Left 4 Dead

Board game adaptations of popular videogame aren’t exactly uncommon, and with tabletop versions of Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds on their way it’s clear the trend isn’t going to stop any time soon. But rather than convert the latest mega-hit for quick cash, we think the (board) game industry should dig a little deeper and transfer some all-time videogame classics to the tabletop format...

Valve very nearly made a game about fairies... but instead made Left 4 Dead. Apparently, the game was an RPG without a story... more like an action adventure, which involved mouse-based gesturing. Presumably clapping two mice together and repeating 'I do believe in Gordon! I do believe in Gordon!"

Ah, multiplayer, a beautiful synergy of technology and human interaction. A healthy, jovial, life-affirming way of enjoying the company of your fellow man. Sometimes, anyway. At other times, not so much. Not so much at all. We were recently reminded of this by the Kane & Lynch 2 demo, whose Undercover Cop and Fragile Alliance modes proved with no margin for error what solid gold, conniving swine multiplayer games can so easily turn us into.

You see some games just seem to want you to be a bastard to your friends. Whether competetive or co-op, whether by mean-spirited mechanics or by simply offering just enough tools and temptation to ruin someone's day, certain multiplayer modes positively live to cause griefing and fights. And frankly, they're hilarious and we love them for it. So here are some of the most bastardly.

 

Tomorrow, someone is going to die. The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 is scheduled to release on April 22. It’s long been confirmed that the new campaign will bring together the survivors from the original Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. But it was also recently revealed that one of the original’s cast members will be called on to sacrifice himself (or herself) so that the rest of the group can move on. We have some theories about why we think Louis will die. But which character do you think will be the one who says goodbye forever?

In a recent episode of GameTrailers TV, it was revealed that one of the original four survivors from Left 4 Dead will die in the upcoming Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, The Passing. During the course of the new campaign, one character will be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of the group can continue. But which one will be meeting their maker when the new content releases?Maybe it’ll be Bill. After all, he’s old,

Pac-Man and Mario owned the 1980s. Sonic, Lara and Snake took over for the 1990s. Their games are considered classics. Their names are timeless and iconic. Their images are burned into the memory of every gamer, even those who were born after the characters themselves.

Now we have another ten years worth of heroes, villains, sidekicks and love interests to occupy our imagination. Which, however, will remain there?

You don’t have to see or play absolutely everything on this list to be a proper zombie connoisseur, but you should at least know them. These are the genre’s defining relics. Some are responsible for the very creation of the zombie mythos, others adapted and advanced it, while the rest simply encapsulate it so exquisitely that they must be experienced. This may not be everyone’s definitive list of zombie lore

If Left 4 Dead has any one problem, it’s the sheer bloody length of its campaign missions. With four chapters in a campaign it’s perfectly possible to spend an hour blazing through zombie hordes, but with eight chapters in a versus match games drag on.

So goes Valve’s justification for Crash Course’s half-hour, two chapter length. It all sounds a little suspect, but it turns out they’re on to something

Online gaming is completely different to offline play. There's a tangible buzz and quickening of the heart-rate when you're leading a race on the last lap or sniping some guy in Australia, which you simply can't get from a single-player experience. But this experience can be so easily ruined by a few small things