Left 4 Dead Critic's Choice Edition, DLC and SDK Details Revealed

Taken from Steam News: February 5, 2009, 10:47 am - Alden Kroll - Press Release

Valve's Zombie Thriller Expanding In 2009

February 5, 2008 — Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced a series of content and development releases for its latest title, 2008's best-selling new game property for the PC and Xbox 360, Left 4 Dead (L4D).

The first L4D DLC — dubbed the L4D Survival Pack -- is due for release this spring and introduces a new multiplayer game mode entitled, Survival, plus two complete campaigns for Versus Mode . A Critic's Choice Edition of the game will be heading to retail stores this spring, and will include access to all the content introduced in the L4D: Survival Pack.

In addition, for PC gamers and aspiring developers, the first Left 4 Dead release for the Source Software Development Kit (Source SDK) will allow the creation of custom Left 4 Dead campaigns that will be discoverable via L4D's matchmaking system. The SDK update is also due for release this spring, and is free of charge to all owners of L4D on the PC.

"Since Half-Life launched in 1998, Valve has made continuous efforts to expand the offering of its products beyond what's included on the day of launch," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "With Half-Life and Counter-Strike, and more recently Team Fortress 2, we've learned that we're no longer making stand-alone games but creating entertainment services. With Left 4 Dead we're extending that tradition by creating additional gameplay and releasing our internal tools to aspiring developers so they may also create and distribute new Left 4 Dead experiences."

Left 4 Dead is a survival action game from Valve that blends the social entertainment experience of multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress with the dramatic, narrative experience made popular in single player action game classics such as the Half-Life series of games. Released in November of 2008, L4D has earned over 25 industry awards from outlets around the world.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com

2009: The Year of the PC

Before anyone starts shouting a whole load of crap this way about this year being the Year of the Ox, shut it. I know what year this is and putting CNY (which is around the corner) aside, I'm gonna go crap about what I do best. First off, I'll repeat that 2009 IS definitely the year of the PC. Here's why.

One word: Blizzard. This year, you'll feel the massive storm Blizzard is about to unleash. Three franchises, three major treats for gamers and fans alike. First up, Diablo III: the sequel to Lord of Destruction. Next up, Starcraft II: with three whole campaigns spawning over 3 whole discs and at least a hundred missions to complete, I don't see why people wouldn't be jumping up and down like little kids. Finally, World of Warcraft. Yes, Wrath of the Lich King was released last month but what's the wrath all about if you can't bloody kick his ass? Blizzard has yet to release the Icecrown Citadel instance where players will finally be able to meet up with Arthas himself and send his ass flying back to kingdom come. Just like the Burning Crusade before, the Black Temple patch which was where Illidan was brought in, came only weeks after the release.

Moving on, from the World of Warcraft to the Dawn of War. THQ's much anticipated Warhammer 40,000 series makes a come back in Dawn of War II. Just the thought of playing as the Tyranids gets me excited. With a new user interface and some tweaks to the system here and there, Dawn of War II might just bring the RTS genre up to a whole new level.

Still with the space theme, I'm sure many have heard of Bioware and Lucasarts' new MMO titled Star Wars: The Old Republic. Although this might not even hit retail until maybe early 2010, I'm expecting the beta to take place around the end of this year. And where Galaxies failed, I hope The Old Republic succeeds.

"Third time out for the best-selling PC game of all time. With less monotony and more sexcapades." was what PC Gamer wrote about the Sims 3. Rejoice Sims fans (for I ain't one of them) as one of the what should be called the world's best god-game will be hitting shelves some time soon. Moving out of the household crap, your sims actually venture into the open (virtual) world. Going to school, going to work, form relationships, die in a god-forsaken alley. Heck, there's even some RPG-ish character development as in character skills and a whole load of other crap you can think about.

Valve has also stuff to say. We already know that a class pack will be shoved into our faces real soon for Team Fortress 2. Since it's release back in October 2007 bundled together in the Orange Box, we've already seen, multiple new maps, arena and payload game-modes, 3 class packs and a whole lot more from the mod community. What's started back in 2007 will continue in 2009 when each class finally receives unlockables of their own. The same goes for Left 4 Dead. Death Toll and Dead Air will be added as versus maps. Most probably new campaigns will be added to further add the zombie apocalyptic mayhem.

Sequels anyone? Let's just say, FEAR 2: Project Origins, Bioshock 2, Portal 2, and maybe Half-Life 2: Episode Three. The recent announcement trailer for Bioshock 2 shows and older Little Sister standing on a beach somewhere on the Atlantic Coast with a stuffed Big Daddy in her hand looking into the ocean. As the camera pans away from her, the same behind her rises to form a mini sandcastle version of Rapture. The screen then fades to black and the Bioshock logo shows with corals growing on it. As for FEAR, I never was a fan of the game. Played it, enjoyed it and never wanted to play it again. Moving on to Valve's sequels, Episode Three will pick up where Episode Two left off. The plot involves the Borealis, a research vessel owned by Aperture Science Industries. And that brings us to Portal 2. Let's just say this is a prequel instead of a sequel.

