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Left 4 Dead 2 pre-loading now available through Steam

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 7th 2009 at 8:30PM }

It was bad enough when Valve enabled pre-loading of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, forcing potential zombicidal maniacs to stare at the game they have and yet don't for an entire madness-inspiring weekend. Now, the developer has begun allowing pre-loading of the full version of Left 4 Dead 2 through Steam. If you've pre-purchased the game through Valve's digital distribution platform (which still nets you a 10 percent discount off the price of the title), you can now put it on your computer, and just ... let it sit there until it finally unlocks on November 17.

In the immortal words of Tom Petty, the waiting truly is the hardest part. Except for the zombie apocalypse. We suppose that part is pretty difficult as well.

[Via Big Download]

Left 4 Dead 2: now with 4 times as many pre-orders

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 5th 2009 at 9:30PM }

As if blissfully dancing on the grave of its opposing and recently deceased boycott, Valve's shambler-shooting sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, seems destined to surpass its predecessor. Speaking to CVG, Chet Faliszek revealed that pre-orders for the game had quadrupled those enjoyed by the original game. "As we get closer to launch we see the reaction to the demo, pre-orders are four times what Left 4 Dead 1 was, people's excitement, the boycott itself and how it's changed..." he said. "I think people are just excited now."

Having tested what the power of the people can accomplish (most of all when wielding skull-smashing implements) Valve can finally let that excitement wash over them, content that fans have latched on to what's in the game -- and not what's missing. "Honestly I made the joke and it's true: If you put $20 in a box and charge $10 for it someone would complain you didn't put $50 in a box," added Faliszek. "Not to say some of the concerns raised aren't valid, but you're always going to have some kind of upset and that's not how we work. We work at looking at the project and trying to get it out."

Valve gets Left 4 Dead 2 out on November 17th.

Zombified Londoners take to the streets for Resident Evil

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 4th 2009 at 1:00AM }

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles may not come out until November 27 in the UK, but a gaggle of Resident Evil fans recently took to the streets to celebrate the impending release regardless. Following the end of the London Games Festival, Capcom organized around 50 undead at the Tate Modern for a good ol' group shamble.

As you can see in the image above captured by The Tanooki, the event erred on the side of Shaun of the Dead rather than 28 Days Later. Though now that we think about it, we're not sure if it's more or less terrifying if zombies are smiling. We're thinking more.

[Image credit]

Stay indoors and visit PlayStation Home for Halloween celebrations

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 28th 2009 at 12:30PM }

Don't want to bother going outside with friends on Halloween? Good! PlayStation Home is hosting two different virtual events, one for Europe and one for America.

On Halloween Day, from 6-8PM GMT, SCEE will be hosting a virtual party in the Burn Zombie Burn space. Participants that purchase and wear appropriately undead attire will receive a special "treat" upon arriving. For more details, visit the EU PlayStation.blog.

SCEA is celebrating one day earlier, on Halloween Eve. At 11:59PM EST, the Central Plaza will feature a zombie rally that will put Hamsters vs Humans to shame (cough). Once again, virtual prizes will be handed out to all that participate -- and isn't that so much better than going outside, only to get tooth decay? For more details on America's festivities, visit the US PlayStation.blog.

Source - Halloween comes to PlayStation Home
Source - Celebrate Halloween PlayStation Home-Style at the Zombie Rally

Left 4 Dead 2 demo pre-loading available, madness to follow soon after

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 24th 2009 at 2:30PM }

Valve recently began offering pre-loading of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo which pre-orderers will be able to play this coming Tuesday, October 27. This sounds like a sweet gift, but in reality, it's a double-edged sword on which you probably be impaled. See, if you'd like, you can download it now -- but you won't be able to play it until Tuesday, giving you three days to fester in your impatience, all the while gazing at the demo which you have and yet you don't. Sounds to us like a recipe for a slow-boiling sort of madness.

