Sequel-itis: Left 4 Dead 2 Announcement Spawns Boycott Group
It looks like a couple people may have been a little miffed by the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 last week. Around 16,683 people to be exact. As of this writing that is the current number of people in the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott group currently residing on Steam. And if you put asside the fact that a majority of those people will most likely snatch up Left 4 Dead 2 as soon as it ships, they do make some interesting claims.
WE BELIEVE:-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.
-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.
-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.
-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.WE REQUEST:
-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.
-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.
-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.
I do agree that Left 4 Dead 2 is coming way too soon, especially since the "Game of the Year" edition just released at full price a few weeks ago. I also agree that releasing Left 4 Dead 2 as a sequel rather than an expansion will divide the online community. And while I do generally think that boycotts are excessive, I hope that EA at least considers making Left 4 Dead 2 compatible with the first game for a more unified experience. This is what happens when EA tries to apply its annual release structure to a fanbase more accustomed to games like Team Fortress 2, which is still updated frequently two years after its release.
That all being said, I'll be buying Left 4 Dead 2 on day 1 regardless of how it's released. I crave some Louisiana zombie action.
NaviFairy
Posted to E3, Miscellany, Video Games on 8 June 2009
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: E3 09, EA, left 4 dead 2, PC, Valve, Xbox 360
Haha, I kind of had to forget German temporarily for that clip but it was pretty funny. That's from the movie Downfall (Der Untergang) by the way, which is a great movie.
Jesus Christ will these subparodies ever end?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Left4Dead a Co-Op as opposed to a Deathmatch game? I can see how the latter have a very long halflife (see what I did there?) when the main gameplay is player vs player. But how often can you play the same campaign over and over?
Sure, there is no saying that releasing new episodes as DLC isn't a viable option, HL2 has shown as much. It just isn't as ubiquitous yet and therefore some parts of the games will be released multiple times. The PSP go is on the right track though, for better or for worse (used games? Pshwah!).
this is no different than what happenned with Guitar Hero, lots of promises when it became an online entity, and no follow up. which is why i currently play rock band. i guess i boycotted them, but i think of boycotting as more of an action, and i just simply didn't buy their product which is more inaction. i'm not going defend or protest a companies right to do whatever they want with their franchise. i'm not sure how i feel about this video, it's kind of a disturbing i guess for people who don't see Hitler as a positive... well anything.
Do people boycott Madden every year? I don't really understand the rationale of having a game come out "too soon", especially a game people want more of. Personally, a lot of this response seems weirdly reactionary considering we...really don't know much about the game aside from the fact that exists and takes place in the Deep South, and yet, we have bulited so called angry villagers complaining about character design and music choice? From what i've read about Left 4 Dead DLC I'm under the impression there's still to be updated user content (wasn't the last bit of DLC free anyway? How common is that?) there's plenty of time for Valve to make good. Let them kevetch, I'm just glad to have more co-op fun owning zombies with friends.
Didn't they also just announce more DLC for the current L4D? I could have sworn they said they were still doing that.
I lol-ed at "Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners."
waaah, gimme a new game for free!
Fillerbunny is absolutely spot on, these whiny bastards are irrelevant, they don't matter because they don't know what they're even arguing against. Or the business decisions behind it.
It's quite sad really, especially considering at least 70% of them will have it on pre-order as soon as it's available to do so.
If I were Valve I would ban their accounts for the hell of it.
As long as it's a quality
game, there's no such thing
as a sequel being too soon.
No one got a guarantee/contract
stating that Left 4 Dead would
deliver this and that...things
change. Valve realized that they
have a product that people want,
and Valve is a COMPANY, so Valve
is going to CHARGE for their
PRODUCT.
Instead of realeasing a couple new
maps once in a while, they revamped
it, changed some of the gameplay
options, and are putting out the
sequel.
To which I say, here is $60.
Yoink!
Left 4 Dead was a quality game, with essentially endless replay value as it was, right out of the box.
No rational person could argue that L4D did not equal, or surpass, the best of game releases from the very beginning. I say it was, and is, exceptional.
I think this boycott fuss is just a lot of whining children with a vastly overblown sense of arbitrary entitlement.
They want everything for free, they want more than they paid for, they want a gravy train that provides forever - worse, they believe they are entitled to such, that it is their god-given right, and not a bonus gift provided by Valve as a gift.
Yes, it is nice to have the men and women who make your games keep giving you free stuff for nothing, long after your original purchase, just because.
But damn, people... grow up. Just grow the hell up.
This boycott crap makes me ashamed of gamers right now.
This reaction is entirely unintelligent as it gets. I'm just so tired of arguing my points that I'm not going to. It's just stupid. Not buying Left 4 Dead 2 only hurts Valve and people who enjoy Valve games. It's not going to help ANYTHING.