Left 4 Dead Maps Resurrected in Left 4 Dead 2 Over Forty New Final Fantasy XIII Screens Just In Time For The Weekend PlayStation Network Plans To Implement Premium Content Subscription-Based Model Microsoft Game Studios Hiring Epic Liason/Producer For Gears of War & Shadow Complex Madden NFL Arcade Game Changers Video Toys“R”Us Goes Game Stop, Geoffrey the Giraffe Now Accepting Used Console Trade-Ins

If you bought Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, you might be pleased to hear that some modders have figured out a way to import all of the maps from Left 4 Dead into Left 4 Dead 2, playable with the new infected, new survivors, and the baseball bat. It’s a complex process compared to most mods, and it suffers from a few major problems at the time of writing, unfortunately.

The only new weapon that works is the bat, most of the campaigns crash on certain events, and some of the switches don’t work. If you can get past this, however, you’ve got 5 new expertly designed maps to play around with. I’m expecting that at some point someone (possibly even Valve) will create working versions of all of these maps for Left 4 Dead 2, so for now my advice is to keep your game files safe, and admire the work from a distance. I just hope that they patch in Francis as a playable character. I miss him terribly.

One day, far into the future, gaming blogs will stop reporting on the PC version of Modern Warfare 2. This is not that day. The PC version has been split open by ‘hackers’ (a term I hate using, as I am not in an ’80s movie) to reveal some hidden game modes, outlined below.

The first gametype – “gtnw” – is Global Thermonuclear War. To play, simply capture the objective: a nuclear bomb. When captured, the bomb detonates…
The second gametype – “oneflag” – is One Flag CTF. To play, capture the flag in the middle and bring it back to your base.
The third gametype – “vip” – is VIP. To play, defend the VIP. Or, if you’re on the other team, kill the VIP.

Read more…

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, like Mario and Sonic and the Olympic Games before it, combines the plethora of sports associated with the events with the somewhat madcap world of Nintendo and SEGA mascots. This provides a welcome relief from the charmless sports games that are often released around these major sporting events; the vibrant and less-than-serious world of Mario and Sonic certainly adds something to the sports game formula, but does it work as a game in its own right?
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As you can see in the above video, The video has been removed by Activision due to copyright laws, however the video would have given you visual evidence that someone has already managed to create an Aimbot and wall-hack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It’s pretty obvious that dedicated servers are not the cause of hackers, but simply online multiplayer. The fact that these idiots can operate on IWNet is even worse than them being on dedicated servers; there’s no way to kick or ban them from the game. This of course means that if a cheater gets into your game, it’s not going to be very fun.

My advice: get Modern Warfare 2 on the consoles, if you even get it at all. The PC version just isn’t looking very rosy at the moment.

You may remember that we ran a contest last week to promote the release of two new (well, old) Majesco titles on GoG.com. We received around 40 entries, but unfortunately we only have 15 codes to give away. This of course means that we had to choose between you, bringing our collective heart here at Ripten close to breaking point when we realised that we’d have to let 25 of you down.

The winners are as follows: Read more…

The BBC reports that MP Tom Watson has begun a Facebook group in response to politicians’ comments about the civilian scene in Modern Warfare 2. Kieth Vaz, one of the UK’s most vocal anti video-game politicians, is quoted as being “shocked” by the scene in Modern Warfare 2, in a brilliant case of missing the point completely and blatant ignorance of the context. Contrastingly Watson asks gamers in the UK “Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up.”
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After my hands-on with the game at the MCM Expo a few weeks ago and a lot of time spent in the pre-release demo, I feel I’ve got enough experience to let you, our dear readers, know how I feel about the game. You may remember last year I did a similar thing with the original game, and I seem to have really rather enjoyed it. I felt that since I did one last year, I should run through some of my impressions of Left 4 Dead 2.

Can the sequel live up to the original? To answer that question, here are some words that I have typed on my computer which you will read. Read more…

Good Old Games, the best place for nostalgia-loving PC gamers, announced the arrival of some brand new old games to their ever-growing catalogue this week; Majesco Entertainment’s Advent Rising and the highly acclaimed Psychonauts. To celebrate, we’re giving 15 Ripten readers the chance to win the game of their choice from GoG.com’s archive of over 160 classic PC games.

All you have to do is register for a free account here at Ripten and post a comment in the comments section below. Let us know which game you’d like from the library of games at GoG.com and a brief explanation why.

It really is that simple, folks! Just remember, you can’t win if you don’t register for an account here at Ripten. We’ll pick the winners on Monday, November 9, so you’ve got plenty of time to think of a game you’d like to add to your collection. All winners will be contacted through the email they used when registering.

Update: The competition is now closed. Thanks to all who entered! Here is the post outlining the winners!