Next up we have Ghostbusters. You've seen the screenshots, checked the site. Now just know that the game hasn't been cancelled. They just switched publishers. Atari's publishing the game now. And then, comes an MMO from my side of the world. Utilizing the CryEngine (the one used for Far Cry), NCsoft's Aion: The Tower of Eternity will be out sometime in the middle of this year. Although the US and EU website gives you nuts for gameinfo, hanging around the official Korean site and look through their media section says alot. Air battles? Yes and looking forward. Korea's into open beta so if you're feeling up to it, go take a look.

Console port-overs are the "in thing" now. In the past year we've had Fable, Gears of War and gos knows what else. Just recently, we've had the infamous (and awfully sexy) Grand Theft Auto IV being released for the PC. In the next couple of months, we'll be seeing Mirror's Edge, Burnout Paradise and maybe The Last Remnant at a later date. What I'm hoping for is that Fable II and Gears of War 2 gets ported over to the PC as well.

Of course, there's still Battlefield Heroes: EA's free-web-browser-cartoon shooter. The devs say "late 2008" but now's "early 2009" and we wait still? Sadly, yes. Last but not least, we'll put Tom Clancy into the list. Expect the release of Tom Clancy's EndWar (finally) and of course Tom Clancy's HAWX which stands for High Altitude Warfare eXperimental squadron.

Of course, there's a whole lot more to talk about. However, I'm feeling slightly lazy and it's already 1 in the morning. Maybe in the days to come alright? (This ain't a promise, jerks! *laffs*)

Mawarians Photo Project #2

Yet again after a long hiatus from the Mawarians Photo Project, I'm back, barely. Anyway, pictures used were taken during the Pinny Gathering at Murni @ SS2. The occasion? Well, a classmate during high school has decided to further his studies in Kampar. So he'll be leaving the rest of the gang for god knows how long. Take this as a farewell gift to him.

Farewell, Pinny my man. Good luck and all the best doing ENGLISH over there.

As with the bloody photos, you can say there's some technical problem going on. The Java uploader on Facebook is being a bitch and well, TMNuts Shitmyx ain't doing better for the manual upload. Although with the crappy bandwith I'm getting for the supposedly best bloody internet service provider in Malaysia, the uploads should be done in minutes to come.

Anyway, here's the public link for the album: Click here for Mawarians Photo Project #2 Album on my Facebook profile!

Happy Fuckin' New Year

Cheers to a new year and for everyone to either screw it up a little better or far worse.
Happy 2009 from me, myself and I!

Merry Christmas!

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. I'm also taking a three day break starting on the 25th, Christmas Day. It''ll be my usual annual family trip. This time we'll be driving all the way to Pangkor. I'll be armed with my Sony Handycam and Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti. Expect photos and maybe videos (if I ever have time to bloody edit them) here on my blog and maybe on Facebook as well.

Once again, Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

The Class of 2008

I was dead tired after the whole graduation ordeal. I left the house at 8 in the morning and only stepped foot home after 7 in the evening. My whole body ached after standing for a good 6 hours or so. Anyway, I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to my classmates from the most awesomest course in the history of the Faculty of Multimedia Creativity: Games Design. For the count, I don't know when did those admin jokers changed the name to Games Art.

Diploma in Games Art
- Nicky Gan Soon Ling
- Kevin Justin Chai
- Lim Chiou Chow
- Moses Dwisatriadi
- Muruhanantha a/l K. Nadarajah Singham
- Neo Wei Kiat
- Ng Kai Hau
- Nicholas John Shanafelt
- Oon Teik Leong
- Oon Teik Teong
- Steven Kizito Bukenya
- Teoh Ching Chuan
- Ting Kee Biew
- Yong Boon Ping

Also not forgetting my other graduating friends and mates from other courses:

Diploma in Animation & Multimedia Design
- Irene Tan Yew Lee
- Siti Sara Hanim bt. Zarul Azham

Diploma in Sound & Music Technology
- Adeline Marie Baptist

As for me (aside from graduating with my Games Art Diploma), I'm proud of receiving the Industry Award for Excellence for being the best in Games Design. The award was presented by Microsoft (Malaysia). Also, another round of cheers and congratulations to my classmate Nicholas John Shanafelt for winning the President's Award for High Achievers.

Although, I was considering uploading pictures here, I guess I'll take my time to reconsider. Maybe they'll be uploaded to Facebook instead. With that said, I take my leave. Good night.

Graduation Blues

I'm graduating tomorrow. Oh wait... It's past midnight. Correction: I'm graduating TODAY. I may just be getting cold feet. Nervous, anxious? Maybe. Confident, proud? Maybe. Problem now is, I can't sleep. It's that feeling I usually get when something big comes up. For all I know, it maybe like this on my wedding day as well... Or maybe a lot worse than I can imagine.

But I can't be THAT bad right? I keep telling myself that. Somehow, I just don't feel like it's working. Making myself a lot more nervous? Well, that's going like superbly well. Anyway, I'll be trying to get some sleep as soon as I finish posting this. After all, it's gonna be a long day ahead.

Before I go, to all my classmates of Games Design (Semester 6):

- Nicky aka. Ms. Gan
- Nick Shanafelt
- Biew (EmoLoli)
- Neo aka. The One
- Moses aka. The Prophet
- Muru aka. Jesus
- The Brothers (Teong & Leong)
- Mr. Magical Land @ Ogre Magi
- Chow
- Xeon
- Steven Kizito
- Kevin Justin
- Boon Ping

Congratulations on graduating!