Monthly Archive for October, 2009

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Impressions

A great tactic for survivors is to surround zombies to confuse them!

A great tactic for survivors is to surround zombies to confuse them!

Contrary to other reports, the Left for Dead 2 demo was released on time by Valve to the delight of many preorder customers. All “nerd rage” is simply in spirits with Valve tradition. It’d be a dark and horrible omen if this demo were released on time by our mundane standards.

For those not in the know on this franchise, Left 4 Dead 2 is a co-op first person shooter based on the hit movie 28 Weeks Later, about 4 survivors combatting Rage infected zombies in New Orleans.

Valve has broken their longtime stance against using blatant sexuality in their games in order to truly create a realistic and immersive New Orleans. Boomers now come in a female variety with delicious booty jiggle physics, and the Spitter, the new gal on the block, parades around the streets proudly showing off full cleavage and a thong pulled just high enough to entice a lonely male gamer. Both of these gals harness the power of bulemia to assail the survivors with terrifying results. Ladies to the series won’t be disappointed as many of the regular infected barrel down onto the survivors in muscular, shirtless masses. The amount of infected hungering for the supple flesh of the living is staggaring as Valve really worked on optimizing the engine. Waves charge and are gibbed like tasty gushers (www.gushers.com a wonderful candy treat with a fruity center that explodes into your mouth when you bite down!) with no slow down on the engine.

The new special infected are more than worthy additions to the enemy team. The afforementioned Spitter does mindboggling damage against campers, and the ludicrously quick Charger more than lives up to his name, picking off single survivor and taking them to Curb Slam University. I’d like to take a moment to talk about the Jockey however. I seriously need to talk about the goddamn jockey.

c5m1_waterfront0003

Bullets disappear in there and never come out.

The Jockey is a female infected that, in the spirit of the hyper sexualized New Orleans that Valve has created for us, rides the face of whichever survivor she manages to wrap her cold dead legs around. One moment you’re fighting some infected, pretty relaxed and just letting loose a spray of pellets into a crowd. The next you see a screaming wretch flying cootch first at the screen, about to enshroud you in absolute darkness. Despite the lighting in the game, between her legs is a dark void where light cannot penetrate, and as long as she rides your face she will control you. You can try to resist her influence but it is futile. Without the help of your teammates, she will control the rest of your life. A pretty harsh criticism of women in general, but I suppose if I were going to die in a zombie apocalypse this is the way I’d want to go.

Our heroes this round include a mechanic, a gambler, a coach named Coach, and a Depeche Mode fan. Not much is known about them yet, and the demo really doesn’t reveal too much. Come the release of the megapatch to this demo which will include 5 full campaigns, their stories and personalities will likely be fleshed out more completely.

c5m2_park0010

The zombies are all clamoring for the attention of rock superstar Randy Jackson. Or so Coach would have them believe!

In the original Left 4 Dead, many gamers lamented about the four playable characters each essentially being the same when played despite wildly varying characteristics to each of them. These complaints have been heeded and a small preview of things to come has been included with the demo. Coach is the only such character in the demo to have an ability, which can only be activated when he is equipped with an electric guitar. Using the button usually reserved for zoom, he has the ability to do a mean Randy Jackson impersonation, attracting the horde to his rockstar persona. It’s an amazing ability to save an injured and swarmed player. Mum’s the word on the other special abilities but I, for one, am extremely excited.

The demo’s out for everyone next week and I recommend looking for a game to chill to with pals to give it a shot. The demo is free ($0.00 USD).

c5m2_park0014

"God DAMN I am addicted to crack." - James, upon seeing this image of the Spitter.

  • Share/Bookmark

Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Delayed

BREAKING NEWS

The demo for Left 4 Dead 2, which was scheduled to be opened to all pre-orders today at 1:00 PM PST will now instead be opened at 10:00 PM PST. While this is not out of the ordinary for Valve, it has caused an alarming reaction in the gaming community.

Observe:

Most users expressed frustration over the incident with responses typical to the 13-35 “stay in basement” demographic:
welp3

While others expressed confusion:
welp4

And while we have the reassurance of authoritative figures:
welp5

Some just couldn’t handle the news:
welp

More on this as it develops

  • Share/Bookmark

Evony: Banner ads of a Mad Man

evonybanner
Banner ads. The ugly billboards of the internet. Any visit to a website will guarantee you advertisements and offers you could probably care less about. However, it’s through this medium that the public have recently found themselves plagued by a squadron of scantily clad women begging you to save the Queen. In theory that doesn’t sound so bad but it’s not really as exciting as it seems.

