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Valve Announces New L4D campaign

Published on 5th August 2009 by Harry Butler

The gang's all back for another L4D campaign

Amid the grumbles of dissent following the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 were cries for continued support and content for the original. This isn't surprising, given Valve’s reputation for continued support for its multi-player titles. Valve has decided to answer those anguished cries demanding more zombie splatterfication carnage by announcing a brand new full length campaign for Left 4 Dead, expected to hit both PC and Xbox 360 in September.

The new campaign, dubbed Crash Course, looks to reintroduce the feeling of continuity between the end of the No Mercy campaign and the beginning of Death Toll; the bridge between this gap was dropped in the original game’s development. The new campaign will also
further refine gameplay.

Unlike the four original campaigns, the focus of the new DLC seems to be very much on the game’s versus experience, with Valve looking to “deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game’s existing Versus campaigns.” Whether this will mean shorter individual levels or simply a tweak to the games pacing remains to be seen, but Valve has confirmed that dynamic item spawns and a recharge timer for infected team mates will both be involved.

Unlike the previous survival mode expansion though, Valve will this time be charging Xbox Live users the sum of 560 Microsoft Points for the pleasure of downloading Crash Course when it’s released in September. PC users can rest easy though, as the new content will be available free of charge through a standard Steam update.

While the news of a new L4D campaign is undoubtedly great news for fans of the game, do you feel it’s a case of too little too late? Will this effect you’re decision to buy L4D2? Or are you just eager to get your teeth into more zombalyptic action? Whatever your thoughts, let us know in the forums.

38 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

MajorTom 5th August 2009, 13:29

I really want this new content, but L4D2 will be released 2 months later :/ Here's hoping they integrate the two titles as previously mentioned.

Xtrafresh 5th August 2009, 13:33

I never was too sour about L4D2, as long as it didn't mean L4D would not be dropped. This way i get even more content, i like it :D
New campaign hooraay!
I could see how XboX users will be miffed about the premium though.

capnPedro 5th August 2009, 13:33

You mean Microsoft Points. Gamer points are not the currency of XBL MP, they're something totally different.

Tyrmot 5th August 2009, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtrafresh
I could see how XboX users will be miffed about the premium though.

Apparently this is the minimum charge that is forced upon Valve by M$, who takes a cut of all sales. The implication being that Valve would have given it away free otherwise...

Bauul 5th August 2009, 15:06

Sounds good to me!

Skiddywinks 5th August 2009, 15:51

Glad to see them finally make L4D something resembling a full game. With all the little tweaks and changes that get introduced with every update, we finally have something that works well and has a decent amount of content. All I would ask for are more guns!

DarkLord7854 5th August 2009, 15:53

Oh joy, 2 maps! Meh.

I'd rather they push an update to fix the lobby system, their pathetic 2 map campaign will get overshadowed by the flood of high quality custom campaigns soon.

At least it's something I guess.. either way, nearly a year and this is the first "real" content they push out..

logan'srun 5th August 2009, 16:02

meh - I like DLC of course, and love the game, but a 2 map campaign? Doesn't really matter if it takes you 45 mins to find a game that people don't ragequit after playing survivor side on first map , so i can't see how a campaign that is only 2 maps is a solution.
All I really want for L4D/L4D2 is a damn matchmaking system. Get me the ability to look for lobbies that are 4 friends/clans and I'll be happy. Other than that, everything else right now for L4D is just. .. meh. I think they're saving all the cool stuff for L4D2 anyways.

edit - Damn darklord, are you telepathic or something, I was just typing slow and posted my comment right after yours and we basically said the same thing. . . scary

Gareth Halfacree 5th August 2009, 16:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrmot
Apparently this is the minimum charge that is forced upon Valve by M$, who takes a cut of all sales. The implication being that Valve would have given it away free otherwise...

I call shenanigans. Two ~700MB map packs (Red and Black) were made available for Rainbow Six completely free of charge - and represent a lot more content than a single new campaign.

So, why did Rainbow Six get free content and Left 4 Dead needs payment? There's something Valve isn't telling us.

Gunsmith 5th August 2009, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtrafresh
I could see how XboX users will be miffed about the premium though.

/snigger

DarkLord7854 5th August 2009, 16:17

They did the same for TF2 though, the Heavy update or w/e it was

Yemerich 5th August 2009, 17:49

I want this and i will buy l4d2. Period.

HourBeforeDawn 5th August 2009, 18:14

as long as the single player is good I will be happy

awaham 5th August 2009, 18:21

Left for dead is a very good game, and personally i dont think Valve are dont anything wrong by releasing L4D 2 as a separate game and i'll buy it most definitely.

Star*Dagger 5th August 2009, 20:12

People whining about Valve should go play Star Trek Legacy, released by the now out of business MadDoc software. THAT was a company (and a distributor, Bethesda) who didnt care about their customers.

Valve has consistently shown a great deal of care and creativity with their customers and their games.

+2 to valve, thanks for your ongoing support of a great game!

