Original Left 4 Dead Also Coming To Mac [Valve]

While it wasn’t listed among the other Valve games that were getting Mac OS X support earlier today, the original Left 4 Dead is also making its way to Apple computers alongside its sequel. The official Left 4 Dead blog confirms that Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis will be hitting the Mac platform this spring, right alongside Portal, Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. And, like all the other games Valve is giving the Mac treatment, the original L4D will be cross-platform compatible, meaning Mac and PC users will for once have to find common ground in order to survive. Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac! [L4D Blog]

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Original Left 4 Dead Also Coming To Mac [Valve]

Original Survivors Get Chatty In Left 4 Dead 2’s The Passing [X10]

I wasn’t able to spot one of the new “fallen survivors” of Left 4 Dead 2’s upcoming map pack, The Passing, but I did find one of its new weapons, a monstrous machine gun. I grabbed it while playing through a chunk of the second map. Left 4 Dead 2’s March-scheduled three-map add-on , The Passing, picks up after players in Valve’s hit sequel escape Liberty Mall in Jimmy Gibbs Jr.’s car. There is, Valve’s Chet Faliszek tells me, a moment when the cast of the original Left 4 Dead runs into the cast of Left 4 Dead 2 at the opening of the first map. While the original game’s cast isn’t playable, not in this add-on at least, they also aren’t just scene-setting wallflowers. “That intro scene, there are thirty-something versions of that,” Faliszek said. “Pretend these guys had an hour-long conversation. We don’t want to make you sit and watch an hour-long movie, so we’re going to dice it up and give it to you in different ways.” The two crews run into each other again at the conclusion of The Passing’s third map, just before the add-on pack slips neatly back into Left 4 Dead 2’s original gameplay of the Dark Carnival. “Depending on how it started, you’ll have different conversations there as well,” Faliszek said. The second map, playable at this week’s Microsoft X10 event in San Francisco, featured a small coastal Georgia town packed with picturesque brick buildings, a quaint downtown.. and zombies. Faliszek said that, while the area has “Savannah influences,” like the series of walkways found early in the first map, it is an entirely fictional place. The team had initially played with the notion of basing The Passing on Atlanta, but decided it made more sense to create their own town, he added. Some of The Passing will also make an appearance in the still unnamed add-on pack coming to the original Left 4 Dead as well, though none of the Left 4 Dead 2 cast will be in that pack. The notion of tying the two casts together in an add-on pack was something Valve has been playing around with since before the second game was announced, he said. “We talked about the digital comic and lead up before Left 4 Dead 2 was announced, and that was the genesis for all of this interaction between the two games,” Faliszek said. The price and exact release date for the two add-on packs have not yet been announced, but Faliszek says that the plan is to release the packs within a couple of months of one another.

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Original Survivors Get Chatty In Left 4 Dead 2’s The Passing [X10]

Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing" Coming March, Followed By Comic, More L4D DLC [X10]

Valve is showing the first downloadable content pack for Left 4 Dead 2, “The Passing,” at today’s X10 event. The new campaign is now aiming for a March release, the start of new content for the zombie apocalypse shooter. In “The Passing,” players will meet up with the original Left 4 Dead’s survivors, Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis, who will appear as non-playable characters. Valve’s Chet Faliszek told Kotaku that Left 4 Dead 2’s survivors will rendezvous with the original quartet later on in the campaign, and that they will aid Coach, Nick, Ellis and Rochelle in finishing the third map in the campaign. “The Passing” will also add one new uncommon common infected type, which Valve is calling the Fallen Survivor. These new zombies, humans who erroneously believed themselves to be immune to the infection, will sometimes drop items when killed, like health kits or ammo. That new add-on will offer an opportunity to see more of the original cast’s character traits, Faliszek said, storylines that will likely be explored in the Left 4 Dead digital comic book that will arrive after “The Passing.” That comic will be illustrated by Powers artist Michael Avon Oeming. Then, about a “month or so” after that, Valve plans to release an add-on for the first Left 4 Dead, an episode that will tell the story of the original survivors’ journey to “The Passing.” That unnamed Left 4 Dead add-on will only be playable on the original game, not in the sequel. Valve says it plans to release “The Passing” on Xbox 360 and PC in “late March” with more details on the Left 4 Dead downloadable content coming soon.

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Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing" Coming March, Followed By Comic, More L4D DLC [X10]

First Screens Of Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing," New Infected, New Weapons [Screens]

Valve released new details on the first downloadable add-on for Left 4 Dead 2 today at Microsoft’s X10 event, explaining how “The Passing” will handle the meet up with the original Left 4 Dead survivors. Now, let’s have some media. These ten new screens of the new episode, coming to the PC and Xbox 360 in “late March,” show off the new “Savannah-esque” coastal town setting and the new Fallen Survivor infected. He’s the unlucky undead wearing the bucket hat, bandolier and Molotov cocktail in some of these shots. You’ll also get a peek at what appears to be a new machine gun and the new Black Tie common zombie.

