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Left 4 Dead 2 officially announced. November 17th release date.

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Zeke said:
god damn I hate when devs do this shit
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I don't understand it either. You get 5 dollars off for pre-orders. You get the unlockables. That should be enough of a concession to the retailers. Show some good will and let everyone play the demo from the start.
 
1-D_FTW said:
I don't understand it either. You get 5 dollars off for pre-orders. You get the unlockables. That should be enough of a concession to the retailers. Show some good will and let everyone play the demo from the start.
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As long as competition exists big business is restrained. Yet all competition aims for domination and once it has it, the consumer takes it full force from behind.
 
-Demo first released to people who preordered as a pre-order incentive for those who might not otherwise pre-order, and for those who were planning to pre-order anyway as a bonus "thank-you"

-Demo is released to everyone else once that pre-order boost wanes off, yet before the game is actually released, to give people on the fence and who don't want to pre-order a chance to check it out

-Demo is pulled after the release of the game because of how ridiculously simple it would be to take assets from the full game and put them into the demo.

-Host free weekends in the future to give non-buyers an even better opportunity to see what the game offers than a demo could ever do.

-Use deep discounts a few months down the line to pick up the rest of the stragglers.


That's exactly what they did with Left 4 Dead, and it worked wonders for them.
 
dLMN8R said:
That's exactly what they did with Left 4 Dead, and it worked wonders for them.
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They also didn't have 40,000 people signed up to a boycott L4D group. And speaking anecdotally, I don't notice a single friend on that list when I did user searches. Yet, those same friends not on that list, a large chunk of them have spoken negatively about purchasing the sequel. A little bit of good will considering the circumstances wouldn't have been the worst thing.

Personally, assuming my broken default "rate" was the reason for my poor performance, I'm inclined to buy the sequel. But considering the setup of L4D, I'd like as many fence sitting friends as possible to come around. The more of these people Valve can win back, the better it would be for me.
 
1-D_FTW said:
They also didn't have 40,000 people signed up to a boycott L4D group. And speaking anecdotally, I don't notice a single friend on that list when I did user searches. Yet, those same friends not on that list, a large chunk of them have spoken negatively about purchasing the sequel. A little bit of good will considering the circumstances wouldn't have been the worst thing.

Personally, assuming my broken default "rate" was the reason for my poor performance, I'm inclined to buy the sequel. But considering the setup of L4D, I'd like as many fence sitting friends as possible to come around. The more of these people Valve can win back, the better it would be for me.
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We all know those 40 000 people will be standing on their knees begging to suck some Gabe dick when L4D2 gets released. That signup is just a bunch of bull and does not mean anything.
 
Yeah. I don't really care about that list. I actually searched for people on it because I was going to hold it against them if I saw their name there. But the simple fact is the people I most want to play L4D2 with aren't exactly excited about purchasing the sequel. The bigger the window to get them back on board, the better.
 
1-D_FTW said:
They also didn't have 40,000 people signed up to a boycott L4D group. And speaking anecdotally, I don't notice a single friend on that list when I did user searches. Yet, those same friends not on that list, a large chunk of them have spoken negatively about purchasing the sequel. A little bit of good will considering the circumstances wouldn't have been the worst thing.

Personally, assuming my broken default "rate" was the reason for my poor performance, I'm inclined to buy the sequel. But considering the setup of L4D, I'd like as many fence sitting friends as possible to come around. The more of these people Valve can win back, the better it would be for me.
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First of all, did you miss the point where the demo will be available for non-preorders before the game comes out? For people on the fence, it really won't matter if they play the game 1 week before it comes out or 3 weeks before it comes out. If anything, the extra couple weeks will mean an even more refined experience for people on the fence.



Secondly, I can't believe that people still think that 40,000 is actually a significant number for this boycott.

  • Millions of people own Left 4 Dead. Not including the 360 version. Millions of people, just on PC.
  • Tens of thousands of people still play Left 4 Dead, on PC, every single day. Maybe even 100,000+ unique people every day on PC. Look at the math: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
  • Max 14,000 concurrent, will probably bottom-out around 7,000 concurrent. Say you have 10,000 concurrent players average throughout the day.
  • How long is each play session? One hour? Two hours? 30 minutes? I'd be willing to bet that 1 hour is a good guess.
  • So...10,000 concurrent players average, 1 hour average session time - that right there would be more than 200,000 unique Left 4 Dead players every single day on PC alone.
  • To join the group, all you have to do is look at the "boycott" group web page through the Steam community tab, and click one button to join it. That's it.
So what does this all mean? There are well more than 4 times the number of unique people who still play Left 4 Dead on PC every single day than who have ever bothered to click that one single freaking button. And to boot, now you even have the creators of that boycott backing down.

Yeah...I'm sure that Valve realllllllly cares about letting that extremely tiny minority play a demo a couple weeks earlier.
 
