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In the last 2 weeks of November, L4D2 shifted 2 million copies according to Valve. That’s more than double the sales the original managed over the same period of time.

So I guess all the months of internet rage/boycotts were worth it then?

The lesson to be learnt here.. you will not stop games being made via internet rage and petitions. The best you can hope for is to simply keep your money in your pocket and be content that YOU did not contribute to something you disagree with.

Now, be thankful you lost because now you can cave in, get the sequel and join in the fun with the rest of us!

Playing through the third campaign (Swamp Fever) on L4D2 last night with two other friends on Normal difficulty and all is going well… till the plantation house finale.

Starts off well. Ends with two tanks, at the same time, in the same crowded corridor, delivering swift merciless death to our team.

Next attempt. Get to the house OK again. Prime the area with gas cans this time and stock up on Boomer Bile to slow the inevitable Tank down. Tank comes and we down him. Before his pink behind can even hit the floor, yet another Tank spawns and this time a Jockey helps him ruin our attempt.

Third attempt. Much smoother. We actually hold out till the rescue arrives. Suddenly two Tanks show up again and proceed to do a tap number on our spines.

One party member leaves due to time issues and we slog on. Next attempt, we last till rescue then a really badly timed Tank/Special Infected spawn combo makes short work of us thanks partially to bad AI controlling the remaining two team mates. Next attempt we swallow our pride and take a vote to drop to Easy and complete it first try. This sticks in my throat like un-buttered crackers.

It’s ironic really. I had a post almost ready to publish about gaming losing some of the challenge  simply to attract a wider audience. How difficulty levels have been toned down and games for children now hold your hand a lot more than games in the 80′s when as a result of game design we had no saves, no continues, and in some cases only one life. When almost everything on the map could and would kill you (see Dizzy franchise). Based on last nights experience I’m not sure I can publish it now without some editing!

L4D2 (to paraphrase a favourite movie of mine) will “cook up a story and drop the four of you in a meatgrinder!”

How you get out is based on teamwork, luck, and largely how sadistic the AI Director is feeling at that point. Its a challenge that has been sorely missing from most modern games. I don’t see CoD’s endless spawn mechanic the same way. I can beat that mechanic simply by pushing forward past the spawn point cutting the event short. It might be hard to make it past that point, but once past it, the game will not decide to hammer you flat for doing so.

L4D2 will punish you. And the better you get, the more the AI Director will punish you. That is its raison d’être. Its single purpose is to destroy groups, and it does so with exceeding efficiency.

..and I love it!

Of course, if for some reason Monster Hunter items became available to buy,Mishkii would have to cut up our credit/debit cards to stop me

Mishkii and I unlocked our first avatar awards last night by completing all 5 campaigns of L4D2 granting us a mini medi-kit prop each. I must admit, for such a tiny thing I was quite impressed.

I’ve seen the props on marketplace before but never bought anything due to the fact that paying money to dress up a doll ranks pretty low on my, “things I like to spend my money on” list, as opposed to say, banana Frijj which ranks considerably higher… and that only costs me 75p.

Anyway I digress. My point was, it’s about time games included unlockable doodads as something to work towards. Gamerscore does motivate me to go back and replay older games to try and tick off achievements, but its not the shiny toy it once was. After ‘x’ points the unlocks become meaningless and only major gamerpoint milestones mean anything now.

Enter avatar awards…

Finally, not only a new shiny for us all to chase, but something tangible you can use. For the longest time I’ve been of the opinion you should be able to use gamerscore for something more meaningful than bragging rights and now we have it. Not only that, but now I have incentive to grab some achievement points I maybe wouldn’t have bothered with. For example, the ‘Guardin’ Gnome’ achievement on Left4Dead2 involves carrying a garden gnome through the entire Dark Carnival campaign from start to finish. Normally I wouldn’t bother with something like this. Or at the least I’d wait till I got all the other achievements before attempting something that has the potential to make me throw a controller through my TV. But this particular achievement has an avatar award tied to it. A Depeche Mode T-shirt.

Now, I’ve been thinking about this all day and I just cant explain why I want to unlock it. I don’t even really like Depeche Mode that much but it is there, free, and waiting for me to unlock, so part of my brain automatically wants it and does not care about a rational reason. I guess you could say that about gamerscore in general, ultimately it means nothing. Not even as a judge of player skill as players can artificially inflate scores by playing a bunch of easy point games like King Kong or some other guff.

So why is it a source of motivation to me? Who knows. What I do know is that as long as there are people around who think the same way I do, Microsoft may be on to a winner here. People obsess over gamerscore and I can see the same thing with avatar unlocks. We may start seeing people renting/buying games purely because of avatar unlocks. It’s not beyond belief, I know people who rented bad games purely for the points.

I guess the big question is, will avatar unlocks convince gamers to drop a few quid on marketplace exclusive avatar items here or there? I certainly don’t feel any more likely to buy avatar items as long as I can unlock them free via games but I’d guess for plenty of others this is just the thing to bring them round to the idea.

Of course, if for some reason Monster Hunter items became available to buy Mishkii would have to cut up our credit/debit cards to stop me

…I have been mostly playing, Borderlands, Dragon Age: Origins, and Left4Dead2. So much so in fact I’ve not had time to post here really.

Mini reviews for the above games.

• Borderlands – Great but flawed
• Dragon Age: Origins – Not bad but too dialogue heavy for me
• Left4Dead2 – Incredible!

…will post up more detailed reviews this week.