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'Left 4 Dead' studio Turtle Rock returns with 'Back 4 Blood'
You're probably not going to get Left 4 Dead 3 any time soon, but you might get the next best thing. Original developer Turtle Rock Studios and Warner Bros. have announced Back 4 Blood, a team-based zombie shooter that aims to modernize the L4D concept with "new features and state-of-the-art technology." The game is so early that there isn't even a logo for it yet, but Turtle Rock said in an FAQ that it will be a "premium, AAA title" initially designed for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Gear VR was the 'Evolve' and 'Left 4 Dead' studio's savior
"Chaotic." That's how Turtle Rock Studios president Steve Goldstein described the 14 months between its last AAA game, Evolve, being effectively killed and now. The four-hunter-versus-one-gigantic-monster online multiplayer game struggled to retain players after it was released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in early 2015. Last June, Evolve transitioned from a $60 game to a free-to-play one. As a result, it went from roughly 100 players per month to more than 15,000. You'd think that would have been enough to keep the lights on, but you'd be wrong. Four months later, publisher 2K Games pulled the plug, saying that while the servers would remain online for the foreseeable future, the game wouldn't be getting any more updates. "It was absolutely looking bleak, but sadly that's not unusual in our space," Goldstein said. "Everyone who works here knows that they are taking a risk, right? That's not a problem unique to us." If all you've paid attention to are headlines on gaming and tech news sites, you'd think that Turtle Rock has been on the ropes ever since. But in the last year or so, thanks to Oculus' aggressive investments in virtual reality games and other experiences, Turtle Rock has been quietly building a mobile VR safety net in case its next $100 million project goes the way of Evolve.
'Left 4 Dead' character returns to haunt 'Dead by Daylight'
Dead by Daylight, the hit survival-horror game that pits a team of four players against a dangerous killer, is getting a new character as part of the title's free "Left Behind" DLC. Players of Valve's successful Left 4 Dead series of zombie games will recognize Bill, the bearded, loyal-to-a-fault Vietnam vet as a new Dead by Daylight playable character.
'Left 4 Dead' creator releases an unfinished campaign
Now that Turtle Rock Studios is no longer working on Evolve, it has some time on its hands... and it's giving veteran gamers a treat. If you have a PC copy of the original Left 4 Dead (one of Turtle Rock's best-known games), you can now install Dam It, an unfinished but playable free campaign that was meant to connect two of the shipping game's stories (Dead Air and Blood Harvest). You start at an airfield and have to make your way through an apple orchard, a ravine, a covered bridge and a campground before a climactic fight at the campaign's namesake hydroelectric dam. Unlike most other L4D tales, you're actually encouraged to split up -- you just need to stay close enough to offer support in a pinch.
'Portal 2' and 'Left 4 Dead' are now playable on Xbox One
The list of Xbox 360 games backwards compatible with the Xbox One has now reached 200 titles with the addition of fan favorites Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead. Additionally, support was also added for Flashback, Brain Challenge and Babel Rising. Microsoft announced the backwards compatibility feature during last year's E3, and rolled it out over the holiday season.
Watch this six-way trailer for Evolve, the latest shooter from the makers of Left 4 Dead
With each successive round of gaming consoles, developers get a little more inventive with the available technology -- the same goes for how they tease their audience ahead of a game's launch, too. Turtle Rock Studios (the team behind Left 4 Dead) recently released an interactive trailer for its upcoming co-op shooter, Evolve. The clip follows a session of four players as they stalk and then battle the gigantic, player-controlled creature that's out to end them. The rub of it is that with a single mouse-click you can swap between the perspectives of each combatant on-the-fly, and watch how the game unfolds from their respective points of view. Want jump from bipedal-monstrosity to soldier and back again just before the former attacks the latter? Go for it.
