Left 4 Dead Series

Left 4 Dead 2 pre-load now available on Steam

Posted Nov 7th 2009 11:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

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.

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Left 4 Dead 2 gets another TV commercial

Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:30PM by Steven Wong
Filed under: Downloads, Trailers, Left 4 Dead Series

Left 4 Dead 2 "takes you and your friends through the cities, swamps and cemeteries of the Deep South, from Savannah to New Orleans across five expansive campaigns.

You'll play as one of four new survivors armed with a wide and devastating array of classic and upgraded weapons. In addition to firearms, you'll also get a chance to take out some aggression on infected with a variety of carnage-creating melee weapons, from chainsaws to axes and even the deadly frying pan."

The game releases on November 17th.

Download HD Left 4 Dead 2 TV Spot #2 (94 MB)
Check out all Left 4 Dead 2 downloads

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Left 4 Dead 2 demo now available to all PC users

Posted Nov 3rd 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

For all of you cheap skates who don't want to spend money ahead of time for Left 4 Dead 2, your time to play the demo for Valve's upcoming zombie co-op shooter sequel has come. Now everyone with a Steam announce can download the demo for free.

Yes, you can check out the campaign and solo modes for the sequel as you run around the zombie-fied city of New Orleans while dealing with new boss zombies and using new melee weapons like our favorite the machete. If you like the demo you can still pre-order the full game for 10 percent off, plus get an exclusive Team Fortress 2 in-game hat.

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Download: Left 4 Dead 'Dead Before Dawn' Campaign Mod

Posted Nov 3rd 2009 2:45PM by Steven Wong
Filed under: Downloads, Mods, FPS, Left 4 Dead Series

This mod adds the 'Dead Before Dawn' Campaign to Left 4 Dead. It's inspired by the movie Dawn of the Dead. Installation instructions are shown after the jump.

"The custom campaign Left 4 Dead fans have been clamouring for has finally arrived, bringing Valve's zombie shooter to the Crossroads Mall--the setting for Zack Snyder's zombie movie remake Dawn of the Dead.

Dead Before Dawn contains 5 maps--the sixth, the finale is not included in this beta--for both co-op and versus play. For that complete shopping mall experience, there are hundreds of new props along new music, new voice-overs and randomized special events. "

Download Left 4 Dead 'Dead Before Dawn' Campaign (1.1 GB)

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It's a Team Fortress 2-Left 4 Dead official crossover (sort of)!

Posted Nov 3rd 2009 12:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series, Team Fortress 2

In comic books, crossover events between two super hero universes are considered to be a huge deal. Remember when Superman met Spider-Man? When Batman met Predator? When Archie met The Punisher? Well two of Valve's game universes are about to have a (tiny) crossover of their own.

The deal is if you pre-order Valve's upcoming zombie shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2, not only do you gain early access to the game's demo and pay 10 percent off its regular price but if you also happen to own Valve's multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 you get an extra in-game bonus. It's Bill's hat. Yep, now your TF2 characters will be able to wear the same hat design Bill has for Left 4 Dead 1. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. The Heavy mowing down the Tank in a game? We would love to see that.

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Valve: Left 4 Dead 2 DLC mentions just placeholders

Posted Nov 1st 2009 3:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Earlier this week we reported that someone had found signs of two upcoming downloadable content packs for Valve's upcoming first person shooter Left 4 Dead 2. Now it appears that news may have been premature. Eurogamer reports that Valve's Chet Faliszek put down those rumors at this week's Eurogamer Expo.

Faliszek states that the DLC mentions in the Left 4 Dead 2 code were in fact put in as a simulation for testing on Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. Of course that doesn't mean Valve won't do DLC for Left 4 Dead 2. It just means that the DLC titles in the code are likely not the ones they will use once they get DLC ready for the game.

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Feature: Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Impressions

Posted Oct 31st 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, Expansions, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Just as they did a year or so ago for the original Left 4 Dead, Valve has allowed people who pre-ordered the zombie co-op shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2 to have early access to the game's free demo. Everyone else can download the demo via Steam on November 3 and the demo is expected to shut down when the full game is released on November 17.

As we did last year for the original game we are offering up some quick impressions of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo release which features two levels in the game's introductory Parish campaign.

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Feature: How 10 US cities will fare in the zombie apocalypse

Posted Oct 30th 2009 12:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Culture, Features, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Scenario: The zombie apocalypse is at hand. What do you do? What DO you do? If you the four person teams in Left 4 Dead and its upcoming sequel Left 4 Dead 2, you run around and start shooting as many of the undead as you can as you move from place to place.

The original game from Valve takes place in areas of Pennsylvania while Left 4 Dead 2 is in New Orleans and the surrounding Louisiana area. But what if the zombie apocalypse hit other US cities like they did in Valve's games? We decided to look at 10 such cities and postulate what would be the good, the bad and the worse thing that could happen to those cities if flesh-eating folks invaded. For how other cities around the world would do the same thing check out Game Daily's sister feature.

