Left 4 Dead 2

[Sly Reflex]

LOL!

[Bob]

I reckon you will go past a room and the original four will be in there, all zombified. This will make me very unhappy and maybe even angry. Internet angry.

[Sly Reflex]

I reckon you will go past a room and the original four will be in there, all zombified. This will make me very unhappy and maybe even angry. Internet angry.

This can not happen, the original fours campaigns were set weeks after the seconds four were set.

Also, Stoobie, another night where it worked like a dream. Time to take it off the pile™ and give it a whirl. I played with a fellow victim to the LIVE disconnections and everything worked nicely. Maybe its because there are only half as many people playing online now?

[hinn888]

Online seems to be dead to me, was waiting 10 mins in a lobby and only one person joined.

[stoobie]

Also, Stoobie, another night where it worked like a dream. Time to take it off the pile™ and give it a whirl. I played with a fellow victim to the LIVE disconnections and everything worked nicely. Maybe its because there are only half as many people playing online now?

I went on on Friday night when I was a bit tipsy and I think I ruined a few games for people. I can definatley join games now anyway and the lag seems non existant. I also went on last night as I changed my 360 wireless adaptor to that new one so I just checked I could get on still. I am gonna be back on soon tho what with finishing Eternal Sonata - although I do want to try and get Mass Effect done as well.

I do need to do some zombie slaughtering tho....

[Bob]

This can not happen, the original fours campaigns were set weeks after the seconds four were set.

Good point! Although it's never clear how long has passed between each level so I will still be ready to grumble. Also, at the end of Dead Center they drive off and then at the start of the next one they have to get out the car because the road is blocked. So it's possible that they could have found other survivors and chilled out hitting the bong for a while before they were overrun and get back in Jimmy Gibb's car.

[Jimboxy]

The Passing, Left 4 Dead 2’s first add-on, will release in early 2010, Valve said today.

The content will see the sequel’s survivors meeting up with the original game’s cast. No specifics on how the narrative’s going to work were discussed in the PR.

The Passing will also include new arenas for Survival, Versus and Scavenge, and introduce a new co-op challenge mode.

A new “uncommon common” zombie class, melee weapon and firearm will also be added.

Full thing through the link.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 GAME ADD-ON #1 ANNOUNCED

“The Passing” Brings L4D1 Survivors Down South

December 14, 2009 – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first game add-on for its co-operative zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2), is in development and targeted for release in early 2010.

Dubbed “The Passing,” the first game add-on for L4D2 brings the original Left 4 Dead (L4D1) Survivors down south for a meeting with the L4D2 cast, while delivering new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay for the PC and Xbox 360.

Targeted for release in early spring, “The Passing” takes place just after the Dead Center campaign of L4D2. Set in a small town in rural Georgia, players assume the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet with the L4D1 characters.

In addition to the new co-operative campaign and associated narrative, “The Passing” will include new arenas for Survival, Versus and Scavenge mode and introduce a new co-operative challenge mode of play. The Passing will also include a new “uncommon common” zombie class, melee weapon, and firearm.

“The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “It will also be a huge offering of new gameplay content, with something new for every game mode plus a new uncommon common and weaponry.”

Exclusively available for the Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 sets a new benchmark for co-operative action games. The title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

With 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.

Finally, with new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and the new competitive game mode, Scavenge.

Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing is targeted for release in early spring for the PC and Xbox 360. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com

[Craymen Edge]

Can I post it next, please?

[Jimboxy]

sorry, my bad.

[Hendo]

Hey, apparently Yakuza 3 is coming out...oh, never mind.

[Sly Reflex]

You've been Haggared!

[Jimboxy]

Hey, apparently Yakuza 3 is coming out...oh, never mind.

has anyone told Ben?

[Sly Reflex]

I was thinking, wouldn't it be awesome if they let you pick 4 players out of the current 8 to do new scenarios? The cross over chat is already brilliant, but it would be great to see what each 4 thought of each other when they had to rely on them in each confrontation. It would be worth it just to hear Francis telling Ellis to STFU.

[Sly Reflex]

I played this tonight and it was dead easy. I think the people that complained it was too difficult just need to man the fuck up and stop whining.

[Sly Reflex]

Nearly 3 fucking hours man. Whatever you do, don't play with new players, they are rubbish.

