Left 4 Dead 2

A good video showing the special infected in action.

Credit goes to gagaters of Left4Dead2Forum.com for taking the shots.

Check her out!

There is footage of her at 1:30 into this video.

From 1UP’s Preview of Left 4 Dead 2:

But, as we wrap up our playtime, David Ellis notices a mysterious option in the menu as we wait for a new match to start: “Realism mode.” I ask Faliszek, and he coyly comments, “that’s a special modifier that we forgot to hide for this demo.” We then ask Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi, and he quips that it’s something for the super hardcore player, and slightly elaborates, “Take Portal for example: 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.” We’ll keep an eye out for more details about Realism, and any other surprises as Left 4 Dead 2 gets closer to release.

From Destructoid:

Hey, I hear you’re pretty good at killing zombies in Left 4 Dead. Getting on the rescue chopper? Too easy. And that boat? That Tank may as well take his lunch break, because he’s wasting his time, right?

Well, the “Realism” mode — a game modifier spotted by 1UP during a recent Left 4 Dead 2 demo — is about to test your skills. While Valve isn’t ready to reveal the mode in full just yet (it was apparently a modifier it forgot to hide for the press demos), marketing director Doug Lombardi dropped a few hints on the mode apparently designed with the “hardcore” player in mind.

“Take Portal for example,” he says. “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 of more. Realism if for those players.”

Charger First Person View

Survivors: Fuel Up

Survivors: Last Gas Can

Survivors: Crowbar Action

As you recently found out, Valve unveiled the new Scavenge game mode for Left 4 Dead 2.

What Is It?
Scavenge is a new multiplayer mode in Left 4 Dead 2′s lineup. It still pits four Survivors against a zombie horde dotted with special class Infected. But the catch is that the Survivors have to gather as many of 16 cans of gasoline throughout a map to fill up a generator while the zombies do their best to stop them, kill them or destroy the gas cans. The whole thing is timed and each gas can fed to the generator adds 20 seconds to the clock. The mode plays to three rounds with victory going to whoever got more cans total (and if there’s a tie, it goes to who got the most in the least amount of time).

Hamza CTZ Aziz of Destructoid says:

It’s a interesting new game mode aimed at players looking for a quick fix of zombie killing. In fact, a round in Scavenge can go by so quick, that I didn’t understand why I was already switching sides during my first match.

It’s a new competitive gametype designed to be a short and frantic for players looking for some quick zombie killing.

Each game of Scavenge is made up of three rounds and the team that gets the most points as the Survivors wins. In the event of a tie, the game will award the team that got the most cans the fastest. There will be six maps for Scavenge mode and they’re all a variation on the campaign maps.

We played on the map called Motel, which is a section taken from the Dark Carnival level. There are 16 gas cans scattered across the level and the Survivors need to grab as many gas cans as they can to fill up a generator located in the middle of the motel. You have 120 seconds to fill up the generator and each successful fueling of the generator gets you a point and 20 seconds added to the timer. If the timer reaches zero but a survivor is holding onto a gas can still, the match will go on unless the survivor drops the can.

While the Survivors are trying to fill up the generator, the Infected need to do whatever they can to stop them. Survivors can’t fuel the generator while getting attacked and the Spitter can actually cause the gas cans to erupt in flames. Survivors can also accidentally set a can on fire with their guns but gas cans do respawn so it’s not a total loss if they go up in flames.

Scavenge is very satisfying addition to Left 4 Dead. It goes by so quick and is perfect for players looking for some fast paced zombie killing action. The gas cans were pretty well spread apart to make it challenging for the Survivors and in this map, the Infected have a very big advantage as the generator is out in the open with minimal defenses.

On a final note, the melee weapons are so much fun. Going around swinging a sword, guitar and especially the chainsaw is so so so satisfying.

AJ Glasser of Kotaku says:

Valve says the sole purpose of Left 4 Dead 2′s new multiplayer mode, Scavenge, is to provide the game “quicker, even more frantic gameplay” than the versus mode has to offer.

That’s hard to imagine given the blinding speed at which us games journalists tore through the normal versus mode while waiting for the developer to set up Scavenge matches. But two lightning-quick rounds a lot of incoherent howling later, the whole thing had gone by so fast that I almost didn’t grasp what had happened. Luckily, I wrote it all down.

