Left 4 Dead gets new content, more PixelJunk for your trunk and the possibility of another Mega Man WiiWare game as we start breaking our resolutions early this year.
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Here we are then, the final installment in our Top 50 Games of 2008. It's worth reiterating once again that the list is not intended as a definitive rundown of the 50 best games of the year, but instead reflects votes cast by our staff and contributors based on the games they have played and enjoyed.
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2008 was a big year. There were so many great games released that it's incredibly hard to decide which one deserves to be the Game of the Year… so that's why Ripten is going to make you do it. Have a gander at Ripten's nominees and let them know which game you think deserves top honors. Additionally, they want to spark some debate as they also want to know which of the nominees is least deserving of Game of the Year.

The best commenter (best arguments, most interesting or humorous comments - as decided by Ripten staff) will also be rewarded with a super awesome prize: a free game! Let your voice be heard!

The nominees are:

Left 4 Dead
Metal Gear Solid 4
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Grand Theft Auto IV
Fable II
LittleBigPlanet
Fallout 3
Gears of War 2
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"Downloading new content for a game? Awesome. Finding out the details and release date for downloadable content? Good. An announcement that downloadable content will soon be announced? Meh. The third one is what we've got for Left 4 Dead, though."
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Still waiting on that terabyte drive to come in the mail? Tired of loading screens to get to your zombie apocalypse paradise? Enter game programmer Markus Persson with Left 4k Dead, his 2009 entry for the Java 4k Competition. Challenged with the task of creating a game under 4 kilobytes in size, Persson has created a top-down, minimalistic version of the Valve co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead.
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Kotaku: At least one of the German Left 4 Dead covers features an edited hand - complete with extra finger. Japan is getting not one, but two edited covers.

Both the Japanese Xbox 360 version and the PC version of Left 4 Dead are shipping with edited covers. The Xbox 360 version (above) has an edited finger, while the PC one (below) features a "Best of E3" label over the missing digit.
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Kezins.com writes, Grand Theft Auto 4 accidentally left one of their female characters with 6 fingers. Left4Dead Zoey's 15 fingers is more of an obvious fault on Valve's part.

The error is Zoey holding a pistol with two right hands and one left. 15 fingers or 3 hands, what do you think?
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www.pushingplay.com writes "We've covered some pretty impressive Hunter jumping video's here at PushingPlay, but this one takes the cake. The guy in this video is doing incredible wall jumps and pouncing on the survivors from ridiculous heights. What I didn't know was that the higher you pounce on the survivor from, the more damage you do.

I haven't been playing too much L4D but these videos make me want to fire it up again… and I'll definitely be going straight to versus mode.
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Here are 3 VGA Awards Leaked By Spike TV itself.

Best PC Game: Left 4 Dead............
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iGame2.com has added a new competition for PC Gamers.
They have announced a new sponsor - Tokyoflash.
iGame2 opened a Left 4 Dead server and a Team Fortress 2 Server.

To win the Tokyoflash watch
- you must join the iGame2 community site
and the iGame2 Steam Group.
- You must play on their Game Servers
and get the highest combined score on both servers.

- The winner will walk away with a Tokyoflash watch.

-- The Contest will begin Saturday 12/13/08 at 2:00 p.m.
and end Saturday 12/20/08 at 2:00 p.m.

> All servers will reset their rankings before the contest begins.

Start Early:
- Make sure you can connect to the iGame2 Community and the Steam Group,
also make sure you can connect to the servers.
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The software development kit for Left 4 Dead hasn't even been released yet, but some modders are already preparing plans. One group in particular plans on taking the movie Shaun of the Dead and bringing it into Valve's Left 4 Dead.
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Valve has issued a server-side fix to stop cheaters from taking advantage of Left 4 Dead exploits on the Xbox 360. Reported cheats allowed players to spawn infinite items and enemies in online games.

A follow-up statement from Valve says that the fix has already been deployed to address cheats on dedicated Xbox Live servers, which accounts for the majority of co-op and versus mode play.

It expects to deploy a title update "in the coming days" for Xbox 360 owners playing on user-hosted servers or via system link. Thanks, Valve!
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SnagWire: Valve has released a patch for Left 4 Dead in hopes of easing some of the user frustrations that we've been hearing about.

Versus mode has now been locked to Normal; as for co-op mode, the server will now switch to whatever difficulty the party has selected.

Here's the full list of changes...
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Valve has always been known to be one of the top developers in the PC arena. In fact, their only real competitor is Blizzard and both developers make such different games that it really isn't a competition. Well, in the latest issue of Game Informer, Valve revealed statistics of their game sales in the past decade that show why they are the industry leaders.
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G4 and their hit show "X-Play" have announced their complete list of nominees for the "X-Play Best of 2008" awards show that will premier in a one-hour special on the network Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 8pm est/pst. The show's hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb will be revealing the selections from the 20+ categories in the sixth annual special.
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Kotaku writes

"Those deliciously pun-laden movie posters that precede each of Left 4 Dead's campaigns can now decorate the wall of your choice. Valve has put all four posters up for sale at its online store.

The artwork for No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest adorns each of the posters, which measure 18" by 24". That's definitely smaller than some of us would have liked, but at $6.99 each (or $14.99 for all four), we can't really complain."
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Destructoid writes: "Valve's Gabe Newell recently wrote an article for Edge that dealt with procedural narrative (dynamic AI that can handle level scripting by itself), and how it's used for both a story and a gameplay device in Left 4 Dead. As a result of procedural narrative a lot of traditionally human play testing isn't necessarily needed anymore.

But that isn't going to stop Valve. In fact, human play testing may enter into the realm of crazy weird. According to Newell, Valve could start wiring 'players up with EEGs' to catch the physical reactions players have in response to action in games. In short, Valve could monitor stuff like heart rates and brain waves to see if the decisions that they are making in level design are properly impactful.

It's not scary in a Terminator way, but I'm not exactly sure if machines need to be the deciding factor in terms of level progression and freaky stuff like monster closets. I'm just fine with how nervous I am while playing Dead Space. I don't need to actually get to the point where I feel like I'm about to experience a heart attack to have a good time."
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Valve boss Gabe Newell says he's "extremely pleased" with the reception zombie shooter Left 4 Dead has received from the public and press.
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Coinciding with the launch of Left 4 Dead, Valve's Jason Mitchell gave a Gamasutra-attended talk at the Montreal Game Summit which offered an illuminating session on the ways in which L4D's art direction follows the blueprint laid out by their discoveries developing Team Fortress 2's striking visual design.

Mitchell opened by exploring the needs that led them to begin the artistic process for Team Fortress 2. After a disastrous attempt to create a "realistic" visual style for that title, they realized the "visual hierarchy" that defines the way in which a player observes the characters within the world.
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As of midnight EST, the PC version of Left 4 Dead, Valve's zombie thriller, is now available via Steam to gamers around the globe. The title will be available for the PC and Xbox 360 at retail stores on Tuesday, November 18 in North America, and worldwide on Friday, November 21.
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