Clearly one of the most interesting things that come out from E3 has been the Left4Dead 2 “controversy”. I posted it in the past: I wanted Valve to talk at E3 about Half Life Episode 3 and what they are doing next; in the same post I said that I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be a new Left4Dead. I was wrong.
I’m really not ready to give another 50usd for a new Left4Dead. That doesn’t mean I “hate” the idea of Left4Dead 2 or that I feel I should go and sign a protest group that says that a game is “too bright” (the idea sounds like “it has too many damn colors!” of the Diablo 3 thing). So please no fanboy statements here since I’m a Valve fan myself. I know that right now with Sterling’s posts this issue is too damn hot to get anywhere near it.

Is not that I haven’t enjoyed the first Left4Dead. Granted, it looks and feels like a sophisticated mod, that is what critics of the game say, but for me that is ok. Even for 50usd at the time it was very original and very fun to play, so the money was there for the title and I probably only got more for my money from TF2, but Left4Dead is second on the list. I didn’t care about the complaints of lights and textures although I can see the problems with the flashlights of my teammates. We can argue about the support from Valve to the title, it hasn’t been nearly as much as it has for TF2… but hey, maybe they thought the game was ok as it was and released something they truly wanted in the experience like the survival mode recently.

Still with Left4Dead 2 has happened something I call: polarization. In one bag we have the believers that want to play this game because they look at it and see fun and those that naturally just can’t stand the other side; the other side being the haters, those who don’t want a new Left4Dead because it is too early or because it gives pretty much the same thing.

And then the rest of us in the middle trying to come into terms with some posts about the issue, shaking our heads at some Sterling posts (dude I have nothing against you but you write and make all of us look retarded), and saying “they don’t get it”. You see, for myself is fairly easy, right now I stand in: I won’t be buying this on day one. I will wait for a weekend discount or a price drop… but this is right now. Maybe from here to November they will show me something really great about the game, something that I’m going to say “sold”, and that’s it, the game is a buy from day one. They are going to be showing a lot more of L4D2 in the coming months, so I’m all in for new input about how the game is going to be (new weapons, new special infected, etc).

For example, I know the lighting effects and textures didn’t look anywhere near impressive in the first Left4Dead, probably they want to fix it along with a lot of other things. I heard this Valve guy on an interview at E3 trying to explain that along the development cycle of the first Left4Dead they wanted to put so much in, but time was an issue, and now looking at all of what they want to put in they just cant do it on a patch.
Sincerity is a good thing from a developer. And you got some from Gabe Newell after E3: "In addition to the recently released Survival Pack, we are releasing authoring tools for Mod makers, community matchmaking, 4x4 matchmaking, and more new content during the coming months for L4D1, we also agree with our customers that there needs to be an interoperability plan for players of L4D1 and L4D2, as multiplayer games are driven by the cohesiveness of their community."

I just wish they say SOMETHING about Episode 3.... Please Valve, I’m in pain over here.