Yours in Valve Plasma,
Star*Dagger

Matticus 5th August 2009, 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gareth Halfacree
I call shenanigans. Two ~700MB map packs (Red and Black) were made available for Rainbow Six completely free of charge - and represent a lot more content than a single new campaign.

So, why did Rainbow Six get free content and Left 4 Dead needs payment? There's something Valve isn't telling us.

Yup, and battlefield bad company had a new game type and map that you could download for free. Valve obviously are charging xbox users for no real reason*. I never had a bad word to say about valve, I was not bothered about them releasing l4d2 so soon, but I am annoyed about this. Yet clearly this will get swept under the carpet, and people will keep moaning about l4d2 being released so soon. *sigh*

*Other than to make money, I guess to recoup the cost of developing for consoles. But then it was their decision to make it for the xbox so they should support it the same as well.

V3ctor 5th August 2009, 20:44

Still think it's a rushed DLC, just to make the L4D2 haters rest, because they have a new DLC coming...

"Hey look, lets make a small versus mode that ends in 30min +/-, I'll make the levels thru the weekend and we call it a DLC to please L4D1 fans, that way they stop bitching"

I have a L4D copy, and I feel the same way as other L4D1 users feel, I'm buying L4D2, but this DLC... it just looks that... "here, here's your DLC you were all bitchin about"...

Matticus 5th August 2009, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by V3ctor
Still think it's a rushed DLC, just to make the L4D2 haters rest, because they have a new DLC coming...

"Hey look, lets make a small versus mode that ends in 30min +/-, I'll make the levels thru the weekend and we call it a DLC to please L4D1 fans, that way they stop bitching"

I have a L4D copy, and I feel the same way as other L4D1 users feel, I'm buying L4D2, but this DLC... it just looks that... "here, here's your DLC you were all bitchin about"...

Seriously? What the hell do you expect? You bought a game, played the game and you want more free. They give you the DLC you were all moaning about, and you moan. Grow up.

DarkLord7854 5th August 2009, 22:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matticus
Seriously? What the hell do you expect? You bought a game, played the game and you want more free. They give you the DLC you were all moaning about, and you moan. Grow up.

We expected that they give what they promised. Obviously that was too much to hope for that they would keep their word. Read the L4D2 boycott manifesto, etc, and you'll understand.

impar 5th August 2009, 23:32

Greetings!

This is to bridge the gap between No mercy and Death Toll.
If they release two more short campaigns to bridge the other gaps, I will be satisfied with L4D.

Aracos 5th August 2009, 23:36

LOL! Fail for xbox owners!!! Ah well they probably know that the DLC would only be easily pirated on the PC anyway, good move valve :D

SpeedLegion 6th August 2009, 01:10

I'm guessing that the reason they are charging for this one, and the minimum price, is because they are not allowed to add additional achievements (AFAIK) unless its a paid for DLC. This is why there were no new achievements for xBox with the last DLC.

I'm done with L4D1 now anyway, will save my money for buying L4D2 depending on how well it reviews ¬.¬

sub routine 6th August 2009, 08:00

rofl what you playing this on the xbox for anyways??

V3ctor 6th August 2009, 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matticus
Quote:
Originally Posted by V3ctor
Still think it's a rushed DLC, just to make the L4D2 haters rest, because they have a new DLC coming...

"Hey look, lets make a small versus mode that ends in 30min +/-, I'll make the levels thru the weekend and we call it a DLC to please L4D1 fans, that way they stop bitching"

I have a L4D copy, and I feel the same way as other L4D1 users feel, I'm buying L4D2, but this DLC... it just looks that... "here, here's your DLC you were all bitchin about"...

Seriously? What the hell do you expect? You bought a game, played the game and you want more free. They give you the DLC you were all moaning about, and you moan. Grow up.

Did you read what I said... *I'm going to buy L4D2*, but I feel the same way as all L4D owners (ripped-off), they promised DLC, and never delivered it (until now, because everyone is pissed off) , they released a buggy SDK in April or something, just to delay the growth of maps, so they can sell L4D2... Next time try to comment rationally, you are just being a a-hole with those statements. You grow up...

SpeedLegion 6th August 2009, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by sub routine
rofl what you playing this on the xbox for anyways??

because I haven't built my new pc yet :P so xbox > old pc

Bauul 6th August 2009, 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matticus
Seriously? What the hell do you expect? You bought a game, played the game and you want more free. They give you the DLC you were all moaning about, and you moan. Grow up.

We expected that they give what they promised. Obviously that was too much to hope for that they would keep their word. Read the L4D2 boycott manifesto, etc, and you'll understand.

Out of interest, can someone link to where Valve stated that we'd get loads of free content? I'm intrigued to see exactly what they promised we'd be getting.

logan'srun 6th August 2009, 10:48

mm, I can't find any original link - but here's something

content continue support

and then this from another news brief:

Quote:

Faliszek also promised Left 4 Dead fans that updates are still due for the original. In fact Left 4 Dead one, we still arent done with it, he said. We still have updates coming. Our focus is always on what were putting in the box, put as much as we can in the box. Lets not worry about: lets save that and not put that in the game. No, lets put that in. And with the five campaigns, all of them out of the box, playable Versus, co-op, Survival and the new mode, theres just a ton of content in there.

