Zombicidal

While you may have noticed a marked decline in activity from us here at Zombicidal, rest assured that we are working tirelessly to prepare you for what’s coming. In this case, Valve is about to release its much-anticipated first DLC for Left 4 Dead 2, The Passing.For those who still yearn for their favorite Survivor from the Northeast, The Passing is centered on a meeting between the two groups of Survivors. Valve has confirmed that players will take the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet the original cast in a small, rural Georgia town. Players can expect a full-length campaign with spinoff maps for the other game modes.  In addition, The Passing will introduce a host of new features. There will be a new cooperative “challenge” mode of play, official support for Infected bots in Versus, and weekly game events called “Mutations”.

 Each mutation will be playable over the course of a week, and will introduce interesting and enticing new variations on gameplay—for instance, Valve has mentioned game modes like Realism Versus and Chainsaw Massacre, a mode where all Survivors have chainsaws with unlimited fuel. Twenty Mutations are currently planned.

A new uncommon Common Infected and a couple new toys are also planned. The UCI will be the “Fallen Survivor”, who, unlike most Infected, tries to flee from Survivors. However, managing to take down the Fallen Survivor may yield rewards, such as ammo or health. Two new weapons are being introduced: the golf club, a classic improvised self-defense weapon, and the M60 machine gun, which may end up turning you into a one-man zombie Emmenthaler factory.

In celebration of the release of the new expansion, Valve has released two Midnight Riders songs for Rock Band. Also, Valve employees will be there to join in on the zombicidal action! Check out their blog post for more details.

Elunah General

Check out our new feature article in Game Theory Magazine’s March-April 2010 issue! Written for the Best Bosses in Gaming category, the article is entitled “Tank Season” and explains an expert approach at tackling the behemoth of the Left 4 Dead world, the Tank.

Elunah General

Left 4 Dead 2 is 50% off on Steam now! Even a die-hard boycotter would be hard-pressed to shrug off a deal like this.

Elunah General

Hello, everyone! We just wanted to drop by and let you know that we have not (yet) been lost to the undead scourging of the Earth—or rather, work and personal duties. As you know, Zombicidal is a completely enthusiast-run site (one-enthusiast-run, as a matter of fact), and we’ve just gotten sidetracked. Expect more in the coming weeks.

For those of you who are rendered incapacitated by ennui in our absence, we recommend reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the meantime!

Elunah General

Zombies have staggered and bashed their way into nearly every part of the gaming community, from shooters to RPGs to pretty much anything you can imagine. If you can mod it, there’s a zombie mod for it. And we’re unsurprisingly giddy about that.

One area where the walking dead have not experienced as much success is in the realm of MMORPGs, but Jeff Strain and his Seattle-based company, Undead Labs, are working to change that, one brain-eating misanthrope at a time. Strain wants to create not just a successful zombie MMO, but a successful zombie MMO on consoles.

Strain is no stranger to MMOs. He was a founder of ArenaNet and a bigwig at NCsoft, exec producer of Guild Wars, lead programmer for World of Warcraft, and has credits in numerous other Blizzard games. In an interview with Destructoid, he explains what he wants to do and why.

There are a few zombie RPG games out now, but most of them are limited web-based games. Strain is setting out to make the “best zombie RPG ever”. Unlike the gameplay style of Left 4 Dead, Strain’s apocalypse will see survivors working together to build communities, reinforce defenses, gather supplies, and defend themselves when the hordes hit. He says that he wants players to feel like they really must try to live and perhaps rebuild in a world beset by the undead scourging of the Earth. He says that unlike traditional MMOs, his zombie MMO will be focused on more survival elements, with quick bursts of intense action. Also, unlike Left 4 Dead, survivors will probably have to make due with makeshift weapons, for the most part. He mentioned sharpened pencils and lawn chairs.

Why a console MMO? Strain essentially says that while MMOs have a loyal PC player base, it’s about time the genre expanded to incorporate the growing console market. He remarks that it wasn’t so long ago that many thought a first-person shooter on a console would be worthwhile, but then games like Halo appeared on the market. He hopes his MMO can tap some similar magic.

Strain wouldn’t comment on what would happen if a character became infected or how player-versus-player elements would be staged, but he did mention that he’s amongst the younger generation of zombie lore lovers, so don’t expect your walking dead to do much walking at all.

Elunah Other Games console, rpg

The recent TF2 update news includes the following line:

Added Bill’s Hat for players who pre-purchase Left 4 Dead 2

Yep, you heard it! Team Fortress 2 players, rejoice! Those who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam will gain Bill’s Veteran’s Beret for use with their characters! For many, this may even wipe away the sour aftertaste from Valve’s controversial introduction of the halo as a censure for those using idling programs.

What’s even better, some characters’ taunts change to a part of the Thriller dance when wearing the hat! Check it out!

Players should receive the hat after updating Steam. We’re not sure at the moment if those who pre-ordered from GameStop, Amazon, or other retailers will also receive the bonus.

EDIT: It appears that the taunt changes are temporary, in honor of Halloween. Enjoy the coincidence while you can, LADIES!

EDIT 2: Here’s the TF2 Blog post.

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While this is primarily a Left 4 Dead fan site and guide, we like to consider ourselves connoisseurs of the gamut of zombie mayhem. So, when this trailer for the Call of Duty 5: Shi no Numa DLC came out, we pretty much ogled it with slackjawed desire not unlike that found on the undead, and then proceeded to scat ourselves. Metaphorically speaking.

“Shi no Numa” is Japanese for “Swamp of Death”, simplified to “Zombie Swamp” in its official English name. You can find out more about Shi no Numa at the Call of Duty 5 Wiki. We’ve embedded the video below. Enjoy, zombicidal maniacs!

Elunah Media, Other Games call of duty 5, DLC