L4D Crash Course Released, L4D Sale [Updated]

[Sep 29, 2009, 2:10 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Steam News announces a new update is now automatically available for Left 4 Dead that adds the free Crash Course DLC to Valve's co-op zombie shooter. They also announce Left 4 Dead is on sale for half-off for the next three days, and they are offering a Left 4 Dead 4 pack so you can gift your friends with copies of the game. Update: The price on the four-pack has now been corrected to $44.99 USD, reflecting the sale. Here's word on the DLC and the sale:

Crash Course delivers new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay and bridges the storyline between the No Mercy and Death Toll campaigns in the original game. To celebrate, we are offering Left 4 Dead at 50% off for 3 days. Or share the fun - get the Left 4 Dead Four Pack and give the game to your friends.

While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of Crash Course is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns.

Learn more about the free, all-new free Crash Course DLC on the Left 4 Dead Blog.

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38 Replies. 2 pages. Viewing page 1.
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38.

Re: Crash Course Released

Sep 30, 2009, 08:41

Verno

They were livid that Valve would have completed the game but would 'artificially' delay the release for a smooth launch.

I wonder if these people know that movies and music can sit in the can for months or even years sometimes.




Playing: Faster Than Light, Tales of Graces F, Fire Emblem 3DS Watching: Ghost in the Shell, Hannibal, Oblivion

37.

Re: Crash Course Released

Sep 30, 2009, 05:17

human

Yeah, but you know people will bitch if you do that, right? I mean I literally have been on this very site reading people bitch about Valve's preloading scheme. They were livid that Valve would have completed the game but would 'artificially' delay the release for a smooth launch. You can't win with these people. No matter what you do they will bitch.

36.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 30, 2009, 02:45

[THA] Hamst3r

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/

Click View Individual Server Statistics. Looks fine to me, considering the spike they had in content server usage.

Cool. I hadn't noticed the individual server stats before. They have almost 200 servers. :O




- The Hamster Alliance http://www.hamsteralliance.com/ (music) http://twitter.com/hamst3r \| http://www.facebook.com/hamsteralliance \| http://www.youtube.com/hamsteralliance

35.

Re: Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 23:13

theyarecomingforyou

The extra content should be downloaded in the background in the time preceding release, with an activation event sent out upon launch. Afterall, if someone wants to play the game and isn't concerned about the extra content then they're stuck waiting for an update they don't care about.

Other than that, you can't fault free content.




Core i7 2600-K (4.6GHz) \| 12GB DDR3 \| GTX680 SLI (1215/1605) \| OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD \| Windows 8 Pro Hazro HZ30Wie 30" \| Saffire PRO 40 \| Razer Mamba \| Coolermaster RP1000W SteamID: theyarecomingforyou

34.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 20:12

Prez

One wonders when you had the opportunity to experience primate-human lovemaking.

Hasn't everyone? Ahem...




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

33.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 19:55

human

Wow, marduk. Sixteen ALLCAPS WORDS because your free DLC content didn't arrive on your hard drive instantaneously? You compare free content to being 'analy [sic] raped by a gorilla'. One wonders when you had the opportunity to experience primate-human lovemaking. You say we used to play games 'RIGHT AWAY without waiting'. I guess you're too young or too intellectually dishonest to remember that download patches used to be much worse, as companies relied on a handful of third party professional hosting sites like Filefront, etc, to distribute their patches. I think if someone came up to you on the street and offered you a free soup and salad, you'd scream for an hour until you were blue in the face about the speed of their service.

32.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 18:19

Krovven

Were any new achievements added? 10 http://store.steampowered.com/news/2880/

31.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 18:18

the_culture

Supermarkets don't force everyone to line up at one checkout and leave others empty either Apparently you don't shop at Stater Bros! Just completed Crash Course in coop. Took me about 30 minutes. It was intense, fun, but ultimately, it was nothing really special. Not complaining though, more content is always welcome Were any new achievements added?

30.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:53

Krovven

Supermarkets don't force everyone to line up at one checkout and leave others empty either Sure they do. They open up enough based on expected business. If they are unexpectedly busy and dont have the staff, then you wait in line. I think Valve should take a look at their load balancing. http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/ Click View Individual Server Statistics. Looks fine to me, considering the spike they had in content server usage.

29.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:39

Bhruic

Valve might go bankrupt if they tried to maintain enough server bandwidth to allow every single user to download at 700Kb/s at once. Sure, but no one is asking them to do that. When your servers are overloaded during work/school hours on a weekday, then something's up with your bandwidth capacity. Not that I'm personally complaining, my download was pretty quick. My issue would be with them not having sufficient Crash Course servers up to handle the people trying to play. It took me over 10 tries before I finally got a decent server, and even that was a local connection, the guy just had a good one. Couldn't get a dedicated server to save my life.

