Left 4 Dead Series

Valve has yet to release the mod tools for Left 4 Dead 2 (we assume they are coming soon-ish) but in the meantime that hasn't stopped some enterprising mod creators from shoehorning the characters, new zombie bosses and items from the just released shooter sequel into the original Left 4 Dead campaigns.

The L4DMods.com site has the full instructions on how to make this happen. The site puts up plenty of warnings that this kind of thing is not for folks who are unfamiliar with opening up and altering a PAK file but as you can see from the above screenshot it is possible to get Coach, Nick, Noelle and Ellis up north to battle the infected.

[Via Kotaku]

It's just over a week until Black Friday 2009 hits and tons of retailers are cutting prices to the bone for the biggest sales day of the year. If you happen to find yourself at a GameStop store on that day you will be able to get a few PC game bargains. The biggest one has to be for the just released Left 4 Dead 2. Valve's zombie shooter sequel will be on sale during Black Friday for just $29.99. That's a massive $20 price cut on a game that was just released this week.

The entire GameStop Black Friday PC game sales list, as provided by bfads.net, is as follows. Keep in mind that GameStop's stores open at 6 am on that day and the sales are for just two days only.

Guild Wars Trilogy - $24.99
Left 4 Dead 2 PC - $29.99
World of Warcraft - $4.99
World of Warcraft Battle Chest - $19.99
The Sims 3 World Adventures - $29.99

It's been just a few days since we have given anything away. So let's do this thing. Today the folks at Electronic Arts and Valve have given Big Download five Steam codes that can be used to download the full version of Left 4 Dead 2. Are you ready to shoot some zombies with your friends? You had better be if you are one of the folks picked to win this very cool prize.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 23
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Those five winners will be sent a Steam code that can be used to download a full copy of Left 4 Dead 2 (valued at $49.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to EA and Valve for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

If you haven't gone through the entire campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 you might want to avoid reading the rest of this post . . . . ok, for the rest of you, you likely know that in the Dark Carnival campaign for Valve's just released zombie shooter sequel, there are mentions of the Midnight Riders, a fictional Southern rock band that was set to play at the amusement park at the center of the campaign before the infected apocalypse hit. Indeed the final campaign level has the four survivors facing off against the zombies on the Midnight Riders' stage.

The campaign level has posters for the group which showed a web page. Checking out the web page in the real world shows the image you see above. The big question: Is this just some viral fun from Valve or a hint that we could see a Left 4 Dead 2 DLC campaign featuring players controlling the rock group? Hey, there are four members there.

Let's admit it, this whole "zombie" thing in pop culture has pretty much run its limits. Not only do we have tons of zombie based games come out, but movies, TV shows and novels seem to be in love with the undead. However, the phenomenon doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

With that in mind, playing Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2 feels a lot of the like a retread of the original game that came out a year ago. Like before, the is designed for four players to come together and shoot fast moving "Dawn of the Dead remake/28 Days Later" infected humans alongside special infected sporting extra abilities. However, even though it's generally a well-made game, it's hard to not think of Left 4 Dead 2 as a glorified expansion pack.

While many of us can go our local game retailer right now to get a boxed copy of the zombie co-op shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2, the folks over the pond in the UK are apparently going to have to wait to get their chance to shoot some undead in the head.

Valve's official Left 4 Dead blog site states that in that country "copies of the game are still arriving". They hope that by Friday morning everyone in the land of Monty Python and Doctor Who will be able to throw some pipe bombs at virtual zombies. The good news is that if you pre-ordered the PC game via Steam you can play the game in the UK right now. And now for something completely different . . .

It actually was a little later than what Valve had scheduled but a few hours ago the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 did indeed go live on Steam. As expected the free demo for Valve's zombie shooter sequel has now shut down. It is no longer available to download via Steam and cannot be played anymore.

You might have seen a ton of reviews of the game pop up on the Internet already but nearly all of them are for the Xbox 360 version which was sent out to game journalists early. But what about the PC version of the game? We plan to post our thoughts later this week.

While folks are waiting on their PCs tonight to unlock Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam (that should happen at midnight Eastern time tonight) another developer is working on his own version of the original game. The difference? He's making it as a 8-bit NES-style title. Yep, it's supposed to be a fully playable version of the game with support for just a few pixels and support for just one or two players (sorry no four player co-op in NES's timeline).

The game's creator is budding game designer Eric Ruth and while he has created a number of original NES-style games this is apparently his first attempt to port an existing franchise to his game design style. As you can see from the video above he's got the general idea behind Valve original game down patch. Thankfully you won't have to have a modded NES to play the full version; Ruth says he will release the game for free for the PC in early January. Big Download got Ruth to answer some questions about his upcoming reimagining of Left 4 Dead.