Showed me. Doesn't address any of my issues for why I hope they do it, but you showed me.

EDIT: You didn't even quote the last comment. You bumped a thread 3 days to lay into me and you conveniently ignored my post explaining how I felt about the list?
 
Amazon has it for 44.99/54.99 right now (add the ECA 10 percent off discount that EVERYONE should get... it's free) and it's a similar price without tax for most. Amazon also matches advertisements a lot. So it's possible they could add a 10 gift card yet. Plus, it qualifies for same day release shipping delivery.
 
Gone through the various L4D threads but couldn't see this mentioned yet:

Next public showing will be at the London Game Show where we will be showing the as of yet unannounced new game mode. We really should announce that soon... We can give you one hint, the game is 4 v 4. So get your team together and join us in London on October 29th or 30th.

From the L4D blog.
 
http://store.steampowered.com/news/2907/

Valve Announces $25 Mil Left 4 Dead 2 Ad Campaign
October 5, 2009, 11:04 am - Valve - Press Release

Zombie Blockbuster On Track To Top Valve's All Time Sales

Oct 5, 2009 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced a $25 Mil consumer advertising plan for its upcoming action thriller, Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2).

"Based on the strength of pre-orders, Left 4 Dead 2 will be the fastest-selling product in Valve's history," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "Left 4 Dead 2 has consistently run at 300% of Left 4 Dead's numbers."

Last year, Left 4 Dead was the top selling new property for both the Xbox 360 and PC. Sales were driven by strong word of mouth, top reviews, and a $10 million advertising campaign.

"We'll be supporting Left 4 Dead 2's launch with a $25 million campaign," said Doug Lombardi, Valve's vice-president of Marketing. "Left 4 Dead 2 has already set the record for greatest number of pre-orders in our company's history, and we're still over a month out from shipping."

In the USA, the campaign will include Monday Night Football and UFC television broadcasts, roadside billboards, and popular lifestyle and gaming sites.

This year's European plan is also more aggressive than last year's, with television advertising in all the major markets appearing during sports and lifestyle programming, plus strong outdoor investments in more cities, as well as online and print advertising.

"Left 4 Dead 2 is expected to once again exceed everyone's expectations and be an industry best title on PC and Xbox 360 for the year," said David DeMartini, General Manager of EA Partners. "With Left 4 Dead and now Left 4 Dead 2, Valve has created one of today's most compelling video game experiences and leading entertainment franchises."

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. Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, 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.

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 a brand new competitive mode all available at launch.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com
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!
 
boycotters am cry

1-D_FTW said:
Yeah. I don't really care about that list. I actually searched for people on it because I was going to hold it against them if I saw their name there. But the simple fact is the people I most want to play L4D2 with aren't exactly excited about purchasing the sequel. The bigger the window to get them back on board, the better.
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All my friends and I reacted negatively to the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2. All of us said we wouldn't buy unless it was $30.

And fuck us Valve releases a 4 pack that works out to about that price and we all bought it :(
 
dLMN8R said:
-Demo first released to people who preordered as a pre-order incentive for those who might not otherwise pre-order, and for those who were planning to pre-order anyway as a bonus "thank-you"

-Demo is released to everyone else once that pre-order boost wanes off, yet before the game is actually released, to give people on the fence and who don't want to pre-order a chance to check it out

-Demo is pulled after the release of the game because of how ridiculously simple it would be to take assets from the full game and put them into the demo.

-Host free weekends in the future to give non-buyers an even better opportunity to see what the game offers than a demo could ever do.

-Use deep discounts a few months down the line to pick up the rest of the stragglers.


That's exactly what they did with Left 4 Dead, and it worked wonders for them.
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Valve knows their business. That model is the ideal model of game sales IMO.
 
giant_frying_pan said:
Gone through the various L4D threads but couldn't see this mentioned yet:

Next public showing will be at the London Game Show where we will be showing the as of yet unannounced new game mode. We really should announce that soon... We can give you one hint, the game is 4 v 4. So get your team together and join us in London on October 29th or 30th.

From the L4D blog.
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Calling it now: Versus survival
 
Unless they tweaked spawn times, I don't think 4v4 would work for Survival. It's already difficult for us survivors against relatively dumb AI special infected.
 
giant_frying_pan said:
Gone through the various L4D threads but couldn't see this mentioned yet:

Next public showing will be at the London Game Show where we will be showing the as of yet unannounced new game mode. We really should announce that soon... We can give you one hint, the game is 4 v 4. So get your team together and join us in London on October 29th or 30th.

From the L4D blog.
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two teams of survivors racing to the safe room? Probably a dumb idea
 
xero273 said:
two teams of survivors racing to the safe room? Probably a dumb idea
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Some sort of competitive campaign would be pretty damn rad if done right.
I'm not a huge fan of VS. because I'm not too fond of playing infected.