Valve experiments with players' sweat response, eye-tracking controls for future game design
Valve has a surprisingly varied staff roster. Mike Ambinder is the company's very own experimental psychologist and he's been outlining some of Valve's work with biofeedback technology, including eye-motion controls for Portal 2 and perspiration-based gaming adjustments on Left 4 Dead. Mentioning these developments at the NeuroGaming Conference last week, Ambinder notes that both are still at an experimental stage, but that "there is potential on both sides of the equation, both for using physiological signals to quantify an emotion [and] what you can do when you incorporate physiological signals into the gameplay itself." In Left 4 Dead, test subjects had their sweat monitored, with values assigned to how much they were responding to the action. This data was fed back into the game, where designers attempted to modify (and improve) the experience. In a test where players had four minutes to shoot 100 enemies, calmer participants would progress normally, but if they got nervous, the game would speed up and they would have less time to shoot. When it came to the eye-tracking iteration of Portal 2, the new controls apparently worked well, but also necessitated separating aiming and viewpoint to ensure it worked. With Valve already involving itself in wearable computing, it should make both notions easier to accomplish if it decides to bring either experiment to fans. Venture Beat managed to record Ambinder's opening address at the conference -- we've added it after the break.
Left 4 Dead 2 now available on Linux, reclaims beta moniker
Valve's bid to lure gamers away from Microsoft's platform just got a little sweeter: Left 4 Dead 2 is finally available on Linux. Despite early appearances in early leaks, the game has been absent from Steam's Linux compatible library. The wait might have been worth it -- early ports of the game apparently only ran at six frames per second, but it eventually surpassed its Windows counterpart. Now, Valve is looking towards its community to fine tune the port even further, offering a fully functional beta client to Steam users who already own the game. Although the focus here is Linux compatibility, the company is offering the beta to Windows and Mac users as well, and says that running the game on any system helps with testing. Ready to take down the horde? Fire up Ubuntu and get started. Otherwise, you can check out the company's official announcement at the source link below.
Valve says NVIDIA's the best, Steam and Left 4 Dead for Linux coming along nicely
The godfather of Linux, Linus Torvalds, may think that NVIDIA is "the worst," but Valve respectfully disagrees. The company has been working closely with the manufacturer, as well as AMD and Intel, to boost performance of its hardware under the open source OS. The developer clearly has an interest in getting the best from those companies as it works to port Left 4 Dead 2 and Steam to Linux. That close partnership is already bearing impressive fruit as Valve claims its co-op zombie shooter now performs better on Ubuntu than it does under Windows 7 using a GeForce GTX 680. The first Open GL Linux version managed a measly six frames per second, while the Direct X powered Microsoft one was topping 270. Only a few months later, and Left 4 Dead 2 is hitting 315fps on the 32-bit version of Precise Pangolin, outperforming even the Open GL Windows port which sits at 305fps. Of course, it's relatively well established that Ubuntu has lower overhead and running Direct X only compounds the issue, though, its unparalleled driver support can't be denied. While it's not completely fair to compare performance on a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit one, Valve is proving that gaming on Linux need not be some proof-of-concept exercise. Linus can flip NVIDIA the bird all he wants but, through its work with Valve, it may be doing more to bring Linux to the mainstream than anyone previously has.
Valve Source Filmmaker makes a movie out of any Source game, now you're directing with Portals (video)
Creating machinima with a video game engine usually requires accepting one of two truths: either that it will require a lot of fudging or that it will have all the sophistication of playing with action figures. Valve Software isn't very happy with that dichotomy, which is why it's posting its very own movie-making tool, Source Filmmaker, as a public beta. Any game that runs on the Source engine, whether it's Left 4 Dead 2, Portal 2 or another in the family, can have gameplay run-throughs edited and dissected right down to custom facial expressions. As Valve expounds in the video after the break, throwing a gaming-grade PC at the task gives directors the advantage of seeing exactly how any changes will look in the final scene; there's no rough wireframes or pre-rendering here. Budding Francis Ford Coppolas can sign up for an invitation to the Filmmaker beta at the project page. If you'd just like to see how far someone can go with the end results, we've also included the latest Team Fortress 2 character profile video, Meet the Pyro, after the jump.
