Left 4 Dead... 2.

Overheal

Its not just some troll rumour. @ E3, Valve Officially Announced a November 17 2009 Release for L4D2.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/2552/

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009's marquee titles.

"A large part of how Left 4 Dead became 2008's top-selling new IP on Xbox 360 and the PC was the custom-tailored gameplay made possible by the AI Director," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "With the knowledge gained from creating the original, new technology, and a passionate team, L4D2 will set a new benchmark for cooperative action games."

Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and more.

Introducing the AI Director 2.0, L4D's dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Featuring new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.

Its a slight kick in the gee. They set the Precedent with TF2 that they would continue to milk the game like a cow. Especially considering how agressively they marketed L4D.

Still, reading the Press Release, its obvious that it precedents almost a complete game engine change (not Source, just the Zombie stuff) by Overhauling the AI Director, and changing the Boss Zombies. In addition, this Path generation, is something that seems like nothing but goodness to me: imagine playing No Mercy, and never being sure of which way you would be able to take each time, as the alleyways, apartments, sewers and streets would all change dynamically from play to play.

Clearly they have some big ideas for L4D and yeah, if its as big as it initially sounds, I can see how they justify a complete new Title.

Stephen

Video: http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/e3-left-4-dead-2-extended-teaser?size=hd

I'll be preordering this on steam asap

Stev_o

I don't have a problem with them making new content.expansion and asking 10/15 quid i do however have a problem with them making a new entity and charging 50 quid, it's complete and utter bullsht.

Stephen

Its a complete new game, not just new content. Look here for more details: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/01/left-4-dead-2-exclusive-rps-preview/

Overheal

Stephen wrote: »

Video: http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/e3-left-4-dead-2-extended-teaser?size=hd

I'll be preordering this on steam asap

Actually that teaser made me less inclined to buy it.

Stephen

But it has a chainsaw!

Overheal

But the Survivors are Politically Correct, its DAYTIME, and the Zombies look surprisingly less realistic than they did in the original, which admittedly, may be entirely due to the lighting: which is why daylight is crap.

Images from Kotaku:

<---- (indeed?)

Stev_o

Overheal wrote: »

But the Survivors are Politically Correct, its DAYTIME, and the Zombies look surprisingly less realistic than they did in the original, which admittedly, may be entirely due to the lighting: which is why daylight is crap.

It really exposes the cell shaded nature of the game makes it look way to cartoony thus eliminating any slight scare factor and adding in comedy instead.

L31mr0d

let me be the first to say it:

that looks like and this is a heap of sh!t

whatever community was building behind L4D has effectively been kicked in the teeth with this.

That being said, like the Valve whore I am I'll be buying it

ProjectColossus

Not impressed. That last Kotaku image looks particularly terrible. Would it have been so hard to patch this stuff into the existing L4D content? I won't be paying more than €20 for this, if I even bother. The new survivors are annoying me already.

pixelburp

I think it's a pretty poor move by Valve; there's nothing in that trailer, or indeed in the press summary, that suggests any buyer would be gaining any significant updates over the original game (bar the obvious new weapons & missions), and certainly nothing that couldn't be released as an exapnsion pack. Maybe it will yet be released as one, but the '2' in the name doesn't suggest that. It's a doubly odd move considering they only recently released the mod SDK, so given time there could be some serious contenders for players' attention in the mods for L4D1 alone.

I suppose they're gonna hope that the appeal of new missions & a chainsaw will persuade the masses. Which judging by the usual "omg, pre-order" attitude here and elsewhere, it seems to work. To be honest, I don't have the money these days to just throw it away on a developers whim; I'm disappointed gamers continue to show such lack of financial restraint & as much buyer intelligence as the L4D zombies

Graphically yes, it doesn't work as well in daylight as it did in darkness, but I suppose if there's one saving grace, it's that Valve tend to have no trouble going back to the well & re-developing the game if it doesn't test well. So I imagine things will change in the interim.

