On GameTrailers TV last night, Valve announced details on the third DLC for Left 4 Dead. Surprise, you’ll also be able to play it with Left 4 Dead 2.
“The Sacrifice” ties in with the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC “The Passing.” It chronicles the events leading up to that content from the perspective of the L4D1 cast. At the end, you get to decide which of the quartet must die to save the others.
The storyline will be set up by a 150+ page digital comic. It will be released over time in four parts, starting in September. In addition to chronicling the events of the DLC, the comic provides a look at the backstory of each of the L4D1 survivors.
“Sacrifice” will be released in October. As mentioned earlier, it will be playable with both L4D1 and L4D2. Owners of L4D2 will also get the “No Mercy” campaign from the first game.
The DLC will be free for PC and Mac owners. Xbox 360 owners will have to shell out some dough, though.
Source:Cinema Blend

It’s Friday so Valve has implemented another experimental game mode for Left 4 Dead 2. This week’s Mutation rewards the marksmen among you.
The game mode is called “Headshot!” and is available for Campaign Mode. In a Headshot! Match, zombies can only be killed with headshots or decapitations. You’ll only daze them by shooting them anywhere else.
Today’s update also makes a few changes to Versus mode that favor the Infected. Health kits and defibrillators will now be less common in maps. Using a defibrillator will remove 25 points from your score. Additionally, the Jockey was given a slight buff to his damage.
Source:Cinema Blend

At San Diego Comic Con, Valve is unveiling the second of Left 4 Dead 2′s five campaigns. It’s entitled “Swamp Fever” and if you can’t guess the setting based on that, they’ve provided some screenshots.
In “Swamp Fever”, the four Survivors will run into a new type of zombie called “Mudmen.” They’re described as an “uncommon common” in the press release, so you’ll be mowing them down like the regular Infected. I suspect they’ll be jumping out of the swamp’s dark waters.
Valve also released a picture of “The Spitter,” a new boss Infected. She has an area attack that’s said to “split up Survivors or flush them out of their hiding spots.” It’s the second new boss character they’ve revealed this summer (the first being the Charger at E3). At least one other will be unveiled before the game arrives on Xbox 360 and PC on November 17th.
Image Gallery
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

Between July 5th and July 11th there were some interesting, shocking and revealing tidbits of news. Here at Blend Games we have compiled all the noteworthy news items throughout the week.
Such items include the announcement by MJJ Productions about the new Michael Jackson game that is slated to appear on retail shelves for the Xbox 360 and PS3 this holiday season, a new promotion by Game Crazy that will see gamers getting early access to the upcoming Wii Sports sequel, Wii Sports Resort, and an exclusive interview with voice-actor David Sobolov for his latest project, iMEvil. In addition to all this there is tons of news regarding Left 4 Dead 2, shocking developments for BioShock 2 and plenty of hot new trailers for everyone to view throughout this edition of the Weekly Recap.
Sunday
Left 4 Dead 2: Hands-On Preview. TGR offers up some hands-on impressions for Valves latest zombie-shooter.
Left 4 Dead Multiplayer Demo Details. Gaming Front has a few details on the L4D2 multiplayer demo.
Bitmaps 84: Wii Fit Vs Ea Sports Active. TGR has an all out brawl between two of the biggest interactive active training games of all time.
Exclusive Interview: Up And Coming XBLA Developers Halfbrick Studios. Blend Games correspondent, Ryan Rigney, sits down with Halfbrick Studios and does a little Q and A regarding present and future projects.
Will World Of Warcraft Ever Be Subscription Free? Lets hope so, because with 11 million people paying 15 a month its just looking like greed on the part of Blizzard.
Review Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. Ryan Rigney tees off with Tigers latest PGA Tour and explains if this game scores a birdie or a bogey.
Monday
DiRT 2 Delayed For PC Because Of DirectX 11. The delay is actually for improvements and a few other neat graphical inclusions. Click the link to get the full story.
