Zombicidal

Updates have been released for the Left 4 Dead 2 pre-release demo!
See the original Steam News brief

Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 Demo have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo

• Fixed bug that caused dedicated servers to become unjoinable over time without a restart or heartbeat update
• Fixed exploit that allowed players to end a campaign and return to the lobby without a vote
• Public players are no longer matched to lobbies that are idle for a prolonged period of time. These lobbies become “Friends-only” lobbies
• LAN servers list will now show listen server single player games as not joinable and will show game type as “single player” too

The demo also prevents players from using cheats on local games.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2, Patch demo, pre-order, Steam

The Left 4 Dead 2 Info page has been updated with new information, especially regarding Hard Rain, the defibrillator, new supplies, and more! We’ve also added more information about the chapter names and a clip of each campaign’s title theme. Enjoy!

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2 campaign, info

CVG recently covered the 2009 Golden Joystick Awards from London. With 1.2 million voters, the Golden Joystick Awards are the most popular gaming awards in the industry.

Left 4 Dead, which originally seemed like it was going to sweep a number of categories, ended up winning first place in Online Game of the Year. It came second in MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year, drawing a hostile reaction from the very zombicidal crowd.

Our beloved zombie shooter came in third place in the Ultimate Game of the Year category, losing to Call of Duty: World at War (highly overrated, in our opinion) and Fallout 3, another twist on apocalyptic fare.

Left 4 Dead 2 was not mentioned in The One to Watch category, despite its sales volume, which already far exceeds the original game.

Elunah CEDA Research game of the year, golden joystick

Our staff member Sandy noticed these wall writings while playing the demo earlier. Most wall writings are frivolous; at most, they might talk about some of the locations the Survivors are about to visit, but otherwise, they seem to be largely trivial. These writings, however, discuss carriers. In medicine, an asymptomatic carrier is “a person or organism infected with an infectious disease agent, but displaying no symptoms.” For instance, if you’ve seen 28 Weeks Later, the mother is a carrier.

The military seems to be relegating these individuals and ferrying them off before the others. This could either be a simple flavoring added to the game to enhance realism or a deliberate clue placed in the game to hint at the game’s lore. So far, Valve has been mum about the nature of the outbreak. This may foreshadow future content that gives us a better look at the infection and how governments are handling it.

It also makes us wonder if the Survivors in both games are carriers, and if the military’s policies will affect them after rescue. Food for thought.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2 carrier, graffiti, wall writing

The main title tracks for each campaign in Left 4 Dead 2 have been leaked to YouTube. Primarily, these tracks take the signature beats and melodies of the first game and infuses them with southern instruments and stylistic adjustments. Take a look below!

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2, Media campaign, music, videos

Recently, GameSpot released a large number of gameplay videos from Hard Rain, the fourth campaign in Left 4 Dead 2. We’ve compiled them into a playlist below for your viewing pleasure:

Alternatively, you may click here to view all videos individually. ▼

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2, Media campaign, gameplay, Gamespot, Hard Rain, videos

Here’s a look at the names of the campaign maps in Left 4 Dead 2. While we do not know the official names of many of the maps yet, this may give us a hint to what they may be called. Looking below, you may notice that both Dead Center and Swamp Fever are 4-chapter campaigns. You may also notice that Hard Rain seems to have duplicate maps. This is because the campaign requires you to reach a gas station and then backtrack through a different version of the same terrain in order to reach the Mississippi, where a boat awaits.

Thanks to KeRupTion from the official forums for this!

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2 campaign, chapter, maps

G4TV has released an excellent video of the Sugar Mill chapter of Hard Rain, in which Abbie Heppe from X-Play describes the differences found in Realism Mode. The main differences she outlines are the lack of halos—particularly, those around other Survivors, supplies, and Special Infected—and the increased need for headshots.

Be aware that some of the information she states is incorrect—for instance, she states that Realism Mode includes more Witches, when the increased concentration is actually unique to the level itself. Otherwise, it’s an excellent video.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2, Media campaign, g4tv, Hard Rain, realism, sugar mill, videos

A number of gaming sites have reported that Left 4 Dead 2 will provide avatar awards for the Xbox 360. Left 4 Dead 2 is the second game to implement this feature (after Splosion Man), which allows you to earn new clothes for your avatar by earning in-game achievements.

There will be nine avatar awards, including a health pack and L4D2 shirts. So far, the known awards are:

• Left 4 Dead 2 Shirt: Earned by winning 10 games of Scavenge.
• Left 4 Dead 2 Shirt #2: Also earned by winning 10 games of Scavenge.
• Depeche Mode Shirt: Earned by rescuing Gnome Chompski from the Dark Carnival.
• Depeche Mode Shirt #2: Also earned by rescuing Gnome Chompski from the Dark Carnival.
• Zombie Hand Shirt: Earned by killing 10,000 Infected.
• Zombie Hand Shirt #2: Also earned by killing 10,000 Infected.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2 achievements, avatar, shirt, Xbox 360

28 hours overdue, the pre-release demo for Left 4 Dead 2 has finally been released! It includes the first two chapters of The Parish.

Elunah Left 4 Dead 2 demo, pre-order