Left 4 Dead demo arriving early next week News

/loads shotgun

Probably my GOTY

Nice, any idea if the demo will feature online co-op?

It's still daft to pre-order from Steam for us in the UK (even with the 10% off) as it works out at about £32 after tax when you can... gasp... wait a week longer and still get the demo, paying £25 for the game. So is a week's worth of demo worth £7 to you?

I almost caved, but I'm resisting with the help of Fallout 3 and LBP.

love the look of this but will wait for the reveiw

ZOMBIES!!!!111

The pre-load of the pc demo has reveled that the demo maps are the Apartment and the Subway of No Mercy. From what I've read it is supposed to have coop survivor play.

"There's no PS3 version, in case you're wondering.

z0mG euR0gaYm3r R t3h bi-aSsEd!

This is gonna be great

I saw some gameplay videos of this and it looks underwhelming visually and not that much fun to play either, granted that is difficult to gauge from just watching something. I was actually surprised because for months I've read of people excitedly looking forward to it and I just wasn't seeing that in those videos. They didn't make me want to pre-order it, put it that way. Good job there's a demo then but to be honest I don't think it's the kind of game I'd enjoy anyway, seems too focused on multiplayer.

um.. this thursday as in TODAY?!

Left 4 Dead will be out on PC from Steam on 18th November, and on Xbox 360 from 21st November. There's no PS3 version, in case you're wondering.

So a PS3 version next year sometime then. Just like the "No PS3 version" Orange Box.

This and Gears 2 are the last two games i'm buying this year, can't wait for this.

thanks for telling us where european 360 gamers can preorder to get the demo early....
NOT!!!!!!

@ademkermad

only from STEAM - which was stated in the article ;).

Early demo pre-orders for 360 are north america only :(


Edit: here: "Furthermore, anyone pre-ordering the zombie shooter from Steam will be able to play as soon as this Thursday. This Thursday!"

@ Darren I don't think people are so excited due to the gamepay videos. It's because Valve have a reputation of creating great gaming experiances. This game appered to be almost finished 6 months ago, they will have playtested it to death.

Brilliant. Let's just hope that Valve have solved the lag problems they had with TF2 on the 360.

Getting this on 360!

This and GoW2 are my most anticipated games this year. Can't wait!

can't decide! :O

Ive always played valve games on my PC, but i have an awful lot of friends with 360s :S...

I know... 2 copies! ;)

Probably the most valuable demo for 360 for me yet. Still not sure about the zombie treatment in this so the demo could we be a wallet saver.

I saw some gameplay videos of this and it looks underwhelming visually and not that much fun to play either, granted that is difficult to gauge from just watching something. I was actually surprised because for months I've read of people excitedly looking forward to it and I just wasn't seeing that in those videos. They didn't make me want to pre-order it, put it that way. Good job there's a demo then but to be honest I don't think it's the kind of game I'd enjoy anyway, seems too focused on multiplayer.

Conversely I was looking forward to Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for months based on the videos I'd seen making it look like the bright visually appealing platformer the 360 has been crying out for. Then I played the demo and was sorely disappointed at how dull the whole experience was. Yesterday's review was the last bit of convincing I needed to cancel my pre-order.

So as you say you can't gauge how fun a game will be just by watching videos.

I think they made the wrong choice with fast zombies. It stops the game from being a tactical and scary shooter where you work together with your team mates to defeat the hordes, into a "just spray bullets everywhere" game where having teammates is only of use because you need lots of bullets to stop the zombies running at your face.

Isn't the 360 early access only available in North America?

Reading this article, it looks like the demo will only be a short run thing until the game is released commercially too.

Any idea of price?

"So a PS3 version next year sometime then. Just like the "No PS3 version" Orange Box."

If it's a shitcake like the PS3 Orange Box then probably best to avoid it, eh?

/ Pre-load 'Left 4 Dead Demo'

Grins

"So a PS3 version next year sometime then. Just like the "No PS3 version" Orange Box."