Review: BattleStations Pacific. Andy Keener from Blend Games reveals if this game drops bombs or soars high for the Xbox 360.
Assassins Creed 2 Developers Talk Ezio. What makes the new protagonist of AC2 noteworthy? Click the link to find out.
Deco Online Finally Receives A Summer Update. Joymax is slowly updating their games even if it takes them six months to do so.
Global Agenda Closed Beta Begins On July 24th. Get your high-tech armor on because this MMO-shooter will be going live for its closed-beta very soon.
Interview: iMEvil Star David Sobolov Talks Halo Wars, COD4 And More. Find out what Blend Games correspondent, Mark Barley, pried from Mr. Sobolov regarding Halo, Brutal Legend and a host of other fascinating topics.
Tuesday
Halo 3: ODST New Multiplayer Maps Revealed. Its only three new maps but somehow Halo fans will probably get all geeked up over them.
Fighting Fantasy The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain Coming To Nintendo DS. Hopefully the game will be half as good as the name is long.
Sony CEO Brushes Off Calls For PS3 Price Cut. After all the rumors it has now been confirmed that the PS3 wont be getting a price cut.
Dungeons And Dragons Online Goes Free-To-Play In August. This game will be entirely free-to-play, as opposed to the conditional free-to-play schemes setup by Funcom for Age of Conan.
Jackson 5 Song Ill Be In Lego Rock Band And No, Its Not Dancing Machine. As the headline states, the Jackson 5 song wont be Dancing Machine.
BioShock 2 Receiving New Developer. PlayStation LifeStyle breaks the news about a new team working on the highly anticipated FPS sequel of 2007.
Wednesday
Cursed Mountain Turns Up The Scares For Wii. Viral videos showing how scary Cursed Mountain will be for the Wii.
THQ Will Support Project Natal And PS3 Motion Control At Launch. Find out if THQ will support these devices with casual-ware crap or core games.
Command And Conquer 4 Announcement And First Concept Art. It was coming sooner or later and EA appears to prefer sooner rather than later.
Oh Look, Games You Didnt Want Before Are Now Dirt Cheap At GameStop. Blend Games Rich Knight goes through a list of noteworthy titles now dirt-cheap at GameStop.
Left 4 Dead 2 And Left 4 Dead Players Might Be Able To Play Together. So what do the boycotters have to say about this now? Probably nothing.
Age Of Conan Hyborian Adventures Will Be Free-To-Play. However, its only going to be free for a limited time and with certain conditions. Not as enticing now, is it?
Thursday
Wii Sports Resort Exclusive Demo Access At Game Crazy. Anyone who drops by GameStops rival can get early access to this surefire big hit. Click the link for the details.
Kingdom Under Fire II Verified For Xbox 360. Its not final on whether PS3 owners will get it, but it is final that massive, eye-gouging battles will be present.
Modern Warfare 2 Box Art Reveals It Is A Call Of Duty Game. For anyone who says otherwise it appears the box art says otherwise.
Daggerfall Now Free To Download. Its about timeespecially with all the money Bethesda made from Oblivion.
Summer 2009 Xbox Live Arcade Lineup. Xbox Live Gold subscribers might not want to miss this. Click the link for more details.
P*N For Humans Only: District 9. Platform Nation takes a look at the incredible cinematic masterpiece coming out called District 9.
In Defense Of The Pre-Rendered Cut-Scene. The Game Reviews lay down some defense for the now-absent pre-rendered cut-scenes that used to be in more games.
Section 8 New Trailer And PS3 Update. The PS3 version of Section 8 may not be dead or cancelled, simply financially inept. Check out the article for the full details.
George Lucas Very Involved With Stars: The Old Republic Development. Ole Georgy-boy still cares about Star Wars. Now lets hope he doesnt turn it into Attack of the Clones.
Friday
Alan Wake Might Not Come To PC. Oh how sad, and now a bunch of thieves for digital media will probably cry a river for not being able to get their keyboard-loving hands on it.
DarkEden Europe And US Officially Opened. If you like hunting vampires or hunting humans as vampires this is the game for you.