The characters don't seem as interesting & diverse a bunch as the last group of four

robby^5

Odd move by Valve I must say, but it is Valve so it's a instant buy for me. Unlike the multitude of other developers out there, they have yet to let me down with any of their releases. Hopefully though the price tag will be lower than a full game since so far it's not offering a whole lot in the way of new features to warrant a sequel other than upgrading the engine and adding melee weapons... everything else could have been added to the original by way of an expansion or dlc.

It would also be nice if this game included a hefty upgrade for the original L4D too.

K.O.Kiki

Man, I remember the days when a new game was announced, and we DIDN'T complain that it's "too soon". :rolleyes:

Overheal

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Man, I remember the days when a new game was announced, and we DIDN'T complain that it's "too soon". :rolleyes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Manager_series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_NFL

I could go on... the fact is its being release 1 day less than a full year since the release of L4D and, given all factors, that just smells fishy. Like rotting zombie flesh.

Maybe Valve is getting hit worse in the recession?

Antar Bolaeisk

This is a lie, there is no way that Valve of all people are releasing a sequel ALREADY!

Honestly, looking at my play time on the current left for dead for the last two weeks alone, even if this has a price tag of about €40 then it'll still be worth it for me.

Besides, it's still ages away yet, I'm sure the current campaigns will be growing very thin by then.

pixelburp

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Man, I remember the days when a new game was announced, and we DIDN'T complain that it's "too soon". :rolleyes:

No we didn't, not unless you're the type who keeps buying FIFA 07/08/09/10 and so on. A multiplayer shooter getting a sequel so soon just smacks of money-grubbing.

Besides, I would much rather Valve got around to finishing the Half Life 2 Episode trilogy. That has been left on a helluva cliffhanger.

I don't care if Valve are packaging this with free hookers & cake, I can't afford just to pick up every flippin sequel that crops up because developers' overheads are still sky-high(that includes stuff like Modern Warfare 2), so unless it's in the bargain bin I'll stick with what I have.

koneko

My god, people are so ****ing whingy. I'll be buying it day 1.

Antar Bolaeisk

There's a thread on the Steam Fourms, if you dare to venture in, sumarising the known facts so far.

Eg. ~ $60 for the xBox!

Hopefully it'll be a bit cheaper for the PC, first one wasn't even that much on release was it?

Mantel

Can't be arse paying full price for this until I get a hold of a demo or a free weekend.

50 for chainsaws and frying pans? I could get some horse armour cheaper...

death1234567

Am I the only one who got sick of L4D after a week? Its always either too hard or too easy depending on the group you are with/difficulty level and its so repetitive. Thank god I only paid £14 for it.

5uspect

According to the L4D blog its a much larger game.
http://www.l4d.com/home.php
Perhaps there'll be a story driven single player.
Maybe they want to move on from the HL2 franchise.

EDIT: Also remember this is Valve, the November ship date will slip.

Antar Bolaeisk

We've been using some custom configs which some guys over at another forum set up, basically it makes the entire game much more challenging and a lot more fun.

Retr0gamer

koneko wrote: »

My god, people are so ****ing whingy. I'll be buying it day 1.

True, I'm surprised at the backlash the announcement of a sequel to a lot of peoples favourite game last year.

ragg

Having watched the trailer, the graphics are incredible and the entire game looks like its going to me more story based & longer.

It seems they're trying to build a brand this time - with better stories, graphics etc.

I'll buy it

L31mr0d

Retr0gamer wrote: »

True, I'm surprised at the backlash the announcement of a sequel to a lot of peoples favourite game last year.

because it stinks of pulling a Sega. Community is to Valve what game developers where to Sega. If you release something community orientated, then make it redundant less than a year later, where's the gusto to continue developing campaigns for Valve?

There is no reason to make this a monolithic release, a modular release in the form of an expansion would appease the community while introducing new content.

