The Sci-Fi fans just shed a tear for what could have been. In an interview with GamePro, Modern Warfare 2 scribe, Jesse Stern, admitted that Infinity Ward actually considered a far fetched alien, and even undead, scenario for their latest CoD sequel:

“In the beginning we talked about having things in Modern Warfare 2 like outbreaks, viruses, chemical warfare, and even outlandish things such as aliens and the living dead,”

Guess those “CoD on Mars” rumors back in 2008 had at least a little truth to them. Sci-Fi fans shouldn’t give up hope completely though. News of a third Call of Duty team being hired by Activision leaked a few days ago, which means we may end up gunning down aliens while fighting off zombies in a futuristic CoD title after all.

The first DLC installment for Borderlands, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, will hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on November 24th, exactly two weeks from today. It will cost $10 USD, meaning 800 MS points. Unfortunately, there is no set date for when the DLC will hit the PC.

And before you all cry “OH GOD MORE ZOMBIES C’MOOOOON,” let it be known that I love zombies and I will fight to the death to defend their honor.

Despite being posted on April the first, it appears that this Left 4 Dead blog post is accurate: Valve are to update the matchmaking system for PC users of Left 4 Dead. The extension adds support for third-party campaign servers (custom maps) and support for a party system. this will allow you and three buddies to team up and find another four players for versus mode. Also changing is the way that the game auto-matches you based on skill.

Why people still play the game without people they know is beyond me, but whatever floats your zombie-infested boat, I suppose. That said, I’m glad that these features are coming; it’s a chore finding servers with the things that you want to play, and the party system will, I’m sure, be a lot of fun.

Capcom have announced (accidentally) that Dead Rising 2 will feature a multiplayer component of some kind, although just what was not mentioned. The comment came out in a GDC panel during which a Capcom representative also made a silly comment about there being 6000 zombies on-screen at once. Take a look at your TV, and you’ll see that to fit 6000 rotting undead on the screen at once, they’ll have to be tiny (or squashed in, making it unplayable).

Either way, a multiplayer mode is always welcome. Unless it’s not very good, in which case it’s not welcome at all. The game is also going to feature 800 types of zombie, meaning you won’t be seeing the same models over and over as you smash their heads in with/against your buddy/buddies.

Capcom executive Keiji Inafune has mentioned in the newest issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu that “We’re finally putting out new Dead Rising and Lost Planet games! As a main principle we’re thinking about multi-platform, and expanding upon both slightly from the Xbox 360 version.” That’s a pretty strong hint towards both games being multi-platform; not to mention that most of Capcom’s games are multi-platform now.

Dead Rising is a game I’ve been wanting to play since it was released, so I’m certainly hoping for a PS3 version. I enjoyed the Lost Planet demo, too (although the full game is either nowhere to be found or way overpriced), so this is good news all round.

Steam news has details of a huge Left 4 Dead PC patch, available now to all Steam users. The patch has a lot of bug fixes, as well as gameplay tweaks and changes. The Hunter gets “Increased Minimum damage” for a pounce, solving the frustration that a short-range pounce is almost worthless. Hopefully it should increase the hunter’s worth indoors.

Plus, “Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging,” and the “Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors.” This comes as a relief; smokers were almost useless most of the time without this extra damage. Also, you can now browse the web while in-game on Steam. Full notes after the jump, and remember: don’t fuck with the witch.

General

* Fixed Survivors being able to climb surfaces marked for versus infected only
* Fixed a class of SurvivorBot bugs dealing with rescuing downed players
* Players can no longer grab ladders while flying through the air after a Tank punch
* Shooting near a car with an alarm that has already fired the alarm will no longer make chirping noises
* Improved loading time
* Fixed mini-gun physics exploit
* Fixed propane tanks (and other physics objects) causing players to fall through elevators
* Fixed rare achievement bug issues
* Fixed several map exploits
* Fixed various match making issues
* Fixed NAT traversal issues

Versus Changes

* Added HUD elements to show status of other infected players
* Changed color of infected player name in chat to red
* Fixed exploit where players could spawn infected bots
* Fixed instance where a Survivor changing to the infected team would be attacked by infected bots
* Normalized special infected melee damage
* Made the following client commands cheat protected: “Kill” and “explode”
* Fixed exploit where infected players could run away and teleport back to gain health
* Players can only change teams once per map
* Players can’t change teams while other players are still loading
* Tank spawns at the same % through the map for both teams in versus mode
* Made the Tank and Witch spawn directly on the escape route
* Increased chance of getting the Tank or Witch
* Fixed team swap issue

Hunter

* Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing
* Increased Minimum damage a Hunter pounce does

Smoker

* Fixed Smoker tongue tolerance
* Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break
* Survivors cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging
* Tongue attacks that fail to paralyze or hang a Survivor will use the shorter ability delay timer
* Fixed cases where the ability timer was not using the correct time
* Fixed case where you could point at a Survivor but not register a tongue hit
* Fixed Smoker tongue not targeting and landing properly through PZ ghosts
* Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors

Tank

* Bashable objects now appear with a red glow
* Tanks hitting a car with an alarm disables the alarm permanently
* Tank frustration timer is only reset by hitting Survivors with rocks or fists
* Reduced autoshotgun damage against Tanks

Witch

* Witch spawns at the same % through the map for both teams
* Avoids spawning within a certain % of the tank
* Fixed an exploit where the Witch could be woken up and tricked into attacking Survivors

Left 4 Dead is the kind of game that helps you figure out who your friends really are. Do they run off to pick up that pipe bomb while you get bamboozled by zombies? Do they stray from the group in search of personal glory? Do they accuse you of kill stealing after you just saved their ass? Left 4 Dead helps you sort these things out while also managing to put the “survival” back in “first-person shooter with zombies and a cooperative attempt at survival”.