Hudson Releases New Screenshots For The Calling. Its a new sort of game for the horror-survival genre.
Michael Jackson Game Set To Release Holiday Season 2009. Freakshow or not, this game is coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 this year.
Mass Effect 2 Commander Shepard Die Permanently. That was the big reveal by Biowareclick the link to find out why Shepard might die for good.
Dantes Inferno: The Disturbing Depictions Of Lust. This trailer is not for the faint of heart. Click the link at your own risk.
LittleBigPlanet Game Of The Year Edition Coming In 2009. At least there are no more LittleBig(insert pun here) jokes filling up the newswires. LittleBigPlanet is now LittleBigRespected.
Saturday
Top 10 NonPlayable Characters In Videogames. So The Game Reviews has up a list of characters that you never get to play but worth listing. It also happens to be a list worth checking out.
Man Uses Eve Online Currency To Pay Real Life Debt. Talk about taking the game too far. Gaming Front explains how this guy got out of debt with gaming currency.
Review: Guitar Hero Smash Hits. Ryan Rigney breaks down the riffs, strums and drums in the latest line of Guitar Hero games. Click the link to find out how it scores on the charts.
Games That Nobody Plays Anymore: Star Wars Republic Commando. Platform Nation offers up their take on why this previous-gen gem is left out in the cold.
KillZone 2 Napalm And Cordite DLC Adds Maps And Weapons. New ways to frag on new fragalicious maps. Could you ask for more?
God Of War Movie Has Different Ending Than Game. *gasp* Bet you didnt see this one coming? Well, Pete Haas delves into a little bit of the GoW movie script to round out the week, exclusively at Blend Games.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of the Blend Games Weekly Recap. Of course, no week would be complete without a little video showcase featuring the latest videogame trailers. With that said, you can check out two new pugilist-pummeling videos for Rumble Fighters Online and the incomparable King of Fighters XII. Enjoy.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

Much like the Civil War, the Great Left 4 Dead of ’09 shall surely pit brother against brother. The gap between boycotters and people who don’t mind paying for a new game might be smaller than expected, though, if Left 4 Dead 2 ends up having cross-game play.
Valve’s Doug Lombardi told TVG that they’re currently “trying to work out the details” of cross-game play between Left 4 Dead 2 and Left 4 Dead owners. “So nothing specific to say today, but we understand that it’s a very valid thing to be working on and looking at.”
How would this work? I doubt Valve would let you play campaigns included in L4D or L4D2 if you don’t own that specific game, so this cross-game functionality might be limited to user-generated content. Mods created with the recently released L4D toolset will be playable by owners of the sequel.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

Not sure whether you’ll be purchasing Left 4 Dead 2 or boycotting? To help you determine whether the game will be worth a buy, Valve will be releasing a demo before its release.
“With Left 4 Dead in particular we’ve found that word of mouth really is the strongest thing,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told OXM. “With Left 4 Dead 2 we plan to do a demo before the game comes out that’ll have multiplayer in it. And hopefully we can continue the free weekends with the full game post-launch.”
Lombardi also told Joystiq this weekend that folks who reserve a copy of the game at select retailers or through Valve’s digital distribution platform will get the demo. With the first Left 4 Dead, pre-order customers were given access to the demo a few days earlier than everyone else. Even those who didn’t pre-order got an entire week to play the demo before the game hit stores, though.
Left 4 Dead will be released on November 17th for the Xbox 360 and PC.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

Though there’s been a lot of Left 4 Dead fans threatening not to buy Left 4 Dead 2, it hasn’t hurt the sequel’s preorder numbers. In fact, they’ve increased.
“Our pre-orders are currently double what they were for Left 4 Dead 1 at this point in time away from launch,” Valve’s Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer. “We’re like 20 weeks out or something like that.”
