New Left 4 Dead DLC Coming Next Month

Valve said yesterday that they're working on a new campaign for Left 4 Dead, and they plan to release it in September. It's called Crash Course, and while it will be free for owners of the PC version, Xbox 360 users will need to purchase it. The new campaign "bridges the gap between the end of the 'No Mercy' campaign and the beginning of 'Death Toll' in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale." Crash Course isn't as long as the other campaigns, a deliberate decision by Valve to enable players to finish a Versus-mode game in about 30 minutes. A preview of the new content on Destructoid notes, "Since we've got a shorter campaign, much more has been packed into a smaller space. Lucky players who know where to look can upgrade to second-tier weaponry almost straight away. However, they'll have their work cut out for them, because there's a chance to get swamped by the horde right from the very beginning."

Comments

L4D

[sopssa]

Just to note here before the bitching starts, 360 version costs because MS wants it. Good that Valve gives it for free for PC users.

This sounds nice and comes nicely before Left4Dead2. Also shows that Valve continues to support their existing games, even for free. Same thing as with TF2. Most other companies would just had forgetten about it after release, maybe done a few bug fixes. Or asked $20 per more major update.

Nice work, and L4D was (and still is) my favourite game on end of last year and this year.

Re:L4D

[Anonymous Coward]

Valve, and other publishers, have released free 360 DLC before by eating the cost of testing and certification.

Microsoft requires all DLC to undergo a certification process they prescribe. It costs money to perform the testing and verification to meet Microsoft's requirements; Valve doesn't have to spend money to release the same content to PCs. This includes - amusingly - handling dependencies, which isn't a problem for Valve because Steam acts as a package manager that ensures everyone has the same platform. The 360 can't do that.

Valve's Gabe Newell:

On the Xbox it's a lot more complicated because you can't guarantee that people have all of the right content given their DLC model, where some people might have some content and others not, which makes it end of up with this weird, complicated thing where this person has this, and this person has this. Where as on the PC we can assume that people have everything. So, we're trying to get that fixed because they're sort of cramping our ability to push more free content into customer's hands when we aren't sure which free content they have right? And the stuff that you're allowed to require customers to have on the Xbox, it's only 8MB. That's the maximum size you can ever change. So, we do that with the first minor update that we do. We're trying to figure out how to manage that.

This isn't a problem exclusive to the 360. PS3 certification problems have delayed DLC for Epic; Newell says Valve won't even attempt PS3 DLC until they hire more developers. Hiring developers costs money.

Re:L4D

[Ksempac]

I don't know anything about Left 4 Dead, but it is a known fact that MS can fix prices for at least some of the DLC : i know the (awesome) Castle Crashers' team wanted their DLC free, but MS decided people should pay for it. Here is a proof : http://devblog.thebehemoth.com/?p=516 . The team even offered some MS points to counter this for their most loyal fans : http://devblog.thebehemoth.com/?p=1095

Re:L4D

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps Valve should reconsider the idea of releasing low-content games with the promise of providing much content later on and go back to footing the development bill for a full sized game and waiting for the income to roll in on release like pretty much all other companies do.

I don't know what else to say. There's no good answer to this, other than to tell you to stop patronizing Valve if you so thoroughly disapprove of their business practices.

I can't complain about L4D, but I paid for it what I thought it was worth - $20, for PC. I feel like I've gotten at least that much out of it; it's not like Valve didn't have an established track record for putting out more free DLC for the PC than the 360 going into it.

And on top of that, L4D was a heavily marketed title from a AAA studio. There were tons and tons of reviews, almost all of them lamenting the amount of content. The deepest discounts all came within two months of release. There was a public beta AND a demo out for months before the release.

At some point, you're going to run out of excuses for paying "full price" for something that many reviewers said wasn't worth full price, even before it came out. Nobody forces you to buy games the day, week or month they come out, or to buy it only from stores that charge the most for it. And as long as people continue to pay $40-$60 to buy the game on the release date, Valve sure as hell won't stop doing it.

If L4D2 looks like it's not worth $60, or this DLC doesn't look like it's worth the MSP ... then don't buy it. But don't expect Valve to do anything differently as long as they're making money - and more money in less time in this franchise than I'll wager they've made on any other.

Re:Valve are more evil than EA.

[El_Muerte_TDS]

now say they'll charge XBox 360 owners for what was promised to be free

I'm not a Valve fan, but this isn't due to them. It is Microsoft who doesn't want free DLC on XBL.

Re:Valve are more evil than EA.

[sapphire wyvern]

MS doesn't like publishers to release free DLC on the XBox; they're trying to establish a community expectation that add ons should cost extra. I think I've read somewhere that they permit occasional small updates but insist that any significant expansions to the game's content be for.

There are already HQ Custom campagins

[dalmiroy2k]

There are a few Custom Campaigns that you should try, both for single and multiplayer.
The first one, Death Aboard, looks like as if it was made by Valve itself. It's really polished and has probably the best final level.
The second one, Dam It!, it's only one large level but it provides adequate challenges.
There is also a "Dawn of the Dead (2004) remake" custom campaign coming soon

Death Aboard.
http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=package&Itemid=2&packageId=156
Dam it!
http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=package&Itemid=2&packageId=329

Full list
http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php?option=com_joomloads&view=packages&Itemid=2&category_id=24&orderCol=1&orderType=1&page=2

Re:There are already HQ Custom campagins

[icsx]

None of these are made by actual fucking professional level designers. The custom campaigns, especially the first ones are usually full of shit with few exceptions that you just listed. I'm amazed that almost after a year since the game was released, there has been only ONE actual content update, the new survival map lighthouse. If this game would have been CS Source or TF2, there would have been lots of downloadable content aka NEW MAPS.

They threw us the developers tools - make your own maps but only after 6 months when everyone was already tired of the same old maps and to the whole game. If the tools would have been given 6 months prior from the day they went beta, there would have been a lot more quality custom campaigns already out.

Death Aboard is the most promising one yet - but it has issues. One of them is the low fps. My eyes bleed when i have to look that twitching screen. It is also far too easy to play trough.

Re:Valve are more evil than EA.

[BassMan449]

You may call Steam the most restrictive DRM on the market and I would agree. However it is the only DRM system I've ever used I can honestly say I like. Yes it is used to restrict piracy, but they provide a great value through that service. Updates happen automatically, I can redownload any time I need to, and they integrate fairly well with their community offerings.

Re:Valve are more evil than EA.

[$1uck]

I don't mind shelling out the money. I'm irked at MS for basically forcing valve's hand on this, but I will buy the DLC.

Re:How about fixing L4D first?

[Clay Pigeon -TPF-VS-]

Ive seen some of gp's problems, but not all of them.

Valve should fix its shit AND deliver the content missing at launch before trying to stuff a sequel down our throats for 50 bucks.