It feels like pandering to the console market, which lives on monolithic releases, but I can't help but feel it's a slap in the face to the current community using the SDK and developing maps and campaigns to help Valves current L4D.

Maximilian

Hmmm... L4D2 they are calling it? Some kind of Star Wars Droid Zombie cross over game?

INTERIOR: LUKE'S X-WING FIGHTER -- COCKPIT.

Luke looks back anxiously at little Elfor.

LUKE: Elfor, try and increase the power! We can take the subway tunnels to the hospital. There's a red line station not far from here.

L4D2: Beep, whirr, bleep, call zombie bull****.

EXTERIOR: LUKE'S X-WING FIGHTER.

Elfor-Detoo turns his head from side to side, beeping in

anticipation. A strange wailing can be heard.

LUKE: Almost there..... Lights off Elfor

EXTERIOR: LUKE'S X-WING FIGHTER.

L4D2 has startled the Witch

BIGGS: (over headset) Pills here!

LUKE: I've lost Elfor!

BEN'S VOICE: Use the Glitch, Luke

BASE VOICE: (over speaker) His computer's off. Luke, you switched off

your targeting computer. You're flying in circles under a pipe near a corner. For quite some time. With Biggs. What's wrong?

EXTERIOR: SURFACE OF THE DEATH STAR.

Luke's ship streaks ever close to the safe room.

VADER: I have you now.

EXTERIOR: SURFACE OF THE DEATH STAR.

[IE]Mr. Pickles pounced [TE]Vαﻞer'ﮚ Wingmaתּ for 23 damage

VADER: What? FFS noob team.

EXTERIOR: SPACE AROUND THE DEATH STAR.

Vader's ship spins out of control with a bent solar fin,

heading for deep space.

[DS]Vader has disconnected

LUKE: Rage.

BIGGS: LOL rage. Get to the Elevator.

HAN: I hate trenches. Yee Ha.




ETC ETC

Stev_o

Half of the stuff they are introducing could easily be done by modders. A wandering witch? Come on Valve that isn't complicated! The Charger is a idea put forward to the community and in a way it could sum up this game, if you suggest a way to improve one of Valves games they will take up the idea if it's good but you'll have to pay them to get your hands on it.

Everything about this just wrecks of foul play, considering it's out November it's obvious that they immediately neglected L4D in order to concentrate on this new one and considering that the game is still ravaged by gameplay flaws, bugs, glitches and the worst in game browser since......well ever. They are basically saying that we all bought a pilot game for full price just to see how it would get on. BS.

CombatCow

Too soon and the screenshots it looks crap.

CC

5uspect

What if L4D2 was backwards compatible with L4D?
Any mods etc that work on L4D1 will work on L4D2.
But you need to pay for L4D2 for the new features.

Valve aren't a charity. If L4D2 is good I'll buy it!

Stev_o

5uspect wrote: »

What if L4D2 was backwards compatible with L4D?
Any mods etc that work on L4D1 will work on L4D2.
But you need to pay for L4D2 for the new features.

Valve aren't a charity. If L4D2 is good I'll buy it!

How would you feel if Valve had done this with other products ie sold CSS with maps then realeased CSS 2 with 5 extra maps, what if you had to pay a tenner for each TF2 update.

Antar Bolaeisk

Valve haven't let us down before and I doubt they will do so now. There's absolutely no point complaining about a game we know very little about yet. I agree it is a bit of a shock but I'd imagine Valve are currently watching the feedback to this announcement very carefully in order to see how best to implement this new game.

Rev Hellfire

It smacks of the xbox needing new content and the pc market getting thrown in at the same time since its probably easy to develop for the two simultaneously.
Its really L4D 2009. I must say L4D 2008 looked better. Hopefully they'll get rid of the cell shading for L4D 2010

OK-Cancel-Apply

New survivors (with new lines thank fook-- how many more times can you listen to "We can take the subway to the hospital; there's a red line station not far from here"..?), new campaigns, new game! I'm buying! Valve have to put cake on the table too you know! :pac:

Jumpy

There had better be pills here.