People pre-order that far in advance? Huh. I imagine the pre-orders for Left 4 Dead were more numerous in the month or so before release, especially after Valve announced that reserving a copy would get you early access to the demo. Still, even if L4D2doesn’t employ a similar tactic, it will probably best its predecessor in pre-orders anyway because Left 4 Dead is an established brand name now.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

While over 30,000 unappreciative whiners have now joined the “L4D2 Boycott” group on Steam (no, I won’t link you there. They don’t deserve more visits), a force of actual Valve fans has risen up and begun to fight back via the “L4D2 Enthusiasts” group. The group only has about 512 members as of now, but as sites like this one begin to pick up this story, I’m sure that’ll change for the better.
Here’s the “group manifesto” of the L4D2 Enthusiasts:
Hello all, and welcome to the Left 4 Dead 2 Enthusiasts! I would love to say, thank you all for joining.
Left 4 Dead 2, which is coming out November 1st, is supposed to be a great game. It has;
- 5 new campaigns.
- 4 new characters.
- 3 new special infected.
- 2 new common infected.
- 1 new campaign, where the infection has not hit.
- 20 new weapons.
- New graphics, and so on and so forth.
This really is a respectable sequel to the original game.
This was in response to the L4D 2 Boycott group, because allot of people were against their opinions. Right now I will say, there is a freedom of speech, and I respect their opinion. But this isn’t just a group created against the L4D2 Boycott group, it’s also a group for Left 4 Dead 2 Enthusiasts.
We have only hit a short milestone in our expansion of players, but we have come a decent way. While the L4D2 Boycott group has around 30,000 members, we have around 255, and growing.
There are allot of stupid things that the L4D2 Boycott group are complaining about. Here are some to name a few;
- The music played.
- The character design.
- The color of the game, etc…
In my opinion, these are some pretty stupid arguments, where all evidence came from a Left 4 Dead 2 Beta teaser trailer. May I remind you, a beta is not the full finished version of the game.
They are also saying things like; “Valve is a greedy company, only releasing L4D2 to get money!”
Okay… Well, guess what? Sequels happen! Lets see, hmm… CoD: World at War, Modern Warfare 2, a new Madden game practically every 9 months, and the list goes on and on… But no one has ever made such a big deal like this in respond to a sequel until now.
Valve is moving forwards. Yes they promised new content for Left 4 Dead, and guess what? They’re releasing it! Left 4 Dead 2 is a game for people who wanted a sequel, who will buy, and enjoy it!
I would also like to say this. From my knowledge, we have done nothing to the L4D2 Boycott group, but yet they seem to make themselves look worse each day by spamming this group. The only point they’re making, is how stupid they look. You know, not sure if you noticed this, but there’s this great invention called the “Delete button”, works well. See, when you post one of you attempted spamming, that probably took who knows how much time you had to make, I can get rid of it in a blink of an eye.
One last thing that I would love to say is; Thank you all for joining, I really appreciate it, I really do! I love the comments, and opinions that you guys have been leaving, and I read every single one of them. I am hoping that you all do your part by spreading the word, and keep this group alive.
There’s really not much to say about this. I’m not at all shocked to hear that the L4D2 Boycotters are harassing this new group, as they’ve made it obvious since day one that they’re a bunch of obnoxious children. I honestly believe that all the real Valve fans out there should hop on this train. I joined, and so should you. Also, this is the last bit of press the L4D2 Boycott group is getting from this site until the L4D2 Enthusiasts overtake them in numbers, which will (hopefully) be soon.
Oh, and check out this awesome video:
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

Last week, I wrote an article on some Valve fans’ (if “fans” is even the word) negative reactions to the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2, viewable here. In research for the article, I visited the chat room of the “L4D2 Boycott Group,” which had (at that time) around 6,000 members. In the article, I made my personal opinion clear on the subject, as I don’t think it’s a serious crime for a company to charge for content that they spent good money and time on to create.
