Left 4 Dead

Looking around at holiday decorations and sales, we noticed an alarming lack of zombies.

We needed to fix that. We did.

Lone Gunman, Following L4D2, Movie Fan, Next Wednesday


Lone Gunman
You and your Magnum against the deadly horde and Boomers.
So you have your Magnum pistol and… well you do have your Magnum pistol. You better be counting bullets because four swipes by a common and you are dead. Getting boomed? Forget about it.


Following Left 4 Dead 2 How do you follow Left 4 Dead 2? It depends on your platform.


If you are on the PC or Mac:
Facebook Only 4%
Twitter Only 2%
Steam Forums Only 36%
Facebook/Twitter/Steam 5%
Facebook/Twitter 1%
Facebook/Steam 16%
Twitter/Steam 4%
None of the above 32%



Another way to look at it is 26% PC/Mac players use Facebook, 12% use Twitter, 61% use the Steam forums and 32% use none of those ways.



If you are on the 360:
Facebook Only 22%
Twitter Only 2%
Steam Forums Only 9%
Facebook/Twitter/Steam 6%
Facebook/Twitter 5%
Facebook/Steam 7%
Twitter/Steam 1%
None of the above 48%



That means 40% Xbox 360 players use Facebook, 14% use Twitter, 23% use the Steam forums and 48% use none of those ways.


If we combine the communities – they are about the same size - 33% use Facebook, 14% use Twitter, and 43% use the Steam Forums and 40% use none of these. These numbers do not include the non-votes and only include players who read the blog so the – none of these – option is probably much larger. We have some work to do…


Movie Fan?
Have you ever watched a Left 4 Dead 1 or 2 inspired live action video on YouTube?


Next Wednesday?
Check back next Wednesday for a special update. We are going need your help...

Last night a few updates were applied to the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead.

Foremost is the ability to recover achievement progress that was lost after The Sacrifice release. Recovered progress will be added to any new progress made since the release. In a few cases it may not be possible to recover the data for every achievement, but the majority of players should see their progress restored.


The update also includes the following:

• In Versus mode Tanks will spawn in stasis until a human player takes over. Tanks in stasis are invisible and invulnerable, and won't move or attack.
• Tank speed is no longer reduced when on fire.
• Allow players on the Infected team to manually spawn during finales.
• Added a vote option to toggle All-Talk.
• Special Infected that causes a Survivor to stumble into a "ledge hang" situation will receive 50 points.
• Bullets that first pass through an infected character before striking a Survivor are now ignored as friendly fire.<
• In Versus mode car alarms will now trigger anytime a Special Infected pulls or stumbles a Survivor into an alarm car.
• Survivor Bots no longer try to melee exploding barrels out of their way.

Gib Fest and…, You are Glowing, Do you compete?

Gib Fest

M60s and buckets of blood.

For our coop mutation this week we return to everyone’s favorite Gib Fest. Simple, go play.


Realism Versus

We are also “featuring” Realism Versus. This week we added quicker spawns for the infected. If you haven’t played recently, you are missing out on one of the most intense Left 4 Dead 2 competitive experiences. It is like regular Versus but no health kits in the world, no glows on fellow survivors, harder to kill commons and now faster Special Infected spawns (coming soon to the 360).
Give it a try this week, it's what all the cool kids will be playing.



You are glowing

You liked the idea of changing the Survivor’s glow. The breakdown was roughly 50% for, 30% against, 20% no opinion but I just like to vote. So this week we are changing the glow and also incorporating a suggestion from the forums. The glow color will now correspond to the run speed of the Survivors. This should help tanks know who they can catch.

While we were at it, we added a glow to the Witch for the Infected team.
Sometimes poll results can be incorporated quickly into the game, sometimes they take a bit longer – just a warning for past and future polls. Just because we don’t make a change that week doesn’t mean the results are being ignored. Xbox 360 users will see these changes in future title update.

Do you compete?

Have you ever played in an L4D1 or L4D2 tournament? Let us know in this week's in-game poll.

On this date last year, we released Left 4 Dead 2. The year before Left 4 Dead debuted. The team would like to thank the over 9 million people who have taken the time to prepare for the upcoming zombie apocalypse.


While we continue to update – new stuff coming Friday – we wanted to take a quick look back at the creation of Left 4 Dead 2’s new Special Infected.

Healing Gnome, Halloween?, Pick the Mutation, Tweet Tweet


Healing Gnome
There is only one way to heal, holding the Gnome!


This Coop game is all about the Gnome and his magical healing properties. There is only one way to heal and that is by holding the Gnome. Better share him with your teammates!


Halloween?
If you haven’t checked out the Halloween Costumes on our Facebook pages, what are you waiting for? Hunters, Zoeys, Bills, and even Rochelles are all there to TERRIFY YOU!!! For the poll, the Hunter handily won followed by the Tank. PC players then chose Bill and 360 players chose Ellis.