WoW Moviewatch: Outbreak Lordaeron
Outbreak Lordaeron snagged second place in the BlizzCon 2011 machinima contest. You can see why the movie did well within the first few seconds. The voice acting and graphics are amazing; the action is well choreographed and fluid. Jeffrey Cuiper created the machinima, and the music was performed by Walid Feghali. Voice acting was provided by Jesse Cox, Matt Greenburg, Jesse O'Connor, and Rawrbug. Daniel Whitcomb pointed out immediately that Outbreak Lordaeron is a parody of Left4Dead. I admit that I didn't recognize it. Even without understanding that video game reference, it's impossible not to get the obvious reference to traditional zombie horror. Four survivors must fight their way through the undead horde. The survivors' only hope is to use their wits, energy, and simple weapons to struggle toward freedom. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Valve releases the original Left 4 Dead just in time for Halloween
I just got done playing a level of Left 4 Dead 2 on my MacBook Pro when I saw this: Valve has released the original Left 4 Dead for Mac OS X. Valve originally released the sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, for the Mac on October 5th, promising the first one would come in time for Halloween. The reason for the delay? Valve was having a bit of a hard time making the original Mac-compatible. Late last night, Valve made good on their promise. If you're a fan of zombies, the original Left 4 Dead is a blast. It's also a steal at just US$9.99 (a 50 percent discount in celebration of its release), but for an even better value, you can get both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 for just $14.99 for a limited time. If you already bought the game through Steam on a Windows PC, you should be able to play it on a Mac now without having to re-purchase it thanks to Steam Play. Left 4 Dead requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 or higher (Snow Leopard Graphics Update required) with a 2 GHz dual core Intel processor or better. You'll also need either an ATI Radeon 2400 video card or better or an NVIDIA 8600M or better.
Left 4 Dead 2 coming to the Mac this Tuesday
This is it -- the rumors were true! The last non-Mac holdout of Valve's Source titles is Left 4 Dead, the zombie-killing shooter featuring four survivors and a whole lot of undead, but that's about to change. The official site for the newest Left 4 Dead 2 downloadable content, "The Sacrifice," confirms that the game's sequel is coming to the Mac this very Tuesday, October 5th. Left 4 Dead 2 will be released, as have all of the Source games, under the Steam Play banner. That means if you own it on the PC, you also own it on the Mac, so all you'll have to do is download and start shooting zombies. Anyone who buys the game on Steam will get all of the DLC for free, which makes for the original five campaigns plus the three DLC levels to play through. That's an excellent deal for sure. Unfortunately, the first game is not yet ready for the Mac; apparently, it's taking Valve a little longer than expected to get it OS X-compatible. But Valve promises that when it is released, Steam owners will get the same deal -- all the DLC with the game itself. That's good stuff. Of course, with Left 4 Dead finally coming to our platform, which game will we be stuck waiting for next? Civ V, where you at? Thanks, Ben H!
Rumor: Left 4 Dead on the Mac by October 5?
Left 4 Dead is the last promised Valve title to see release on Steam for Mac, and yet we haven't heard anything about an official release date. Valve was moving along pretty well for a while there, releasing games for our platform every Wednesday. But they've petered out lately, leaving a lot of Mac gamers wondering if we'd ever get to shoot zombies along with the rest of the gaming world. But a slip found by our former cohort David Chartier, now at Macworld, hints that we'll be exploring the zombie apocalypse soon -- he notes that Valve is bringing the game's new downloadable content, "The Sacrifice," to all platforms, including the Mac, by October 5th. The Sacrifice is an extra level that's available for both the first and second games in the series, so there's still a chance that Valve will only give us the original Left 4 Dead, and save the sequel for later. But I'd guess the reason for the long delay is that they're bringing both games over, so we might see both of them released on Steam for Mac by then. Of course, this could just be a slip of the blog, with the Mac just accidentally listed as an available platform. But that doesn't seem likely -- Valve tends to be careful about what they say. To whet your appetite, check out the game's brand new comic, created just for the new DLC.