At the end of my editorial, I promised to get some quotes from Valve about the subject in order to give them a chance to explain the situation. As it turns out, Arstechnica has saved me a bit of work by doing that themselves. You should really click that link and read that article to get all your questions answered, but there are several important things that Valve’s own Chet Faliszek addressed. The biggest one is that it would NOT be possible to add the content from Left 4 Dead 2 as DLC for the original game. It seems that Gabe Newell spoke a bit out of turn when he claimed that tons of post-release content would be coming to the original Left 4 Dead in his interview with VideoGamer.
So here’s what I’m taking away from that Arstechnica article: Like the Valve guy said, if you change one thing it effects all the others, so even just a small thing like the update to the zombie modeling would be a massive update, and they had tons of things like that to deal with, so a full-blown sequel was the resolution they found themselves looking at. They MAYBE could’ve added in the new campaigns, but you can forget about the changes to the A.I. director, the zombie modeling, and other in-engine changes.
The Arstechnica interview solidified my original defensive position of Valve. The now 18,000 members of the L4D2 Boycott group need to chill out and reevaluate the situation. Valve is not being “greedy,” they’re not turning into EA, and they never “promised” free content with the original game. Gabe Newell said they’d work on new content, and they did (albeit not very quickly) but the situation changed. The mod community will remain untouched, and the original game will continue to be updated.
I’m trying to think of a way to correctly articulate WHY they don’t owe you free shit, but I know that some delightful hooligans will just point back to that interview with Gabe Newell 6 months before the original game was released. Oh “he promised! He promised, you say.” Valve is a COMPANY, not the kid next door. They’re a business. Yes, they’re are out to get your money, and if anything can be taken from their past practices, they’re doing the best they can to make all their customers happy while they do it. Don’t ever expect a BUSINESS to go into the red for you just because you’ve been “such a loyal fan.” That’s a position based in something other than reality.
So listen to me, angry Valve “fans”: drop the righteous anger act. If you choose to pay for Left 4 Dead 2, you will be getting a full game, and if you only got 6 hours out of the first game you clearly missed the point. No, I am not “teh biased,” I just looked at the facts and took the only reasonable side in this pointless debate. Chill out guys, and support Valve when they release the sequel; they’re a great company and you’re not their fans if you refuse to support them because you think you deserve everything for free.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com

This week felt like it was filled with gunpowder and was lit from the rear-end with a match that just blew all sorts of gaming news all over the place. Yeah, it was that insane. This was all because of E3 2009, which took place between June 1st and June 4th.
Microsoft let the bombs drop with their press conference that just shook the foundations of the news circuits regarding Project Natal. Sony wasnt too far behind with the PlayStation Eye and some great games that were on display at this years expo. Nintendowell, Nintendo was a sad, sad display of doing nothing more than feeding the casual machine.
Ryan Rigney did a little reporting on the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott brigade and it reaped some fairly interesting results, to say the least. Our Weekly Battle Bout returned for a special between Gran Turismo 5 and Forza Motorsport 3, and EA gets caught red-handed staging fake protests for Dantes Infernoouch. You can check out everything that went down on the week beginning on May 31st and ending on June 6th, below.
Sunday
Prototype System Requirements. Because its important to know what it takes to control a shape-shifting, vehicle-throwing hero.
Crysis 2 Announced For PC And Consoles. It was bound to happen and now it has. Break out the champagne PS3 and 360 owners!
Square Enix Line-Up Reveals Two New Games. Click the link to find out what games Square has up their future-coiled, steam-punk-fantasy sleeves.
Review For inFamous. Blend Games Pete Haas puts down the verdict for this game.
2029 Online Closed-Beta Key Giveaway. Its almost ready for the public but you can get a glimpse into this game with a free closed-beta key.
Fighting Games That Youve Undoubtedly Forgotten About: Part II. And yes, some of these games could have stayed in the forgotten about categoryShaq Fu, Im looking at you.
Monday
Ubisoft Announces Your Shape For Wii. Featuring no-hands gameplay and working out.
Star Wars The Old Republic Sith Vs Jedi trailer. Simply awesomethats all I have to say.
Microsoft To Offer Full Game Downloads On Xbox Live. And we do mean full.
