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Portal 2 Release for Holidays 2010

It’s going to take weeks to scrape myself off the ceiling. Game Informer announced that its April 2010 cover story is none other than Portal 2! Valve even gave it a release window of “this holiday season.” The Game Informer site says it will have a 12-page feature on the game and that Portal 2 is “a full-fledged, standalone sequel” with “new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists.”

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Portal Updates hint at Sequel?

Ok. I’m trying to breathe here but you know, heart trying to burst out of my chest at the prospect of Half Life 3 (or simply Episode 3) or Portal 2.

So yeah there have been some updates the Valve has pushed out in the past couple of days that have included secret radio morse-code messages, strange and alarming imagery, and now the most insane of all; a new ending to Portal has been spliced into the game files!

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Left 4 Dead 2 Character Bios (Updated)

I’ll be updating this as the videos are released by Laggy. One of the things I really like about the Left 4 Dead series is that the characters are given an actual life besides just killing zombies. It’s not just a short bio either, their quips and conversations during gameplay allude to their backgrounds really well. It’s a big deal for me to make the connections and see the inner workings of these kinds of interpersonal relationships between characters. I like to see the degrees of separation, I like to see the why.

Major accolades, thanks, and credit to Laggyshield for putting these videos together. I enjoyed the first series of L4D pieces and I’m loving these.

The Spitter

Spitters spew a corrosive ball of steaming acid that coats the ground in a puddle. When stepped in, it can be incredibly damaging to Survivors.

Spitters can make life difficult for Survivors by preventing them from clustering together in enclosed areas, and by blocking their path at unfortunate moments.

Voiced By: Dee Bradley Baker, Mike Patton, Fred Tatasciore

The Charger

Horrifically mutated, the Charger uses its oversized arm to its advantage, serving as an infected battering ram. The Charger is an effective class for scattering Survivors who play as a tight unit, separating them for attack.

In addition to knocking over Survivors, the Charger will also grab and carry them away from their teammates, where it will then smash them into the ground.

Voiced By: Dee Bradley Baker, Mike Patton, Fred Tatasciore

Rochelle

Age: 29
Hometown: Cleveland, OH

As a low-level associate producer for a big-name news station, Rochelle’s job mostly consisted of lugging cables and fetching coffee. But when the outbreak hit and staff started calling in sick, Rochelle got her break: producing a segment from Savannah about the evacuation center located there. She was still setting up the cameras when her big story became a war zone.

But that doesn’t mean she’s letting go of her dream job yet. Surviving a zombie apocalypse is just something else she can use her wits and drive to produce the hell out of.

Coach

Age: 44
Hometown: Savannah, GA

Coach has a big heart, a healthy appetite, and a wicked swing with a chainsaw. After a knee injury ended his career as a defensive lineman in college, Coach salvaged his Physical Education degree (barely) and landed a job teaching health at the local high school in his hometown of Savannah.

Working as a defensive coordinator for the freshmen team might not have been the best path to a pro coaching career; but its come in pretty handy in guiding a group of Survivors to safety. Coach has watched his beloved hometown get ravaged by infected—now its time to deliver his own brand of Southern hospitality.

Voiced By: Chad Coleman

Nick

Age: 35
Hometown: Unknown

A lifetime of drifting from city to city, finding back-alley card games and trying to stay out of jail has taught Nick two valuable lessons: Dont trust anyone, and look out for number one.

Hed come down to Savannah looking for some gullible fish on the riverboat gambling cruise circuit. Instead he found a city about to be engulfed by infection. Now he finds himself forced together with three complete strangers in a fragile alliance that goes against every instinct he lives by. But hes going to have to learn to trust them if he wants to survive.

Voiced by: Hugh Dillon

Ellis

Age: 23
Hometown: Savannah, GA

Ellis is a mechanic with a love of life, a firm belief in his own immortality, and the ability to treat any setback as a fun dare to impress his friends. Born and raised in Savannah, Ellis divvies up his time working at the local garage, hanging out with his buddies, and dropping by for Sunday dinners with Mom—whyd anybody want to live anywhere else?

Then the zombies had to go and spoil it. Now Ellis is looking for new things to occupy his time, and finding plenty. It turns out the zombie apocalypse is one big dare, and theres no shortage of crazy stuff he can try to impress his new buddies.