Left 4 Dead takes place after some sort of event happened that turned thousands of people into zombies, or as the game refers to them, “infected”. There really is no story, at least nothing that is presented to you in a traditional fashion. All that you will come to find out about what happened is what is written on the walls — literally.

There are four campaigns, each one presented as if it were a zombie movie. Players choose their characters before the game starts, and the loading screen then presents you with a ‘movie poster’ displaying who is playing which character as if you are the actors playing these roles.

You generally begin each campaign with a pistol that has unlimited ammo and a choice between a shotgun or submachine gun. The goal, ultimately, is get the hell out of there. You progress from safehouse to safehouse, each one serving as a checkpoint as well as a safe place to rest, heal up, and grab some more ammo or a different gun.

The infected try their hardest to prevent you from reaching these safehouses. They occasionally send ’special infected’ at you: the Boomer, a mutated fat dude, pukes all over you and makes the infected particularly eager to eat your brains; the Smoker lashes you with his super-long froggy tongue and reels you in for a beatdown; and the Hunter simply pounces on your face and claws you to death. Sometimes the A.I. Director decides to just swarm you with a hundred zombies and overwhelm you.

There are also two different special special infected: the Witch and the Tank. The Witch is a fairly decent-looking zombie chick that just kind of sits on the ground and cries (women…) unless you disturb her. She is actually incredibly powerful and can take down a survivor in a single hit. The game’s loading screens that show helpful hints even suggest you turn off your flashlight and try to just tip-toe around her, but what fun is that? This is why I am not a good friend…

The Tank, while not quite as one-hit powerful as the Witch, is equally as much of a nuisance. He rips up pieces of concrete from the ground and tosses them at you, generally knocking you off your feet. It’s actually quite amazing that he can find concrete in regular dirt or even in water, but I digress… He also likes to just straight up punch you in the face and send you flying across the map. The tank can take quite a bit more damage than the Witch, and it’s entirely possibly for a Tank to single-handedly take down your whole team.

What’s awesome about these ’special infected’ is that they are the characters you control in adversarial mode. One team plays the game as usual while the other team takes over the special infected and tries to stop them. Each time the survivors reach a safehouse or are wiped out, the teams switch.

Each campaign has a just few safehouses on the way to your final destination: a way out. Each finale involves radioing for help and then holding the fort until your ride arrives. The first campaign, for example, has you pinned down on a hospital roof as you await a helicopter to fly you to safety. These finales are full of intense firefights and frantic “help me!” situations — probably the most exhilarating gameplay experience I’ve had in recent memory.

As long as one person makes it to the escape vehicle, you win. As the credits role, kind sentiments of “In memory of…” pay respects to those of you that didn’t make it. You are also treated to player stats for the session like accuracy, headshots, damage taken, times incapacitated, etc. In closing, it tells you how many zombies were killed in the making of the film.

One of the things I find most impressive about Left 4 Dead is the physics. The infected seem to react quite realistically to bullets and butt-strokes to the face, so much so that it’s entertaining to just shoot them and watch how they react. The game also runs buttery smooth, both online and off, and I haven’t noticed any lag or framerate issues at any point during my playtime.

Honestly, my only complaints about Left 4 Dead are that it is completely dependent on having people to play with and that there aren’t enough playgrounds. The game is incredibly enjoyable with friends, but not quite as much so without them, and while each campaign can be replayed indefinitely, there aren’t very many of them.

These aren’t really faults with the game, though. You can’t exactly takes points away from Monopoly because it isn’t fun with just one person, and likewise should be said about Left 4 Dead. The real issue here is that there are only 4 campaigns, and each one can be played through in about an hour once you know the layout.

The A.I. Director, who internally adjusts the game based on how you’re playing, keeps the campaigns from being exactly the same each time through, placing weapon caches and medkits in different places, as well as sending different enemies at you at different times. Ultimately, though, there are still only 4 levels, and as fun as they are, we want more.

Considering the co-op nature of the game, us Riptenites spent some time killing stuff as a team. Rangebar, John, and I grouped up over Xbox Live and attempted to, well, live through the zombie apocalypse while Sam shot his way through the PC version. Their thoughts below.

