Someone has figured out a way to host 16-player co-op in Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, and as this video shows, it is pure mayhem, with survivors outnumbering infected during some parts of the game.

Plus, I mean, god damn, look how long it takes for everyone to get in the safe room.

Here’s another video. I love the beginning, everyone running one after the other to the weapons table. As awesome as this looks, I bet it’s pure hell to play. We’re seeing the reason Valve capped this at four to a side, I think.

This is Why Left 4 Dead 2 is Limited to Four Players [Hot Blooded Gaming]

No idea just how much longer that means, but those in the test may have realised that they could still play over the weekend. And will still be running “into early next week”. Which is this week.

May as well make the most of it.

By Popular Demand: MAG Beta Extended [MAG]

Thanks to our friends at Namco Bandai, we have one Section 8 statue (valued at 700 bucks) and three copies of the game on Xbox 360 to give away. One of you will walk away with the statue and game; two runners-up will get the game.

Section 8 is a large-scale, sci-fi first-person shooter where fast-paced action meets military strategy in the far reaches of the galaxy. It has a single-player campaign and a full suite of team-based multiplayer modes.

You take on the role of a member of the 8th Armoured Infantry, essentially a suicide squad called in for the most dangerous missions of all. Hence the name: Section 8 is a US military term used to refer to those discharged for being “mentally unfit” for service.

To be in the running to win, we want you to show us why you deserve to receive a Section 8, too. You need to prove to us just how mentally unfit you are, and thus just how mentally fit you are for this game. Send us photographic proof of your madness to the usual address. (Just make sure you have the Kotaku “K” logo in there somewhere.)

This competition closes at midnight Sunday, November 29. Good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

Highlights of the fix include:

• Fixed performance problem when rendering lots of decals, notably when fighting tanks with shotguns
• Fixed rcon response not working on Linux dedicated servers
• Fixed matchmaking problem matching into Advanced and Expert games
• Fix bug that would cause other specials to try to pummel a player a Charger disconnects or reconnects
• Fixed versus mode results panel being cut off in transition stats screen in non-english
• Found games: fixed non-player entries drawing the wrong type of icon in the selected item name label
• Game mode selector on main menu now takes keyboard input

There’s more via Steam.

Left 4 Dead 2 Patch Update [Steam via VG247]

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Jason Kingsley, the CEO, said:

Despite rumours, Rebellion has always been planning to support dedicated servers for Aliens vs Predator PC and we can now officially confirm that this is the case. Rebellion has always appreciated fan support. We’re really looking forward to the release of Aliens vs Predator as much as you guys are!

I’m not sure the earlier report was “rumour” as much as it just left a question unanswered. Regardless, you can expect dedicated servers in this game if that’s how you roll in multiplayer.

I am wondering, a little, if Rebellion waiting to see how much hell Infinity Ward would catch for its decision to drop dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2, then DICE cashing in on the controversy by vowing dedicated server support, and decided the latter was their better marketing option.

Dedicated Servers for Aliens vs. Predator [GamesIndustry.biz, thanks Warboy]

Left 4 Dead 2 follows the bloody struggle of four random strangers as they fend off new “Special Infected” super-zombies en route from Savannah, Georgia to New Orleans, Louisiana. They do so over the course of five campaigns, armed with new melee weapons, a larger selection of guns and grenades, and new personalities that make them distinct from the original’s fondly remembered quartet.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a bigger, more diverse, more comprehensive package than the original was, offering brand new game modes and a complete multiplayer campaign suite right out of the box. Is L4D2 too soon? Or is it everything Left 4 Dead fans were hoping for?

Loved
Southern Charm: I had misgivings about the change in scenery in Left 4 Dead 2, particularly portions of the amusement park, as the environments felt less grounded in reality, less frighteningly claustrophobic than in the original. Fortunately, Left 4 Dead 2’s aesthetic, it’s southern charms, grew on me quickly. The atmosphere, which changes from dusk ’til dawn, from sun-blinding, hazy days to pitch black nights, adds to the feeling of variety, something that the original lacked. Similarly, the region-specific tunes, which at first I found almost silly, have grown on me. And my biggest fear, that the original Left 4 Dead was so well balanced with its smaller line up of infected and weapons, couldn’t be replicated with a longer list of zombies, guns and projectile weapons, was proven to have been misguided.

