PC Version Of Left 4 Dead 2 Now Has Custom Campaigns

A gift from Valve has been given to the Left 4 Dead customization community in the form of official campaign authoring tools and add-on support. You want to play custom campaigns of your own or someone else's creation? That time is now.

The Left 4 Dead 2 authoring tools include support for AI Director logic for variable level layouts and the option to use a single map in any mode such as Versus, Co-op, Scavenge and Survival. And it looks like your original Left 4 Dead creations will work, provided those creations are recompiled in the new authoring tools.

As you would expect, this is for the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 only, so get to Steam and download the add-on and creation tools.

12/24/09 Colton West

New Left 4 Dead 2 DLC Officially Announced

Valve has finally graced players with an official announcement regarding the DLC they teased at earlier in the month.

Dubbed "The Passing," the expansion will bring the survivors of the original Left 4 Dead together with the cast of Left 4 Dead 2. It will be set just after L4D2's Dead Center campaign, and will take place in a small town in Georgia, with players controlling the sequel's protagonists.

"The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign," said Valve vice president of marketing Doug Lombardi. "It will also be a huge offering of new gameplay content, with something new for every game mode plus a new uncommon common and weaponry."

The Passing will be available in spring on the PC and Xbox 360 naturally. No word on pricing has been announced quite yet.

12/15/09 Colton West

Stop dreaming, these four 360 exclusives won't come to PS3 (rumor killers)

There's a popular proverb that encourages people never to lose hope, it says don't look on how rough or impossible the path might seem, things will always get better. While the proverb rings true for many situations, there are times when wisdom must be used to judge whether there's any chance of change, or should one move past the situation.

Here's the thing, PS3 owners enjoy a wide range of exclusive games that can only be found on said console, but there are a few that don't seem very stable on the Xbox 360, and PS3 owners are just waiting for the day when an announcement is made that'll send fireworks all around the gaming community.

Imagine what would happen if EA and Bioware announced Mass Effect 2 for PS3, things would go wild, fanboys would jump and skip. How about Ubisoft announcing Splinter Cell: Conviction for the black behemoth? Yeah, that too would get a lot of attention. Well this is one time gamers should get past hope and move on, because these Xbox 360 exclusives won't come to PS3.

Splinter Cell: Conviction: Before I go on explaining why Splinter Cell: Conviction will only be found on the Xbox 360, I asked myself why not take the truth from the horse's mouth? Here's Ubisoft:

"Splinter Cell: Conviction is a true Microsoft exclusive title and there are no plans to have Splinter Cell: Conviction on other platforms," Ubi said in a Q&A session on the company's official forums. "There are several reasons behind this choice. First of all Splinter Cell games are historically linked with Microsoft platforms.

"The first Splinter Cell on the original Xbox was one of the first games to fully exploit the console's technical possibilities. At that time, Microsoft really believed in the game's potential and provided strong support to promote it. So, there is a "link of heart" between the franchise and the platform. Some games are like this (think of Final Fantasy for instance).

The second reason behind this choice is purely linked to production. Having a single platform means we can optimize the game even further because we only have one type on console - hardware support."

And there you have it folks, there's no need to say more.

Mass Effect 2:

Recently the internet caught ablaze when EA Russia had Mass Effect 2 listed as coming to both the Xbox 360 and PS3, however the controversy was clarified when the publishing giant stated that it was just glitch and Mass Effect 2 will only be available for Xbox 360 and PC. The thing is, Bioware is owned by EA, and EA is an independent company, so PS3 owners have at the back of their heads that anytime news might break and before you know it, the stellar RPG will be headed PS3's way.

Well sorry, but that won't happen. Maybe Mass Effect 3.

Left 4 Dead 2: Another game published by EA that mysteriously showed up on the company's website as also coming to the PS3 platform. EA claimed it was a mistake, however someone at the company even took the time to mock up a game box for a PS3 version. So if indeed it's a mistake, it's a pretty mammoth one. Valve has gone on record stating that they'll stick to PC and Xbox 360, because according to them, the PS3 is just too difficult to develop for.

Microsoft at E3 09, claimed that the game is an Xbox 360 exclusive and by the look of things it is indeed true. The game's been out for some time now, and I see no PS3 version. Not now, nor in the future.

Gears of War III:

We've already killed this rumor, but Gears of War design director Cliffy B. wanted to add some extra nails to the coffin:

"Honestly, there's really no plans for any Gears on PS3 anytime soon, which I can confirm," he told Kotaku radio.

Cliffy then went on to say "you would see a Metal Gear Solid game on Xbox 360 before you see a Gears of War game on PS3."

So stop dreaming, wake up and smell the coffee or hot cocoa, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Mass Effect 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Gears of War III will remain exclusive to Microsoft's Xbox 360, therefore if you want to play these games, go out and buy the console.

12/05/09 Ernice Gilbert

Left 4 Dead 2 gets 5/10 from IGN Australia

While the U.S and British websites and magazines gave L4D2 favorable scores from the high 80s to the mid 90s, IGN Australia plastered a rather weak score on the edited version that made it to Australia. 5/10 to be exact; in other words, 'leave this one alone.'

According to IGN AU the game has been compromised by "glitchy-looking edits" and "is a massive step backwards from the original."

The website continued it's disapproval stating "if you can get your hands on an unedited version of this game, revise your score up to the high 80s. If not, sit this one out."

Some rather biting words from the website. Get the full vibe up there.

Thanks VG247.

11/19/09 Ernice Gilbert