Rock Band 2 (UK) ... Does it exist?

Hmmm I guess this one is a little off topic of what I normally do. But hell, it needs to be mentioned. Rock Band 2 was released for Xbox360 around the same time left 4 dead was released for PC. Hence why I was thinking of buying both at the same time to have an awesome christmas. Here's the thing, the GAME is out, but I need the instuments with the game. Simple? Wrong, the rock band 2 intsrument bundle is NO WHERE to be seen in the UK. It's out in america, and was announced for UK, but to be honest Rock Band 3 will be out by the time we can get the rock band 2 instruments. Let's hope they don't make Rock Band 3 instruments and force users to use Rock Band 2 instruments. Better yet, let's hope EA get their balls back and treat EU customers accordingly.

Note: I am NOT getting guitar hero, since I already know rock band is better. And i am not getting rock band 2 with rock band 1 instruments, I aint that desperate. (plus rock band 1 instruments are shit, fact)

To Stick? Or Not to Stick?!

Well, L4d is pretty much dead to me. Same old same old, not that im bored of it or anything, just maybe the player base needs to skill up abit and just relax. So that leads to my other game, Street Fighter 4. And im thinking of purchasing a £150 stick. Now im thinkin, ive bought the ps3 just for sf4, and now i might aswell hype it up with a stick. And you're thinking, "WTF £150 FOR ARCADE STICK?!?!" well yes its expensive, but all in all a good investment since a stick is different than a stupid pad. ID RATHER USE A KEYBOARD THAN PAD. FACT.

I also bought Team Fortress 2. Not touched it yet. (I know its a stable game anyway)

Street Fighter IV / Matchmaking

Street Fighter 4 would be a good game if they took out matchmaking. What they should introduce is a lobby-like area where you can select who you play. (chat can be turned off if that's what the designers are afraid of)

Cause let's face it, I hate being told to "widen my search parameters" when they dont let you widen JACK SHIT.

This new championship mode is also quite awesome, but again matchmaking bullshit means i dont get to play many games per hour. (id say max about 5)

Contemplating on taking back my PS3...

On a side note, it's also cuz no one in the UK can afford a PS3 + decent internet. ALSO playing games is like... you know... frowned upon? The whole "spending-your-life-infront-of-a-computer-means-you-have-no-life" speech. Blah.

Finished!

Ok, so that's 58/58 achievements earnt, and that's survival done. I might come back to it once in a while.

Onto the other versus campaigns, from what i've seen(cause ragequitters dont let me see more) dead air and death toll are quite difficult if the opposing team has a clue. However this being said, alot of people leave at dead air 2 due to the fact that its on a roof top

Left 4 Dead seems to be over for me, don't know for sure though.

Update l4d // Screenshots or it didnt happen

Well, youtube vids are available. And well the exploit is simple, you dont get harmed. GG.

Anyway, exploits aside, survival is a very good mode, here are some screens:





Throwing in a bugged screen here:



Smokers killed 1 after 22 mins, great.

Onto the second part of my title. This is a topic which is highlighted over the Internet. Screenshots are like proof, and like proof it can be altered. The screen above is 100% legit, I did get 22mins, but you have to analyse it. That's why incase some people think I *really* got a legit 22 mins, ive stated that we werent attacked by smokers, or tanks. Only common and hunters were there. Valve needs to fix asap!

exploits in survivor mode

yes, they exist. But it's due to the fact that certain areas of the map can be defended against common infected very easily, only thing to kill is the tank. And when that happens, even the biggest idiot can aim at a target which is on it's own. Sigh.

So now you get REAL records like mine at 12 mins, only to be beat by some exploiting nab with 18 mins.

Besides the leaderboard is based on your friends only list, so you can tell if someone succumbed to the evils of exploits. Because remember they let you do it! so it's not cheating(!).

side note, gotta laugh when people run to the corner camp/closet spots and find theyre not there roflol.

A more detailed post

Well, having got a few golds now i think i can do a deeper analysis on the survivor mode.

Now before i get onto survivor id like to say they actually changed alot, and frankly, i love it. Worth the wait? maybe. Either way, everything is good, and havent found a problem yet (apart from i havent played versus yet...)

Anyway, survivor mode, it's like a panic event. Only that it lasts indefinately, and lots of infected come whether you like it or not. And I guess the reason why I like it is, oh yes, 5 smokers? 4 hunters? 3 tanks? at the same time? YES! You basically get a full set of arsenal, sumthin like 10-20 molotovs and pipe bombs, 8 pills etc... They do not respawn, what you see is what you get. (also some explosive barrels maybe...) So basically, yes there are 12 maps, but they are all areas which have panic events in them, for example the power generator on NM2. Now the only problem i see with that is on NM5 we had to press thebutton twice (as you do in campaign) which is a pain.

