SPOTLIGHT
- NEW SITE!Welcome to our newly designed
website created by our very own Yorick.
There's been a big reshuffle and lots of
new content added so check it all out!
The mysterious website owned by Valve based around the fictitious band the Midnight Riders has been updated with a great deal of new content. We mentioned a few days back this site had players intrigued and the belief is that the Midnight Riders are likely candidates for Left 4 Dead 2 DLC. References to the band are seen and heard throughout the Dark Carnival chapter.
The site now includes an extensive blog of the band's activities, album art and 2 youtube videos of songs by the band. Valve seem to be adding some depth around the story of the Midnight Riders making it likely we will see them in L4D2 as future downloadable content.
Spike TV have posted their nominees for this year and L4D2 is up for six! These include: Game of the Year, Studio of the Year, Best Xbox 360 Game, Best PC Game, Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer Game.
If you wish to pledge your allegiance to Left 4 Dead 2 you can vote here.
Many of us have been enjoying L4D2 for the past 2 days, and for anyone who has played Dark Carnival the name Midnight Riders may ring a bell. They are the band which the survivors discuss and oddly enough a suspicious website owned by Valve has popped up here - Midnight Riders. Whatever could it be?
It's finally here. Left 4 Dead 2 has been released (after an hour and a half delay) on Steam yesterday, and it's amazing.
Both the PC and 360 versions have received very positive feedback from gaming websites and magazines. According to IGN "If you’re still interested in the gameplay, then you’re going to enjoy every aspect of the sequel since it’s improved in all areas" and it got it an outstanding rating (9.0/10)
1UP say there's more than enough to call this a sequel and it "earned the 2 at the end of its name". (A).
The newest chapter in the undead uprising now oozes with even more of the proven developer’s trademark personality and polish. If you are among those who think the sequel is coming too soon, prepare to eat your words like so many brains. Left 4 Dead 2 is everything a sequel should be: perfected, expanded, and an absolute riot - 9.5/10
Steam should now be decrypting the L4D2 game files if you have pre-loaded the game. Beware of server problems for the first few hours - there are always teething problems!
Be sure to try out the new Scavenge Mode, Realism Mode and the new campaigns including the mall. To make your first play through a memorable one:
The "Dude, Where's My Thumb?" is now officially closed and the winners have been announced. Congratulations to Roland Nagy, who just won an "extremely limited edition (i.e. one) customized "infected" Xbox 360" for his entry which can be found here.
Today Left 4 Dead 2 Special Infected get their own personal pages on the official Left 4 Dead 2 website. You can find them here.
Duo to the confusion over the release time for Left 4 Dead 2, the team have decided to clear this out once and for all. Left 4 Dead 2 will go live on:
Monday, November 16th, 9:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
Monday, November 16th, 10:00 PM Mountain Standard Time
Monday, November 16th, 11:00 PM Central Standard Time
Tuesday, November 17th, 12:00 AM (midnight) Eastern Standard Time
Tuesday, November 17th, 5:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time
Tuesday, November 17th, 8:00 AM Moscow Time
Tuesday, November 17th, 2:00 PM Japan Standard Time
If you're interested in learning a bit more about the new Survivors, check out the new Survivor hub page, you will find more details about the new characters, weapons and item.
And if you're looking to personalize your desktop with new wallpaper, the team has released 16 new wallpapers for the game.
Do you ever wonder what you would look like if you were infected? You can upload your picture here and watch the infected you getting smacked by a bat.
Like last year's contest, Valve are challenging you to take a funny, scary or a creative picture of yourself in front of a L4D2's outdoor ad (Buses or Billboards) and in return they will give you a limited edition "infected" Xbox 360-hand-painted, laser engraved and custom designed to celebrate the release of Left 4 Dead 2. And the 25 runners-up get Xbox 360 copies of Left 4 Dead 2 autographed by the L4D2 team.
With Left 4 Dead 2's November 17th release date almost upon us, that means the return of the "Dude, Where's My Thumb" contest, and another chance to be inventive and win awesome prizes. Like last year's contest, gamers are challenged to take a funny, interesting, scary or otherwise unique photograph of you or a friend in front of one of L4D2's outdoor media placements (buses, billboards, etc.). You could win a limited edition "infected" Xbox 360-hand-painted, laser engraved and custom designed to celebrate the release of Left 4 Dead 2.
A new Left 4 Dead update has been released earlier this morning. Now you can make a team with your friends to play against another team in Team Versus 4 on 4 competitive matchmaking.
Fixed a crash related to a Crash Course achievement
Fixed an issue were bots and computer controlled special infected were being reported via "View Game Info"
Added Team Versus 4 on 4 competitive matchmaking
In other news, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo access is due to be extended to all Xbox LIVE Xbox LIVE Silver Members early tomorrow morning. The demo is already available for PC Gamers and XBox Live Gold users.
You can begin to preload your copy of Left 4 Dead 2 today and be ready to play the game the moment it's released on November 17th.
If you haven't pre order your copy yet, it's not too late to get the 10% discount on the game plus a Team Fortress 2 hat..A HAT, there's no deal better than this.
You can read a short interview with Chet Faliszek from CVG here, where Chet talks about coming out the other side of boycott problems and gives us an interesting stat: Left 4 Dead 2 pre-orders are four times that of the original game. So things haven't gone so bad for L4D2.
Moving on, G4TV went to visit Valve and put together 3 videos which can be found on the Left 4 Dead 2 blog. The first of the videos can be seen below, where Chet takes us through Realism Mode in detail (after the details he gave me last week) showing how it's going to make the more experienced players struggle.
This weekend I managed to pop down to the Eurogamer Expo in London to chat with Chet about Left 4 Dead 2, Scavenge mode & to see if I could get any other information out of him!
Chet spoke about how realism mode works, what kind of things we can expect from the Hard Rain campaign, how scavenge mode came to exist & how he works stays in touch with the community and forums. Also it seems that Valve are busy back in Bellevue. Being mad hatters. Check out the interview with Chet Faliszek here, which also includes my thoughts on playing with the new special infected in scavenge mode! Gameplay videos I took from the expo are below:
Well I wouldn't say it has been the smoothest of launches I've seen from Valve over the years, but the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo has finally been unlocked on Steam. Be aware there will be chaos with servers for a while.
The demo will include the first two maps from The Parish campaign (The Waterfront & The Park), all available melee weapons and new special infected. Note the demo is only available to those who pre-purchased L4D2, the demo will become fully public from 3rd November. Go play and...
Kill all sons a' bitches
Also I'd like to mention that we have a YouTube group now, so you can upload your videos and submit them to the group homepage, so other members can vote and comment on your fail moments. Submit your gameplay videos here.