What We Saw
I played two matches of Scavenge on the Xbox 360 in a noisy club with a slew of other games journalists.

What Needs Improvement?
It’s WAY Too Easy to Generator-Camp: The map we were playing on had the all-important generator planted in the bottom of a drained pool at a motel. There was absolutely nothing to prevent an Infected from climbing into the pool and camping the generator so that the survivors couldn’t successfully fill the generator (which takes about as much time as executing a heal or reviving a partner).

The Spitter Is All-Powerful: Gas cans are vulnerable to gunshots as you might assume they would be. However, they’re especially vulnerable to the Spitter’s saliva after they’ve been picked up. I don’t mind that the Infected can rain on the Survivor’s gas parade, of course, but I think it’s not fair that the Spitter gets to have all the satisfaction of exploding a can of gas in a Survivor’s arms with a well-aimed expectoration. Also, the Spitter can camp the generator without actually being there just by spitting in front of it to block a Survivor from getting close enough to pour the gas.

What Should Stay The Same?
Strategic Gas Can Placement: Aside from camp-vulnerable position the generator was in, the gas cans were spread out in a perfect way to challenge Survivors. Here and there, there would be clusters of three cans up on a roof you could throw down to waiting Survivors for a quick run back to the generator. But eventually, the cans come down to singletons spread out so far from each other you have to split up to get them in a timely fashion.

It’s Fun And It’s Frantic: I didn’t think it was possible to speed up the experience of Left 4 Dead’s versus mode – but there you have it. Scavenge goes by extremely fast (hence the three-round setup) and it’s all the more fun for it. You’re still getting all the weapons and desperate give-and-take of switching between Infected and Survivor factions that you would normally have. But at the same time, you’re savoring it in an entirely different, gas-soaked way.

Final Thoughts
The katana is your best friend. I’m just saying.

Thierry Nguyen of 1UP says:

When I start up a Left 4 Dead 2 session, I expect a game where I play as either: a Survivor running away from the grody Infected, or as a Boss Infected whose goal is to simply kill the Survivors before they reach safety. What I do not expect in an L4D2 match is a mode that reminds me of being a worker unit in a real-time strategy game instead. L4D2 not only sports the traditional Campaign, Versus, and Survival modes, but also adds the new Scavenge mode — a game type that Valve designer Chet Faliszek describes as competitive (like Versus), but less time-intensive.

Faliszek then outlines the Survivors’ goal in Scavenge: pour as much fuel (from sixteen canisters scattered around the level) as possible into a centrally located generator. There are six rounds (players spend three rounds as Survivors, and three as Infected ) total, and each round starts with two minutes left on the clock; pouring a canister adds both a point to your team and 20 seconds to the clock. The round ends when the clock runs out (in the matches I played, the Survivors never got into an “all dead” situation, so I’m not entirely sure what happens then), and the teams switch sides — with the winner ultimately being the team that’s earned the most points across all rounds, of course. An additional wrinkle is that during a round, if a Survivor is holding a gas canister when the clock runs out, the game kicks into overtime — which ends when either that fuel is poured into the generator, or when the Survivor drops the canister. Faliszek comments that there will be six maps that support Scavenge; each one is a modified version of a campaign map, and for this demonstration, we play the Scavenge version of the previously-seen hotel map within the Dark Carnival Campaign.

Since the gas canisters are scattered around the map, that’s where the “RTS peon” feeling comes from, as eventually, someone is going to have to pick up a can, haul it over, and pour fuel in. During my matches, my team has done tactics ranging from three people protecting one fuel carrier (when holding a canister, you can’t use a weapon, and your options are to either drop, throw, or melee with it) to all four players continually picking-up-and-tossing canisters around (which seems a bit faster than hoofing it yourself) to people simply attempting to just grab’n'run with a canister each.

