Left 4 Dead 2

[Glorb]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/01/left-4-dead-2-exclusive-rps-preview/

Yeah. Not a Left 4 Dead update, an entirely new game. And it looks to be exactly the same as L4D1, just with more gore, weapons, special infected, and features. Which means everyone will be playing that instead of L4D1. Which means that shiny new game you spent fifty bucks on, the one Valve looked to be shaping up into the next TF2 with updates, will be obsolete come November.

Granted, the new content does look pretty awesome. But it's extremely obvious Valve could have incorporated all of this into the existing framework of the first game with varying degrees of effort. I mean, you don't see them putting out a brand-new Team Fortress every time they want to update a class, do you?

So until and unless this is either a prank, or secretly an expansion to L4D1 (neither of which is out of the question, mind you), I'm calling shenanigans on Valve.

[Chupperson Weird]

Should be called Left 5 Dead.

[Captain Jim]

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/31938/e3-left-4-dead-2-killing-zombies-thanksgiving

I call playing as the guy in the suit.

[Glorb]

Okay, I'll admit, this is looking far more awesomesauce than I originally thought, especially the way they made the daytime parts look scary without aping Resident Evil 5. Still, Valve had better put a lot of effort into not making this feel like L4D 1^1/2, preferably by adding in features exclusive to the original to set the two apart. They should also make that Coach guy be Louis' dad, since that would be cool ("This is just like that Counter-Strike game that boy of mine's always playin'!")

Also, I call playing as the Charger.

[Captain Jim]

I've heard people complaining about there being two black characters. Seriously. Of all the other things to complain about.

[bobman37]

I think the whole thing's fake. I hope the whole thing's fake.

[Glorb]

I've heard people complaining about there being two black characters. Seriously. Of all the other things to complain about.

Possibly because there still isn't enough representation of minorities? I mean, there still aren't any people of Hispanic, Asian, Middle-Eastern, etc., descent...I don't know.

Oh, and there had better be unlockable outfits.

EDIT: Yeah, I've looked around, and it's pretty much obvious now this is a straight-up sequel and not a secret expansion to a game that was supposed to have lots of expansions. I don't think I have ever seen so much backlash against Valve, and for good reason. Looks like I and about a million other people payed $50 for what amounts to a L4D2 beta.

[Black Mage]

Should be called Left 5 Dead.

*Slow clap*

[Lizard Dude]

Looks like we all paid $50 for what amounts to a SMG2 beta.
Looks like we all paid $60 for what amounts to a Crackdown 2 beta.
Looks like we all paid $60 for what amounts to an Assassin's Creed 2 beta.
Looks like we all paid $35 for what amounts to a NSMBW beta.
Looks like we all paid $650 for what amounts to many FFXIV betas.

[Ultima Shadow]

Except most (if not all, I've never played a couple of those) don't rely on community generated content and hence have a much longer shelf-life. After all, if there's one company that can make games that have that sort of lifespan it'd be Valve (and/or id)

But in spite of that, I am looking forward to this game. I just hope the new survivors match up to the original quartet. They'll be hard to beat, no doubt...

[Lizard Dude]

It just seems a bit silly how many Angry Internet Men are taking up arms because Valve is releasing a sequel after only one year. This is totally normal (see: Call of Duty, Madden, GH, Tony Hawk, etc.).

[Glorb]

1) Valve is known for releasing massively awesome games with long times inbetween for fans to savor the awesomness. It's ridiculously uncharacteristic to release a sequel that isn't basically a completely different game than the original, whereas this is basically Left 4 Dead With More Stuff. Because of this, the first game is rendered obsolete.

2) All four series you listed have come under fire for having yearly sequels that are more of the same at some point (CoD seems to have rectified this to a degree, though). Just sayin'.

3) Nobody's mad because L4D2 will improve on L4D1, or because we're not getting it for free. Everyone's mad because this is a transparent moneygrab by Valve, the guys who doubled the amount of TF2 content since its release for free. They promised us a continually evolving and changing game, but the extent of this is a Survival mode with only one new map, and an SDK thingy that only %40 percent of players will actually use. To put this in perspective, it's like Valve making Team Fortresses 3, 4, 5 and 6, all of which are the same game as the first, just with more class-specific weapons and some new maps each game.

4) Just for the record, I'm probably going to buy L4D2 anyway, and I'm not jumping on the ridiculous VALVE IS DEAD LETS BOYCOTT ALL THEIR STUFF bandwagon.

[Ultima Shadow]

A little ticked off about all of this? Don't worry; over 3000 people feel the same way.

[Glorb]

Wow, I thought I was angsty about this. Look, internet mans, just because you don't like Valve's design approach doesn't mean you have to straight-up hate everything about L4D. Especially hilarious:

The new character designs seem bland and unappealing so far

L4D2 is too colourful to fit in with L4D1's visual aesthetic

The fiddle-based horde music is extremely disliked, though the differently orchestrated music is otherwise welcome

Chill the eff out, [darn]. #1 is the most ridonkulous, since the four survivors from L4D1 consisted of Old Guy, Biker, Requisite Girl, and Black Guy, wearing the most obvious clothes and having the most obvious personality stereotypes.

[Glorb]

Okay, sorry for the double post, but check this shiznit. That's just plain awesome.

Now that I've seen some gameplay videos, I've become a little more enthusiastic. It's a shame that part deux is functionally identical to the first, though the incendiary ammo and giant-armed zombies look pretty cool.

Seeing hunters prance around in a daytime environment is somehow scarier than at night.

The fiddle music does sound pretty [darn] goofy, though no one's to say whether it's a placeholder or not.