lot of work into their titles and have proven that doing so can be a lucrative venture as well.

Maybe my standards are too high. I'm actually pretty sure they are... but Valve games have always met them in the past. I'm just not that excited about seeing a sequel this soon; no matter how amazing L4D2 may be, just remember what it could have been with more development time.

Oh, this is all with the $50 price point in mind by the way. Like I've said in the past, $25 was more than worth it for L4D without any DLC. And at $25, L4D2 will certainly also be a bargain. My high standards don't really kick in until >$40!

[geno]

Honestly, even with the supposed randomness, I don't see how people can keep playing L4D for more than 100 hrs or so. It's a fun concept, but it's basically a mod. Would be fun as a server mode. An entire game? Loses the fun after you've wasted a couple weekends on it.

I'd agree with you for campaign and survivor, but Versus has its charms beyond the boredom point. When it gets competitive, it always adds a lot of long-term value. Pub smashing in L4D is almost as fun as it is in DotA (ragers are just as bad a problem as leavers though, especially when you can't get replacements ) Playing alone, I would have given up L4D a long time ago, but with competent friends as team mates, versus gets pretty good.

[Qeomash]

Left 4 Dead versus is a hell of a lot of fun. Especially when the other team is on the other side of the room. Hearing the collective "Oh, shit" or "well played" from your friends on the other team right after you execute a well timed plan is priceless.

Barf on a smoked player, Hunt the one chasing after the Smoked. Distract the other two with another Hunter. Absolutely beautiful to hear both sides of the battle.

That being said, I am looking forward to L4D2. While I'd love if it were free downloadable content, I'm not complaining about a sequel.

I'm guessing that the new campaigns were, indeed, originally planed as free add-ons. However, I would guess they started adding too much and thus things segued into a full sequel. I'm not delighted about it, but I'm not being overcome by nerd rage over it.

[thestalkmore]

Anyone who didn't have inordinate amounts of fun with L4D has bad taste or no soul

In regards to corner camping: eliminate this and you have a near perfect experience. I had so much fun with survival mode UNTIL I realized that every map could be golded with shotties, a corner, and patience. When it first was released and I spent days with BGers trying to devise strategies that involved actual skill, and terrain, and explosive items, I had a fucking blast. I probably played survival for 6-7 hours for five days after it came out right in the middle of midterms (bane of my existence). We loaded up terminal for the first time right after the DLC was released and we had a semi camp strategy that involved hanging out behind the counter and then running around going apeshit when tanks spawned. It was a truly epic battle and we only golded it by two seconds because I let (Ikith?) train the zombies away for long enough for me to get into a corner and fend them off on the other side of the map.

Epic fun.

And then then we discovered the corners.

[Qeomash]

Anyone who didn't have inordinate amounts of fun with L4D has bad taste or no soul

Once, in an online match with random people that ended being a 2 v 4 (I was one of the 2), I single-handedly killed from full health one of the survivors because of a well placed and timed Hunter pounce. Stuck low behind a dumpster and chain-link wall in a place that the other survivors couldn't reach (start of, I think, Dead Air). I had to stop my maniacal laughter after I realized I was scaring my partner. I'm not sure if that means I have a soul or not, taking that much pleasure from tearing a living person limb from limb.

[geno]

25 damage pouncing, bunny hop pouncing, and denying hunter pounces is the most fun for me right now. God I love it when I deny a high pounce and they get so pissed, calling me lucky or a hacker. So good.

[Cjskater]

Is it too late to point out "annouced"? Just noticed it.

[Qalbert]

denying as in melee to the face?

[geno]

Denying as in meleeing them when they are midair about to hit you.

[Kaisha]

How the heck do you time that with the lag and the tendency for them to snap to you regardless of your melee?

Almost seems like you have to melee a whole second before they actually land on you....

[Lebzile]

You have to take the lag into consideration and just spam melee in their general direction.

I personally have more fun head-shotting them from a high pounce, with that much hang time you could head-shot them s easily, not even funny.

[geno]

How the heck do you time that with the lag and the tendency for them to snap to you regardless of your melee?

Almost seems like you have to melee a whole second before they actually land on you....

You may be on to something there....

edit:

You have to take the lag into consideration and just spam melee in their general direction.

It's a little more precise than that actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brJmVOLgz9Q

[TacoTaru]

I personally have more fun head-shotting them from a high pounce, with that much hang time you could head-shot them s easily, not even funny.

Jump Shot is my white whale. I've been trying since the game came out and cannot unlock it. I even resorted to letting my friends do it, and they still can't get it. I'm convinced it cannot be unlocked on my game, considering how man times I've shot a hunter in the face as it dove at me <_<

[TacoTaru]

Didn't see this posted yet so I'll do it.

Opening the Valve - The Gabe Newell Interview

inb4 fat jokes

On a serious note, I'm glad to see that he's concerned with the PS3 user base and realizes the badness(?) of the Orange Box port. I hope they finally do get a chance to work with the PS3 and get to do it right.

[ArchDizzle]

Couple of RL buddies of mine do "GamerRants" on Youtube and posted there new Vid agaisnt the L4D2 Boycotters, thought it summed it up nicely.

YouTube - Gamer Rants: Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott

[TacoTaru]

While I agree with all their points, mother of god they are staler than NPR when it comes to their script reading.