I should also mention that I said ive got gold, which basically means I wont be playing that stage ever again. :/

Id also mention that ive done it with 2 friends and a bot, whether the bot gives me the advantage i dont actually know, either way ive proved it's possible.

Anyway back to game -- if you havent got left 4 dead, now is the time you get it!

sidenote: survival mode *is* difficult regardless of whether I have gold on the first day. I should say this because my friend and I have always been pro and killing infected, and its these skills you need to survive. None of that closet camping rush shit, you're in a square and zombies are comming, good luck.

New Left4Dead Patch!

Yes i've tried the lighthouse level, and I think they did a good job on this one, even though ive managed to get 8 mins with 2 bots and a friend mmmm. More detailed post to come...

Excited

L4D ANNOUNCED to be later released today, I do however have final reports to do, so it looks like my friends will have the knowledge for the first 24 hours of release. At least it'll prep them up abit....

Stay tuned, I'll try and release my thoughts every time I get one.

Clever AI?

AI is developing everyday, to a point now that it controls many human actions. But im going to talk about its implementation in games. In computer games it has always been like this: Give the computer cheats in order to increase the difficulty or, allow the computer to make every calculation possible in the game to give massive advantage over a player who can only keep an eye on 1 or 2 things at a time...

Either way, making the computer cheat is just a shortcut to increase what gameplay you have left after a player has finished it 100 times.

The new AI technology I believe are is this: Matchmaking - putting players up against players similar to themselves. This being said it can refer to two things: The computer assigning you against players who are similar to you or making itself more of a challenge to stop you itself.

Personally, I prefer NEITHER. This type of matchmaking is good theory, and gets you kudos but anyone should know that you cannot control things which are RANDOM.

So let me break down the first one. A computer decides what players I fight: This is fair, only one problem is there should be no players like me, only players better or worse. And how is a better player judged? more points I guess... don't consider if those points were gotten fairly by the way..
And surely, it can't match me against players which don't want to fight me... because you see, no one wants to fight someone who is better or someone who is worse. The whole point of playing anonymously is you don't know whether you're gonna get your arse kicked or not.

Example: "oh my gosh this guy has 1000000 points, and i only have 10, im gonna get whooped(!)"

Now you can judge that how you like, but would it make you feel better if that guy bought his 1000000 points?!

Conclusion: Allow players to see who they want to play, cause it shows something about themselves if they gravitate to players less than themselves or more than themselves. Or they just select RANDOM.

The second part where the computer gets harder as you progress or improve. Well I like this theory but I hate computers which just purposely do things wrong just to give you a chance since that's how you play. Well yes fair enough but consider this in an RPG:

You level higher to beat someone lower.

To me, you would do this when you're having problems, but now with this new AI, you'll have problems indefinately if you can't beat a particular part. And no, this doesn't mean you're not good enough... well yet, because you don't know the variables which are affecting the player currently...

However if this was the case, I would not progress if the game will just get harder unless I would want the game to get harder. Because what is the point of having a beginning and an end, when its all gonna be the same. So it goes like this:

"He beat me with his sword+1 when i only had a sword. So when I have my sword +5 i want to beat his sword+1. but wait my sword +5 no longer beats his new sword+8."

In this situation there is nothing you can do but keep retrying your fight knowing that he will always be one step above. <------ who knows what happens if you max out both values... lol.

Conclusion: Matchmaking isn't practical to implement in games... yet?

side not: streetfighter 4 / left 4 dead / last remnant all have some kind of matchmaking in it.

Annoying...

Annoyed, when I was in year 11 (~5 years ago) I broke my arm, both bones in the arm were broken and now im left with a permanent(i think) bend where it broke. It's roughly about 10 degrees out of place. Only recently i've seen how badly it affects me e.g when I turn my wrist. But the annoying thing is, I want to learn how to play guitar. Since it's my left arm, it's really difficult for me to twist my wrist. My friend suggested playing it left handed, and yes holding the guitar was instantly alot more tolerable (if even tolerable at all). So maybe I will re-string my guitar and play left handed.

Sound in computer games... Important..? (and a small strat guide)

This blog is more like the importance of sound in a game.

Now, being a learning computer games designer I know the importance of sound in terms of appeal to the player. For example how immersed are they, and do they actually feel they are in a zombie apocalypse.