New Special Infected: For me, the highlight of the Left 4 Dead 2 experience is playing on the Special Infected side, wreaking havoc on a squad of Survivors with a synchronised plan of attack. The three new Specials, the acid-expectorating Spitter, the shoulder-smashing Charger and the pint-sized nuisance that is the Jockey, are all just as enjoyable to play as the originals. They add brand-new cluster-breaking strategies, effectively eliminating any possibility of corner camping, an annoying tactic that plagued Versus matches in Left 4 Dead. I have some concerns about the strength of the Spitter, considering the few times I’ve taken down entire teams of Survivors with one spit, but we’ll have to see how strategies adapt online to compensate.

Hard Rain: Each of Left 4 Dead 2’s five campaigns, which span four to five chapters, have their stand out moments. Dead Center’s opening level, for example, makes excellent use of fire effects for both visual punch and new tactical strategy when playing on the infected side. And Dark Carnival’s finale event is truly encore worthy. But it’s the Hard Rain campaign, the second to last in the sequence, that stands out as the game’s best. Instead of the standard linear progression, Hard Rain asks the player to venture into town for diesel fuel, then retrace their steps back to the escape vehicle. Along the way, day turns into night, the weather goes from bad to hellish, pounding the Survivors with thunder, lightning, wind and rain, all of which are presented with impressive, gameplay changing effect.

People Call Him Ellis, Or El: But he prefers Ellis, because El kinda sounds like a girl’s name. Yes, of the four new Survivors, it’s Ellis, the young, Georgian mechanic who’s the most endearing, the most full of personality. His monologues, delivered in the game’s saferooms are the source of most of the game’s humour. Nick and Coach have their moments — Rochelle not so much — but it’s Ellis who has become my favourite character of the crew.

Gettin’ Gas: The Scavenge multiplayer mode, which is about as close to Capture The Flag as Left 4 Dead 2 gets, adds a welcome short-session multiplayer option to the Versus mode mix. Survivors strive to grab gas cans scattered around a map, then dump the contents of those cans into a vehicle or generator. Infected try to prevent that from happening, stripping them of cans and hoping that a capable Spitter will destroy them with goo. It’s frantic and full of strategic opportunities, with a simple scoring system that works well in 4-versus-4 sessions.

Familiar Play, New Strategies: It’s not just the Infected that get new toys to play with in Left 4 Dead 2. Survivors now have access to adrenaline shots — which speed up healing, running, reviving incapacitated teammates — and defibrillator units which revive dead Survivors. These may seem like minor changes, but they have a big impact on multiplayer game strategy. The same is true for new weapons, like the grenade launcher, and the melee weapons, like my personal favourite, the axe. More weapons, more opportunities to grab new weapons, and options for upgrading them, all resulting in interesting trade-offs, make playing as the Survivors fun too.

Better Scoring: Versus game scoring lead to a lot of confusion in the first Left 4 Dead, something Valve appears to have tried to address in Left 4 Dead 2. The game no longer scores solely based on how many Survivors made it into the safe room, offering bonuses to Infected for incapping humans and balancing how Versus rounds are scored. There seem to be fewer big blowouts in the games that I’ve played, a minor but welcome change that will hopefully lead to better understanding of Versus play (and less rage-quitting).

Hated
Left 2 Die By The AI: Left 4 Dead 2’s single-player offerings are just as meagre as the first, my main complaint with that title. Players can blow through all five chapters with a group of bots in about 5-6 hours, depending on difficulty, but that’s about it. And unfortunately, while the AI Director that controls level layouts and infected spawns is improved, teammate AI seems dumber than before. They still don’t pick up grenade weapons, they’ll often leave you to die, and they don’t keep up well. Bots still have a uncanny aim, but that’s about the nicest thing I can say about them. The bottom line is, if you don’t plan on playing Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer, don’t plan on playing it.

Bogged Down: Also performing slightly worse than the first is the game’s frame rate. It’s not problematic in most circumstances, but there are a few times during the campaign that the Xbox 360 version just can’t keep up with what’s happening on screen — the performance of the PC version is obviously dependent on your hardware and settings. It’s most noticeable during the bridge finale in The Parish campaign, but when zombies fill the screen and things get effect-heavy, the game can slow down.