28.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:32

Verno

Load balancing is a great tech term but there's only so much of it you can do. It takes a significant capacity upgrade to handle that kind of demand without any I/O issues on the backend and enterprise I/O load balancing is very expensive. It's not as simple as just buying up some cheap dual core CPUs and setting up more headless machines, that's never the problem. I doubt Valve has bandwidth issues either for that matter, bulk bandwidth is cheap and they have a lot of partnerships in that area.

It's fine to get frustrated but don't expect a realistic resolution of the problem without them having to cut costs somewhere else or raise prices.




Playing: Faster Than Light, Tales of Graces F, Fire Emblem 3DS Watching: Ghost in the Shell, Hannibal, Oblivion

27.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:31

Caveman

* REMOVED * This comment was deleted on Sep 29, 2009, 16:42.

26.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:28

Prez

Believe me I would be the first person to take a shit on Valve if I thought it was unfair.

Trust us - we believe you!

While I know first hand how annoying getting the message telling you that "Steam is too busy to handle your request" is, it really is just something one has to accept if you embrace digital distribution.

Servers are set up to handle nominal load, not the maximum possible load. Valve might go bankrupt if they tried to maintain enough server bandwidth to allow every single user to download at 700Kb/s at once. It's like your basic 4 lane highway in every major city. They are built to handle nominal traffic, not everyone in the city at once, which is why you see nothing but miles of gridlock when a mass exodus due to an imminent hurricane occurs. Abnormal spikes are for the most part sudden and short. 99.9% of the time, what is there now is enough. Catering to that tiny remainder is simply not practical or cost effective.

This comment was edited on Sep 29, 2009, 16:31.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

25.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:26

Mostly_Harmless

Supermarkets don't force everyone to line up at one checkout and leave others empty either, I think Valve should take a look at their load balancing.

24.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:22

spindoctor

Just completed Crash Course in coop. Took me about 30 minutes. It was intense, fun, but ultimately, it was nothing really special. Not complaining though, more content is always welcome




Some of the most miserable and unhappy gamers on the planet are at Bluesnews

23.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:10

Verno

No, but generally when the lines get backed up in the grocery store, they'll open up more tellers. Would be nice if Valve did the same.

But you'll notice they don't open up every single lane or even have the staff on hand to do so unless the store itself is packed to the rafters. Valve already does provide extra provisioning for launch days but obviously demand is exceeding capacity. Unfortunately it makes no sense whatsoever to purchase hardware that is only needed rarely, so like the grocery store they do what they can within reason. As a consumer I'm grateful for it, Steam itself is free and I frequently pay bargain bin prices for games on it, I really don't want a price raise because some angry forum goer can't keep his pants on for 24 hours.

This comment was edited on Sep 29, 2009, 16:11.




Playing: Faster Than Light, Tales of Graces F, Fire Emblem 3DS Watching: Ghost in the Shell, Hannibal, Oblivion

22.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:07

Bhruic

I had no problems downloading. Trying to find a server to play on, on the other hand, was a serious bitch. Do you get irrationally angry at the grocery store when there's a lineup too? No, but generally when the lines get backed up in the grocery store, they'll open up more tellers. Would be nice if Valve did the same. Content wise, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was fairly good Versus fun. None of those "narrow corridors making it impossible for the infected to accomplish anything" scenarios. Not sure if it's something I'll get bored of fast, but they seemed to ensure that the maps were balanced for Versus.

21.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 16:02

Verno

People should change those settings anyways, the matchmaker in L4D uses it for your server selection determinations. It's File->Settings->Download->Download Region I believe. The defaults are often totally wrong, my brother lives in LA and his was set to China. Selecting the proper region will improve your download speeds considerably and you will stop being put into non-English servers with 300ms pings.




Playing: Faster Than Light, Tales of Graces F, Fire Emblem 3DS Watching: Ghost in the Shell, Hannibal, Oblivion

20.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 15:56

Mostly_Harmless

If anyone has problems getting the update, try changing your download country in the Steam settings, I'm in the UK and it wouldn't even start to download for me but I switched around a few times to different countries and it's updating now, albeit very slowly from Cambodia.

19.

Re: L4D Crash Course Released

Sep 29, 2009, 15:55

PoopieMoopie

i thought the map was only average. certainly not at the same level as the original maps. the map lacked any 'personality' and no prominent set pieces that you would remember later. it was basically a lot of empty warehouses in an effort of misdirecting the team, and a LOT of containers scattered everywhere. I can see the map was developed for vs mode, with lots of places to hide, but as a regular co-op map...meh...3/5 (IMHO)

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