left-4-dead-2 posts

Left 4 Dead 2 sells over 2.9 million copies in retail stores

by John Callaham Feb 9th 2010 @ 11:00AM

Last December, Valve announced that their zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2 had sold over 2 million copies in retail stores in the game's first two weeks of release. This week, Electronic Arts, which distributed the game in retail stores, announced during their conference call to investors that the game has sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide for both the PC and Xbox 360 ports.

Naturally both these numbers do not include the number of PC copies of the game that have been sold directly via Valve's Steam client. Valve has kept those numbers completely secret but its likely that if added to the retail sales it would increase the total unit sales to well over 3 million copies.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2 Screenshots

Filed under: FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

Latest Left 4 Dead 2 patch gives banned players a minor reprieve

by John Callaham Feb 5th 2010 @ 7:00PM

While we wait for the next major content update for Left 4 Dead 2 to be released, Valve continues to push out new updates for their zombie co-op shooter via Steam. Today a new patch was made available and while it's mainly bug fixes it does have something interesting; a way for banned players to get a little reprieve.

Folks who Valve banned from playing the multiplayer portion of Left 4 Dead 2 via Valve's own VAC anti-cheat system can now play the game again . . . but that access is limited to the game's single player campaigns. They can also check out the end credits and even Valve's extensive in-game commentary. All in all it's a nice thing to offer people who can't play fair in multiplayer games.

The patch also has some other fixes and changes including enabling PZ bots and fixing some issues in the Left 4 Dead 2 SDK release.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2 Screenshots

Filed under: Downloads, Patches, FPS, Multiplayer, Left 4 Dead Series

AMD releases latest ATI Catalyst graphics drivers

by John Callaham Jan 27th 2010 @ 5:00PM

The ATI graphics unit of AMD has been releasing a new regular update to their Catalyst drivers every single month for some time. Today they proved that 2010 is starting with no exception to that rule with the release of the Catalyst 10.1 version drivers for their ATI Radeon based products.

The release notes have what's new, what's changed and what's fixed in this latest driver version. The driver includes some small performance improvements for games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Crysis. A note on AMD's gaming blog site says that we can expect some "major new features and functionality into the ATI Catalyst drivers" to be added in future driver releases in the next few months.

Filed under: Hardware

Left 4 Dead 2 blog reveals upcoming updates

by John Callaham Jan 23rd 2010 @ 1:00PM

Valve's zombie shooter Left 4 Dead 2 is "between updates" as it were but the developer is working on new patches to the game. An update on the game's official blog gives some hints as to what's coming. One is getting rid of auto-spawning during Versus match finales. That should please a lot of people.

Yet another new addition that will be added is bot support for the Infected side "to help out the Infected when they are down a man or two." The blog also reminds us that Valve is working on their first big Left 4 Dead 2 expansion, The Passing, which as we reported before, will see the big meeting between the main casts of both Left 4 Dead games.

Gallery: Left 4 Dead 2 Screenshots

Filed under: Indie, Multiplayer, Mass Effect Series

Star Trek Online tops latest Steam top 10 sales list

by John Callaham Jan 18th 2010 @ 9:00AM

It took a massive sci-fi franchise to do it, but Modern Warfare 2 was finally displaced this week on the top of the Steam top 10 PC game sales list. The latest weekly list has the Digital Deluxe version of Star Trek Online at the number one slot with Modern Warfare 2 in the number two position.

The Digital Deluxe edition of Mass Effect 2 debuts at the number 3 slot while the indie shooter MMO Global Agenda surges up to the number four position on the list. The top 10 Steam sales list, according to revenue, is below.

1. Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition - Cryptic/Atari
2. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
3. Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe Edition - BioWare/EA
4. Global Agenda - Hi-Rez Studios
5. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
6. Mass Effect 2 - BioWare/EA
7. Kings Bounty Gold Edition - 1C Company
8. Wings of Prey - Gaijin Entertainment
9. Star Trek Online - Cryptic/Atari
10. Dirt 2 - Codemasters

Filed under: Biz, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead Series, Star Trek Online

Valve's Gabe Newell to receive Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award

by John Callaham Jan 15th 2010 @ 11:00AM

He's the co-founder and head of one of the most influential game developers of all time and now Valve's Gabe Newell is being honored for his many achievements. The Game Developers Choices Awards have announced that Newell will be the 2010 recipient of their Pioneer Award.

Newell, who becomes the third winner of the Pioneer Award, is being honored not just for his achievements in game development with the Half-Life series, the Left 4 Dead series and more but also with Valve's creation of the Steam download service. He will receive the Pioneer Award at ceremonies at the the Game Developers Conference on March 11.

Filed under: Biz, Contests, Culture, FPS, Multiplayer, Team Fortress 2

Modern Warfare 2 still on top of Steam's top 10 weekly sales list

by John Callaham Jan 11th 2010 @ 9:00AM

Steam's holiday sales for the past couple of weeks meant that their regular weekly sales numbers were heavily skewed by massive temporary price productions for much of their library. With things now setting down from all that activity the weekly top 10 sales list on Steam (based on revenue) is back to normal.

And now that things are back to pre-holiday sales levels, Modern Warfare 2 is also back to its previous position as the number one best selling Steam game with Left 4 Dead 2 following it at the number two spot. Cryptic's upcoming MMO Star Trek Online is making its first appearance in the top 10 with its Digital Deluxe Edition and the regular edition taking the third and fourth spots, respectively.

1. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
2. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve
3. Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition - Cryptic/Atari
4. Star Trek Online - Cryptic/Atari
5. Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar Games
6. Global Agenda - Hi-Rez Studios
7. Borderlands - Gearbox/2K Game
8. Torchlight - Runic Games
9. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter - Croteam
10. Aion - NCsoft

Filed under: Downloads, FPS, MMO, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead Series, Star Trek Online

CES 2010: Razer and Sixense's PC motion controller in action

by John Callaham Jan 8th 2010 @ 1:00PM

One of the cooler announcements from CES this week was word that Razer and Sixense were teaming up to develop a motion-based PC game controller. Our sister site Engadget got a chance to head to the Razer booth for a brief demo of a controller prototype playing Valve's Left 4 Dead 2.

As you can see from the above YouTube video showing off the CES demo the prototypes are long wand-like devices with a severe black color instead of the nice and friendly Wiimote controller. Again details on pricing and availability are not yet finalized but the first production models should be ready for prime time sometime later this year.

Filed under: Hardware

CES 2010: Razer and Sixense to develop motion sensing PC game controller

by John Callaham Jan 7th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Best known for their family of gaming PC mice, Razer has just announced a plan to develop a motion sensing and gesture controller for PC games. In a press release today, Razer announced they would be teaming up with another company, Sixense, to create such a controller that will use "electromagnetic fields to track precise movements along all six axes for use in current and future generation PC games."

Razer is showing off a prototype of their controller at CES using Valve's Left 4 Dead 2. Valve's Chet Faliszek is quoted as saying, "For us and for our customers, this release represents motion-enabled gaming that's more integrated and visceral than any platform has so far achieved." The actual product is scheduled to be released sometime later this year but no price points have been announced.

Filed under: Hardware, Left 4 Dead Series

Final Steam holiday sale revisits past sales

by John Callaham Jan 3rd 2010 @ 1:00PM

Today is officially the last day for Steam's 2009-2010 holiday sale. All of the bundle sales from publishers will end sometime on Monday. Today is also the last one-day sale of the event and for the last day Steam goes back and puts several of the games that were part of the one day sale back on the chopping block one more time.

That means that Torchlight is once again priced at just $4.99, as is Killing Floor and Bioshock. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is just $2 while Defense Grid: The Awakening is $2.49. Grand Theft Auto IV is just $7.49, and Left 4 Dead 2 is priced at only $33.49.

Filed under: Downloads

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