Voiced by: Eric Ladin

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Left 4 Dead 2 Review

I reviewed Left 4 Dead 2 and put the video up on the internet, by all means give it a watch and leave some feedback.

I’d rate the game as a definite buy if you like FPS games and happen to enjoy zombies in any capacity. There are other shooters out there now that are competitive online but honestly – they’re full of 12 year old prepubescents crying over xbox Live.

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My heart’s in Left 4 Dead 2

Most wouldn’t consider the Left 4 Dead franchise to be a work of deep story at first glance. But ask anybody who’s played the game for a while and they can recite quotes from the main characters like second nature.

I can say with 100% confidence that some of the best atmosphere in any game I’ve ever played can be found in Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. The voice acting is incredible, each line delivered with pinpoint accuracy to the theme and such a wonderful gusto that I’m surprised I don’t see any major Hollywood stars on the rolling credits.  Even the individual one-liners are recorded sometimes 5 different ways so you don’t typically get the same variation.

The incarnation of a world caught in the throes of a full on zombie apocalypse has given me pause while taking out the trash in the late night when it’s too quiet on my street. At times I expect to be jumped by a bloodthirsty hunter or even worse, hours of hearing the mindless infected hordes screams and wails makes my ears play tricks on me when I try to fall asleep.

There’s enough exploration in the game to keep you guessing as to where the next attack is coming from and hundreds of little nooks and crannies where possible salvation can be waiting in the form of a special gun or med-kit. So my lavish praise aside, what’s new with Left 4 Dead 2?

New Infected: There’s the Spitter, which looks like a woman with her jaw ripped open so you can see the throat easily and she spews acidic bile on the ground similar to the molotov cocktails. This has essentially destroyed the strategy of “group up in a corner and wait it out”

The Hunter has been redesigned with the same mechanics but an all new look that seems more clawed and deadly. The Boomer as well has a new look and there are female Boomers too that seem to have been ripped from my worst nightmares.  The Smoker is back too of course and he also has a better look. The tank is by far the most menacing of the Special Infected and he’s still around punching cars and generally ruining your day.

The other two new Special Infected are the Jockey and Charger. The Charger simply runs full speed out of nowhere at you and proceeds to slam you against the ground like a rag doll with his one massive roided out arm.

The Jockey is the most obnoxious little fucker ever conceived by game developers. First off he has this evil clown midget kind of laugh and he’s always laughing. Then he leaps on you like a hunter would but decides to sit on your shoulders and forces your character to run about wherever he feels you should. This little monkey motherfucker jumps on my shoulders and starts raping the back of my head as he pulls me away from the group. That’s some creative thinking right there.

The new weapons at first will sound overpowered like a grenade launcher, multiple assault rifles, semi-automatic sniper rifle, and the various melee weapons. Ammo isn’t as common as it was, and the infected hordes are much more resilient. Also there’s a fuckton more of them.

You can carry one primary weapon, which is typically a big gun of some kind. My personal favorite would be the new silver plated shotguns. They have less spread but more concentrated punch down the middle. Your secondary sidearm is a handgun that can be swapped out for a magnum handgun or a melee weapon. The new melee weapons are devastating but you’re prone to get surrounded and overwhelmed more since you can’t stop foes at range with a frying pan. The accessory slot where you could once only hold pain killer pills, can now hold a very big adrenaline needle instead (you can’t carry both just like the sidearms). The pills do the same thing as they used to, prolong your life. The new adrenaline shot will turn your vision stark and dampen all sounds around you, you pretty much go into fuck-off mode. You will run faster and not get slowed down as much by zombie attacks. When it wears off, it’s like coming off a drug though and everything feels slow and nauseating.

Finally there’s the first aid kit and grenade slots. You can still carry a first aid kit or a compact defibrillator device, like the kind ambulance workers use to revive the almost dead. But you have to sacrifice the medpack thus making yourself the ultimate team player. As for grenades, you still have molotov cocktails and pipe bombs, but now you can throw a jar of Boomer puke (bile). It’s pretty fucking awesome to lob it at some hapless zombie and watch as the hordes come from all over to eat him and then go ape shit on the putrid puddle you just created. I wonder how that would work against a tank.

I could go further here talking about the audio quality being ramped up and the gore and graphics being displayed like works of art but I’ve taken enough of your time. Expect a video coming very soon from yours truley, and happy hunting out there survivors.

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