Rangebar’s Take

With all of the high quality shooters that have came out in the past few months, Left 4 Dead is the one that separates itself the most from the pack. I say this because of its primary focus on co-op gameplay. Being able to get online and hop into a friend’s game at any moment, even in mid-game, and get through a campaign mission in a little over an hour is just one of the great ideas of Left 4 Dead. I describe Left 4 Dead as resembling the zombie film 28 Days Later, but just in video game form. No real story, just four survivors trying to get the hell out of an abandoned city infected with zombies. That’s another thing that’s so unique about Left 4 Dead, it strays away from an actual plot and stretched-out story, but just puts you in the game with three other friends, focusing more on the aspects of teamwork and strategy. However, one thing I didn’t particularly like about Left 4 Dead was the option of only four different campaign modes. I’ve already been through all four of the missions on normal mode, and now I’m kind of stuck between just playing versus mode (which is also quite fun, by the way) or playing the campaign modes on a harder difficulty. I’m hoping that Valve releases more campaign missions via downloadable content soon seeing that many owners have probably completed the four missions. My absolute favorite thing about Left 4 Dead (besides blowing zombie heads off with a shotgun) is just how easy it is to get into a game with a few friends or even starting a game up with the A.I. players and waiting on some folks to join in on the fun. And I think that’s the whole purpose of the game: it has relaxing and comfortable match-making system and gives casual gamers the great option of playing for an hour or two, enough time to get through a campaign mission or two. At the end of the day, Left 4 Dead is one hell of game and is easily a must-buy for any Xbox 360 or PC gamer.

John’s Take

Left 4 Dead is like sex. It’s okay (and sometimes degrading) when you’re just playing with yourself, but the more people you get involved the more fun you can have. If everyone is on the same page and willing to work together it can be an absolute blast, with the game throwing climax after climax your way until you just can’t take it any more. With enough people, even a relatively inexperienced or unskilled player won’t be a burden as long as everyone is willing to help make up for the weak links. Get someone who is only concerned with themselves, however, and it’s just a bad experience. Get someone who’s a douchebag and a shitty player and it ruins it for everyone. I’d say you have to play with at least three people (including yourself) because even with just two computer-controlled partners, the AI can get pretty stupid and annoying. They have a tendency to stand in front of you at the most inopportune times and absolutely refuse to duck. They also have no clue how to use the first aid pouches and Max Payne killers, going from using them when not needed to holding onto them even after someone is down to ten health. Granted, there are players like this also who may not jive with your healing preferences, but generally you can say “Yo, Asshole! How about you share that fuckin’ health pack you’re carrying so I can stop draggin’ my intestines behind me.” This is something you can’t do with the AI. There is no way to even drop a hint as to what you’d like for them to do. That’s not to say they’re horrible — they’re actually pretty decent most of the time — but standing in my way and the shitty use of health kits really burns my jockeys. The adversarial mode is also an absolute blast, though it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. If nothing else, it’s definitely a different experience than what you find in other FPSes. The level of coordination that it takes to succeed as a human survivor is just insane when you have actual people pulling the strings of the super zombies. The AI can get pretty nasty, but even a modicum of coordination on the zombie side will tear apart an unprepared human team. I’m sure I’ve said it several times, but it is just an absolute blast playing on either side in the adversarial mode. Just like the single player game, one or two fuckwads can very easily ruin the game, so I highly recommend a heavy-handed approach to kicking out dissidents with a wrathful vengeance. All in all, Left 4 Dead is almost like a party game in that you will probably get little or no enjoyment from the game by yourself, but (wait for it) it’s an absolute blast when you get together with friends. I know I don’t play the game at all any more unless I’ve got other people to play with (which is often enough to make it worthwhile) but when I do, it’s an absolute blast. ABSOLUTE BLAST! ABSOLUTE BLAST!!!

Sam’s Take

Left 4 Dead is, without a doubt, one of the best games I have ever played (matched only by Team Fortress 2). Since you most likely know a fair bit about the mechanics of Left 4 Dead, thanks to either my colleagues or just general Internet usage, I will not be detailing them in my section of the review. What I will be telling you is that the PC version of Left 4 Dead is most certainly the definitive version of the game. Having played both versions, I’m at liberty to say that if you have the choice between the two, you will definitely want to go straight to Steam. Valve, since they run their own distribution platform, have total control over the game you’re playing. While that might be a bad thing in many cases, let me remind you that this is Valve we’re talking about. There will inevitably be hundreds of free updates to the game on the PC; in fact, the game has been updated for the better at least three times since release. Of course, the controls are better, the community is more mature (I’ve never seen a griefer or even a person younger than the age rating), and the modding scene are all perfect examples to prove my point. While I could stress that you need the PC version all day, I understand that not everyone can afford a decent enough PC, and there is a bigger issue at hand for me to address in my review. Having racked up around 40 hours on the game, I can safely say that there has never been a moment that was anything less than fantastic. The game is nothing but sheer fun. Strangely, this is a point a lot of people seem to miss. “Not enough story”; “Too short”; “No singleplayer campaign” — all genuine complaints I have heard about the game. It strikes me as incredibly strange that a game completely centered around cooperative play would receive complaints about aspects not to do with co-op. Left 4 Dead is not a single-player game. If you don’t have friends, do not buy Left 4 dead. However, if you do have friends, and you’re anything like me, this game is absolutely a must-buy. “Too short,” you say? I resist the urge to use an expletive here, because there’s no way it can be too short. I’ve played over forty hours of the game, and never had the same experience twice. The AI director, as Valve keeps trying to explain, is not ‘random’. It bases the way the entire campaign plays out based on what your team is doing. It’s far too complex to go into detail, but the director essentially reads almost everything about how you’ve been progressing, and bases the enemies it throws at you on that. Each campaign may take something like an hour to complete, but no matter how many times you play, it will never be the same thing — the only thing that’s constant is where you’ve got to go. The director even changes the scenery to make things easier or harder sometimes. “Too short” is a non-argument. Perhaps I’ve gone on too long about why you should like it, but the main point stands tall — Left 4 Dead is an incredibly fun game. Shooting zombies, no matter how clichéd, is great, and with 3 friends, it’s even better. Plus, playing as the infected is just as brilliant — killing a survivor with a big gun is just as satisfying as shooting lots of zombies with your own big gun. In case you hadn’t figured it out from the above text, I kind of like Left 4 Dead. Perhaps it’s not for everyone, but a review is a review, and my review says this: This game is about as close to perfect as you can get. 11/10 (Alright Dan, 10/10, but it’s better than The Witcher!) [Editor's note: No it's not!!!]