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Left 4 Dead 2 PC demo finally released for pre-orders

Posted Oct 28th 2009 8:30PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

After over a full day's delay, Valve has now released the PC demo for Left 4 Dead 2 via their Steam service for those folks who pre-ordered the zombie co-op shooter sequel. Valve has not commented on why the PC demo was delayed from its planned released on Tuesday (the Xbox 360 version was released as scheduled) but early this morning people who had previously pre-loaded the PC demo got a pretty massive update via Steam

As promised, the demo has some levels from the game's Parish campaign with access to all of the new melee weapons in the full version along with all of the game's new special "infected" zombies. The demo will unlock for everyone else on November 2 and the full version of Left 4 Dead 2 will ship on November 17.

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Left 4 Dead 2 PC demo still not out but Steam updates go live

Posted Oct 28th 2009 4:30PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

It's 4:30 pm Eastern time as this post goes live and, well, there are a lot of unhappy Left 4 Dead 2 fans out there. It's been over a day since the expected release of the PC demo for pre-orders of Valve's zombie shooter via Steam but the release has seemlngly been pushed back yet again. Xbox 360 owners have been playing the demo for over a day on their console. Meanwhile Valve has been pushing new updates to the PC pre-load without unlocking the demo to actually play. That includes a rather massive update that was released early this morning. The current expected release is now for 5 pm ET but it's more than possible that could change.

Although we are still waiting for the demo, Valve has updated the Steam client that fixes some Windows 7 issues. Steam has also added an email confirmation system for security reasons for people who want to change their contact info, password and other items on their account.

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No Left 4 Dead 2 demo until Wednesday morning for some? [Update]

Posted Oct 27th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

It's beginning to look like Valve's definition of releasing the demo for Left 4 Dead 2 today meant, "in just one US time zone". We were expecting that the demo for pre-orders of Valve's zombie shooter sequel would have been unlocked and released via Steam by now. However, it's looking like the demo might not become available until late tonight for US residents.

Some people on the Steam forums have shown photos of the coupon when they pre-ordered the game from GameStop that indicated the demo wouldn't be released until 11 pm Pacific Time tonight. If that's true, that means people in the Eastern Time zone won't get the demo unlocked until 2 am Wednesday. We have emailed Valve to get a better sense of when they plan to unlock the demo for Steam users.

Update: Valve has now posted word on their Steam site that the PC demo will be released on Wednesday. There's no explanation as to why there is a delay.

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Viral video offers useful tips for surviving the L4D2 Infection

Posted Oct 27th 2009 2:30PM by Steven Wong
Filed under: Downloads, FPS, Trailers, Video, Left 4 Dead Series

The Left 4 Dead 2 pre-order demo goes live today, so everyone could use a few pointers in avoiding the dreaded 'L4D2' Virus, as demonstrated in this humorous viral video. This is part one in a series of videos made to look like like an amateur home movie, leading up to the game's official release on November 20th. The Gamespot TV commercial can be seen after the jump.

Download HD Left 4 Dead 2 'L4D2 Outbreak' Video Part 1 (109 MB)
Download HD Left 4 Dead 2 TV Spot (8 MB)
Check out all Left 4 Dead 2 downloads

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Left 4 Dead 2 subject of Flash-based viral marketing game

Posted Oct 27th 2009 10:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Casual, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Shooting zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 is bound to be as much fun, if not more so, than the original. But how do you feel about playing a kind of-sort of version of the game on a casual game site? That's what the Flash game site Kongregate wants you to do from now until November 20 as part of a promotion for Valve's co-op shooter sequel.

The site's Infected Fury Month will turn some of the site's players into zombies while others are turned into human survivors. Naturally the zombie players want to inflect others (your profile and avatar page gets all bloody and gory when this happens) while the survivors try to find more of their kind (represented by a silver shield on your profile page). Of course we like our zombie games straight up with a shotgun, thank you very much.

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Borderlands tops Left 4 Dead 2 in latest Steam top 10 sales list

Posted Oct 26th 2009 10:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz, FPS, RPG, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead Series, Dragon Age: Origins, Borderlands

In a bit of a shocker, Gearbox Software's first person shooter Borderlands has taken the top stop in this week's list of the top 10 best selling PC games (based on revenue) on Steam. Left 4 Dead 2, Valve's own zombie shooter sequel, goes down to the number two position after spending the last few weeks in the number one slot.

BioWare's fantasy RPG Dragon Age Origins takes on the third spot this week (for the digital deluxe edition) as well as the fourth spot (for the regular edition). Despite tons of controversy surrounding the PC version in the past week, Modern Warfare 2 managed to debut on the list this week in the number five spot.

1. Borderlands - Gearbox Software/2K Games
2. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
3. Dragon Age Origins Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
4. Dragon Age Origins - BioWare/EA
5. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
6. ArmA II - Bohemia Interactive
7. Aion - NCsoft
8. Tropico 3 - Kalypso Media
9. Assassin's Creed - Ubisoft
10. Killing Floor - Tripwire Interactive

Left 4 Dead 2 demo pre-loading begins for pre-orders

Posted Oct 24th 2009 1:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Downloads, Demos, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

If you are one of the many people who have put down their money and pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 via Steam, you also know that a demo for Valve's zombie co-op shooter game will be made available by Valve for those pre-orders on Tuesday. Now Valve has open the floodgates and allowed those folks to go ahead and pre-load the demo via Steam.

That means that when the pre-load is complete, it will only take a few minutes to unlock the demo on the release date. If for some reason you pre-ordered the game via an old fashioned brick and mortar retailer, Valve says the access codes to get the demo should also be available now. The demo will be made available to the general public on November 3.

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