5uspect

Stev_o wrote: »

How would you feel if Valve had done this with other products ie sold CSS with maps then realeased CSS 2 with 5 extra maps, what if you had to pay a tenner for each TF2 update.

How much did you pay for HL2 episode 1?

If they had charged around €5 for an update pack I'd probably have paid it.
Not having all the new weapons isn't going to stop you playing TF2. There's a lot of value in the TF2 updates the likes of EA would have milked heavily.
But as I've said, they're not a charity and they need to make money.

Valve are pretty good in making their DLC free, even on the xbox. The whole point of L4D2 is that its a new game. Valve know that if they were to charge for this as a mere add on they would be in big trouble community wise considering what they've said in the past.

I'll hold judgement of this until I see more details about how the game really is.
Valve generally don't disappoint so I'm optimistic.

As I said above it would be great if the new stuff incorporated the current content to keep it alive.

Stev_o

5uspect wrote: »

How much did you pay for HL2 episode 1?

If they had charged around €5 for an update pack I'd probably have paid it.
Not having all the new weapons isn't going to stop you playing TF2. There's a lot of value in the TF2 updates the likes of EA would have milked heavily.
But as I've said, they're not a charity and they need to make money.

Valve are pretty good in making their DLC free, even on the xbox. The whole point of L4D2 is that its a new game. Valve know that if they were to charge for this as a mere add on they would be in big trouble community wise considering what they've said in the past.

I'll hold judgement of this until I see more details about how the game really is.
Valve generally don't disappoint so I'm optimistic.

As I said above it would be great if the new stuff incorporated the current content to keep it alive.

I didn't i bought the Orange Box like any other sane person and got more game for money paid.

If it's a new game its a new entity, mean honestly you think a company as big as Valve would mess up their marketing as to make all these previews seem like a new game when infact it's just a expansion? How many expansions add a variable after the original title?

If it's a new game which nearly 99% people think it is their will be uproar.

Greyjoy

I've got mixed feelings about this sequel. On the one hand I'm really looking forward to more L4D stuff - missions, maps & melee weapons (especially the chainsaw...groovy!). But I'd kinda grown attached to the original survivors and would have liked to have seen more of their story. Not to mention the fact that the brevity of the original game was supposedly justified with the promise of more levels & stories as dlc.

5uspect

Stev_o wrote: »

I didn't i bought the Orange Box like any other sane person and got more game for money paid.

I bought HL2 when it came out, the same for episode 1.
I didn't wait years since HL2 and Episode 1 for the orange box to come out.
Do you mean episode 2?

If it's a new game its a new entity, mean honestly you think a company as big as Valve would mess up their marketing as to make all these previews seem like a new game when infact it's just a expansion? How many expansions add a variable after the original title?

If it's a new game which nearly 99% people think it is their will be uproar.

I don't think it's just an expansion. I think its a new game in the L4D series just as episodes 1,2 and Portal are new games in the Half-life series.
I hope it includes all previous content tho.

Overheal

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

There's a thread on the Steam Fourms, if you dare to venture in, sumarising the known facts so far.

Eg. ~ $60 for the xBox!

Hopefully it'll be a bit cheaper for the PC, first one wasn't even that much on release was it?

I would never pay a penny over 30. For any game. Much less a patched up release 12 months after the original. It shakes my confidence and consumer confidence: if I slap $60 into this game, are they going to turn around in 2010 and say HEY GUESS WHAT GUYZ L$D3!! No that wasn't a typo. TBH its not worth that kind of money for them to turn around 6 months later @E3 2010 and say Oh hai we're abandoning you unless you pay for our sequel.

death1234567 wrote: »

Am I the only one who got sick of L4D after a week? Its always either too hard or too easy depending on the group you are with/difficulty level and its so repetitive. Thank god I only paid £14 for it.