Anyone else have anything to add?

Roly’s Take

Left 4 Dead is my quintessential co-op game. It takes the instant gratification viscerality of Gears of War and perfectly blends it with that unknown factor of addiction that are the legs of RPG’s like World of Warcraft and Phantasy Star Online. Unlike the RPG’s addiction factor, Left 4 Dead’s reason to keep coming back isn’t an unknown variable, it all has to do with the AI Director feature. The AI Director ensures that every level in each of the four “movies” has the possibility of feeling and playing substantially different than another run through. Of course, the changes aren’t always that substantial. Sometimes they’re as minimal, albeit enormously effective, as replacing a health pack in a closet with 5 zombies instead. With the AI Director helping keep everything fresh, Left 4 Dead is exclusively a co-op game in design. Although possible and fully functional playing offline with bots instead of real-life companions, the experience does not compare. You can’t have a dialogue with bots. You can’t coordinate with bots. You can’t make bots feel emotion. You can’t be on the verge of finishing a level, only to be yanked back by a Smoker’s tongue and proceeding to yell half-sarcastically, “No! Save yourself!” and seeing your ‘friend’ make it to safety as you are devoured by more zombies than George A. Romero could hope to fit in a mall, no, you can’t have that with a bot.

Ultimately, Left 4 Dead is a must-own game for both the PC crowd and anyone with a 360… if you have friends. A majority of what makes the game so appealing rests solely on the cooperative gameplay, which unfortunately means that you are missing out on its true high points if you decide to go it alone. Of course, you can always play with total strangers, and some people may even prefer it that way.

The A.I. teammates could also use as tune-up, even though they do a fantastic (almost too fantastic) job of covering your ass. They mainly serve as motivation to get some real people to join just so you can yell at them and feel like it makes a difference. There’s nothing worse than the helpless feeling of knowing that your fellow survivors will never hear your words of advice or your cries for help.

Aside from a 4-man band on one TV, Left 4 Dead is the best co-op experience to be had in 2008, as well as one of the best zombie games ever made. Infinitely replayable, it’s certainly worth the price of admission, but we would still love a few more maps to play on just to keep things fresh and more varied. In this case, you can’t have too much of a good thing.

Left 4 Dead 411 reports that Valve’s much anticipated Left 4 Dead has gone gold, meaning that the game is finally ready to be shipped. Steam users will find that if they have pre-ordered the game, they can pre-load the game ready for it to be played the second it is released on the 18th of November. The game releases in stores on the same day.

In other news, Shacknews has news that Valve have released hi-res versions of the movie posters from each campaign’s loading screen. Fans of the game, and even nostalgic movie poster enthusiasts, will agree that they’re very well designed and add a lot to the game’s cinematics. Outside of the game, they’re simply good desktop material.

Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that The Watercooler is not necessarily videogame related (it usually won’t be), and is often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

Today’s Watercooler features a news report detailing the aftermath of the 2008 presidential election. The biggest problem? Obama zombies. You may have friends that are suffering just like this, and if so, you clearly need to get them help before something terrible happens to them.

I have no opinion.

Think you have something that could be Watercooler material? Send it to dlandis@ripten.com. If your submission gets featured, you will win a prize package full of pride and accomplishment.

Steam owners can now download the public demo of Left 4 Dead, Valve’s upcoming zombie shooter. Xbox 360 owners can also get their zombie freak on via XBLA, as the demo has been released there as well. This of course comes a week after the release of the pre-order demo, available to those who had pre-ordered the game. As you can see, I feel that this demo is much better than most full games out there, so I strongly urge all zombie fans (and everyone else) to download the demo and try it out. Look forward to the Ripten review of the game in the near future!

Although I was only able to play the XBox 360 version of Left 4 Dead at the Eurogamer Expo, I have been playing the pre-release demo for the PC in the comfort of my own home, to my delight. The perspective I’ll be giving on the game is from a PC standpoint; to me, playing a Valve game on a console is like eating Ben and Jerry’s with a rusty nail- it still tastes nice, but the sheer pain (of using a controller) ruins the experience. Before you begin to shout at me, make sure you read the preview after the jump. Here’s a spoiler: it’s unbelievably good.

