So is this newsworthy? Well, honestly it probably isn’t, except that we are making this transition without any planned layoffs or leaving any debts behind. Nihilistic will fade into the sunset the way it started; a collaboration of talented folks dedicated to transparency and respect for employees. Over the next couple months we’ll get leaner as some of our talent finds new homes, and emerge as a smaller and more focused company.
The future for nStigate is yet to be written, but the history of Nihilistic is coming to a close. We thank all the people who have worked here over the last 14 years. It’s been a privilege and a joy to serve our players for the past years. We love what we do, and we love it when you guys like it. Thank you for playing.
To celebrate Halloween, we are unleashing L4D2 on the world. Starting this Thursday, the entire game will be free to play for the whole weekend. New players can begin pre-loading now. For long time players, it is time to welcome your new found friends and help them survive the zombie apocalypse.
For current players, we created a new achievement. Good Guy Nick - – “Plays games with free weekend players and helps them survive a campaign.” Who is a free weekend player? You’re going to have to talk to each other to find out or you could always let your friends know Left 4 Dead 2 is going to be free this weekend and have them join you. Spread the word! It’s the zombie apocalypse, bring friends.
To preload or install the game, you can click this link.
BFG work pushed the Rage tools, but Real Soon Now. I hope. Sigh. I think we have made poor decisions on this all year.
This morning, ESRB announced a new streamlined, no-cost service for rating all digitally delivered games (console download games, online games, streaming, social network games, etc.). Also, this new Digital Rating Service will not only assess content and age appropriateness, but now adds interactive elements that matter a great deal to parents, such as sharing personal information or physical location and exposure to unfiltered user-generated content.
For consumers, especially parents, this new service means extending a single, consistent and credible rating standard across the many platforms on which their kids can access content. Parents concerns now extend beyond just content; they want ratings to address sharing of kids’ personal information or interaction with others.
For the game developers, the streamlined rating process makes obtaining an ESRB rating fast and easy by assigning a rating immediately. By simplifying the process and eliminating the cost to developers, ESRB expects to broaden adoption of its ratings among game providers of all types. ESRB’s Digital Rating Service joins the CTIA Mobile Application Rating System with ESRB, which was launched last year and uses a similar process to assign ESRB ratings to mobile apps.