Great Expectations

I purchased Left 4 Dead under no false pretense. There is a simple mathematical formula involved for me whenever Valve releases a new title: New Valve game = me buy. It really is that simple. I purchase everything they make. Period. There are very few companies that possess my loyalty in the same way Valve does. Gabe Newell's announcement of support akin to what we have for Team Fortress 2 played no role in my purchasing decision (see above formula). I will admit to initially feeling a little miffed by the quick announcement of L4D2. Not for the reasons you may think though: I was really hoping for some word on Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

Many are crying wolf on the lack of DLC promised by Gabe. I can understand this to a point, but history bears remembrance in this instance: The Survival Pack came out right about the same time the GoldRush update hit TF2 in relation to it's release. Sure, a new campaign would have been great. I'll be the first to say I was a bit crestfallen when there was no new campaign to be seen in the Survival Pack. My dismay quickly passed for 2 reasons: I now had 2 more campaigns to play through in Versus mode. Considering the mileage I gleaned from No Mercy and Blood Harvest, Dead Air and Death Toll should cover me adequately for a long while.

Not everyone liked the Survival Pack as much as me. Conversely, not everyone cared for the Goldrush Update either. Different strokes and all of that. The important thing to take from this is that Valve is supporting L4D no different from TF2 at this point in it's life cycle. Valve has spent the last 7 months working on L4D2. During this time we got regular gameplay patches and the Survival Pack for L4D. If the support falls off for L4D, I'll be the first to call them on the carpet. For now, they are right on track with their previous effort. Let's give them an opportunity to not keep their word before blasting them for creating a sequel.

*whew*

Speaking of L4D, Valve also made it clear any maps made with the new Authoring Tools will work in L4D2. Those were good words to hear since work continued on our campaign this week. Most of the first level is blocked in and I'm in the process of shaping out the level beyond simple blocks. Our resident blueprint creator handed me a layout for a crucial interior portion of the design this week. This will consume most of my time for the next few evenings and I'm really excited to see how it turns out in-game. Howsabout a screenshot you say? Here's an in-editor look at the level layout thus far:



After 2 crashes in last night's L4d scrimmage and the inability to play Knights of the Old Republic without some annoying finaglework on my part....I think it's time to put Vista out to pasture. By "out to pasture" I mean "take it off life support and let it die". I had fancied going back to XP, but I hear good things about Windows 7. The Release Candidate is available to anyone who wants it and I've yet to hear a bad thing be said against it. Looks like Vista was just a beta test.


Parting shots:

- Jericho is still enjoyable 4 episodes into Season 1.
- Nightshift was an incredible collection of short stories, complete with mini-sequel to 'Salem's Lot, my favorite King novel so far.
- I still haven't canceled my LotRO subscription.
- I ordered Volume 1-4 of the Walking Dead, can't wait to dive into those.
- My son has a habit of deleting save files. Goodbye progress on Yoshi's Island!

V out.