I’ll begin with the 360 version which I played at the Expo. If I put aside the obvious control faults, I can find nothing wrong with this game. I began with a standard shotgun, walked out into a hallway, and was immediately met by three screaming zombies running at incredible speed towards me. My shotgun tore through them, creating one of the best sensations a videogame weapon can create: satisfaction. It feels exactly like a shotgun should feel, and the zombies tear apart with the exact amout of force that a shotgun should provide. It was fantastic. I continued up on to the roof of the building I was in, and found that the four of us were going to have to radio for a helicopter to pick us up- but doing so would set off an alarm, causing a huge horde of zombies. When it happened, there were at least 100 of the buggers, who all seemed to think it was only my brains that were on the menu. Needless to say we didn’t make it, but my, was it an experience. Even on the 360, from the short amount I played, I can tell that this game is phenomenal.

Left 4 Dead on the PC is, going by the demo, probably going to be my favourite game of all time. It might seem a little presumptuous to base this on a demo, but if you’ve played it you’ll understand. The demo features 2 sections of one level, and I have played it through at least thirty or forty times, and never had the same experience twice. The game’s AI director places zombies based on how well you’re doing- if you’re doing well, without losing much health or ammo, the director will spawn a huge horde for you to fight off, or more boss infected.

Boss infected are special types of zombie that have abilities other than the simple melee attack. The Boomer can vomit on you, attracting all nearby zombies to attack you, or blow himself up in an attempt to kill you. The Hunter can jump around at incredible speed and pounce on you, knocking you down and causing a lot of damage. The Smoker uses his huge tongue to entangle you and drag you towards him or even into a pack of zombies. When killed (or on command) he releases a huge puff of smoke, which is impossible to see through. There is also the Tank, a huge hulk of a zombie that takes concentrated fire from all four of you for at least a minute to take down- if you see a Tank, the next thing you know, you’re going to be dead or dying. Finally, there’s the Witch. She does nothing if you leave her alone, but if you startle her by being to loud or shining your light in her face, she’ll drop you to the floor in one hit and proceed to kill you very, very quickly, unless your comrades can save you. You’re not going to want to startle the Witch.

Because of the AI director, you never know when or where it is going to spawn- I’ve experienced points of the game where there are no zombies one round, and the next there are hundreds standing there. It makes for an everlasting game, as other than knowing the direction you’re heading, you’re completely in the dark (metaphorically and literally) as to what will happen next. As with the 360 version, the guns are a pleasure to use, and zombies die perfectly. Later in the level when the more powerful weapons are revealed, they become even more fun, if that were possible. The auto-shotgun in particular is fantastic for crowd-clearing, shooting bursts of shotgun shells as fast as you want. I’ve never played a game where the shotgun is more satisfying.

The survival instinct is another testament to the game’s greatness; on harder difficulty levels, you’ll rarely have above half your health, and ammo runs short after so many zombie attacks. By the time you reach the safe room, your character is hobbling and spluttering, making for an incredibly cinematic finish- closing the final door just as the zombies start to swarm around it is a better adrenaline rush than any horror film, I can tell you. Oh, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, there are a lot of zombies. With the right circumstances, and a bit of developer console wizardry, it’s possible to spawn around 1,000 zombies on screen without a hint of lag, as seen above.

To finish, I can only say one thing. This game is looking like it could be the best game I’ve ever played. There is almost nothing I can find to fault it- and I’m usually more critical than most. I can’t stress this enough: if you’re not looking forward to this game already, you should be. Look forward to our review in the coming weeks.

After rumours earlier in the year that stated that Canadian developer Blue Castle (famous for…well, baseball games), not Capcom itself, will be hard at work on Dead Rising 2 in the future, Eurogamer, speaking to a “source familiar with the project”, has now confirmed that the studio will be handling the game. According to the source, “Everyone’s really excited; the team has obviously seen the rumours and it’s been hard to keep quiet, but they can’t wait to show off the game.” No details are given pertaining to the title itself, unfortunately.

I’m hoping that Blue Castle can take the weight of Dead Rising on its shoulders: the original was an excellent game, and I hope the new developers can capture the magic of that game in the sequel. I’m also hoping that, as long as the game is good, it is released for the PS3 as well as the 360. I loved the original game, but I don’t have a 360, so I never got to own it. What are your thoughts? Can this development team handle the pressure and make another great Dead Rising game, or do you think it will never live up to its predecessor’s standards? Let us know in the comments.

For those who have pre-ordered Valve’s much-anticipated zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, the demo was released earlier today, for both PC and 360. Don’t worry if you haven’t pre-ordered; the demo releases for everyone on the 11th November, and the full game on the 18th.

I’ve been playing it as much as I can since it was released, but it seems to be going through some teething troubles right now, at least on the PC version. It seems the server files weren’t provided far enough in advance and they can’t keep up with the huge demand- it’s very difficult to find a game online at the moment, and when I have managed to, it has been plagued by lag. Valve are reported to be fixing the issue as fast as possible. Despite this, the single player portion of the demo is still fantastic, and the fact that it will never play out the same way twice means that the demo should easily last until the full game releases on the 18th.