Left 4 Dead 2 really feels like the game that the original should have been. Even though it was delivered with an astonishing (read: somewhat concerning) turnaround time, it doesn’t feel as rushed as the first, offering — with the exception of a capable single-player component — a solid multiplayer component that doesn’t skimp on modes, maps or options.

Left 4 Dead 2 was developed and published by Valve for the Xbox 360 and PC on November 17. Retails for $US49.99/$AU109.95 on PC, $US59.99/$AU109.95 on Xbox 360, and $US49.99 on Steam. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through campaign in single and cooperative modes on Xbox 360. Played multiple online Versus and Scavenge matches via Xbox Live.

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Borderlands’ first DLC add-on “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned,” releases Nov. 24, promising to add another six to 10 hours of gameplay. Here are the foes you’ll face, in their natural habitat.

These shambling, staggering, crawling bastards look like outstanding cannon fodder, and I’ve got just the toolset for dealing with them – level 39 incendiary revolver and a level 37 shock SMG with a 10.9 fire rate. Should be like feeding mannequins into a woodchipper. Oh, wait, they’ve got wereskags in this, don’t they …

Borderlands Zombie DLC Video [Hot Blooded Gaming]

The Treyarch-developed Wii port doesn’t offer anything new or significantly changed from the original Modern Warfare. Gameplay switches perspectives between a series of individuals caught on various sides of a global nuclear conflict. Primarily, you’ll be a gun-toting military type following behind or leading a non-playable character strike force tasked with everything from “go here, kill this” to “find this guy and run for your life”. The big selling points are the intricate story with its upsetting plot twists and the fact that this is the first Call of Duty game set in the somewhat current/near future timeline.

Show of hands here — who’s already bought, played and beaten Modern Warfare 2? No? Well, then maybe Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex is for you.

Loved
Doesn’t Dumb Down The Gameplay: You’d expect a few sacrifices in any port of an Xbox 360/PS3 game to the Wii, but Reflex doesn’t skimp on the gameplay. It looks like all of the features, weapons and difficulty levels from the single-player campaign made it onto the console with no major changes to story objectives or AI.

Solid Multiplayer: It’s true that the Wii caps multiplayer at 10 per match — about half of other versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — and only lets you have private matches with people whose friend codes you actually have (ugh, friend codes). However, it’s got the same maps, same snappy pace and no discernible lag from what I saw. What more could you ask for from a multiplayer on the Wii? Besides Wii Speak, of course — and frankly, I can live without that because I hate having strange men alternately hit on and swear at me.

Hated
Scaled Down Graphics: The one thing Reflex does skimp on compared to the original is visual quality. While it’s true that looks aren’t everything, they are definitely worth a lot where Call of Duty is concerned. The varied settings of the different levels — mountains, desert, snow, nuclear wasteland — are all pixelated and flat with none of the visceral edge that set Modern Warfare apart from other shooters in 2007.

Frustrating Controls: Switching from game pad to Wii Remote is always a tough adjustment, but Reflex suffers from a particularly rough learning curve because there’s just so much to fiddle with in Options menus order to make the motion controls feel “just right”. Movement is controlled with the analogue stick on the Nunchuck, but both your aim and the camera are fixed to the pointer which can lead to wild, crazy-panning or sluggish sitting-duck turning depending on your sensitivity settings. Worse, a lot of the secondary things you need to do (like putting on night vision goggles or triggering a UAV in multiplayer) require you to hold down a direction on the D-pad and mash the analogue stick in a specified direction on the Nunchuck. Very frustrating indeed.

Frame Rate Drops During Scope Mode: The is the worst possible time for the frame rate to drop. Totally hosed me on the sniper mission with Captain MacMillan.

Pretty Late To The Party: Part of what made Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare such a massive hit was the freshness of the experience. We were in a new setting with a somewhat edgy plot in a way we’d never seen Call of Duty before. That feeling of newness doesn’t hold up as well after two years –- even if you somehow did dodge all the spoilers.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex is a good game by itself. Once you tweak the controls, the gameplay is solid and the story really is intriguing. Wii owners looking for real first-person shooter experience instead of something on rails owe it to themselves to pick this up.