The ads run for Civilization rip off “Evony” picture women in evening gowns that look more at home in a James Bond flick than they do in a game that supposedly has you building your own medieval society. Reportedly publisher “Evony LLC” plan on taking it a step further. In an e-mail intercepted by undercover GNSU reporters, we have learned that they plan on incorporating full on pornographic videos into their advertisements. We are not quite sure how they plan on doing this, nor are we even sure if this is legal (EDITOR’s NOTE: We are pretty sure this is not). After all, as much as some people would support it (EDITOR’S NOTE: most of you), you can’t have elves banging on family friendly video game sites.

Evony’s ads weren’t exactly family friendly to begin with and their business practices are questionable at best. In fact, there is not even a Queen. Yes, that impressive rack belongs to a model, not the woman crying for your help. (EDITOR’S NOTE: What else is new?) One may wonder if Evony LLC is up to more tricks. In the same e-mail Evony LLC also addressed several other concerns regarding their marketing procedures and company well being. Owner Peter Richards states: “We have reached 9 million users! I can barely believe it. We have to take quick action to accomodate our small country of a playerbase. We need to make sure our hundreds of servers are up to date. Scott Andrews in our US branch’s IT wing has already made sure to contact the appropriate companies to get us the best hardware possible. Now is an exciting time. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates soon from yours truly.”

Richard’s boastful statement provoked a curiosity in GNSU’s news rooms and pushed is to further investigate Evony LLC. In further e-mails from Richards to his advisory team he makes mention of (in his own words) “a totally sweet budget.” However, a pie chart included in the e-mail reveals a supposed budget of “a gazillion dollars and a powerbike.” The budget report wasn’t the only statement that raised brows over Richards’s mindset. In e-mails sent to his person advisory board he casually discusses dinner plans with them. “Hey kids, just want ya’ll to know I’m gonna throw a bangin dinner party a couple weeks before Christmas. Be sure to dress up in your fanciest dress because it’s gonna be real nice! This is to celebrate all the hard work we’ve done and all of money we’ve made over the past couple of years. Bill Gates better watch his sweet ass!” While that may not seem out of the ordinary, he goes into great detail about directions and procedures upon entering his “castle”. As much as I want to believe it’s a metaphor one can only wonder if Richards feels that way.

Founder Peter Richards.  We're not sure if that's a real goatee or pudding.

Founder Peter Richards. We're not sure if that's a real goatee or pudding.

Furthermore Richards also makes several references to his “powerbike” and how “sick” his “powerbike” is. Included in the e-mail was a photo of Richards standing next to a powerwheels vehicle, neither a bike nor powerful. Also of interest was the home pictured behind Richards was not a “fancy bastard of a mansion in some bigass green fields” as he refers to in his e-mails but a modest home in the suburbs. When one takes a gander at the Evony ads littering the internet, one might say “There is a method to the madness” – but in Evony’s case it would appear there is just madness.

  • Share/Bookmark

New podcast availible

This is our podcast logo!!!

This is our podcast logo!!!

Dear Internet,
We wanted to kindly invite you to attend the first Podcast in GNSU history. You can listen in to the first GNSU Report by clicking Here. Just like your first highschool dance it’s anxiety ridden and boner inducing but we still need to get the hang of things. This weeks topics include our site, zombies, “This is Vegas” and Andrew WK.

We have submitted our podcast to iTunes so for those of you looking for a simpler way to tune in, it will be available soon.

In the meantime brighten up your Monday a bit, grab a can of wine and pull up a chair. This is The Good News Shut Up Report #1.
Love,
James and Arien

  • Share/Bookmark

Welcome to Good News Shut Up!

Welcome to Good News Shut Up!

GNSU features weekly articles, reviews, features and opinion pieces on the latest in the gaming world. You can subscribe to us via an RSS feed or check here weekly. Feel free to spread our seed by using the share link in each post! Twitter it to your friends! E-mail it to your grandmom! Facebook it to that girl you don’t talk to in person!

Every Monday Arien and James (along with guests) will discuss current events in the “Good News Shut Up Report” podcast! Listen to it on your way to work! Listen to it at the dentist! We don’t care! Just listen!

GNSU is comprised of a crack international news team spanning the globe with correspondents stationed in the United States, Canada and Japan. Founded by Arien Russell and James MacDonald, GNSU’s aim is to bring you the most interesting gaming and media news you probably won’t find anywhere else!

Check back every week or subscribe to us via RSS because you’re probably not going to find this news anywhere else (seriously, guys!!)

  • Share/Bookmark