Left 4 Dead Gets a New Campaign. Free for PC, Not Free for Xbox
After more talk than I care to remember, Left 4 Dead has finally seen a new, totally free campaign added to it’s roster. That is unless you play L4D on the 360 in which case you have to pay 560 MS Points. That’s right; you have to pay extra for the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead DLC, even though previous DLC was, and the PC version is, free.
You can get some details on the new, shorter (around 30 minuets) campaign right here with my BFF Jim Sterling’s Destructoid’s exclusive first look. For me the interesting part is less the new two chapter level, and more the bit where if you have the (arguably gimped) console version, you’re now paying for the privilege.
Whilst my first reaction was “god dammit Valve, why do you hate consoles?” having had think about it for a while I now doubt very much that this was Valve’s idea. In the past, many times, it has been Microsoft who have forced developers to charge for things they want to either be cheap or free. I would be very surprised if this turned out to be the decision of anyone other than Microsoft.
Regardless, whoever decided it was a good idea to charge for one copy and not another is likely a long way away from the PR shit-storm heading Valve’s way now. This really is the last thing they need.
Via: Destructoid
Oh nooooo…. Vaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalve… *becomes a Witch*
Excuse me while I go fire up Steam for my freebies. WOOT!
So, we all realize that this is probably the last of the substantive dlc for L4D right?
It is indeed MS-policy to charge for every update that has substantial content.
Substantial meaning everything that is not pure code (read: bug fix).
The argument here is “We want to raise awareness for the value of DLC” or something. Remember the dispute over Geometry wars, the 1st Mappack for Gears and the delays of UT3 because MS wont have (free) mods? All this was meant to be free by the developers.
On a different note: those L4D boykott loonies, are they whining already that its not enough or something?
@Nozart
Let us not forget that Microsoft’s charging for update bollocks is why UT3, a game near and dear to my heart, is all but dead on Xbox Live. The lack of user created content to keep the game fresh and interesting pretty much killed off any chance it had of being “Unsurpassed. Unprecedented. Unrivaled.” (box quote).
Yep I’m sure it’s Microsoft. I’ve got it for PC as well so I’ll probably just mess around there. Too close to L4D2 to care about buying it for me.