EA Announces Mixed Martial Arts Game. Its like the UFC but simply MMA.
Xbox Live Getting Twitter, Facebook Entertainment Services. Because somehow gamers cant get enough of Twitter or Facebookreally.
Microsofts Natal Is Full-Body, Full-Voice Recognition Device. Its terribly awesome and I mean that in a good way.
Left 4 Dead 2 Announced And Detailed. Find out why those boycotters wanted to boycott this game.
Tuesday
Team ICOs Third Game Is: The Last Guardian. It came complete with a cool looking but slightly dopey trailer.
Sony Announces Eye-Toy Motion Controller For PS3. Its more like a mo-cap ball on a Wii-mote, but you might want to check it out for yourself.
Jack Tretton Announces Rockstars Agent. Its a PS3 exclusive, for real.
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker Announced For PSP. Theres even a pantless Big Boss running aroundor is that Snake?
Gran Turismo Coming To PSP. Its not just on the PS3 anymore.
Mario Galaxy 2 Announced. This was just one of two Mario games coming out for the Wii.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Announced. This was the second of two new Mario games for the Wii.
Wii Fit Sequel Unveiled. I dont know who would be interested in thisoh wait, the million or so people who bought the first one.
Wednesday
Peter Molyneux Gets A New Job. It was all over his Twitter and now its all over the web. Find out what all the talk is about.
Halo Reach Is A First-Person Shooter. Yes, because some people thought it was a third-person point-and-click game.
Nintendos Canceled Handheld Revealed. Well, its sort of revealed because its actually canceled.
Alan Wake Fact Sheet And Screenshots. Its not dead, its alive and well.
Final Fantasy XIV Not A PS3 Exclusive. And here it is we thought that when Sony said exclusive they werent referring to multi-platform. Oh well.
Thursday
Some Valve Fans Not Happy About Left 4 Dead 2. Ryan Rigney sparks huge flames with this little investigative piece.
Sony Offers Solution For UMD-To-Digital-PSP Go! Game Conversion. Its a long-winded title with some important information for PSP gamers.
Huxley Nixes Cross Platform Play; Will Still be Free-To-Play. No cross-platforming between 360 and PCs, but itll still be free-to-play.
Game Power 7 Says Kids Will No Longer Turn On TV Machines To Watch TV. Its a darn tough thing to argue with once he explains why no one will want to watch TV anymore.
Activision Sues Brutal Legend Developer. Why cant we all just get along?
Gran Turismo 5 Vs. Forza Motorsport 3. Whos the big racing dog this time around? Check below for the poll results.
Project Natal And Xbox 360 To Last Beyond 2015. I dont know how the 360 will last that long, but Micosoft has faith in their aging console.
Friday
2K Games Releases Borderlands Fact Sheet. And the fact is that this game is simply awesome.
WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 Announced. Sadly, the only thing youll get out of this news story is a roid-enchanced box-shot.
Natal Will Have Hardcore Games. Just when you thought this cool new device was going to be shrouded under a barrage of casual-ware.
No Subscription For Battle.Net. Fee-less gaming is every multiplayer gamers dream.
BioShock 2 Singleplayer and Multiplayer Details Exposed. And its more than what you were expecting.
EA Fakes Dantes Inferno Protest. Well, any publicity is still good publicity.
Saturday
Face Mapping Coming To Perfect Dark On Xbox Live. Its a possibility folksyou could be shooting at your own face in Rares revived shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade.
Spike Lee Doesnt Approve Of NBA 2K10 Cover Athlete. And this is the same guy who made He Hate Me.
Shadow Of The Colossus DLC Coming To LittleBigPlanet. LPB fans getting a little SotC DLC.
Review for The Sims 3. Kelly West from Cinema Blends TV Section rounds out the week by giving us a good ole review of EAs Sims 3.
Be sure to stay tuned in for more news, insight, updates and media regarding the latest games right here at Blend Games.
Tips N4G

Source:cinemablend.com