Left 4 Dead 2 Community-Created DLC Claws Out of Beta

[kitsuta]

Left 4 Dead 2 Community-Created DLC Claws Out of Beta

After over a year of beta testing, Valve is finally releasing Cold Stream.

Fans of the four-player co-op zombie-slaughtering game Left 4 Dead 2 will finally see the official release of its Cold Stream DLC on July 24th. Cold Stream, which includes several campaigns adapted from the original game and an entirely community-made campaign, will hit the Xbox 360 and PC simultaneously. With the DLC comes the unleashing of all the Mutations that have been released so far, which were previously only available for limited periods.

Valve first announced Cold Stream over a year ago [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107845-Valve-Kicks-Off-Grand-Left-4-Dead-2-DLC-Experiment], when it found a campaign being developed by a fan and decided to turn it into a group project. Valve pledged to focus entirely on gameplay, asking the Left 4 Dead 2 community to help out with suggestions for the new maps. Besides the titular "Cold Stream," the DLC also includes the four remaining campaigns from the original game: "Blood Harvest," "Crash Course," "Dead Air," and "Death Toll."

Valve started releasing the beta DLC in chunks, occasionally challenging the community to help stress-test the beta maps. Fans jumped all over the challenges [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111573-Left-4-Dead-2-Fans-Swarm-Valve-Challenge], first unlocking early release for the beta "Dead Air" campaign in July and then "Blood Harvest" in August. All of the beta DLC was eventually released and is still available for PC players to test.

Valve hinted that there are several features in Cold Stream that have yet to be revealed, stating, "there are some other surprises and details we will give you later." The price of the DLC will hopefully be one of those details, as it's still unknown.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.l4d.com/blog/post.php?id=8309]

Permalink

 

[Wrann]

Good to see DLC come out for L4D2. Love the original maps and can't wait to see what cold stream brings.

 

[Conn1496]

Can. Not. WAIT!

 

[Scorpid]

I wonder what deal they made with community members for their participation? Not saying they full on hired them but Valve had to have some legal protections for themselves so that one angry community member that was helping develop the campaign couldn't just release it by himself as revenge for whatever slight he felt or simply get bored and walk away.

 

[kitsuta]

I wonder what deal they made with community members for their participation? Not saying they full on hired them but Valve had to have some legal protections for themselves so that one angry community member that was helping develop the campaign couldn't just release it by himself as revenge for whatever slight he felt or simply get bored and walk away.

The campaign was actually created by Matthew Lourdelet, who collaborated with Valve after they found the campaign he'd been building on his own. The rest of the community gave suggestions in a special forum [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1088&] that Valve created for the purpose of getting community feedback.

There don't seem to be any details on Valve's deal with Lourdelet, but since he was the only community member physically working on the game, and therefore the only person Valve had to legally deal with, it's a much simpler deal to hash out.

 

[Scorpid]

Ooooh, thank you. That does make it seem more of a professionally driven endeavor then it first appeared. ^_^
I'm looking forward to this expansion I've enjoyed all of the L4D2 expansions.
Valve and Bethesda seem to be the only two major companies releasing full expansions anymore =/

 

[AngryMongoose]

The price of the DLC will hopefully be one of those details, as it's still unknown.

... Free? Or am I missing something here?
If the Lighthouse, Crash Course, The Passing and The Sacrifice were all free, why won't this be?

 

[octafish]

So free for PC...and for the XBOX? Well you'll pay.

 

[kitsuta]

The price of the DLC will hopefully be one of those details, as it's still unknown.

... Free? Or am I missing something here?
If the Lighthouse, Crash Course, The Passing and The Sacrifice were all free, why won't this be?

The Xbox 360 versions of those DLC packs were 560 MS Points each, or about $7. It's probable that Cold Stream will follow the same pattern - free on PC, 560 MS Points on 360 - but Valve hasn't said anything about it.

 

[saintdane05]

SO DIS IS WHAT DEY DOIN INSTEAD OF HL3!!!!!!!1111!!11!!!1!11!!!

 

[Owlslayer]

Well, good news. I tried that campaign a few times during the beta. I haven`t really checked this out for a month or two, so i could have missed some huge changes.
Still, i liked what they did with the finale: running through that canal and forest was okay, but not superawesome. Adding that tower and more buildings and stuff made it more interesting. Tho i can imagine that tower being a very difficult place to get atop when playing versus and against a good team.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Sweet! L4D is awesome, so more of it is very welcome.

 

[Rednog]

Interested to see what they've actually done with it in like a year. I personally wasn't a fan of the beta, endless waves gauntlets are really Left 4 Dead's weakest aspect, and Cold Stream really has the most unfair gauntlet of the maps.

 

[Beautiful End]

The price of the DLC will hopefully be one of those details, as it's still unknown.

... Free? Or am I missing something here?
If the Lighthouse, Crash Course, The Passing and The Sacrifice were all free, why won't this be?

The Xbox 360 versions of those DLC packs were 560 MS Points each, or about $7. It's probable that Cold Stream will follow the same pattern - free on PC, 560 MS Points on 360 - but Valve hasn't said anything about it.

Well, this I can get. I would like to know the final price but as long as its not over $10, then I'm game.

OT: I barely bought and started playing L4D2 this weekend and I was dwelling on the idea of getting L4D1 first, but this just solves my problem.

 

[Eleima]

Interested to see what they've actually done with it in like a year. I personally wasn't a fan of the beta, endless waves gauntlets are really Left 4 Dead's weakest aspect, and Cold Stream really has the most unfair gauntlet of the maps.

So true. Our team routinely got completely overwhelmed and exterminated in the "South Pine Stream" level at the bridge with the large mobile CEDA unit, after you set off the four barrel demolition charge. That horde was never-ending, it seemed. Getting to that safe room was *hard*.

 

[anian]

...I don't really understand this, you could play Cold Stream (Beta), it has changed a few times but you still could play it, for a long while now and the L4D1 maps have been available for a long while as well.

 

[WitchD0ctor]

...I don't really understand this, you could play Cold Stream (Beta), it has changed a few times but you still could play it, for a long while now and the L4D1 maps have been available for a long while as well.

I believes only for pc, the lesser platforms have to pay

 

[Easton Dark]

But Cold Stream is awful. Hands down the worst campaign I've ever played. I dread every time I'm coerced into playing through it. I really hope people wont have to pay for this.

 

[ultimateownage]

It's quite a bland map, really. It no where near as well made as Valve's maps, and fiddling with it for this year has only made it go from hard to hard and dull.

 

[shintakie10]

Interested to see what they've actually done with it in like a year. I personally wasn't a fan of the beta, endless waves gauntlets are really Left 4 Dead's weakest aspect, and Cold Stream really has the most unfair gauntlet of the maps.

Its weird to say, but I think its probably worse now. Theres a sewer involved with the final rush and its literally a good ten minutes of non stop runnin because the horde basically never stops. Its obnoxious, takes way too long, and makes any repeats feckin annoyin. You barely have time to bother usin a medkit because of how often you get attacked.

I can't even imagine how dumb the map is on vs.