It was just you.

Jumpy wrote: »

There had better be pills here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOOxQg3jRds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm22jQZsAjw

ProjectColossus

Greyjoy wrote: »

Not to mention the fact that the brevity of the original game was supposedly justified with the promise of more levels & stories as dlc.

This. I was under the impression that we had more campaigns on the way, despite it's replayability, there was just not a lot of unique content in the first game. Like mentioned, how many times can you take the subway to the hospital before it begins to grate. Survivor mode was a good addition, but I've been waiting for a new campaign for a while.

What I'd like to see is that if you have l4d already (and most of the bloody materials on your harddrive by the looks of it), it should be priced as if it were an episode or an expansion, and if you don't have it, full price, possibly with the original included.

mayordenis

the cynacism in here is beyond stupid - thank **** I look at games with a bit of optimism.

ProjectColossus

mayordenis wrote: »

the cynacism in here is beyond stupid - thank **** I look at games with a bit of optimism.

Thats fair enough, but I always though Valve would be the last developer to start milking their IPs like a cash cow. There's plenty of life left in l4d at the moment, especially if it is maintained like TF2 is. With the extra content that's been added to TF2 since it came out (good and less good), they could have released Team Fortress 4 at this point. But since they're valve, they haven't.

5uspect

I could imagine they'll release another Orange Box type bundle, The Z box or the Grey box or whatever. You'll get L4D, L4D2, and all the HL2 content (again).

Then you can gift the duplicates to your mates.

Overheal

Would be nice to get a multiplayer pack: TF2, CSS, L$D, etc.

5uspect

True. Good idea.

ProjectColossus

Overheal wrote: »

...L$D...

I see what you did there

omerin

the vid of l4d2 doesn't look great, but its early stages and i will more then likely buy it

Overheal

More details will continue to emerge.

Found this mp3 interview from some odd website. 45 minutes long. be forewarned. Being interviewed is Chet somethingsomething from Valve regarding L4D1/2, the Swine Flu, Folk Dancing, and Sea Lions...

download mp3 (44.79 MB)

Among other things they do promise ongoing support for the original, to include 4v4 matchmaking (in contrast to the current 8-man lobby system which has a few odds and ends) no word on wether this will include melee weapons, or new campaigns. But community maps will be cross compatible between the two titles as the engine takes care of everything from weather, music, NPC and item placement, etc.

One of the cool things mentioned in the interview was some of the new story aspects. Its hinted that at some point in the campaign, the survivors will come into direct conflict with the military, "humans turning on humans", who will not permit them into their quarantine zone. "You're not actually going to be shooting non-infected humans - we dont want to cross that line here - but the story element will be there". I guess it will be a bit like the church in Death Toll a bit, but cooler. Or like in Half Life, it will be some observable "cutscene" off on the sidelines where this is going on.

Besides that, the survivors will undergo character development depending on what stage of the campaign/overall story you are at, eg. one survivor will become braver, while one will begin showing more compassion to the other survivors - no ihatevans.com here. Dynamic weather will also be a plot point in at least one or two places, where a freak storm can bring your visibility down to near zero.

Im prepared not to over react. We still dont know too many particulars on what kind of support they will continue to show L4D before and after this launch, nor do we know what the Steam price point for the game will be, especially for those who have already purchased L4D. Some people are hoping they will be given some sort of special treatment: either a rebate/discount, or beta access. No doubt they will officiate community campaigns in the same way community maps have been endorsed from time to time in TF2.

SeantheMan

Seen this ?

Full playthrough of a stage....im not impressed or unimpressed. Its just L4D as normal it would seem with a few new weapons...couldnt make out any new special infected types

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-jmYz1PzV8

5uspect

The Hazmat Zombies look funny. What are those weird cocoons at 2.36.

It looks very open in the day light with a lot of sides open for attack.

The music is awful.

magick

L4D2 reminds me of Malibu Stacy with !NEW! hat.