The downside is that Reflex isn’t really ever by itself. Many of us can’t think of it and not think of the original Modern Warfare experience from 2007. Also, given that Reflex came out the same day as Modern Warfare 2, you can’t not think of that either. So as far as Call of Duty fans are concerned, what would normally be a good first-person shooter on the Wii is instead reduced to an exercise in settling for something less, instead of getting the absolute best.

In other words, Modern Warfare Reflex is a good game… as long as you really don’t know what you’re missing.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for the Nintendo Wii on November 10. Retails for $US49.99/$AU99.95 and is compatible with the Wii Zapper. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed single-player campaign and logged three solid hours of multiplayer — also had previously played Modern Warfare on Xbox 360 in 2008.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

M.A.G. – or Massive Action Game – is a 256-player shooter for the PS3. With player numbers like that, it’s gonna need some serious beta testing, especially in Australia. So hop over to the PlayStation website to register and do your bit for the cause.

Load up for the MAG Beta [PlayStation.com.au]

Modern Warfare 2’s single-player campaign picks up five years after the events of the previous game, telling the bloody story of a new conflict between multinational military squad Task Force 141 and Russian Ultranationalists under the leadership of terrorist Vladimir Makarov. It’s a relatively short ride, a package fleshed out by the longer-term draw of Modern Warfare 2’s expansive — and destined for popularity — multiplayer suite and the cooperative two-player Spec Ops mission mode.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been billed as the “most anticipated game of the year” by its publisher. The PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game has been pegged as the year’s biggest, bestselling blockbuster by analysts. But is the game a worthy successor to the multi-million selling Call of Duty 4?

Loved
A Thrilling Single-player Campaign: Like Infinity Ward’s previous Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2 is an explosive roller coaster ride of an action game. It peaks with frenetic chases and bottoms out with slow, steady sniper mission and, with a campaign length on par with Call of Duty 4, never overstays its welcome. On my first playthrough on Hardened difficulty — one notch higher than standard challenge — it took me just over seven hours to complete. That may be brief in comparison to Modern Warfare 2’s peers, but the pacing is tight, with regular doses of hyper-violent spectacle. That said, the single-player campaign has its faults, mostly from a storytelling perspective.

Awesome Presentation: Modern Warfare 2’s globe-spanning adventure features some awesome sights and sounds. From the game’s amazing voice over work to its booming audio to its well-designed set pieces, the game’s single-player levels — and the multiplayer maps built upon their foundation — feature impressive attention to detail. Levels set in the exotic favelas of Brazil and in familiar suburban streets present the player with locations they’ve likely never done battle in, a fine contrast to the bleak and barren environments of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. The game doesn’t waste much time expounding upon plot or reason, mostly barking orders at the player between missions as intel swoops by on a mostly black screen. It just does with top notch voice talent. Character modelling has made an impressive leap, with character faces now having… character.

Spec Ops: If you’re not quite ready to venture into the foul-mouthed multiplayer noob-slaying frenzy that is Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer mode, the cooperative multiplayer Spec Ops mode offers a stellar two-player experience. Most missions can be played solo — not that you’d really want to — but a few require a buddy. And they’re the best of the lot, putting one on the ground, the other in hovering aircraft — an AC-130 in one, an attack helicopter in the other — raining down gunfire upon swarms of computer-controlled foes as the ground-based player works his way across a map. Some of the later Spec Ops challenges can be painfully hard, particularly on Hardened or Veteran difficulty, but most of the challenges are a treat to play with a friend.

A Massive Multiplayer Buffet: Fourteen multiplayer modes may sounds like option overkill, but most of Modern Warfare 2’s game types are variations on the familiar, including Capture The Flag, Team Deathmatch, the bomb-planting/bomb-defusing Demolition and the base-capturing Domination. The most enjoyable of these modes, personally, was the Headquarters Pro mode, which spawns capture points throughout the round, targets that teams must hold and defend. It’s a mode that requires, for better or worse, active communication among teammates, making for a thrilling and sometimes frustrating experience. Layered on top of the broad game type offering are 16 multiplayer maps, dozens of unlockable weapons and attachments, per-weapon, per-perk and per-item Challenges (that will take dozens of hours to fully complete) and a level progression system that’s incredibly addictive.