You might recall that many PC fans of Call of Duty (specifically Modern Warfare) got very upset when Infinity Ward announced that they were not going to support dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2. As something that is a core part of the PC gaming experience, a petition was signed by many people requesting that the decision be reversed. Although Infinity Ward declined, DICE, the developers of the excellent Battlefield series, soon announced that their next game, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, would definitely have support for dedicated servers.

In thanks for this, a fan of PC gaming has sent the money he would have spent on Modern Warfare 2 to DICE and requested that the money be spent on the features he desires- because he couldn’t send them a cake, he decided this would do. I should mention that I think this is a great way to show your support for a developer, but I’d recommend that you don’t do this unless you’re rich or really, really like dedicated servers.

Boo! I hope that didn’t completely scare you, what with Halloween coming up and all the ghosts that totally aren’t fictional and monsters that totally exist coming out to haunt us. To celebrate this rather pointless special time of year, Valve have announced that Team Fortress 2 will be having a spooky update weekend.

The update will add five achievements to unlock some new ghostly hats, a new King of the Hill map (Harvest, a Halloween-themed map with a roaming ghost that will scare players stiff) and Pumpkin-bombs. It also seems that dead players will be able to interact in some way with the living. Not sure if this is restricted to this one map, but either way it sounds brilliant. The special runs October 29th-November 3rd.

Update: The game is also super cheap from now until 2:00pm PDT; go buy it!

The above video is the first in a series of video developer diaries for SEGA’s upcoming Bayonetta. The video discusses the concepts of Bayonetta’s character and enemy design, and the decision to create a world of angels for Bayonetta to fight through. Like almost every dev diary before it, it’s got a lot of insights and a lot of game footage, so if you’re looking forward to Bayonetta it should be of interest.

I’m still on the fence about Bayonetta, for some reason. When I played it it felt like it wasn’t something I would want to play, but everything SEGA has been putting out to advertise it makes it look really quite good. I guess I’ll just have to make my decision when someone isn’t waiting for a turn behind me.

Before I begin: Spoilers.

I tried not to put anything in the title to spoil anything for anyone who wants to pop their MW2 cherry on their own Xbox, PS3, or PC. Don’t read on if you’re in this category. This appears to be footage of a level in the game that has the player take control of a terrorist and massacre civilians in an airport. Not hostile ones, either- they seem very helpless. Read more…

The PlayStation Blog have announced that the full HD re-releases of God of War and God of War II on a single Blu-ray disc will be coming out on November 17. They’ve also released a list of Trophies, which can be seen after the jump.

I think they’re a bit rubbish, to be brutally honest. I think Trophies and Achievements are better when they’re used to point out silly things you can do in the games, or used to reward those who have completely mastered the game. There’s a little of this in these ones but not nearly enough; most of them look like they’re just for stuff you’re highly likely to do when just playing through the games.

Still, I’m looking forward to the release, since I haven’t played the games yet and I’m told they are great. Read more…

Nintendo have announced via the above children’s television show video that a brand new side-scrolling Excitebike game will be coming to WiiWare. As you can see, it’s pretty much an updated version of the original- it also includes a track editor and even WiFi play. I’m kind of surprised at my reaction to this, as I’m usually quite cynical about these things- I think it looks pretty cool.

I loved Excitebike when I was younger. I don’t know why; perhaps it was just that it had a good sense of speed and timing the jumps and angles could be quite entertaining. It doesn’t really capture my attention the way it did then any more, but this new one looks decent. Maybe it was just that the presenters reverted me to a younger state of mind with their patronising banter.

Via Gamezine.

Last time I went to the the London Expo, I was quite disappointed with the lack of proper gaming content. This year, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Tekken 6, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and even Left 4 Dead 2 were all playable at the show- which of course meant that I played them as much as I could.

Obviously I wouldn’t be writing this if I wasn’t going to tell you about them, so don’t worry about that. You could read my impressions and watch a video of the games at the same time and pretend that you’re me. This is clearly something that you want to do, so hit the jump to read on.
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In celebration of a new batch of DLC for the game, Killing Floor is free to play for all Steam users for this weekend. If you decide to buy the game, it’s also 25% off. In case you don’t know what the game is about, I suggest you mentally combine Left 4 Dead, Horde mode from Gears of War, and the SAS voice acting from Call of Duty 4.
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This may be the best trailer for a videogame I’ve ever seen. Hell, it might be the best trailer I’ve ever seen. Valve are getting great at making these short films; the characters shine through even with two minutes of screen time, and it makes me want the game even more. If this isn’t the purpose of a trailer, I don’t know what is.

It’s supposedly “leaked”, but I’m not buying that. Valve are careful about this stuff. It’s most likely been put out as leaked to get more press. I don’t know why, because I could watch this thing over and over again happily. It’s worth a post, leaked or not. Now excuse me while I go and enthuse a bit more over there.