More Zombies, More Outrage

I was gonna do a blog post regarding my society ruled by a conch shell, but I have a rant instead.

Valve, the company that produced such masterpieces as Half-Life, Team Fortess 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and others, has just announced that they are planning to release Left 4 Dead 2. The sequel to L4D, this game will take place in the "deep south", and will implement changes such as new characters, new weapons, new campaigns, a new Director AI, and new zombies.

Geek reaction? They're pissed.

They feel that Valve is trying to cheat them out of L4D content they promised by coming out with a new game instead of "fixing" the old one. They feel that because this game is being released a mere year after the first game, that they are being taken advantage of.

My thoughts?

Shut your fucking mouths, you whiny little cunts.

Who the fuck are you to bite the hand that feeds you? In this case, bite implies internet bitching, and hand that feeds implies godly programmers.

Have you not noticed the vast changes being implemented into the game? The new campaigns, the new characters, the new zombies, the new weapons, MELEE WEAPONS for Christ's sake, not to mention an overhauled AI?

And you whiny little shits want that for free? Well, fuck you. Fuck you right in the ear.

It was already announced that they would most likely be starting on this project, so they've already put a fair amount of effort into this. By the time it comes out, it will have been at least a full year's worth of effort. And you want that for free? Who the fuck do you think you are? Valve is a video game company. Companies exist to make money. If you're too cheap to pay fifty bucks for a game that is an improvement to a game you already have (*cough*anysequelthathaseverexisted*cough*), then fine, be a little shit.

I will buy this game when it comes out, I will support the company that has made such excellent games, the company that CONTINUES to update and pay attention to Team Fortress 2 despite the fact that the game is two years old. And you know what? It does that for free. I don't have to pay a subscription fee, I don't have to pay for server hosting, I don't have to do a goddamn thing. I didn't even buy the game, Scott bought it for me. It was twenty dollars. And considering how much fun I've had since I got the game, I would have bought it on my own anyway. Shit, I made Rick buy it. Twenty bucks, why not.

The only money they're making off of that game is the initial investment, which is very cheap for a video game. And all things considered, that's a relatively easy game to add updates to. Change a weapon here, tweak a class there, make a hiliarious video of a spy. These things require simply tacking on to preexisting ideas and work that has already been done.

Left 4 Dead 2, on the other hand, is going to be an improvement that will have taken them a lot of work. I suppose people expected these things to be added for free, but considering the breadth of what they're doing with this new game. Scrapping their old maps and characters, hiring new voice actors and designing new campaigns, programming in melee weapons where they was no precedent for that, adding in new special zombies, all of which are no small feat.

But more important than that is what they are doing to the game engine itself, and the director AI.

If you know the game at all, you know that the director is akin to a small child watching you play via a television set in his room. He has two buttons in front of him. One button provides you with health packs and ammunition. The other button provides you with zombies. This child hates you. This child loves zombies.

Up to this point, all the director has been able to affect has been the frequency and number of undead you come across. It wants you to be challenged, but for it to be possible for you to prevail, but only if you fucking earn it.

Now a new feature is being added, a feature that will allow the director to affect weather (fighting zombies in a thunderstorm? That sounds freaky as shit.), and MORE IMPORTANT STILL, the level itself. Shock and awe, people! Shock and awe. Before this point, regardless of how well you were doing, you always went down the same path. There was only one path. This will now be opened up, to make each and every gaming experience truly unique. You won't know where you're going next. And that's fucking awesome.

Too many people are bitching about how they're making a new game without coming out with new campaigns for the game that's already out, but do you have any idea how much effort goes into putting together a campaign like that? I've seen a lot of campaigns made by normal people, and let me tell you, they are fucked. Glitchy as hell, couldn't get things going properly. They have to design worlds, challenges, all sorts of new things, and that requires a team of developers to sit down and take some more time on this.

And you want that for free? You want them to spend their time working on this, wrapping it delicately in nice wrapping paper, just to hand it to you on Christmas day and have you tear through it and inevitably find little things within it to nitpick and complain about and just generally be dicks?

Well, fuck you.

In case you hadn't noticed, the economy isn't doing so great. They spend a fair amount of time on Team Fortress 2, and they only get twenty bucks per player for that. If they're going to spend a year developing a game, even if it is an upgraded version of a previous game (the upgrades are nothing to scoff at, obviously), then they deserve to be paid for their effort.

This is a company that has produced nothing, NOTHING but good games. Show your goddamn appreciation and cough up fifty bucks, you cheap little shitfuckers.

Until next time,
There are already groups forming to boycott the game. God, the internet is full of cheap, whiny little shits that expect handouts all the time.
~Kataron