They never said that there wouldn't be a ps3 version of the OB. They said that it was delayed because of development problems with the ps3 version.

Ahhh, whether to get the inevitably superior PC version or not :/

ZOMBRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant wait for this game. I'm so excited about L4D that I feel a bit like Cartman in the Wii episode of Southpark.

So, are Valve using the Z-word or not?

Was great having a crack at this at the expo - if you are harbouring any thoughts about proceeding at a leisurely, resident evil pace, then you can forget it. To all intents and purposes it felt like a slightly faster Timesplitters (1).

The graphics were certainly serviceable, and where there were brief pauses in the demo areas to collect health and ammo you could see that there had been a fair amount of attention to detail, before being plunged into another wave of incoming high-speed scary zombies, complete with some Giant, even harder to kill zombies and occasionally getting trapped by offscreen long-tentacle zombies which required your team mates to be saved or to save you from them.

The inclusion of things like the 'zombie honey' or whatever it was called was great - one player gets splatted with some spat liquid, and the whole local horde of zombies comes a-running after him, pretty much ignoring everyone else.

Pretty twitchy stuff, but satisfying when you manage to introduce the shotgun to the heads of zombies, and the sound of a small band of survivors rattling off pistol, uzi and shotgun ammo sounded like a small war when it got really hectic.

This is likely to be my November purchase.

Too bad I'll be in USA for the week between demo and proper release :(

Get me a little taste of that CHAAAANGE.

So how much is it on Steam? At work, can't check :(

Like, £32 or something.

Cheaper getting physical. I find that strange!

Cheaper on disc? Screw Steam then. I bought the Orange Box on Steam grudgingly, as I much prefer a physical copy, especially if they've done it nicely, with a decent manual n everything.

So is the physical copy being released on the 21st? All the usual online retailers have the release date down as 21/11/2008 - is it only Steam purchasers who can get it on the 18th?

Yeah direct on Steam is more expensive as they haven't (yet) adjusted for Pound Sterling's huge collapse against the US dollar; from 2:1 down to 1.58:1 today

If you buy retail it's the same as Steam anyway, but cheaper. I was sad and wanted to get hands on this early, so pre-ordered on Steam anyway. :D

Pre-load is complete, anyone know what time it will go live today?

"This and GoW2 are my most anticipated games this year. Can't wait! "
+1

It should be live now!!!!

Can people confirm its currently playable on PC!!!!


Damn WORK!

What do we want?

Brains!

When do we want it?

BRAINS!!

@ smoison

Left 4 Dead Demo

Pre-loading is complete

When the game is officially released, you'll be able to play it immediately.

"Speak your brain..."? BRAINS!

Out end of Feb for PS3.

Please wait while Steam verifies game files.

Validating Left 4 Dead Demo file (1 of 1)

Left 4 Dead Demo - Updating

demo at 98% :) been looking forward to this for months!

GUI is a bit console like, it also went a bit wrong changing to 2560x1600 resolution (it's obviously still a bit beta) but once into the game it was great.

Two levels of awesome fun. Boy oh boy this is going to be a great. :D

Updating again, real time bug fixing methinks. :)

Yeah direct on Steam is more expensive as they haven't (yet) adjusted for Pound Sterling's huge collapse against the US dollar; from 2:1 down to 1.58:1 today

Hang on, on Steam it says it's $44.99. If I buy it on my bank card, then won't my bank get charged $44.99 and the currency conversion will be done at that moment? If that is the case, then $4.99 works out as £28.41, which is only a coupl eof quid more than the price in the shops, and then I'll be able to play it on the 18th instead of waiting until the shops have it on the 21st (according to their web pages).

Can anyone point out any flaws in this argument to me? Otherwise I won't be able to stop my urge to buy online!

You're forgetting the 17.5% VAT they'll stick on after the conversion - taking the price upto £33.38.... nearly a tenner more :)

You're forgetting the 17.5% VAT they'll stick on after the conversion - taking the price upto £33.38.... nearly a tenner more :)

Bastards! They'll just spend it on bankers!