Left 4 Dead - Page 2

I don't know what this CoD5 'buzz' is that you're talking about though. I'm not hearing it. And gamers will buy tons of crap, even if they can't afford it.

RE: CoD5 hype. It's there.

I'm happy to be proven wrong and see this shift millions - it looks great, but it's sandwiched between too many big titles for it to really succeed, no matter what it offers - you're all underestimating Gears for some odd reason, and CoD - no matter what the developer.

I don't think Microsoft can officially push it as an exclusive yet either, EA's talking up the PS3 side of things quite prominantly, even if it's not in-house. 6 months is enough for a timed exclusive, but I don't know how their marketing works.

I was going to add this. I spend an obscene amount of my day reading various mainstream gaming sites, and gaming blogs...and I hear no buzz. Not from the writers or commenters. All I read is "boring WW2 game, been there done that, this isn't Infinity Ward" etc etc.

And why would Left 4 Dead suffer anymore than any of the other big releases coming this fall/winter? I think the only thing that might suffer are PC releases because of Wrath of the Lich King, but I think a lot of people understand the Christmas cycle at this point and have decided what games they will buy day one or ask for gifts. I'll give you that you'll probably see a lot more people on left 4 Dead (or any other title) post-Christmas than during the first week of release, but that's it. I just can't understand anyone at all betting against Valve. That's madness.

I'm not betting against Valve.

I said it was a shit release date that will definitely damage their initial sales.

Its between 3 infinitely bigger titles, major franchises - 2 of which are established console properties, one which has GOTY potential.

It's so obvious I can only assume you've all got shares in Valve to defend it so one-sidedly.

On XBOX it will sell well enough and leave the spotlight in a month. But it's on the PC where its strength is gonna be. Valve games have long, loooong tails. It will keep selling well into next year and will have an active community for years to come. Take TF2 for example. On XBOX it's a barren wasteland compared to the PC where it's still selling and servers are plentiful and very well populated.

Interestingly, Valve is saying pre-orders on Left 4 Dead are higher than Orange Box on both PC and 360.

And those of us who are PC TF2 freaks usually keep up with the TF2 blog. Which means we're aware the TF2 guys took time out from the TF2 patches to go help with the multiplayer portion of Left 4 Dead. That alone pushes this up my scale of games I'm interested in.

I wish the TF2 following was big on the 360. I probably would have never stopped playing.

Certainly. Valve just showed the Versus mode that the TF2 guys were working on and it sounds totaly fun. Those playing on the zombie team basically have to grief the human team enough to make them fuck up their tactics and fail. I hope there's an option for cross team voice chat, because if you're playing with friends the shit-talking is going to be epic.

Valve is one of the greatest video game developers ever, and their track record is better than the majority of their competitors for that spot(and like it's been said before, they'll dominate on PC).
I own no stock, nor do I own a 360, but they're a-ok.

It's never been a debate about Valve's quality.

It'll do fine on PC, since they're a PC fan-favourite, and the competition on the PC is nil.

But if sales of many incredible games has shown before - quality does not lead to sales, no matter your track record. It's the same with any medium, it's down to recognition and word-of-mouth.

Valve's games sell millions on the PC. They are not starving for cash. Of course a few more millions sales on 360 won't hurt. They're just the difference between rich and Blizzard rich.

It's safe to say it won't flop on PC, especially with Steam and that 10% pre-order offer.

Supposedly they have the same 10% offer for 360 as well.

I'm in this game for the multi-player..its gotten to the point where I get bored playing against the computer during any game.

I am PUMPED for this game - one of my top three games for the year, and the multiplayer will be a lot of fun....I have to go place my preorder for this bad boy. Valve doing action horror? Come on, you gota love it!

Does this game even have singleplayer??

Regardless, im hyped about it. I honestly cant stand the bullshit that comes with Halo/COD4/GOW Xbox Live battles. I want some sweet co-op stuff to play.

i'm right there with ya, I pre-ordered this and will download it off steam asap!

funny thing is that I just got a X-Box...yet I'll rather play against humans..

Sure I'm playing the Force Unleashed and Dead Rising but when I'm done I'm still going towards TF2 and DOD for just that little bit extra.

So PC? 360?

I've got it pre-ordered over Steam. Any other PCers on here looking for some co-op matches come November 17th?

PC myself, hell yeah.

Is the demo being released the last week of October or the first week of November?

Kotaku says reservation at Gamestop gets you early demo access. Nov 6-Nov 11. So hopefully it drops on the 12th.

Pre-order demo is out tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Then I pre order from EB tonight!

Visit Gamestops demo access website.

Enter your first name, last name, and email address, but leave the pre order ID empty.

Apparently the website doesn't validate the pre order codes so you'll get early access to the demo!

