Crispy Gamer News

Downloadable content will be announced very soon for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Left 4 Dead, according to Valve’s Chet Faliszek, who spoke at length with the Kotaku crew during its recent holiday podcast. That new DLc will include the addition of the single player campaigns “Dead Air” and “Death Toll” to the Versus mode, the PC SDK for developing content for the PC version of the game and some additional undisclosed content.

Chet Faliszek, who started out running the wonderfully funny web site Old Man Murray, is responsible for retooling the stories for both Portal and Left 4 Dead, among other things. The way the story is told through audio cues, light dialogue and character interaction in Left 4 Dead is one of the primary reasons I chose it for our Game of the Year Awards. Sadly, it could not beat out the glory of Fallout 3, but the game is a monumental achievement in storytelling and multiplayer in my book.

If you pre-ordered the zombie-riffic first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead from Steam, then you can start pre-loading the game to get ready for its official release on Nov. 18. Personally I am vying for the Xbox 360 version of the game, but I’m sure the PC version is just as awesome.

Those that order the game before it officially launches can get a 10 percent discount on Steam (Xbox 360 users can get the same discount at participating retailers nationwide). Get downloading now and be prepared for some seriously insane zombie action.

Also worth noting today is an incredible bargain from Steam: the Valve Complete Pack. This incredible package offers a ton of Valve’s games for a low, low price of around $99. The package includes Left 4 Dead as well as various Hal-Life and Half-Life2  products, Team Fortress 2 and lots more. A full list after the break.

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If you don’t mind using Steam and feel that the PC is the best gaming system in the universe, then you may be pleased to hear that Konami’s Silent Hill: Homecoming is now available via Valve’s digital distribution platform. The horror survival game is available for immediate download and instant play for $44.99.

Silent Hill: Homecoming drags players kicking and screaming into the history of Silent Hill, revealing some of the evil that surrounds Toluca Lake. The story follows Alex Shepherd, who returns to his hometown of Shepherd’s Glen to investigate the disappearance of his brother. As he searches for answers, Alex discovers eerie occurrences that make it difficult to find the truth and maintain his grip on reality.

You can get in on the adventure by visiting store.steampowered.com.

PC owners who decide to check out the demo of Valve’s upcoming zombie game, Left 4 Dead, will be getting something extra in their download. Yesterday, Valve announced the demo will be the first to include its new Steam Cloud extension, a set of services for Steam that stores application data online and allows user experiences to be consistent from any PC.

Steam Cloud support will ship with Valve’s Left 4 Dead demo later this week and the full game on November 18th. In this first release, the information stored and accessible through the Steam Cloud will include keyboard, mouse, and gamepad configurations, as well as multiplayer settings such as spraypaint images. When a player logs into Steam from another PC, these settings will be brought down from the Cloud and automatically used in the game. Any configuration changes on this second machine are then synced to the Cloud for future sessions.
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With Left 4 Dead coming out on Nov. 18, we have some good news: if you have a graphics card with 128 MB of memory then you will be able to play the game. Of course the rest of the system requirements for the game remain the same: Windows XP or Vista, 7.5 GB of free space, DVD-Rom Drive, 1 GB RAM for XP or 2 GB for Vista, DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card, DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB and an Intel P4 3.0GHz CPU, Dual core 2.0 or AMD64X2 processor.

Of course, you could just buy it for Xbox 360. Look for the game in stores in mid-November.

If you’re growing tired of waiting for some official Portal, you may be interested in this mod, Portal Prelude, which gives players a story set prior to the events of the popular action adventure puzzle game from Valve. According to its developer, Portal Prelude is an unofficial prequel to the game Portal. that revolves around the pre-GlaDOS epoch before the entertaining AI was plugged in. During this timeframe, tests were monitored by real Aperture Science employees, who are apparently so lazy that they need to create A.I. so that don’t have to handle a number of mind-numbing work-related activities. What a bunch of slackers..

So can players expect to from Portal Prelude? Portal Prelude offers 8 new chapters, 19 test chambers, 48 challenges, 6 advanced maps, a brand new storyline and more than 400 lines of speech with English and French subtitles.

We are not sure whether Valve Software is flattered by this project or upset because someone outside the company is trying to write the back-story in the Portal universe, but Portal Prelude sure does sound like something worth downloading. Look for it to be released at the end of the month or early October..

Source: Official Site

Update: Valve Software’s Doug Lombardi has shot down speculation that that the company would be purchased by Google, calling the Inquirer report a mix of fiction and rumor. I can’t say that I’m surprised.

Original Story:
According to a report on the tech-focused web site the Inquirer, Valve is going to be bought by Google “any second.” Why would Google buy out Valve? for its digital distribution platform, the report hypothesizes. Yes the target of the acquisition would be Steam, Valve’s platform that in recent years has expanded beyond its own properties to allow publishers of shapes and sizes to sell their properties directly to Steam users.

A short time ago Valve had said that it would consider being acquired if the atmosphere was right. Meanwhile, Google has been pounding away at content distribution platform called Google Content Distribution, which is currently in beta. This is where Steam and Valve fit into the puzzle.

We’ll have more on this story as it develops, but at this time the story remains unconfirmed.

Sources:

- Kotaku
- The Inquirer