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Valve Rolls Out Patch For Left 4 Dead 2

Owen Good — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:30:00 +0000

The PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 has been patched. Just fire up Steam and it’ll fix and update a slew of issues. Got a bug? Maybe it’s covered in this, check the jump for more.

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]

Valve Bans Grey-Market Modern Warfare 2 Keys

Owen Good — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Some who bought CD keys for Modern Warfare 2 — no physical media in other words — from import resellers have seen their access to the game vanish, as Activision has apparently asked Valve to ban such keys.

A poster in Valve’s official forums complained that a key he bought through G2Play.net no longer lets him open and play the game. A Valve representative, BurtonJ, called such sales “illegitimate” and confirmed the ban. He recommends buying a full version of the game — maybe through Steam? Hint hint.

VE3D, which spotted the thread, points out that calling the key sales “illegitimate” is not entirely true. The keys are typically sold legally in Asia and other territories and while game makers try to ban it, their ability to do so is not absolute. Of course, the interest is clear: The keys being sold cost less than the full game, and both publisher and digital distributor want to protect their bottom lines.

Valve’s only advice to grey-market key buyers is ask for a refund and get a “legitimate” copy of the game.

Valve Banning Grey-Import Modern Warfare 2 CD Keys [VE3D]

Left 4 Dead 2’s Midnight Riders, Ellis Take To YouTube, Facebook

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:40:23 +0000

Gamers looking for more story in their Left 4 Dead 2 experience may want to refocus their efforts on the web. Ellis, one of the game’s new Survivors, and his favourite fictional band, the Midnight Riders have YouTube accounts.

Right now, there’s not much to the Midnight Riders’ YouTube channel, just like the website that bears their name. What the Riders do have is a legion of similarly fictional fans, many of whom are infected with the “green flu” but plan on catching the band at Whispering Oaks or the Peach Pit.

One of those fans is Ellis the mechanic. His YouTube account — showing his taste for the Midnight Riders and Swedish country techno band Rednex — is full of Ellis personality. The same for his Facebook page.

Left 4 Dead 2 fans looking to explore the story on a deeper level should befriend and subscribe now.

Midnight Riders & Ellis [YouTube - thanks, P-Zan!]

Left 4 Dead Campaigns Now (Unofficially) Work In Left 4 Dead 2

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Left 4 Dead 2 fans longing not for Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis but for Dead Air, No Mercy, Death Toll and Blood Harvest have one more reason to go for the PC version of the zombie apocalypse shooter.

Industrious Left 4 Dead modders have devised a not-exactly-simple workaround to bring the original game’s four campaigns into the sequel. The very unofficial, multi-step hack requires ownership of Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, ample patience and better than basic knowledge of editing PAK files. But, hey, it works.

Well, it mostly works. The list of issues includes numerous crashes, limitations and a dependency on console commands, but if you’re desperate to play No Mercy with Spitters and baseball bats, you now have the option. Will Valve offer a sanctioned version of this? At the risk of pissing off the Left 4 Dead owner further, we sure hope it does.

How to Resurrect the Original Left 4 Dead [L4D Mods]

Stardock: Steam Has 70% Of PC Download Market

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Just about everybody involved with digital distribution is coy when it comes to sales numbers. Nobody wants to give the game away. But that doesn’t stop some — like publishers/online retailers Stardock — from trying to guess!

Stardock boss Brad Wardell says “Our estimation is that Steam — as the current market leader — enjoys approximately 70 per cent of the overall digital distribution market with Impulse at 10 per cent and all others combined at 20 per cent in terms of actual dollars generated per month”.

While we have our doubts that Stardock’s Impulse service is at #2 (surely Direct2Drive is bigger?), Steam’s 70 per cent figure is — if it checks out — both interesting and frightening at the same time. That’s about the same level of market domination Apple enjoys in the music player scene.

Quick: Name another portable music device that’s not an iPod. Off the top of your head. Now tell me how many people you know own an iPod compared to a portable music device that’s not an iPod.

Exactly.

[via Gamasutra]

Let’s Take Another Look At Aussie Left 4 Dead 2 Edits

David Wildgoose — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:06 +0000

Sick of seeing just how Valve has butchered the Australian version of Left 4 Dead 2 to placate the censors? Of course you aren’t. Yes, let’s take another look.

In this IGN AU clip, you’ll see: corpses vanishing before their ragdoll death animations have concluded; heads remaining perfectly intact despite a machete slicing straight through them; corpses disappearing into concrete; flame retardant zombies; and infected miraculously blinking out of existence a fraction of a second before being killed by an explosion.