[Update] Left4Dead411 reports that you can now use a server browser by typing “openserverbrowser” into the dev console. This solves the issues with finding dedicated servers.

It might come as a surprise that Resident Evil 5 was playable at the Eurogamer Expo, as it certainly was for me when I saw it. There were only 3 screens playing it, one 360 and two PS3 (I played the PS3 version)- not much when you consider how anticipated the game is. Since the game is expected to be released in March of 2009, it was certainly a pleasant surprise to be able to play the game months before the release date. Hit the jump for my thoughts.

Fans of Resident Evil 4 have no doubt been anxiously awaiting the fifth installment of the series, and I can safely say Resident Evil 5 is shaping up to be at least as great as Resi 4. The first thing one notices is the visual difference between the two games. The level I played was set in a dusty junkyard, and while there were plenty of infected villagers, the bright sun and light coloured floor meant that the dark, creepy atmosphere from Resident Evil 4 is changed. The absolute contrast might seem like a mistake, but the brightness adds a certain eeriness to the location, and the wavering heat is portrayed brilliantly. I actually felt like the sun was beating down on my back as I played, and that just made me more tense as the waves of infected started rolling in.

The controls have barely changed from Resident Evil 4, although the ‘run’ and ’shoot’ buttons have been reversed, which took some getting used to. Of course, the controls were fantastic in Resident Evil 4, so no complaints in this department. The guns feel pretty similar too, especially the shotgun, with it’s satisfying knockback effect. One thing I did find happening was losing ammo. I ran out of shotgun shells pretty quickly, and once my handgun ammo had gone, I had to rely almost completely on the knife (it’s bigger than Leon’s, more of a machete actually) and Chris’ combat moves- kicking the enemies as they are stunned- which really adds to the feeling of desperation.

Another notable difference is that in Resi 5 you switch weapons in real-time, instead of the game pausing to let you sort out your inventory. It’s a nice touch for immersion, adding to the manic feel, but again, it takes some getting used to. The (useful) companion that follows you is another brand new feature; contrary to what you might think, she’s pretty useful. She helps out with the horde of infected, but best of all, she gives you ammo and health. I felt compelled to save her (unlike Ashley in Resi 4), because she would thank me with precious ammo, and she might carry on shooting the huge infected in an executioner’s outfit (complete with oversized axe) shuffling towards me.

Resident Evil 5 seems to be the logical progression of Resident Evil 4. Nothing drastically new, but why fix what isn’t broken? I’m confident that this game will be worth the wait until March (and I’m thankful it’s not coming out soon, actually- I’ve bought 5 new games in the last two weeks). Oh, and if I haven’t convinced you yet, just take a look at who’s back:

Left 4 Dead surprises me everyday with the amount of sheer awesome that’s being generated by the game’s hype machine. If you kill every zombie in the infected town of Willamete, you get an achievement. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? I mean, when the zombie apocalypse comes around that’s kind of the plan. You know, to kill everyone. Want to know more? Of course you do.

The city of Willamete is not going to go down easy. Remember the Zombie Genocider achievement in Dead Rising? Yeah, it’s just like that. It seems like Valve is trying to one-up Capcom in the zombie apocalypse genre…literally. The Dead Rising Zombie Genocider achievement required you to kill 53,594 of the undead, while Left 4 Dead requires you to take down 53,595 zombies. This is called the “Zombie Genocidest” achievement. I see what you did there, Valve.

This shit just got real.

Source: Capcom Unity

With a reported 10 million dollar advertising budget (half of which is said to be for television spots) Valve is doing everything they can to make sure you and your friends are ready to kick some zombie ass.

The game hits store shelves in the US on November 18th, but a boat load of money says you’ll be seeing severed digits everywhere you look long before then. In fact, Kotaku reports that the commercial above will begin airing on November 8th.

Succès Full has the full list of achievements for Valve’s upcoming zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. As per Valve fashion, some are straightforward, some are devilish, and some are hilarious. Here are some of my favourites:

101 Cremations
Set 101 Infected on fire.

Zombie Genocidest
Kill 53,595 Infected.

(A 1-up on Dead Rising- there, you had to kill 53,594 zombies.)

What Are You Trying to Prove?
Survive all campaigns on Expert.

Hit the jump for the full list.

Helping Hand
Revive 50 incapacitated Survivors.

Field Medic
Heal 25 Survivors with a first aid kit.

Pharm-assist
Give pain pills to 10 Survivors.

My Bodyguard
Protect any Survivor from an attacking Infected 50 times.

Dead Stop
Punch a Hunter as he is pouncing.

Cr0wnd
Kill a Witch with a single headshot.

Untouchables
No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.

Drag and Drop
Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker’s tongue before he takes damage.

Blind Luck
You or another Survivor take no damage after being vomited on by a Boomer.

Akimbo Assassin
Survive an entire campaign using only pistols.

Hero Closet
Rescue a Survivor trapped in a closet.

Hunter Punter
Shove a Hunter off of a pinned and helpless Survivor.

Tongue Twister
Free yourself from a Smoker who has grabbed you with his tongue.

No Smoking Section
Kill 10 Smokers as they are pulling helpless Survivors.