If they did some thing where there was like an A route and B route where there would be events that would give one team an advantage and set the other back.

Like if Team A made it to a draw bridge or something and lowered it forcing group B to go down an alternate path that is more treacherous.

I just cooked that up in like 30 seconds.. but something like that could be pretty cool.
 
How about infected vs infected ?
Team that gets the most AI survivor kill wins.

And instead of 4 survivor, you'd have all 8 of them (with 4 originals) running to saferoom.
 
MrBen said:
How about infected vs infected ?
Team that gets the most AI survivor kill wins.

And instead of 4 survivor, you'd have all 8 of them (with 4 originals) running to saferoom.
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Wow if L4D2 has this mode, I'm going to cry sweet tears of joy.
 
MrBen said:
How about infected vs infected ?
Team that gets the most AI survivor kill wins.

And instead of 4 survivor, you'd have all 8 of them (with 4 originals) running to saferoom.
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Thinking about all the new dialogue from the 8 characters conversing while running away from me and 7 buddies as zombies got me all kinds of excited. Please Valve, please.
 
Red Scarlet said:
I thought the demo was coming out the 17th, 1 month before release?
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"Starting now, those who pre-order L4D2 via Steam will receive early access to the Left 4 Dead 2 demo (currently targeted for October 27) plus an exclusive in-game item - the American baseball bat, one of the 10 new melee weapons included in the game."
 
Volcynika said:
"Starting now, those who pre-order L4D2 via Steam will receive early access to the Left 4 Dead 2 demo (currently targeted for October 27) plus an exclusive in-game item - the American baseball bat, one of the 10 new melee weapons included in the game."
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Oh...to me that sounded like Oct. 27 is the normal demo release and the preorder would give earlier access.
 
Papercuts said:
Oh...to me that sounded like Oct. 27 is the normal demo release and the preorder would give earlier access.
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Same, but "early" is subjective, especially to Valve! So I have no clue.
 
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/60783

Left 4 Dead 2's New Multiplayer Mode Revealed

While Valve has remained rather quiet regarding Left 4 Dead 2's new multiplayer mode, the developer took the wraps off it tonight at a press event in San Francisco.
Dubbed "Scavenge," the mode essentially combines Left 4 Dead's Versus and Survival modes. One team, the survivors, is tasked with retrieving scattered gas canisters and using them to fill up generators. As in Versus, the other team takes control of "special infected" and attempts to stop the survivors alongside legions of regular zombies.


A total of 16 gas cans appear every round--the goal is to use as many of those cans as possible within the time limit. Each round kicks off with a ticking 120 second timer, and every gas can used adds another 20 seconds to the clock.

As the canisters are a limited commodity, survivors have to be careful that they don't shoot them or otherwise cause them to explode. And now they'll have to watch out for the other team too, as enemies can now detonate the canisters at points.

One match is comprised of six rounds, with each team getting three rounds as the survivors and three as the infected. The winner? The team with the best survivor score.

Six "Scavenge" maps will be including with Left 4 Dead 2 when it comes to PC and Xbox 360 on November 17, alongside the game's other co-op and competitive modes.
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Only 6 maps? Darn. Still I'm excited.

I wish there were maybe 5 campaigns but, this time having all of them versus and survival ready the game should last much longer. Very excited
 
I think there are some good opportunity's for mixing up L4D1 and L4D2. Playing crossgame wise. Not talking about SELL IT AS AN ADDON LOLOLOL, but if you DO own both games, intertwine both universes (which are the same anyway I take it)

It's been posted a million times but I'd feel bummed I'd lose some good aspects of L4D1 when/if I play L4D2 and vice versa.
 
I think it would be awesome to allow the games to combine if you had both. Basically starting up L4D2 would allow you to access all of L4D1 as long as you had it installed. That would be a shitload of content to choose from when playing with buddies.

-10 Campaigns total (5 and 5)
-10 VS Campaigns total (5 and 5)
-36 Survival Maps (if L4D2 doubles the current number)
-6 Scavenger Maps (no doubt more will be released)

I really hope they allow you to play both games content from L4D2 because I have been playing L4D1 and I'm still not tired of it.

Edit:

http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/08/left-4-dead-2-will-have-a-harder-moder-called-realism/

Looks like along with Scavenge mode in Left 4 Dead 2, Valve has added a hardcore mode called Realism.

Noticed by 1UP in the menu options during a preview, VP of marketing Doug Lombardi explained to the site that the mode was something for the “super hardcore player”.

“Take Portal for example,” he said when describing the mode. “We had our best internal players who could blow through that game in about 30 minutes, but within weeks of launching it we had people on YouTube beating [the testers'] times by 10 minutes or more.

“Realism is for those players.”
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