Week 19

August 27, 2010 - L4D Team

Split Vote! Whose back story?

Gib Fest (PC)
Blast the infected to shreds with M60s.

Swords can slice up some fun. Chainsaws can tear apart the infected. But you need to get close for both and well… chainsaws are really loud! Time to go with the ultimate gun, you and three friends armed with M60s and unlimited ammo.

Chainsaw Massacre (360)
4 chainsaws, millions of zombies.

You are armed with the only thing you need to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, a chainsaw. Rip apart thousands of zombies on your way to safety.

This Mutation is available in Campaign Mode.

Split Vote
Both the PC and 360 crowd want to see the blood flowing! 360 users preferring chainsaws and PC users going with M60s. Whichever way you like to kill zombies, it's going to be messy.
The numbers by platform.

xBox 360
26% Chainsaw Massacre
21% GibFest
18% Versus Survival
15% Last Gnome on Earth
11% Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse
  9% Bleed Out

PC
25% GibFest
20% Versus Survival
16% Chainsaw Massacre
14% Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse
13% Last Gnome on Earth
12% Bleed Out

Whose backstory?
The new DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 is due out in October. In the DLC you will get to play the Left 4 Dead 1 survivors. The accompanying Comic is coming in September. The Comic is broken up into 4 separate sections. Each section features the back story from one of the Survivors. Whose back story are you most interested in?

You're headed in the wrong direction.

August 26, 2010 - Kerry Davis

The new featured community campaign for PC players is Detour Ahead. This 5 map campaign offers Co-op and Versus gameplay. While the explosion in the finale will light the night sky, it's the train bridge you will remember.

To play, first make sure you have the Left 4 Dead 2 Add-on support downloaded in the tools tab of the Steam library.



To download "Detour Ahead" please visit our friends at L4DMaps.com

Double clicking the vpk should install it but you can also copy the vpk to \Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\addons Either way that is where the vpks need to end up.

Start up Left 4 Dead 2.
Choose to play online and any available game/lobby in your area will show up. Or you can create your own game and choose addons and select Detour Ahead for the campaign.

Since we have the servers up, you can choose Official Dedicated for server type.

If you missed the news, we announced new DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2. It will be coming out in October and Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 will both be getting the brand new campaign, "The Sacrifice." This will give you a chance to play out the events before "The Passing" using the Left 4 Dead 1 characters. In addition to "The Sacrifice" Left 4 Dead 2 will also be receiving the "No Mercy" campaign. With official inclusion of Left 4 Dead assets, we will be able to simplify the steps for playing community content in the future. Until then, you will need to make sure you download the Left 4 Dead 2 Addon Support.

Do you think you are pro? Hate playing Versus against newbs? Time to put up or shut up with CEVO launching a brand new Left 4 Dead 2 Tournament. The CEVO tournament will be running the latest Confogl configuration. Visit their site for more information. Arsenio, who runs our Valve store is promising Boomer plushies to the winning team. I think we need to bug him to come up with more than that... Arsenio?

We will have more news in the coming weeks on the DLC including a rockingly brand new contest next week and more news on the comic coming out this September. It's a good time to be a zombie killer.

Week 18

August 19, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 18: Last Man on Earth Returns!, Bill?, Favorite Mutation

Last Man On Earth Returns
You will become legend to the infected as the last human left.

You are the only Survivor left in the world. No split screen help. No Survivor bots. But don't worry you aren't entirely alone. While there are no common Infected, Special Infected will hunt you down and become close, close friends with you.

This Mutation is available in Single Player Mode.

Bill?
Last week we asked if you had a guess to how Bill dies. We won’t be giving away the answer yet, you will have to wait for the final chapter of the comic for that. Until then, here are your guesses by platform:

PC
28% Killed by Tank
24% Overrun by Zombies
20% Friendly Fire
16% Old Age
12% Killed by Witch

XBox 360
29% Killed by Tank
25% Overrun by Zombies
17% Old Age
16% Friendly Fire
13% Killed by Witch

Favorite Mutation?
While we still have more mutations to come, we are going to cycle through the first group for a few weeks. Excluding Realism Versus and Last Man On Earth, out of your previous favorites, which ones would you like to see come back?
To vote in this week's poll use the in-game blog.

Next week's Mutation? ????

Movie Night

August 19, 2010 - Matthew Scott

While waiting for DLC news to be announced on Game Trailers TV at 12:30am (PST) this Friday on Spike TV, we thought we would see what the community has been working on. Checking YouTube we found a bunch of cool movies. Here are just a few. Yes, we know some of these may make it a bit cOld in here, but just in case you missed them.

One word of warning, some of these movies use naughty words, have violence in them and well... other things. You have been warned.

First up is a Left 4 Dead Short Film directed by Connor McGuire and Colin McGuire.


NSBentertainment gives us some Witch action with part 1 of their short film. Part 2 is available from here.


There is this very teasing trailer from Daniele Bellucci and Marco Tudini for a Left 4 Dead movie.

Left 4 Dead First Infection is by Jesse Gouldsbury and Matt Gelfman. When you have a Zoey look alike, you have to run with it.


Not to be bothered with human actors, Chris O'Neill animates an amazing set of Left 4 Dead 1/2 movies.


These are just a small selection of all the movies available. Check YouTube or our Facebook page for more. If you create a movie, make sure to post about it on our Facebook page. With all this talent out there, I think we are in need of a contest. Movies, Midnight Riders, YouTube… Hmmmm. Stay tuned.

Week 17

August 12, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 17: Iron Man, Diagnosing Mutations, Bill?

Iron Man
No respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension!
Did you vote the Mutations are too easy? Try this one on Expert. Realism rules are in effect. There are no respawns in the map. There is no ammo. If your team wipes, you need to restart the whole campaign.

Diagnosing the Mutations
If you don’t play a mutation why?
The numbers by platform:
PC
27% None Of these
22% Lack of Interest
22% Enjoy Traditional
10% Too Gimmicky
10% Too Easy
9% Too Hard

Xbox 360
41% None of These
21% Enjoy Traditional
17% Lack of Interest
8% Too Easy
7% Too Hard
6% Too Gimmicky

It was nice to see people trying Gib Fest last week. It not only had a high rate of people trying it, it kept a steady 20% of the player minutes for the week.

Bill?
If you played The Passing, you know that Bill dies. If you didn’t play The Passing, sorry for the spoiler. We will be explaining Bill’s death in an upcoming comic and DLC but what are your guesses to how he died?
1) Killed by a Tank
2) Killed by a Witch
3) Overrun by Zombies
4) Friendly Fire
5) Old Age

Next Week’s Mutation: Developer’s Choice!