So much for all the talk about boycotts against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's PC port. The Infinity Ward-developed shooter is firmly on top of this week's latest top 10 best selling games (according to revenue) on the Steam download service. Steam is the only place (legally anyway) where one can download and purchase Modern Warfare 2. Other download services like Direct2Drive, Impulse and Gamersgate have decided not to make the game available because they have objected to the game's use of Steamworks's features that are required for the PC version.

Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2, due to be unlocked at midnight Eastern time tonight on Steam, took the number two sales spot this week. Dragon Age: Origins' regular edition and deluxe edition took the third and fourth spot while Borderlands continues to sell well in fifth position.

1. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
2. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
3. Dragon Age Origins - BioWare/EA
4. Dragon Age Origins Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
5. Borderlands - Gearbox Software/2K Games
6. Overlord Complete Pack - Triumph Studios/Codemasters
7. Torchlight - Runic Games
8. Crysis Maximum Edition - Crytek/EA
9. Football Manager 2010 - Sega
10. Mass Effect - BioWare/EA

This week we get a second Lego game version of a famous adventurer, the first expansion pack to one of the biggest PC games of the year, and a weird merge between a Japanese RPG maker and a casual games developer. Oh, and Left 4 Dead 2.

Left 4 Dead 2: Valve's 2008 zombie co-op shooter gets a quick sequel as we follow a new set of four characters as they try to avoid being part of the undead apocalypse in the New Orleans area. New weapons, new melee items, new zombie bosses and new gameplay modes are all a part of the sequel.

The big game release for next week is definately Valve's zombie shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2. If you are one of the folks who have already pre-ordered the PC version of the game and have the pre-load ready to go via Steam you might be wondering when it will unlock for you.

Thankfully Valve has you covered with a handy time zone guide on the game's official web site. Basically they are using the Eastern time zone of the US as their base and it will unlock at midnight on Tuesday. That means folks in the Pacific time zone will get to play Left 4 Dead at 9 pm on Monday evening. While you are waiting you can check out the newly created profiles of all of the new Left 4 Dead 2 characters on the main site.

BioWare's full return to the PC gaming industry after a few years of PC ports of console games seems to have been embraced by gamers. The latest weekly top 10 sales list on Steam (based on revenue) shows that BioWare's newly released RPG Dragon Age: Origins on top with the deluxe edition at number one and the regular version in the number two slot.

Valve's upcoming shooter Left 4 Dead 2 claims the number 3 spot on the list while Gearbox Software's shooter Borderlands continues to sell well at number four. Newcomer Runic Games' action-RPG Torchlight continues to do well; it shows up at the number five position.

1. Dragon Age Origins Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
2. Dragon Age Origins - BioWare/EA
3. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
4.Borderlands - Gearbox Software/2K Games
5. Torchlight - Runic Games
6. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
7. Football Manager 2010 - Sega
8. Mass Effect - BioWare/EA
9. Shattered Horizon - Futuremark Games Studio
10. Aion -NCsot

While Valve's release of Left 4 Dead 2 is just over a week away, the developer has not forgotten how to support the original game in their zombie shooter series. The latest update to Left 4 Dead, available automatically via Steam, has added a feature many fans of the game have been waiting on.

It's the Team Versus 4 on 4 competitive matchmaking feature Valve has been promising would be added in the game for some time. The update also fixes a couple of bugs in the game but the matchmaking feature is something we know will please fans of the original. Meanwhile, Left 4 Dead 2 is available for pre-load on Steam ahead of its release November 17.

If you have an edited version of a game that has, say, less blood that the normal version along with bodies that disappear quickly among other things you might expect that the edited versions might have better performance than the original. PCGamesHardware.com seems to have discovered just that with an censored version of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo.

The edited version which is made available in the web site's native Germany, runs about 40 percent faster than the unedited demo, according to the article. While it implies that players of the cut version will have an advantage in any multiplayer game, it also points out that the amount of violence in the regular version can be adjusted by the players

We still have over 10 days before Left 4 Dead 2 is released but today Valve has given the go-ahead for people who pre-ordered the zombie shooter sequel to start pre-loading the game onto their hard drives via the Steam client. That means PC games who take advantage of this opportunity should be able to play the game only a few minutes after Valve unlocks the game on November 17.

Keep in mind that Valve still has that 10 percent pre-order discount for the game. It's still in effect until the game's release date. Also the Four Pack deal (where you purchase four Steam codes of the game at once) is also still available for the 10 percent discount which means you can pay for four copies for the price of less than three in the current price promotion.