It is a travesty.

Left 4 Dead 2 Xbox 360 Clip – Left 4 Dead 2 – Aussie edited version montage [IGN AU]

Sadly, Jimmy Gibbs Did Not Survive The Zombie Apocalypse

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:20:00 +0000

Those already knee-deep in Left 4 Dead 2’s Southern undead will be familiar with Jimmy Gibbs, who is only the greatest stock car racer of all time. Or shall we say, was.

Enterprising modder samm5506 was digging around in Left 4 Dead 2’s code the other day when he stumbled upon a zombie model not found within the game itself. Dropping it into a level, he found it was none other than Mr. Jimmy Gibbs himself, who aside from being a particularly tough zombie, also brings out a few custom one-liners from the survivors, like Nick’s “God damn that Jimmy Gibbs Jr!”.

To drop Gibbs into a game (PC version only, naturally), enable the console, then from the main menu enter these commands:

map atrium
sv_cheats 1
z_forcezombiemodelname common_male_jimmy
z_forcezombiemodel 1

Then have at him. The fact he’s dead — and trying to bite your face off — makes stealing his car totally OK.

Hidden Jimmy Gibbs Zombie! :D [L4Dmods.com]

Meet Left 4 Dead 2’s House Band, The Midnight Riders

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0000

If you’ve played through Left 4 Dead 2’s second campaign, Dark Carnival, you’re likely familiar with the music and pyrotechnic power of the chapter’s fictional rock and roll band, the Midnight Riders. Well, they’ve got their own web site.

Shortly after the launch of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve launched the teaser site—seen on posters around Dark Carnival — for the tattooed biker band, offering little more than a portrait of the four-man group and a promise that something is “coming soon”. What could that something be?

It could be nothing more than some fiction building, offering some background on the Midnight Riders and how they came to escape the events that transpired at the Whispering Oaks zombie infection. Graffiti scrawled on the wall’s of Whispering Oaks’ safehouses hint at the quartet escaping, buying their way into evacuation prior to playing their explosive set.

What we hope, however, is that we’ll get to actually play the events that lead up to the Midnight Riders’ escape, possibly in the form of downloadable content. With the chapter-to-chapter events more tightly linked than in the original Left 4 Dead, perhaps Valve is going to give a new group of Survivors a chance to tackle the zombie horde. Left 4 Dead 2’s Versus mode could benefit from a shorter, Crash Course-length campaign.

And we hope that they come armed with new Midnight Riders appropriate melee weapons — bottles, bike chains, pool cues and flying V guitars. The four members have the unique silhouettes that would make them easy to pick out in an infected mob, so they may fit in nicely as new playables.

Of course, if they’re just a group of special zombies, that’d be fine too. But we’ll keep an eye on new developments, just in case anything pops up.

Midnight Riders [Official Site]

Team Fortress 2 Gets Updated A LOT

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

There’s an interesting statistic to be found in a Gamasutra interview with Steam’s Jason Holtman, published earlier today. Concerning Team Fortress 2, and just how often Valve feel the need to tinker with and improve the game.

Apparently since the game was released two years ago, there have been 97 updates for the game. 97! That’s roughly one a week, and has to be some kind of record.

Sure, that speaks volumes about the commitment of Valve to the game and the ways Steam allows them to directly service their customers. That’s surely why the point was made. But I like it because it shows how insanely passionate (not to mention important) TF2’s vocal player base is, that their over-bearing presence has Valve so on their toes that they’re updating a game on a weekly basis.

Valve’s Holtman: Digital Direct Gives Developers More Pricing Freedom [Gamasutra]

Left 4 Dead 2 Is Region Free On Xbox 360

David Wildgoose — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:00:37 +0000

While it seems PC gamers may be able to bypass the censorship of Left 4 Dead 2, Xbox 360 gamers have no such luck. But what about importing?

There’s a few options here. You could import from New Zealand or the UK, as the PAL version released in both countries escaped the censor’s knife.

But you could also import the region-free Asia version from Play Asia. It’s uncensored, will work on your PAL console has an English language option, and best of all, is only $US50. That’s considerably cheaper than you’re going to find in NZ or the UK.

Note: neither the US nor the Japanese versions are region free.

Also note: Forgot to mention, you’ll be importing a banned game. Customs may confiscate it, if discovered.

Where are you getting your Left 4 Dead 2 hit from?

Buy Left 4 Dead 2 [Play Asia, thanks Paul!]