Steam for Mac beta set for May 12
Steam for the Mac has been given a date: May 12th. We were hoping to see it by the time April ended, but they've pushed back the date to just a few scant weeks from today. So come the second Wednesday in May, you the public will be able to go and pick up the beta and see what the biggest digital distribution system in the world looks like running native on your Mac. Keep in mind that you'll have to have an Intel Mac running 10.5 or higher (and you might even need a more current OS for some of the games on the system), and of course this is the Steam platform, not all of the games along with it. But at the very least, the official Valve games will be Mac-ported, including the Half Life and Left 4 Dead series, and the very excellent Portal. Should be fun!
Waiting for Left 4 Dead on the Mac? Wait a little longer
Back in March, the Mac gaming world got excited when Valve announced their Steam gaming software was coming to the Mac -- along with Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half Life series. The same day, Valve said Steam would ship in April, to be proceeded by a beta test in late March. The call for beta testers did go as planned with a late-March timeline, but with only four days left, it doesn't seem like Valve is going to make their second deadline. Over the weekend, Valve put this message up on their Steam for Mac beta site: "Sorry! This stage of the Steam on Mac beta signup is now closed. Applicants will be chosen in the coming weeks. If we open the beta to a larger audience we will let everyone know!" We've sent an email to Valve asking if they have a new public release date planned, but have yet to hear back from them. As soon as we do, I'll let you know!
WotLK cinematic picks up Elan award nomination
Throw another nomination on the list for Wrath of the Lich King -- Blizzard's cinematic team has been nominated for an Elan award for the WotLK cinematic in the category of Best Animated Short Subject. And the nom is well deserved: while the trailer broke with the tradition of showing the various races and classes of Warcraft doing battle with each other, Blizzard's choice to instead recap the story of Arthas and the Lich King while he summoned Sindragosa worked well and looked amazing.Unfortunately, Blizzard missed out in the actual game nominations -- for best PC game, the expansion was overshadowed by Fallout 3, Crysis Warhead, Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, and Left 4 Dead. You can argue amongst yourselves whether that's justified or not. But we're sure Blizzard is happy with the animation nomination anyway -- their competition there is Turbo Dogs, so they'll probably do fine when the awards are announced on April 25th.[via BlizzPlanet]
Left 4 Dead PC Wiimote hack for the gamer who has it all, hates zombies
Sometimes inspiration hits when you're shooting zombies -- and often times, that inspiration is in the form of new, better ways to shoot zombies. Since this sort of thing (shooting zombies) is one of our passions here, we were pretty psyched when we ran across this video. Summoning all of his worldly resources -- including GlovePIE, PPJoy, and about a gazillion lines of code -- this guy is able to rock Left 4 Dead PC in split-screen mode with two Wiimotes. He's even added shake controls for reloading and spinning 180 degrees. The only catch? As it stands, the only way to power the sensor bar is by turning on the Wii -- a condition that should be remedied shortly. Hit the read link for instructions and code, and be sure to check out the video after the break. [Via Nowhere Else]
Eminem has a NSFW message for Left 4 Dead players
We've asked Griffin, we've implored him, we've threatened him with the loss of his video game blogger license, but it's all to no avail. The kid just won't stop shooting the witch when we play Left 4 Dead. He knows what happens, he knows that someone always ends up endeadened when he does it. He just. Doesn't. Care.So, we've brought in the big guns: Our sentiments are being relayed to Griffin after the break by rapper Eminem, who's employing not only sheer star wattage to get the message across, but also persuasion's best buddy: Profanity. Pass it along, and get the word to someone you love.
The best thing you'll play today: Left 4K Dead
Normally we'd save this for Free Game Club, but it's Christmas Eve and we know a lot of you are reading this with family, away from your gaming PC and / or console of choice. If you need an outlet to vent your frustration, check out Left 4K Dead, an entry into the 2009 Java 4k Competition and, as the name suggests, a project no larger than 4KB in size. Unlike its high-end Valve doppelganger, however, you must face the zombie horde by your lonesome and armed with only one nondescript gun. The Director AI is also a bit loopy here, so think of the zombie and power-up placement as being ... random. And if you end up ignoring your loved ones today, don't say we didn't warn you. [Thanks, Josh]
