Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Details

[Blink]

For those interested, Valve released the details for the L4D 2 demo:

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will feature gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections on both the Xbox 360 and PC (with two-player split screen available on the Xbox 360), the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and all the new melee weapons included in the full product.

Those who pre-order the game (at participating retailers or via Steam) will obtain early access to the demo on October 27. The demo will then be made available to Xbox LIVE Gold members and all PC gamers on November 3. Then all Xbox LIVE members will obtain access to the demo on November 10.

The full game will be released on the 17th of November.

[Phott]

Woot!

[bluefire40]

Only one week early?
Didn't L4D1 have it's demo 2 weeks before it went public?

Also, doesn't it seem weird that Valve's main marketing catch seems to be "We have melee weapons now" instead of "We have a more detailed story" or "We have brand new special infected"? It makes it feel like the melee weapons are the only new important thing in the game.

[Phott]

Only one week early?
Didn't L4D1 have it's demo 2 weeks before it went public?

Also, doesn't it seem weird that Valve's main marketing catch seems to be "We have melee weapons now" instead of "We have a more detailed story" or "We have brand new special infected"? It makes it feel like the melee weapons are the only new important thing in the game.

I haven't really noticed them branding anything special out...

Daytime maps.
Wandering witch.
New specials.
Melee weapons.
New survivors.
New weapons/ammo types.
"Dynamic" routes.

Just like L4D 1, I think what they mostly focus on mentioning is the AI director doing a lot of cool stuff.

[Zipfinator]

Only one week early?
Didn't L4D1 have it's demo 2 weeks before it went public?

Also, doesn't it seem weird that Valve's main marketing catch seems to be "We have melee weapons now" instead of "We have a more detailed story" or "We have brand new special infected"? It makes it feel like the melee weapons are the only new important thing in the game.

You didn't read it correctly. Computer pre-orders will have the demo available on October 27th which is 3 weeks early. All computer users and Xbox Live Gold members will have it available on November 3rd which is 2 weeks early. Any Xbox Live member will have it available on November 10th which is 1 week early.

Also melee weapons isn't really their main marketing catch. It's just saying that because it will include most of the melee weapons in The Parish sections playable in the demo. It also says Boss Infected will be included in the demo which is just another phrase for Special Infected. The detailed story wont be in the demo as much as when you play all 5 campaigns linked together.

And damn it Phott! This is the third time in 2 days I've posted something with you replying to the same person before me.

[no00dylan]

YES! I cant wait for Zipfinator to preorder this for me!

[Phott]

And damn it Phott! This is the third time in 2 days I've posted something with you replying to the same person before me.

You have to be faster!

[bluefire40]

Only one week early?
Didn't L4D1 have it's demo 2 weeks before it went public?

Also, doesn't it seem weird that Valve's main marketing catch seems to be "We have melee weapons now" instead of "We have a more detailed story" or "We have brand new special infected"? It makes it feel like the melee weapons are the only new important thing in the game.

You didn't read it correctly. Computer pre-orders will have the demo available on October 27th which is 3 weeks early. All computer users and Xbox Live Gold members will have it available on November 3rd which is 2 weeks early. Any Xbox Live member will have it available on November 10th which is 1 week early.

I said one week early as in one week earlier for the ones who Pre-Ordered, rather than those who didn't pre-order.
So since I Pre-Ordered, I play the demo 1 week before people who didn't pre-order.

[source-maps]

boo hoo bluefire
I think l4d1 was even less then a week
anyway can't wait

[Zipfinator]

Ahh, sounded like you meant the demo for everyone before the game went public.

[YokaI]

I'll try it, though I kind of wished they had one map of the new versus gametype because that's what I am more interested in with L4D2 tbh. That gametype alone could probably make me feel "ok, this is kinda cool" just because it looks fun as hell.

[source-maps]

I'll try it, though I kind of wished they had one map of the new versus gametype because that's what I am more interested in with L4D2 tbh. That gametype alone could probably make me feel "ok, this is kinda cool" just because it looks fun as hell.

well yokai don't buy the game for the new game mode because there are only 6 maps.
(but Im sure there will be tons of custom maps just like survival mode)

[Mighty Monk]

You say only 6 maps, but surely 6 well made, refined maps is better than double that with a lesser quality.

And even then, if you're playing online with other people, you just don't know how the game is gonna go, so each time you play could well be completely different... or at least that's what we'd hope!

My girlfriend says she is going to pre-order this for me, for my upcoming birthday... the girl better get her backside in gear; I want the early demo! Haha

[YokaI]

well yokai don't buy the game for the new game mode because there are only 6 maps.
(but Im sure there will be tons of custom maps just like survival mode)

Well I'm certainly not buying it right on release, I may get it when the L4D1+2 Pack is cheaper. I only played L4D at a friends house, and I played at least all the campaigns. I played a bit of multiplayer on L4D1 but not enough to really excite me as much as this new gametype. But who knows, maybe when I get my hands on the online play, I may feel indifferent about the whole thing still.

I'm trying my hardest to be as positive about this game as I can. I STILL feel it was out a bit too early and would have liked to see it follow the steps of at least SSF4 when it comes to pricing, meaning lower than predecessor's price. The problem is that I feel as though I am being priced for a whole game when really the amount of additions is less than a whole games worth of content. I know I'll get flamed with this, but shoot, I need to get that in once every l4d2 discussion. I'm sure valve would understand too, though they'd be very angry at me for not buying a valve game. But rest assured, l4d1+2 are the only valve games I haven't bought yet. For now, I need to save my money for Uncharted 2 / ps3 slim. I don't have the money right now to buy a 60 dollar package for something I've already really experienced. And I wonder, does valve read interlopers forums?

Regardless, I may sound angry at valve every time I talk about L4D2, but I honestly like where valve is going on many aspects. I like the characterization they are starting to give characters, which is something they took from their efforts in TF2, and how Valve is really going with the extreme unreal sort of aspects of video gaming. The attitudes of characters in L4D is very movie lax in the sense that characters throw jokes, movie references, and whatever they want to say while the environment is really grim, dark, and eerie. It shows that valve is really making their own style and really stylizing their games, and anything with it's own style is more important than originality imo. I just think it's too soon for me to be buying the game again, which could have been resolved via paid DLC. But whatever, valve has the right to do whatever. And whatever gives valve more money also gives us a better quality / budgeted HL2:ep3! <3

[Zipfinator]

Well there's a lot of things wrong with your post Yokai but I don't really want to sort it out now so I'll just say one thing.

If you had 3 friends you could get the L4D2 4 Pack Pre-Order on computer, this way it's only 33.75 per person.