Not only does Scavenge add an additional layer of tactics and cooperation among Survivors, but it also allows for some deliciously evil/dickish tactics for the Infected. Valve didn’t show any more Boss Infected — the ones I personally play with are the Boomer, the Smoker, the Charger and the Jockey. The Jockey is, at the moment, still the most fun and devious of the new Boss Infected. For one bout as the Jockey, I screw with the Survivors by attaching myself to one who’s carrying fuel, and steer him right into a fellow Boomer’s path. Valve designer Jeep Barnett also points out that the Jockey can coordinate with the Spitter, and steer Survivors into the Spitter’s acid pool. Other Infected tactics include using the Charger as burly interception for any fuel carriers (Faliszek thinks it’s hilarious to have a Charger barrel in and whisk a carrier to the other side of the map), having the Spitter lay down an acid pool right where the generator is, quickly pulling Survivors who are trying to pour fuel away via the Smoker, or finally, igniting the gas canisters themselves with the Spitter’s, er, spit.

Even after just a few rounds, Scavenge feels like, well, a more intense and stress-inducing version of Versus. Instead of freaking out about whether someone can make it to the safe house and close the door, now I instead find myself freaking out about whether or not I can get a can of gas from the parking lot to the swimming pool — or if I can survive the precious ten or so seconds of pure defenseless-ness when I’m pouring fuel. Alternately, as an Infected, I get antsy over whether I can snatch someone away with the Smoker in time, or if I can steer my victim into a fire as the Jockey.

References & Sources from:
Destructoid Preview: Left 4 Dead 2′s New Scavenge Mode
Left 4 Dead 2′s Scavenge Mode Preview: Giving Multiplayer the Gas
Left 4 Dead 2 Preview from 1UP

At a hands-on event in San Francisco tonight, Valve pulled the covers off of a new competitive multiplayer mode that will appear in Left 4 Dead 2 — “Scavenge.”

This new mode (designed to be shorter than the traditional competitive) has four survivors fighting to find 16 gas cans across the game map. Using the cans, the goal is to fill up a generator to win the match. Split up over six rounds (three per team), each starts with 120 seconds; each gas can will add an additional 20 seconds to the overall time. If time runs out, yet one survivor is still holding a gas can, the game will go into overtime until the generator is up and running or an infected knocks it from their hands.

On the opposing team will be the Infected, who are doing everything they can to feast on human flesh and (of course) stop the survivors from restarting the generator. Not only can infected knock the gas cans from the hands of the survivors, but special infected like the “The Spitter” can light the cans on fire with its phlegm. Survivors must also watch their fire — one stray bullet can set the can on fire as well.

Valve are planning to ship Left 4 Dead 2 with six maps for “Scavenge” mode, each reconfigured maps from the game’s campaign. “Motel” is one such area.

Source

Three weeks back, Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board.

The reason?

The game “contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons aged under 18 to play.”

Valve’s Gabe Newell admitted he was “a little surprised” by the decision, and the company has appealed the board’s decision. In a press conference today in Sydney, Newell revealed that an edited version of Left 4 Dead 2 has also been submitted, reports Kotaku Australia.

According to Newell, this edited version, Australia-only version is “fully compliant with the guidelines” for a 15-years-old and up rating.

“We think Left 4 Dead 2 is a lot of fun,” said Newell. “It’s a game for adults. But we’re aware that different countries have different restrictions, and we want to make the choices that make the game the most fun for that country.”

Valve decided to submit this edited version in hopes of releasing the game this November. As Kotaku Australia points out, the Board won’t report back until October 22 on appeal for the original version. “Our goal is not to ship this second version,” said Newell. The goal, of course, is to get get the original version through the Board via the appeal process. If that fails, then the edited version is the back-up plan.

Source

Valve is expecting Left 4 Dead 2 to be its fastest-selling in the company’s history, launching a $25 million advertising campaign to make sure that happens.

The original Left 4 Dead sold like gangbusters, thanks largely to word-of-mouth, positive reviews, and the $10 million that valve sunk into making sure everybody knew what the game was. The company now reaches even further, adding another $15 million worth of advertising for a game that is already one of its bestselling titles.

“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 U.S., that money translates into billboards, banner ads on gaming sites, and televised advertisements to run during UFC events and Monday Night Football. Europe will also see a ramp up in outdoor advertisements, along with print, television, and website ads.

It sounds like Left 4 Dead 2 will be everywhere you want to be over the coming month. Those of us already aware of the game will just have to wait patiently for release, practicing our “Yes, yes – we know” expressions.”

Source