101 Cremations
Set 101 Infected on fire.

Do Not Disturb
Sneak past all Witches in a campaign without disturbing one.

Man vs Tank
Single-handedly kill a Tank.

Tankbusters
Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.

Safety First
Play an entire campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.

No-one Left Behind
Beat a campaign with all 4 Survivors.

Unbreakable
Finish a campaign without ever being healed.

Witch Hunter
Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.

Red Mist
Kill 1000 Infected with a mounted machine gun.

Pyrotechnician
Blow up 20 Infected in a single explosion.

Zombie Genocidest
Kill 53,595 Infected.

Dead Giveaway
Heal a fellow Survivor when your own health is below 10.

Stand Tall
Survive a campaign without being incapacitated.

Zombicidal Maniac
Survive any campaign on Expert.

What Are You Trying to Prove?
Survive all campaigns on Expert.

Nothing Special
Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Special Infected.

Burn the Witch
Light a Witch with a Molotov.

Towering Inferno
Light a Tank with a Molotov.

Spinal Tap
Kill an Infected with a single blow from behind.

Stomach Upset
All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.

Brain Salad
Make 100 headshot kills.

Jump Shot
Headshot a Hunter while he’s leaping.

Mercy Killer
Survive the No Mercy campaign.

Back 2 Help
Leave a safe room to save an incapped teammate and bring them back safely.

Toll Collector
Survive the Death Toll campaign.

Dead Baron
Survive the Dead Air campaign.

Grim Reaper
Survive the Blood Harvest campaign.

Ground Cover
Save another Survivor from a Special Infected while on the ground.

Clean Kill
Shove a Boomer and then kill him without him splashing on anyone.

Big Drag
Drag a Survivor 100 feet with your tongue.

Chain Smoker
Constrict two Survivors in one life as a Smoker.

Barf Bagged
Cover four Survivors with Boomer bile at once.

Double Jump
Pounce two different Survivors in one life as a Hunter.

All 4 Dead
Kill all four Survivors in one life while playing as a Tank.

Dead Wreckening
Dole out 5000 total Survivor damage as a Special Infected.

Lamb 2 Slaughter
As an Infected, incap a Survivor who has entered and left a safe room.

While possibly not as inventive and brilliant as the TF2 achievements Valve have been rolling out, it’s certainly still a noteworthy list. Don’t forget that there are bound to be more released with the inevitable extra content in the future (at least on the PC version)!

[Via The 1Fort Blog.]

Valve’s Gabe Newell today confirmed several details pertaining the demo of the much anticipated Left 4 Dead to EDGE-Online. The level featured in the demo supports up to four players, and it to be a section of the “No Mercy” campaign.

Newell also stated that the estimated release date for both the PC and XBox 360 demos is “early November”; looks like we’ll be able to start shooting zombies before the game even releases. We know we’ll be trying out the demo as soon as we can, but how do you feel? Will you be downloading the demo the day it’s released, or will you wait for the full game?

Are you even looking forward to the game? Let us know in the comments.

A stunning new batch of RE5 screens confirm what we’ve known for a few months now: that Resident Evil 5 is shaping up to be a much nicer-looking version of Resident Evil 4. A few of these screens also show off the co-op dynamics, with Sheva seeking help and assistance after grappling with some vicious zombies.

These new screens show off the look of the game, but we’re still waiting for confirmation of RE5’s gameplay variations. The on-rails vehicle scenes in RE4 were among my favorites, so hopefully we won’t have to wait long for a glimpse of the other action setpieces in RE5. A gallery of all the new screens can be found on the next page.

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San Francisco is apparently a hotspot for zombie activity. With several zombie attacks in recent memory, a group of daring individuals devised a plan to funnel all of the undead Rice-A-Roni’s into a secure location. This Saturday, August 16th, radio-attraktor towers will be powered on that will telepathically guide the zombies to an “undisclosed location” where they will be dealt with.

One warning, though: The radio-attraktors will cause the zombies to crave duct tape instead of human flesh, so don’t traipse about San Francisco with any duct tape on you unless you desire to be living impaired.

(May be somewhat unsafe for work)

The San Francisco Zombie Mob put out a warning that stated:

We will turn on the radio-attraktor towers at 2:05pm on Saturday, August 16th. All zombies in the area will be telepathically compelled to march down a route which we will disclose in a future email. The radio waves will also cause undead to crave duct tape instead of human flesh. If you are unfortunate enough to be standing along the route with a duct tape “X” on your torso, you will be attacked and consumed by the horde, after which you will be one of them. Don’t wear your favorite shirt.

Please, please tell your friends and family not to be anywhere near the route at 2:05pm this Saturday! Have them sign up for updates or follow the movement live on Twitter with up-to-the-minute zombie migration forecast, Beijing Olympic protest style. If we loose radio control of the mob, the result will be catastrophically gruesome!

Here’s some video showing the ghastly event from last year:

I don’t know how any of these zombie girls make it through the day without being sexually harassed, what with all the biting and clothes-ripping. Seems to me this is a zombie lawsuit waiting to happen.  Perhaps they just didn’t think about that and, dare I say, bit off more than they could chew?  Har har har!