However, the alternative is that you don't pre-load the demo, and waste precious time downloading the game on Tuesday -- time which could be spent hitting the walking dead with sports paraphernalia and gas-powered agricultural implements. This fact alone could send you down an inescapable spiral of depression.

So, what's it going to be? Madness, or depression? Sure, neither are extraordinarily pleasant -- but hey, you get to play Left 4 Dead 2 early. We don't want to hear your complaining.

Capcom shambles to the Toronto Zombie Walk

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 22nd 2009 at 4:30AM }

First: Toronto has an annual Zombie Walk? How cool is that? Anyhway, in order to promote Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Capcom will have a presence at this year's brain-munching jamboree, which takes place on Saturday, October 24. The company will have a tent at the event, giving people free zombie makeovers. We presume Capcom will do this with makeup and not by doling out actual zombie bites. Capcom has also sponsored a series of rather disturbing ads for the event, one of which you will find after the break. Warning: It's gross.

Continued →

Zombie Apocalypse plaguing XBLA and PSN next week

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 19th 2009 at 10:30PM }

Though it may lack the ever-catchy soundtrack of another recently released, undead-centric twin stick shooter, we're still pretty pumped for Nihilistic Software's Zombie Apocalypse. Imagine our rapture when a recent news post on the developer's blog revealed that the title will be landing on XBLA and PSN next Wednesday and Thursday (respectively) for 800

($10). If you lack imagination, we'll clue you in -- our rapture was immeasurable.

Not only does this seem like the perfect training manual for the actual, inevitable zombocalypse, but it's a great refresher course on undead genocide before the year's more substantial zombie-action game comes out.

An amusement park full of zombies, care of Left 4 Dead 2

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 14th 2009 at 6:58PM }

How exclusive is this footage? So exclusive it's not even named yet! At least that's what Valve's Chet Faliszek told Geoff Keigley about Left 4 Dead 2's amusement park campaign on the most recent episode of GTTV. If you skip past the first half of the episode found after the break (which, inconveniently enough isn't available as a standalone video), you'll get a few minutes of new gameplay from the upcoming zombie-murdalizin' sequel.

As you might imagine, there are zombies. There are also amusement park rides. As if clowns weren't terrifying enough! Come on, Valve!

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2

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Zombies run amok in Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 3 trailer

by David Hinkle { Jul 30th 2009 at 2:30PM }

If thrashing guitars, zombies and Call of Duty: World at War are all things you enjoy, we have a treat for you! The above trailer for Map Pack 3, a new set of maps featuring three locales for multiplayer and one zombie-specific map, incorporates all of these things while highlighting the exploits of a group of Russian soldiers fighting off hordes of the undead. If you've enlisted for duty in all of the previous map packs (a very real possibility), then you'll probably be foaming at the mouth for this new bit of DLC while watching. Just, uh, check and see if you have glowing eyes. You may just be a zombie yourself.

Comic-Con 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 Swamp Fever hands-on

by Kevin Kelly { Jul 24th 2009 at 8:00PM }

Electronic Arts hosted a studio showcase in San Diego yesterday, just before the start of Comic-Con. Inside the Onyx Lounge were bright cheerful lights, colorful pastel colors, fresh-baked cookies and ... The Littlest Pet Shop. However, if you headed downstairs to the basement, it was very dark, mysterious and crammed with things like Brütal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2. We couldn't resist the siren call of more zombie slaying, so we plunged straight into the new Swamp Fever level being shown off.

Head on beyond the break for our writeup. Later, look for our interview with Chet Faliszek, writer for L4D2 at Valve, where, according to him, "everyone is a designer!" But for now, it's time to find out why you'll want to catch "Swamp Fever."

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2: Swamp Fever

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Techland's Dead Island still shambling about

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 2nd 2009 at 5:15PM }

You know Techland, right? No no, not that weird Discovery Zone ripoff your Dad used to take you to when you were a little kid -- the Polish developer! You know, the comany that makes Call of Juarez and ... ummm ... not much else. Anyway, while speaking recently with G4TV, the company's international brand manager, Blazej Krakowiak, confirmed a second title from the developer, albeit one announced way back in 2007, named Dead Island.