[HandsomeDead]

New update!

With our last update having come out a few weeks ago and the next one a few weeks out, we wanted to let people know what we are working on. In addition to "The Passing" DLC, we are working on some other updates coming for both PC and 360. While not a complete list by any means, we wanted to give a heads up on a few Versus changes coming.

Bots

We are adding bots for the Infected team to help out the Infected when they are down a man or two. This will also make 1v1 Versus a bit more fun.

Auto-spawning

We've also been experimenting with a solution for auto-spawning in Versus finales. Even though it's pretty obvious from the L4D forums that EVERYONE LOVES auto-spawning in finales, we figured, what the hell-we'd just go ahead and remove auto-spawning anyway. But before we make any change to Versus we always need to see how the game is currently being played.

So how do finales currently play out? Across all finales in Left 4 Dead 2 currently, a single survivor has a 34.56% chance of escaping. That includes the Concert Finale in "Dark Carnival", which boasts close to a 50% escape rate (and yes, a fix for everyone's favorite cheese spot is coming). Remove the Concert Finale, and we see the average drop to 29.61%. With these figures in mind, when we make changes, we can measure the difference and see how much the change impacted the balance.

Another stat we often see discussed: What gets played more, Versus or Campaign? It really depends on the day, as they are almost always statistically tied. They are unquestionably the two favorite modes of Left 4 Dead.

Also: With work on "The Passing" in full swing, we will soon be recording the actors. First up in our recording sessions is everybody's favorite suit-wearing zombie killer Nick, played by Hugh Dillon. If you haven't already caught it, Hugh's show Durham County has been picked up by ION and is on Sunday nights at 10pm.

Lastly, in case you missed it, the CG Society has an interview up with Valve's own Randy Lundeen and Jeremy Bennett.

I'm happy about infected bots, there have been to many instances when I've seen the survivors just peg it through a level with no trouble, when I just happen to check the stats I realise I'm the only cunt as an infected 'cos the other babies left the game. AI will be a better placeholder than nothing.

[Sly Reflex]

Good news. I hope Hugh Dillon has some ultra sarcastic smackdown lines to record. I definitely want "Ellis? Will you shut your fucking mouth" line in there somewhere.

[hinn888]

Left 4 Dead 2's first downloadable add-on has been unveiled at X10, with solid details about what the pack - titled 'The Passing' will contain.

'The Passing' sees the original Left 4 Dead posse heading down south, where naturally, they bump into the Left 4 Dead 2 survivors. Players will obviously therefore be able to play once again as Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis.

There will be new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay incorporated into 'The Passing', with a brand new co-operative campaign with new story being a given, there will also be new Survival, Versus and Scavenge maps as well as a new co-operative challenge mode. That's a lot of new, right there.

The Fallen Survivor is also a new uncommon infected who will be added for the new episode. Apparently, the new Fallen infected class are ex-humans who thought themselves immune to the virus. Wrong! They'll drop ammo and first aid items when killed though, which is useful.

Additionally, there are plans to release a DLC campaign chapter for the first Left 4 Dead, that will explain how the survivors ended up taking a detour down to America's nether regions.

Valve are preparing the DLC for an early spring release. Gentlemen, start your chainsaws!

Didnt think they would add more DLC to the first one.

[hinn888]

Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing DLC Passes on March Release Window

Written Sunday, March 28, 2010 by Dan Webb

With the month of March rapidly drawing to a close, the likelihood of seeing the release of Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing DLC was turning from slim to none.

Thanks to the latest episode of SentUAMessage on Xbox Live, we now know that we won't be seeing it at all this month, with Valve telling the Inside Xbox crew that we should expect it sometime in the "spring" now.

The latest episodes does state that the DLC that is adding new weapons - including a golf club and M60, new uncommon infected and new game modes - yes, that's modes and not mode - will however cost 560 Microsoft points.

[hinn888]

Although Valve's The Passing DLC missed its original March release window, it looks likfe Left 4 Dead 2ers won't have to wait too long to sink their teeth into it after all.

An official post over on the Valve blog this evening stated that The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 would be shipping out next month.

In a post that mentions a ton of Valve related content - including the mention of fictional Left 4 Dead band, the Midnight Riders, now being available on Rock Band - it states, "Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing is coming out next week and we will be updating the blog next week with more news on the release."