From a quick headcount in the real world, I think the order was Hunter, Ellis, Zoey, and then Bill. The Tank seemed to be too much for most people’s costume making abilities.


Pick the Mutation.
Pick Next week’s Mutation:
1)Bleedout Versus
2)Healing Gnome
3)Hunting Party
4)Lone Gunman
5)Taaannnkk!


Tweet Tweet
Want to know what the Left 4 Dead development team is working on or thinking about? Follow us on our brand new Twitter account at twitter.com/l4ddev. We promise we will never bore you with what we are eating or … okay, we did have some really good Thai food today. But look, we said that here and not on the twitter account, the twitter account will stay food free. We promise. Most likely.

Bleed Out Versus, You Rock, Halloween?


Bleed Out Versus
Now you have a good excuse for rushing through Versus.


There is no permanent Survivor health, it is all temporary and it is ticking down. Even if you don’t normally play Versus, this is a great mutation to try. The action is frantic and fast as team wipes are always just a few seconds away.


You Rock!
It didn’t matter on the platform, 38% of you have rocked out with the Midnight Riders in Rock Band. We need to get cracking on converting the rest of the Riders’ catalog.


Are you dressing up for Halloween?
Of course you are, the real question is - are you dressing up as someone from the Left 4 Dead universe? If you do dress up, make sure to post your picture on our Facebook pages. This week’s poll asks who you would dress up as - make sure to vote using the in-game poll.


Still not sure who you want to be, what about just being part of the crowd? If you are going to go as a common infected make sure to check out this tutorial on getting your infected makeup right.


Don’t forget, if you are in Seattle this weekend, the first annual ZomBcon will be in full swing. Look for us Sunday, we’ll be the ones carrying shwag and concept art to hand out at our 12 noon panel.


Next week: Healing Gnome

Lone Gunman Mutation
You and your Magnum against the deadly horde and Boomers.

So you have your Magnum pistol and… well you do have your Magnum pistol. You better be counting bullets because four swipes by a common and you are dead. Getting boomed? Forget about it.

We have released the Sacrifice for Left 4 Dead on the PC, for Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC and Mac. It will be released later this evening on the Xbox 360.

We have also released the final issue of the comic for you to read while downloading the DLC.

On Steam Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 have had their prices slashed so low, we needed to ask our favorite Georgia gun store owner to explain the pricing to you. Click here to read his explanation of the current sale prices.

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac!

We like the platform wars in the forums so much that we've decided to add a new platform to the fray. Later this spring, we'll be releasing both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on the OSX operating system for Mac computers, all through Steam.



Steam on the Mac will behave just like Steam for Windows, but through Steam Play will add cross-platform ownership. That means if you own Left 4 Dead 2 for Windows, then you already own it for the Mac. There's no need to buy it twice! Unless you want to buy it twice, in which case, as long as you're feeling so generous, why not buy it five times?

Plus, Mac and Windows players can go head-to-head, since both Left 4 Deads are cross-platform compatible. Mac owners can even host their own servers, just like Windows users.

The Mac Versions of L4D1 and 2 don't run under emulation software but in native code. That's technical talk for how cool your friends will think you are with your five copies of Left 4 Dead 2 for the Mac.

We'll be releasing the exact system requirements soon. The Mac versions will be updated in sync with the Windows versions, so the platform wars can continue uninterrupted.

Even though Left 4 Dead 2 is the only game you'll ever need on any platform, as a purely academic exercise, you should probably check out the complete catalog of games available on the Mac when the Steam client is released in a few weeks.

As many of you might have heard, Gabe and I went to Australia last week to try out the Source MOD made by Joe W-A, after he was able to raise the funds for the $3000 plane ticket in less than 48 hours.

We're back now in Bellevue, Washington, we've slept through the jetlag, and both of us had an amazing time down under. Thanks to the hundreds of you who donated money to make his great experience possible (we wouldn't actually make you pay for our tickets, though — the money was donated to Child's Play).

Read the full post

L4D DLC2 Expands Award-Winning Game

September 29, 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 that Crash Course -- the second downloadable content (DLC) update for its zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead (L4D) -- is available now for Xbox 360 and PC. To celebrate, Left 4 Dead is available via Steam for 50% off its regular price until Oct 2.

Entitled "Crash Course," the latest DLC delivers new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay to both platforms. Targeted for release in September, "Crash Course" bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale.

While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns. A recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay.

Left 4 Dead is an action horror game from Valve that blends the social entertainment experience of multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress with the dramatic, narrative experience made popular in single player action game classics such as the Half-Life series of games. Released in November of 2008, L4D has earned over 50 industry awards from outlets around the world and sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com/crashcourse. Xbox 360 players may also obtain Crash Course via marketplace.xbox.com.