Unfortunately, the game's website tells us little to nothing about the game's current status. So, we emailed Techland this afternoon and Krakowiak told us, "As far as Dead Island goes, nothing has changed regarding our media silence .... the game's worldwide publisher is still waiting for their best moment to strike and reveal the awesome stuff we're preparing for zombie fans and gamers." He also confirmed to us the game's still in-development status, saying, "The game's still alive (or better yet, still Dead) and doing great."

As G4TV rightly points out, when the game was shown last it was without a publisher, so if anything, this means good things for Techland's zombie game. After all, we're still wondering what happened to the company's open-world FPS game, Warhound ...

PC version of Left 4 Dead getting custom level support next week

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 20th 2009 at 1:30PM }

We've heard about the impressive capabilities of the in-beta Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools -- and recently, we've seen the SDK's fantastic handiwork -- but we haven't had a chance to get our hands on it yet. Luckily, Valve is dropping an update for the zombocalypse sim on Steam next week; one that will give everyone access to the authoring tools, and allow everyone to play the community's homegrown campaigns.

The level hunting process sounds simple enough -- amateur level designers bundle all their maps, posters, models, and textures into a single .VPK file, which players must download and drop into the game's "addons" folder. Voila! Now you have access to even more ~~Witch/car alarm shooting ranges~~ err ... survival zones.

Update: It's here.

[Via Evil Avatar]

Left 4 Dead 2 cover changed to appease ESRB

by David Hinkle { Jun 17th 2009 at 4:50PM }

Poor Valve, it just can't catch a break. At this year's E3, it revealed what should have been one of the more pleasant surprises of the show in Left 4 Dead 2, only to have a bunch of angry folks cry "boycott." Then, it put out box art for the game, only to have the ESRB flip out over something as silly as two chewed-off fingers.

As you can see above, Valve had to dial the gore back, with the two offending fingers now bent back. Oddly enough, there were no issues with the thumb, which makes us think the ESRB is composed of a bunch of Steve Oedekerk haters.

Kill Southern zombies with four new characters in Left 4 Dead 2

by Mike Schramm { Jun 1st 2009 at 5:30PM }

The Left 4 Dead 2 announcement at the Microsoft press conference gobsmacked us this morning (didn't they just release Left 4 Dead like last November? What is this, Madden?), but apparently the sneaky folks at Rock Paper Shotgun weren't surprised: they've already seen the game in action. We're hoping to see it this week ourselves, but until then, here's a few juicy zombie tidbits to hold you over: the game takes place in the Southern United States, and the five campaigns will take you on a Southern odyssey from Savannah to New Orleans. There are four new characters also: a rough high school coach who's used to taking charge, a female cable news reporter, a rustic Southern mechanic type, and a Sawyer-style con man. The characters keep the snappy dialogue, and the campaigns will tell an overarching story as you move through them.

Continued →

Knight News awards to recognize serious games, zombies

by Jason Dobson { May 25th 2009 at 1:30PM }

We weren't sure what to expect when we rolled up to the first annual Knight News Game Awards, wearing our finest armor and eager to graciously accept our much-deserved award for sharpest swords. It turns out the ceremony, named for its sponsor -- the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation -- is designed instead to recognize a new genre of games, namely those that are "journalistic and enhance people's ability to make decisions in a democracy." Boy, were our faces red, not that you could tell beneath our newly-polished helmets.

The awards presentation is set to kick off as part of the Games for Change Festival this week, which runs from May 27-29 in New York City. Event organizers today announced the finalists for the awards, which include a handful of socially-conscious games including Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City, Play the News and the controversial September 12th – A Toy World. Our pick: The Budget Maze, where players navigate a dungeon while quizzing zombies on city or state budget processes. Who better to consult on financial planning than the undead?