When asked if Left 4 Dead had now become an annually updated franchise, and whether 2010 would see the release of Left 4 Dead 3, Faliszek replied: We do it once in a year and everyones like, oh my God! Lets do this one. Lets worry about this and then well see.

impar 6th August 2009, 11:05

Greetings!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bauul
Out of interest, can someone link to where Valve stated that we'd get loads of free content? I'm intrigued to see exactly what they promised we'd be getting.

That can be arranged:

Quote:

Valve details post Left 4 Dead launch plans

Intends to release new maps, characters, weapons and achievements to keep the community growing.

Valve intends to support hotly anticipated zombie survival shooter Left 4 Dead post-release with new characters, new maps, new achievements and new weapons in order to grow the community, Gabe Newell has revealed.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at Leipzig Games Convention, the Valve co-founder and managing director said the developer intended to follow a similar downloadable content policy as it has with Team Fortress 2.

Left 4 Dead, set for release on PC and Xbox 360 on November 21 in Europe, is primarily a four-player cooperative game that sees a group of Survivors battle through four 'Movies' and against 28 Days Later-style zombies called The Infected.

Newell said that Valve's support of the game post-launch will be essential for growing the community.

He said: "One of the things that we're doing is we seem to be in a transition between games as a package product and games more of a service. So if you look at Team Fortress 2, one of things that's really helped grow the community is the continuous updates, where we release new maps, new character classes, new unlockables, new weapons. And we tell the stories about the characters, like the meet the sniper, or meet the sandwich. And that ongoing delivery of content really seems to grow the community.

"So each time we've released one of those for Team Fortress 2 we've seen about a 20% increase in the number of people who are playing online. And that number is really important because it determines how many community created maps there are, how many servers are running, and so on. So we'll do the same thing with Left 4 Dead where we'll have the initial release and then we'll release more movies, more characters, more weapons, unlockables, achievements, because that's the way you continue to grow a community over time."

logan'srun 6th August 2009, 11:29

woah, now that is quite a promise. . .

impar 6th August 2009, 11:48

Greetings!

Quote:

Originally Posted by logan'srun
woah, now that is quite a promise. . .

It was, wasnt it?

Instead of creating a strong L4D community through the release of new content (TF2-style), Valve manages to break the L4D community into three segments (haveL4D-haveL4D2, haveL4D-havenotL4D2, havenotL4D-haveL4D2).

Valve was at the top of my preferred game developers then, in ~6 months, managed to screw that with the St€am rip-off and the L4D2 announcement.
Wonder if next TF2 DLC will be PDLC too. Wouldnt really surprise me at this point.

Will get L4D2 anyway. Have a kind of fétiche with the New Orléans/Bayou area.

Ape 6th August 2009, 21:20

This news should quiet the moaners for a while.

DarkLord7854 6th August 2009, 22:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ape
This news should quiet the moaners for a while.

Quite the opposite actually.

Ape 6th August 2009, 23:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ape
This news should quiet the moaners for a while.

Quite the opposite actually.

Everyone wants this DLC for L4D don't they?

Saivert 7th August 2009, 08:48

Still don't get why people complain about lack of content in L4D1. They didn't complain about it last year when the game was released. Then people stormed to pre-purchase it so they could play at launch day.
Only when they got the whiff of Left 4 Dead 2, they decided the first game was lackluster and needed massive free updates (no, it's not called DLC. It's not optional on PC. maybe for XBOX, but not for PC).

impar 7th August 2009, 09:52

Greetings!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saivert
Still don't get why people complain about lack of content in L4D1.

Because L4D content is lacking?
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=2057624&postcount=29

Ape 7th August 2009, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by impar
Greetings!

Because L4D content is lacking?
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=2057624&postcount=29

Thats a matter of opinion and you'll just have to agree to disagree.

impar 7th August 2009, 11:38

Greetings!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ape
Thats a matter of opinion and you'll just have to agree to disagree.

The fulfillment of promises regarding new content for L4D is lacking.
Is the game enjoyable currently? Yes.
Did it rise to the initial expectations? No.

Mentai 7th August 2009, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saivert
Still don't get why people complain about lack of content in L4D1. They didn't complain about it last year when the game was released. Then people stormed to pre-purchase it so they could play at launch day.
Only when they got the whiff of Left 4 Dead 2, they decided the first game was lackluster and needed massive free updates (no, it's not called DLC. It's not optional on PC. maybe for XBOX, but not for PC).

That's not true at all. People complained, it just wasn't a big deal because everyone trusted Valve. It's only when they were betrayed that they vocalised their complaints. Well, betrayed is a harsher word than I'm looking for, especially since now they seem to be delivering the promised content. Problem is, that doesn't take back the community divide, which is much worse than any lacking content. I don't see how they didn't see this coming, and it's ashame that it has tainted the company for so many gamers.