Thanks.

Oh man, people are getting multiple orgasms from the demo. I must finish Fallout in time because I get a feeling I'll be playing this exclusively for a long time.

Word on the street is it comes out 7pm PST!

WOOT!

I'm playing this on PC as soon as I get home for the night.

Word on the street (and by "the street" I mean The Internets) is they're having a lot of server problems, and complaints about the lack of a proper server brower.

I'm sure this will all be fixed soon. Valve's ongoing support of Team Fortress 2 and its community has been unparalleled, and I expect Left 4 Dead to be no different.

Demo installed, trying to play, not succeeding all that much. I got in ten good minutes once, before being dropped by the server. Other times it didn't connect or it connected but wanted a password for the server. I don't do very much online play, so I don't really know how typical this sort of thing is.

But if anyone here wants to see if we can get some friend games to work, I also go by Beageal on Steam.

I've been out of the PC game loop this year, but Fallout 3 got me back. And so I decided to get Left 4 Dead as well since I'm a zombie fanatic.

The demo is fantastic. The zombies are varied and creepy looking, and react in all kinds of different ways when you blast them. It really felt like I was in a movie. I don't think its a game where I'll play marathon sessions, which is a good thing actually, but its looking like it will be a perfect distraction for when I'm in a "zombie blasting" mood.

After playing all the way through the two Demo levels and also a match with some Steam friends, I'm still a bit undecided on this game.

I think it has the potential to be something great, but server situation is gonna have to get a lot better before that can happen. None of the servers I got onto had decent ping, and that was a major pain in the ass to shoot zombies only to have them die 2 seconds later.

On the other hand, the combat mechanics felt pretty tight when I was in a lag-free single player game.

During a multiplayer game with a few buddies, I got a good feel for how the social aspect of the game plays out in groups...there were a number of "holy shit" moments where we were scrambling to keep each other alive.


But until you can have both tight, lag-free control and the social aspect at the same time, the game is pretty gimped.

I assume that this will be addressed soon, once more reliable servers go up and Valve starts giving players more control over which servers they join.


I also think that killing the run-of-the-mill zombies could get old pretty quick. The boss zombies are pretty cool, but more is needed. I hope they end up adding content on a regular basis, the same way they have done for TF2.

This game is fucking fantastic on the 360. Seriously. Day 1 purchase now.

Zombies noticing you, and sprinting at you full on never gets old. Always scares me.

Domingo, im guessing your suggestion to put in your info without the pre-order code has worked?

I used his suggestion and it worked for the 360 version for me. I put in info for a PC code at the same time and have not gotten a response.

I played the single player a bit today and while the co-op AI wasn't great the graphics looked good and the game was generally fun. I like the way it announces when you're reloading in the middle of a firefight. I hate how dark some of the rooms are (although it does show off the good lighting engine).

I've kind of given up on having time to play this game though so I may just wait until I can find it cheap for PC and get it then. I'm guessing the online community for PC will be around longer than on 360. Plus, I get a little too jumpy to play it all the time.

Totally worked for the 360 code. I used like 6 different email addresses and gave out my codes.

Just played a match with some friends over live, and it's some tense/hectic shit. Cannot wait for the full version.

Still hoping to get a 360 code for the weekend. Filled out the online form yesterday, said it was completed successfully, but no code yet as of this morning.

Yeah, I got nothing too. Not that I need more reasons to be torn between this or Mirror's Edge next week.

Tried Domingo's idea for PC, no code yet.

It doesn't seem to be 100%. I tried two emails and got one code. Be patient.

Its Works! Just got a couple codes alittle while ago. Thanks for the heads up Domingo. See you guys on there

I just input my info. The screen after sending the info states it may take up to 2 days to receive the code, so (try to) be patient.

Just the intro movie is good enough to warrant a purchase. Why do all the zombies look like crap though? They were just human figures that were completely gray.

Just got my code in the mail. All is well.

Now I just need to find the time to play it.

Ended up getting the 360 demo code on Saturday afternoon, so it did take almost two days. Thanks for the tip, Domingo.

Found the time to play through both levels a couple times, and this will be a definite purchase. Not right away, however, I think Dead Space, Fallout 3, and Gears of War 2 will keep me busy until Christmas. But after the holidays, I'll be getting this. I love how frantic it gets, you never know when the zombies are going to just start swarming through doors or over fences.

So does anyone want to group up to run this thing on Expert?
My Steam ID is Sarnecki.

This game on expert mode is fucking insane. Even with only those 2 levels in the demo, some buddies and I have played this dozens of times.

Still no code as of this morning, so it's either slower than 2 days or I don't have one coming. A shame, since I'm still undecided on whether or not to actually get the game. I'll try another email address tonight.