Its Zimmerific: It’s not often that I’ll take notice of a game’s musical score to the point where it sticks with me, where upon revisiting a level I relish the musical accompaniment as I did with Modern Warfare 2. Beyond the pumped up fanfare, the game’s soundtrack ranges from a brooding, disturbing drone to a sweet, sombre ballad, the drama solidified by the musical efforts of Hans Zimmer and Infinity Ward’s audio team.

Host Migration Is One Thing: Modern Warfare 2 brings with it a strong multiplayer backbone, featuring ample game set up options and speedy entry into populated games. But it’s the multiplayer mode’s host migration that saves the game, keeping multiplayer matches going when a host bails. In our experience with host migration, upon losing a multiplayer match host, we were back into the action within seconds, not dumped into a lobby from which everyone quits. From our real-world experience, games have been mostly lag-free affairs, though some experiences were unmistakably spotty.

Hated
What Just Happened? Brush up on your Call of Duty 4 single-player if you care about the story-driven events of the sequel, because the delivery of Modern Warfare 2’s plot assumes you know it well. The game’s single-player campaign can be scattershot and confusing, mostly as a result of the game’s hastily delivered orders via intermission and comm transmissions. At the end of the campaign, I was left wondering what the hell just went down and the key players of Modern Warfare 2 got wrapped up in this conflict. The game’s campaign mode also suffers from treading on territory that feels familiar to the first, with some storytelling tricks feeling recycled or just plain overdone. Just how many times can we sprint to an escape helicopter anyway?

Makarov: Modern Warfare 2’s antagonist Vladimir Makarov puts the player in a very uncomfortable, disturbingly violent situation that may offend or upset some players — probably a very tiny fraction of the blood-lustful Call of Duty playing population. This can be skipped from the get-go without punishing the player, but… who’s going to do that? While in context the level that made me hate Makarov helps to justify the events of the game, it doesn’t make it enjoyable.

Abandon All Hope Ye Noobs: Call of Duty fans new to the multiplayer landscape of Modern Warfare 2 may want to find some skilled, friendly teammates to play with. Public multiplayer matches can be a bloodbath for the low-ranking noob, a frustrating, sharp learning curve that’s made more punishing by some of the game’s killstreak rewards and higher-level unlocks. Spending much of a round being liquefied by AC-130 rounds, Predator missiles or Pave Low fire from above is not uncommon, something that may sour one’s enjoyment while playing online. Players may be rightfully concerned about the balance of the game’s killstreaks, which, if you’re not well-versed in Modern Warfare multiplayer, can be intimidating. Fortunately, options for setting up private matches that disable killstreaks and perks, are easy to access. New users may find it similarly frustrating to not have total access to all of the game’s multiplayer modes from the get-go.

Modern Warfare 2’s single-player storyline doesn’t deliver the same highly charged thrill of its predecessor, despite offering memorable cinematic moments and a massive spike in collateral damage. But Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a tough act to follow, an uncommonly taut campaign delivered in less time and with a then-fresher modern coat of paint. The variety of environments in which one plays through Modern Warfare 2’s campaign adds wondrous distinction to the game, even if some of the series’ previous stand out storytelling tricks feel more like Modern Warfare tropes.

Fortunately, Infinity Ward has expanded impressively on the game’s multiplayer components. Competitive multiplayer is flooded with content, a deep collection of well-crafted modes, maps and unlockable goods that will likely keep players committed to Modern Warfare 2 online well into level 70 and beyond. Spec Ops mode offers an outstanding bite-sized mix of mission-based levels and two-person multiplayer, a cooperative mode that both rewards and challenges. Together, the three pillars of Modern Warfare 2’s package make for an impressive experience.

Modern Warfare 2 may not innovate or raise the bar as impressively as Call of Duty 4 did in order to grant it automatic game of the year consideration. The better praise it may deserve is that it’s likely the game that many will be playing well into next year.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on November 10. Retails for $US59.99/$AU119.95. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through single-player campaign on Hardened difficulty, through 80 per cent of Spec Ops cooperative mode and tested multiple online game types on Xbox 360 at an Activision sponsored event. Additional time was spent with a retail copy of the title at home, focusing on the game’s online mode.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.