Left 4 Dead 2 Announced For November 231
hansamurai writes "Left 4 Dead 2 has been announced at E3, and a trailer for the game has surfaced. It will be released November 17, 2009, just a year after the first game. Gameplay changes include a new focus on melee weapons, especially the iconic anti-zombie weapon, the chainsaw. The cast of characters is brand new, but the plot appears to take place during the same zombie outbreak."
The game is being developed for the PC and Xbox 360, and Valve says it will make use of a new version of their AI engine, which has 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." Rock, Paper, Shotgun got the chance to do a hands-on preview, providing details about the gameplay and confirming that "it's a coherent new imagining of the game, this time bigger, smarter, and far more elaborate. Oh, and gloriously more gory."
Re:What about HL2 Episode 3? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:stopped playing because valve keeps nerfing (Score:3, Informative)
I recently gave up on L4D because Valve has broken the ability to play Versus mode on advanced difficulty
IIRC, wasn't that changed while the game was still in beta? Personally, I think that it's better this way anyway, because in Versus mode the main challenge is supposed to be the Special Infected (controlled by players) anyway, not the Horde. If you want a tougher Versus game, a tight-knit team of opponents should suffice.
Melee cooldown also pissed me off quite a bit, it's gotta be off for Advanced.
It makes it so you can't just melee-spam your way through a mob of horde. As a player I agree it's annoying, but it's annoying in the same way that being out of breath while you're running is annoying. I can see why they did it; it makes it so you have to shoot your way through a mob, or even better for the Teamplay aspect of the game, get teammates to kill the Horde that's mobbing you at the moment.
And while I'm ranting, the lobby system sucks.
It doesn't work perfectly, but I can see why they wanted it that way; you can either join a random game with random strangers, or you can find a group of friends to play with. Left 4 Dead isn't the type of game where you want a traditional game-server model, which is best for Deathmatch and CTF, or similar styles derived from those. Instead, you want everyone to start at the same time, like in an RTS. A lobby is the best model for that.
Re:This sucks (Score:5, Informative)
Basically Valve broke their promise from last year and is now officially a greedy developer. If they intended to have Left4Dead be a technology preview all along, they should've gone and called this paid beta-testing as the Prologue version, like Gran Turismo 5.
"Valve intends to support hotly anticipated zombie survival shooter Left 4 Dead post-release with new characters, new maps, new achievements and new weapons in order to grow the community, Gabe Newell has revealed.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at Leipzig Games Convention, the Valve co-founder and managing director said the developer intended to follow a similar downloadable content policy as it has with Team Fortress 2.
Newell said that Valve's support of the game post-launch will be essential for growing the community.
He said: "One of the things that we're doing is we seem to be in a transition between games as a package product and games more of a service. So if you look at Team Fortress 2, one of things that's really helped grow the community is the continuous updates, where we release new maps, new character classes, new unlockables, new weapons. And we tell the stories about the characters, like the meet the sniper, or meet the sandwich. And that ongoing delivery of content really seems to grow the community."
source: http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/left_4_dead/news/valve_details_post_left_4_dead_launch_plans.html [videogamer.com]
Re:This sucks (Score:4, Informative)
It was released in beta a couple weeks ago. If you own the game, go to the "Tools" tab in Steam, and it should be there. In another few weeks, they said they'll be releasing the ability for the game to handle 3rd-party maps/campaigns.
Man up and write a letter. (Score:4, Informative)
Gabe Newell (gaben@valvesoftware.com) reads all his mail. If you are upset about the failure to treat L4D as more than a tech demo, send him an email discussing your concerns. At the least, he'll respond, and who knows? It might help.
Be polite, be reasoned, and make sure to explain why you're upset. At the risk of making it sound form-letterish, I'd quote what he said as mentioned by this article:
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/left_4_dead/news/valve_details_post_left_4_dead_launch_plans.html [videogamer.com]
Re:Dynamic Lighting (Score:3, Informative)
I think he's asking more about seeing the areas lit up by the other players' flashlights. It's something I've heard a few players talk about. I can see where my flashlight hits, but not where other flashlights hit. I suspect that it's a computationally difficult thing to perform.
Re:Sigh... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm assuming they have different teams for different games, and I'm equally sure the half-life team is, in fact, concentrating on wrapping up the half life 2 series.
Plus, in my opinion, TF2 outshines HL2 and the episodes, even though they were amazing themselves.
Re:Sigh... (Score:3, Informative)
So? Its not like any games are released without bugs, and valve fixed that really quickly. Now try again.
Old 'Nawlins (Score:3, Informative)