Jan 18, 2013

Left 4 Dead 2 gets Steam Workshop support

Left 4 Dead

Valve have posted a patch for Left 4 Dead 2 this morning. Along with the regular old incomprehensible patch notes, ("Cleaned up DLC add-on file dependencies and simplified talker file structure." Huh?) they've finally enabled Steam Workshop support, creating an easy system for browsing and installing new weapons, campaigns, items and - er - clothing. I guess the Venn diagram of fashion enthusiasts and mod creators does have some crossover.

As it's only been live for a few hours, L4D2's Workshop listing is still a bit barren. It shouldn't take long for some top content to appear, though - Left 4 Dead 2 already has a healthy modding community, so, with any luck, some of the best will be uploaded in the coming days.

Adding mods to the game was already a relatively simple process, but of course the Workshop streamlines it down further and, perhaps more importantly, will automatically each mod with any patch the creator uploads.

Hopefully we'll soon see some of the great community created campaigns start to appear, like these brilliant Back 2 School maps.

Jan 17, 2013

The Workshop is Live!

Left 4 Dead

Today we are moving the Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop out of beta! So right now with a click of a button, you can add campaigns, items, clothing, weapons and more.

Content creators have been hard at work creating content for L4D2 but they have just gotten access to the new Workshop, so give them some time to upload their work. But with over 1,000 community campaigns and thousands more items and skins already created for the game, we should see many of these pop up in the Left 4 Dead 2 Workshop in the coming days and weeks (Note: Please don t upload other people s work. If a campaign you like isn t in the Workshop, please nicely ask the creator to post it). You can start browsing the Workshop now.

To help other players find the coolest content, make sure to rate and discuss the submissions. We will be featuring submissions on l4d.com

Jan 17, 2013

Valve launches Steam Guides: browse and create user-made walkthroughs and tips

Half-Life 2

Someday, Valve will eventually run out of wonderful features to pack into its mega-gaming-hub Steam. Let's hope it's a long way off, because we'll all be busy poring over the user-written manuals, walkthroughs, and tips for our various games in the newly launched Steam Guides section of Steam's Community area.

Anyone can create and submit a guide for the game of their choice by clicking the new Guide tab on a game's Community Hub page. You can pretty up your words with images and embedded YouTube videos as well, and the guides also appear upon Steam's overlay whenever you're running a program. Neat. I can finally whip up my "How to avoid tigers" guide I've been planning for Far Cry 3 quickly and easily.

Head over to the Steam Guides page to take a look at the over 1,000 guides already created.

Jan 17, 2013

Valve Considers Resubmitting Left 4 Dead 2 for Australian Classification

Left 4 Dead

You may remember that, nearly four years ago, Australia's classification board refused to classify Left 4 Dead 2, effectively banning it from sale in the country. At the time, Australia's ratings system for video games topped out at MA15+, which basically means suitable for teenagers. Valve released a highly sanitized version of the game just for Australia, disappointing many and calling attention to the country's insufficient ratings policies.

Well, in the three-plus years since, Australia has gotten its act together. On Jan. 1, a new R18+ rating went into effect (Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge was the first to claim it.) Fans down under are wondering if Valve is keen to revisit the subject with a fully unedited Left 4 Dead 2. Writing on Valve's official forums, Chet Faliszek says yes.

"We have been exploring the options here and what we can legally do," he said.
"We will have more information on this when we understand the issues fully and how we are moving forward."

The game was submitted and refused, the decision was appealed, and the appeal was denied. It sounds like Valve isn't yet certain if Left 4 Dead 2 is eligible for a re-review under a new rating, or if an old decision is final no matter what.

Still, any expense of resubmitting Left 4 Dead 2 for classification "doesn't worry us," he added. "This is something we want to do."

Valve investigating R18+ options for Left 4 Dead 2 in Australia [GameSpot]

Jan 10, 2013

Vireio Perception drivers for Oculus Rift add support for Skyrim, Mirror’s Edge, others

Half-Life 2

Contrary to popular belief, the anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality headset doesn't run on pixie dust and elf tears. Like all hardware, it needs software drivers. And while its 20-year-old creator, Palmer Luckey, focuses on manufacturing more developer kits to meet the exceedingly high demand, enthusiastic 3D fans are already planning homebrewed custom drivers. One such project is CyberReality's Vireio Perception which extends Rift 3D support to first-person greats such as Portal 2, Skyrim, Mirror's Edge, and Left 4 Dead.

As CyberReality describes it, Vireio (or Virtual Reality Input Output, but we like how the shorthand name sounds like an enemy boss) can "pre-warp the image to match the Oculus Rift optics, handle custom aspect-ratios (needed for the Rift's strange 8:10 screen), and utilize full 3D head-tracking." As we describe it: Whoa.

The drivers work with nine games so far: Left 4 Dead, Half-Life 2, Portal 2, Skyrim, Mirror's Edge, AaAaAA!!!, Unreal Tournament 3, Dear Esther, and DiRT 2. CyberReality plans to add additional games in the future after spending more time with the kit. If all goes well, the possibilities are enormous: Think of revisiting classics such as Thief or Deus Ex with full head-tracking vision. Oh, yes, this is exciting.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

Jan 4, 2013

The Donkey Kong Rap, As Told Through Left 4 Dead Zombies

Left 4 Dead

Some people might tell you that Donkey Kong 64 is an awful game. According to 10 year old me (my age the last time I played that game), they'd be wrong. But, hopefully everyone can agree that the Donkey Kong rap is fantastic?

Now, take that catchy tune, and add the Left 4 Dead zombies. What do you get? This amazing thing by YouTube user EdbotnikThe's.

Keep an eye on the witch.

L4DK Rap [EdbotnikThe's]

Nov 16, 2012

Valve Saxxy video Award voting is underway

Team Fortress 2

Valve fired the starting pistol on the Saxxy video awards back in August, inviting fans to create the best videos they can using the Source Filmmaker tool released earlier this year. The entries are in, and the voting has started. You can start dishing out thumbs-ups and thumbs-downs by logging in and working through the queue on the Saxxy Steam page.

The quality is mixed, as you'd expect, but every so often you run into a gem that makes it worthwhile. My favourite so far is the Midnight Power short embedded below, a slow pan out on a fight scene that stretches the number of moving objects and characters the filmmaker can handle to its limit.

Discover more great filmmaker videos in our round-up of ten of the best.

Nov 14, 2012

And Now I Need To See A Left 4 Dead 2-Themed Adventure Time Episode

Left 4 Dead

I feel we haven't hit our weekly quota of Things Tina Likes, so here's a mash-up image of Adventure Time and Left 4 Dead 2, which, yes, I still play. In between Halo 4.

Adventure time meets Left 4 Dead [nissemann123456789 via Insanely Gaming]

Nov 9, 2012

Warcelona

Left 4 Dead

Today we are adding a new community created campaign onto our official servers Warcelona.

How do you play this great campaign? Well.. it s kind of a pain. You can download it from here and copy that file in your \Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\addons directory. You can also double click it and it should copy it there but if it doesn t, you can just move it there and then start your game. Having it on our servers means you can start games on an Official Server for a better experience.