These zombie chicks are either having a great time or feel incredibly violated (it’s always hard to tell with zombie chicks).

In all seriousness, though, I find this to be incredibly irresponsible.  What will we do when the zombies really do attack?  We will all be laughing and videotaping and talking about how real it looks.  Haven’t you ever heard the story of the boy who cried “zombie”?  These shenanigans need to stop!

The good news about Resident Evil 5 is the same as the bad news: It plays very, very similarly to Resident Evil 4. The stage we played at E3 was just like the Ganado Village at the start of RE4, only with a greater variety of zombies, ultra-sharp environments and lighting, and a few gameplay tweaks like instantaneous weapon changes.

Of course, we have no idea where the story will go this time around, and how many deviations from the “zombie shooting gallery” will occur along the way. What we do know is that the cutscenes that preceded and followed this big action set-piece were stunningly gorgeous, and there seemed to be enough variety in the outdoor, shantyville location to encourage replayability. For example, zombies could come climbing over the fence, break through the windows, or barge in through the door, giving Chris Redfield lots of corners to watch to avoid being overrun.

The helpful A.I. partner in this scene, Sheva, was also a literal life-saver at points. She gave Chris boxes of ammo when he ran out, and saved his bacon from the fire by attacking the huge executioner miniboss who was in the process of throttling him.

This explosion of zombies occurred immediately following the raging crowd scene that we saw in the RE5 trailers. An instigator with a megaphone is riling up the crowd, and the executioner brings his giant gnarly axe down on some poor doomed soul. When the instigator spies Chris and Sheva, he orders the crowd to attack, and they descend with wild abandon.

As you begin to shoot at the approaching crowd, some of them will start to sprout symbiote tentacles from their mouths. Others will only show a flash of alien when you strike with a headshot– a reminder that while they may look human, they’re actually something far scarier.

Strangely, and we’re not sure if this will be in the final game, the instigator with the megaphone actually joined in with the crazed crowd. Of course, being armed only with a megaphone, he was no threat, but we shot him anyways and watched him dissolve like all the others. So much for him being an essential part of the story, right? Much tougher was the executioner, who took what seemed like dozens of shotgun blasts before finally keeling over.

Playing as Chris, I found that you could switch between weapons and items using the D-pad. However, since this was my first and only time playing the game, I often would accidentally equip my health spray when I meant to switch to the shotgun. Also, I noticed that when you pick up items such as ammunition, the game does not pause, but Chris takes the time to duck down and pick up the item. For this reason, you shouldn’t pick up stuff while enemies are right behind you.

This early stage was almost certainly chosen for its similarity to RE4. Whether this reflects the rest of the game remains to be seen. I for one would like to check out the more unconventional aspects of the game, like some of the on-rail sequences. Where is RE5’s version of the mine-cart or heavy-machinery chases?

If you thought Dead Rising was too cartoony, but still liked the horrible feeling of encountering dozens of on-screen undead, Resident Evil 5 will deliver the fright big-time. RE5 is less than 9 months away from release at this point, so we’ll get to play more with Capcom’s freaky little bundle of joy soon enough.

Andrew and I tackled the first level of Valve’s co-op survival horror shooter, Left 4 Dead, on PC. In case you don’t already know how cool this game is, let me first just say that (if you didn’t catch it on our final E3 podcast) it was definitely the best thing I got my hands on at the show.

Zombies! From whence do they hail? We don’t really care. Honestly, do you really have time to care when there are like five of them mauling your face as you fire off desperation shots from your incapacitated position on the floor? Andrew didn’t, I can tell you that.

See, the problem was that after the four of us (Andrew, two others, and I) descended some stairs and made our way through a deserted… apartment? (That room was certainly a kitchen at one time…) we came out in an area with abandoned cars in the street. Tutorial pop-up tips were turned on–reminding us to help our buddies, grab med packs, and, in this instance, instructing us to NOT set off the car alarm.

We will never know which of us noobs instigated the horrible incident, but, of course, you already realize what happened: Irate zombies. Honestly, I don’t even remember hearing the alarm go off, I just remember seeing TONS of undead flood into the area, and then a moment after that, fending them off with my automatic, or a fist.

Assisting your gang-beaten friends is a dangerous proposition, since you have to hold a button for more than just a second. My tactic was to spray the immediate offenders with bullets and then cast around for incomers–which there pretty much always were, never giving me quite the opening I needed for a rescue. My poor bleeding comrades! Sorry, Andrew.

In the end, only two of us made it to the safe room, where we had to be reminded by the tutorial tips to close the door. Maybe AFTER the game ships on November 4th, after I practice diligently everyday– maybe then I will become a true zombie survivalist, instead of a lucky bastard.

Capcom’s first Resident Evil 5 trailer caused a minor uproar over its supposed racist imagery, showing a glorified white male American killing black African zombies. It’s understandable that such imagery might prompt a backlash, and so Capcom have rectified this in their new politically correct (yes, PC stands for politically correct and not Personal Computer in this instance ) “Captivate 2008″ trailer.

Notice how there are Caucasian zombies in almost every shot? This suggests Capcom either concentrated on showing these zombies in the trailer, or actually added multiracial enemies into the game itself after all the negative publicity.