Comments on: How Soon is Too Soon in Video Games?

By: Backlin

Backlin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:08:18 +0000

I don’t mind the amount of time between sequels, I just care about the content within the sequel. Left 4 Dead 2, for me, isn’t a compelling upgrade. The graphics look nearly the same, and I highly doubt the gameplay changed (there may be a little variance or small addition in tactics). What would tick me off is the community splitting in a significant way; and I’m worried this will happen, since people my age (20) and younger always seem to jump on sequels without giving them a second thought. Then again, maybe that would be a good thing. It will filter off all of those spoiled brats that shout obscenities into their headsets.

By: JustCallMeBen

JustCallMeBen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:15:30 +0000

@Stilgar: I just looked up some gameplay footage of L4D2, and all of the videos were made on a PC-version, o I seriously doubt L4D2 would be console-only :/

By: JustCallMeBen

JustCallMeBen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:13:44 +0000

@Stilgar: I never heard it would be PC-only :s You have any link to such a statement?

and anyway: the comparison to TF2 is the whole reason the community is upset: Since the release of L4D, TF2 received 2 major updates, L4D received none, or 1 according to whether o not you consider that one map a real update, that while l4D costs more then TF2 did at the release, and is newer than TF2.

By: Stilgar

Stilgar — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:14:48 +0000

Uh, I thought Valve said Left4Dead 2 is going to be console only? If that’s accurate than splitting the community is a non-issue. While there have been a few games that allow on-line competition between console and PC, I don’t think any of them have been a huge success in this regard. Also consider that most PC owners are also console owners. I do not think Valve will stop supporting the original Left4Dead on PC. They’re still delivering new/free content for Team Fortress 2 and that game is approaching two years old.

By: JustCallMeBen

JustCallMeBen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:02:28 +0000

I’m a huge L4D fan, and I ahte the sequel, for the following reasons:

-Valve promised several times there would come free additional content (new campaigns etc): We haven’t seen anything yet, and now they announce a sequel that, from the looks of the in-game footage they released, uses the very same engine, and adds no better quality at all, apart from some minor tweaks (dynamic weather is about the only new thing). So this ‘sequel’ is just the very same game with new content… Content that was promised to be free!
-If it’s a different game, the online com minty will split: you want to play and old map? start L4D 1, but you’ll only find half the amount of open games as you would find now (because let’s face it: L4D2 won’t open up the game to a whole new audience…).
When one of your friends invites you to play on a new map, you’ll have to quit L4D1 and boot L4D2.
Such scenarios make it take WAY longer to quickly join in with friends or switch maps.

While discussing the sequel on the L4D forums, this is an interesting observation: the anti-sequel side almost exclusively exists out of PC gamers, while the enthusiast side consists of almost nothing but XBox-gamers.

This reminded me of the reaction of the small DLC that was released earlier this year (it consisted of 1 extra map…) the Xbox-community was thrilled with the fact that small update was free, while PC-gamers complained about how small the update was, considering how long it took Valve to release it.

This shows the vast difference between the mature PC-audience, and the relatively young console-audience: PCgamers, used to lots of free updates (in games like Team Fortress 2) just wouldn’t take it that developers would charge them for updates and extra content, while console-gamers think it’s normal to pay $10 to a buggy game.

I think that very reaction on the small free DLC, made valve decide to not release to new content for free (as promised!) but to just make it a ‘new game’ and charge 50$ for it… After all, half of their costumers wouldn’t complain about them breaking their promise…

By: Level1Alt

Level1Alt — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:11:09 +0000

if the game has a story and i like the game, i would want a sequel within a year. i usually don’t care for gameplay as long as i like the story enough.