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Valve Announces Left 4 Dead 2 For PC, Xbox 360
by Eric Caoili [PC, Console/PC]
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June 1, 2009
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Valve Software announced Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to its cooperative multiplayer first-person shooter, for Xbox 360 and PC.
Shipping worldwide this November 17th, Left 4 Dead 2 will focus on melee combat with new weapons like chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more. The follow-up will also introduce new survivors, boss zombies, weapons, items, co-op campaigns, versus campaigns, and Survival mode maps.
The game will also include AI Director 2.0, which allows Director to further custom-tailor gameplay by procedurally changing weather effects, world objects, and pathways, as well as "enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance."
The original Left 4 Dead sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide at retail since releasing November 2008 thanks to a $10+ million marketing campaign. Valve intends to again support this new game's launch with a multi-million dollar marketing TV/online/outside campaign.
"Left 4 Dead was backed by our most aggressive advertising campaign to date, and resulted in a top 5 showing on two platforms during holiday 2008," says Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi. "Left 4 Dead 2 is a larger game and will be supported with even more consumer and retail advertising programs than the original."
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The additions seem great, but how many levels will there be? L4D only had four campaigns. That is not enough, and with the sequel around the corner I doubt there will any new DLC.
On another note, it looks like this holiday season is going to be saturated with big tittles. Bioshock2, Halo:ODST, COD:MW2, L4D2, etc etc $$$$$$$
Maybe Orange Box set my expectations too high?
Now I see: No L4D for me...
Shame on you Valve...
If anything, give me more games that are short and sweet and worth my money. I'm actually more sick of games that I spend $50 on that I finish once and then shelve, regardless of how "epic" they are supposed to be.
If this has the same 4 short campaigns then I'll wait for it to bargain bin before I get it. Melee in L4D didn't work due to the sheer numbers of zombies attacking at any one time and it certainly wouldn't work for the hulking bosses. It looks like they have simply broken their own game in order to make some quick money.
Calling L4D short on content is ridiculous. If you like coop then just trying to complete a single campaign on expert with 4 friends can take a couple of hours, and that's after you have come to grips with the game already.
In versus this game has more value than almost any other online fps due to the sheer ammount of random crap that can happen.
To compare I stopped playing TF2 after about 30 hours of online gameplay, by then everything was 100% predictable. Since the L4D launch I've clocked in more than 80hours of "versus" and it still feels very fresh and new when playing with random people online.
Peter Dwyer:
I haven't played the 360 version so I'm not sure if thats what you are talking about, but melee on pc had to be nerfed in versus because it is too powerful. Are you complaining that you couldn't punch the gigant zombie-tank with the butt of your rifle? I don't get it.
Left 4 Dead was the best co-op game of last year. It's too short? I've played campaigns on Hard that lasts 9 hours. What 9 hours is short? With 3 other human players? Given that those humans have a life like mine and actually set time away to do this is amazing.
Why would I want to subject my 3 friends to 20 hours of horror that would just get repetitive over four campaigns of focused fun?
I am upset that after paying 50 bucks for a game they pop out the sequel in under a year with everything L4D1 got through DLC plus the original 4 campaigns added to the new 5 campaigns. Makes me feel like an idiot that should have unknowingly waited a year.
Like someone else said, maybe Orange Box (Portal) spoiled my view of Valve. Placing them on a pedestal...when they should be in the mud with other developers. Better to wait out the hype than be disappointed by paperweight.
Am I buying L4D2? No....not this year. I'm a college student and I only buy 2 games a year. And I've already set which games they are. Will I ever buy L4D2? That depends on how Valve treats people that brought Left 4 Dead...