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First Screens Of Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing," New Infected, New Weapons [Screens]

First Screens Of Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing," New Infected, New Weapons [Screens]

Valve released new details on the first downloadable add-on for Left 4 Dead 2 today at Microsoft’s X10 event, explaining how “The Passing” will handle the meet up with the original Left 4 Dead survivors. Now, let’s have some media. These ten new screens of the new episode, coming to the PC and Xbox 360 in “late March,” show off the new “Savannah-esque” coastal town setting and the new Fallen Survivor infected. He’s the unlucky undead wearing the bucket hat, bandolier and Molotov cocktail in some of these shots. You’ll also get a peek at what appears to be a new machine gun and the new Black Tie common zombie.

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First Screens Of Left 4 Dead 2’s "The Passing," New Infected, New Weapons [Screens]

Left 4 Dead 2 Sells 2.9 Million, Dragon Age 2.7 Million; EA Loses $82 Million [Business]

Electronic Arts touted worldwide sales of Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins during today’s investor call, the two titles combining for more than 5.6 million in sales. In other good news, EA lost $82 million last quarter. No that is good news, considering that EA lost $641 million during the same quarter last year. A remarkable improvement, you might say, especially since revenue was down to $1.243 billion as compared with $1.654 billion from the year prior. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is understandably pumped. “EA is growing share in our packaged goods business and our digital businesses continue to grow rapidly,” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, clearly pleased. Eric Brown, Chief Financial Officer, was similarly stoked. “We are expecting an increase in FY11 full year non-GAAP earnings per share on the basis of strong cost controls and growth in our digital businesses,” said Brown. EA expects to make $3.45 to $3.70 billion in the next fiscal year, thanks to the release of many video games.

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Left 4 Dead 2 Sells 2.9 Million, Dragon Age 2.7 Million; EA Loses $82 Million [Business]

Left 4 Dead 2 Update, Zombie Bots Are Go [Valve]

Valve has issued the latest update to its cooperative and competitive zombie killing sim Left 4 Dead 2 , with changes that are sure to delight the Boomer in you. The newly issued patch, now available on Steam and arriving for Xbox 360 owners in “an upcoming title update,” deals away with the dreaded “auto spawn” feature during finales. Plus, it adds Special Infected bots, a change that will help fill out the zombie side when playing with fewer than four players. The slightly bad news is that Valve has also reduced the effectiveness of melee weapons against the Tank. If you don’t have the Tank Burger achievement, Xbox 360 gamers, better get it quick. There are plenty of additional, less exciting changes—though “Improved SurvivorBot AI” is never a bad thing—if you’d like to read ‘em at the official Steam site. Left 4 Dead 2 and the Left 4 Dead 2 SDK Update Released [Steam]

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Left 4 Dead 2 Update, Zombie Bots Are Go [Valve]

Why Valve Took a Leak(er) Out of Left 4 Dead 2 [Left 4 Dead 2]

Speaking to Official Xbox Magazine, Valve’s Chet Faliszek said the Left 4 Dead 2 team came up with a since-discarded special infected called “The Leaker.” He was axed not for doing something disgusting, but predictable. “With The Leaker, the idea was a kind of Boomer that could take damage, and shoot out spouts of goo. And you could plant yourself and explode – be this walking bomb,” Faliszek told OXM. “The problem is there’s a warning that you’re going to do that. So when you go to plant yourself, everyone else runs away, and you just die and don’t hurt anybody.” So they scotched The Leaker, but carried over some of his properties to The Spitter, Faliszek said. Oh, and about that inspired name (and others)? It’s “because I’m lazy,” Faliszek said. “‘What does this one do?’ ‘It charges.’ ‘Yeah, it’s a Charger. I’ll go with that.’” Interview with Valve’s Chet Faliszek [Official Xbox Magazine]

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Why Valve Took a Leak(er) Out of Left 4 Dead 2 [Left 4 Dead 2]

Motion Controlled Left 4 Dead 2 in Action [Clips]

Yesterday Mike wrote up his impressions of a motion-control enabled version of Left 4 Dead 2 running on a PC with the help of Sixense TrueMotion wireless motion controllers. Now take a gander at a Razer rep playing a bit of the game with the dual, black sticks.

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Motion Controlled Left 4 Dead 2 in Action [Clips]

Left 4 Dead 2 Gets Free Xbox Live Weekend [Xbox Live]

I know, I know – how could there be enough people with Left 4 Dead 2 and without multiplayer access to rate a free weekend on Xbox Live ? Well, they’re getting one anyway, on Jan. 15. The free multiplayer begins Friday, Jan. 15 at noon U.S. Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific and will continue until Monday at the same times. Then they can go back to playing Left 4 Dead 2 in singleplayer, I hear that bot AI is just like playing with real people. Left 4 Dead 2 Gets Free Xbox Weekend [CVG]

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Left 4 Dead 2 Gets Free Xbox Live Weekend [Xbox Live]

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