But I want to talk from a gamers side of things. For example, how it gives you an edge over another person. Now I don't want to say it's because im more immersed than the other guy. You could say i'm more immersed in winning...

However, it's the people (and people im pointing at are the ones who go onto forums) who discuss what kind of music is good to play with a game. Personally, the only games you *could* play with music are a handful of RTS and RPGs, where that sound is only there to *try* and immerse you, and in no way helps you to improve your ability. Oh and beatem-ups are ok to replace the BG music with your own (if it's possible)

Ok, so here's my problem with the above. Sound helps you improve in a game. A few rules which I have (i've been told im pretty much an internet bully when it comes to games.)

If you suck at a game fair enough seriously, I dont care. I really hate people who suck and dont learn. (same goes for people who suck and blame others <--- which is the same as not learning)

..but seriously, you cant blame anything if youre listening to heavy music over to what you are playing. Most/almost all games require you to hear things, it's like a warning. In fact it is warning, much like when crossing a road you STOP, LOOK and LISTEN.

I started this rant because, as you know i'm being a accused of hacking in l4d. This happens almost every full game(if i get one) or in about, 1 in 12 players. (i say 12 cause there are 4 people on the opposite team, x3 for 3 different games.) Why didnt i say 1 in 3 games? well, it might not, that's why.

The funniest thing is, I know theyre all wrong. But i cant prove it, and im not either. I'm just going to explain how I do it: *no there are no hack links...*

please take in mind that these are just steps which I do, these can happen very fast, and even some at the same time and not the same order.

1. ASSESS the situation.

in l4d there are things to assess:

• are you ok? If not, seek help from teammates
  
• is your team ok? If not, aid them
  
• how many zombies around *for me, this is always 0 or close to*
  
• check for items, every corner, every room *I notice my friends do this, but never do it properly. So, do it yourself*
  
• did you kill any special infected (in which case there is a ~30 second res)

2. Progressing

Always know your path, where you're going, where infected can come from, potential spots where common infected can rush from, if it's worth it taking shortcuts.

That's a lot to take in, and yes it is, cause that is my train of thought almost all the time in left 4 dead. This is because I lead well, even though I *really* hate it.

***This is where I talk about sound lol***

Well, first up, the main sound in l4d are very few, but very important:

1. The obvious one, the tank. The music changes when the tank comes easy to listen for. You can hear it roar, and move. As well as SEE your screen shake.
2. A panic event/boomer hit. The music changes again, and you can hear distant zombies runnning at you.
3. Special infected spawns.

• The Boomer: You can hear a stomach rumbling sound, very loud and specific. Yes, ok, you've heard it. But the next thing is, where is it going to spawn (you should know these places) and if possible, can you melee it away/kill it instantly.
• The Smoker: You can hear coughing sounds, you know it's around, becareful. Stay close and look after your team.
• The Hunter: You can hear them roar (only if they are crouching) so you know theyre about, again stay close look after your team.

Now there are tricks I have when combatting infected but I feel im off on several tangents.

Conclusion. If you're thinking of improving at a game, use everything the game provides. (yes, even if it's frowned upon... even though I hate to say it.). And I guess the most important thing is sound is important, and if you wanna know how much I think, it's as important as being able to SEE.

I know I was going rant about street fighter. But this was on my mind...

Conspiracy in wow?

My friends and I were discussing sumthing strange. As you know, there are alot of calculations in wow to ensure the game is balanced blah blah blah, im not here to talk about wow, only this picture:



Now this pic is taken and is not faked (at patch 3.0.0.)

As you can see, resilience is at 747, and to be hit by 9.11%

Those two numbers... think about that --->

sidenote: I also tried to come up with the 20.05 being the year 2005, sumthing happened then which made sumthin else happen. Who knows.

I think i'll have a small rant at Street Fighter 4 next...

A taste of professionalism?

Yesterday, I was challenged by a french clan. We played no mercy and blood harvest. We won no mercy, they won blood harvest. Why am I blogging this? Well let me explain:

THEY PLAYED SNORE 4 DEAD.

Seriously, they were terrible. They used every camp spot possible, and even back tracked to the safe room just to survive the boomer hits. And against us, they kept suciding until they got 4 hunters or a smoker and 3 hunters. In all fairness, if blood harvest 5 was like no mercy 5, we would've had that game in the bag, mainly because the other team couldn't handle a full boomer coat. I don't even wanna get started on the L4D level design.

To be honest, I didn't mind it, since they were doing their best/playing to win (at any cost). I shall refer you to my earlier statement to online victories: whatever it takes even if it means breaking a game.

lets face it though, games will always be like this. Hundreds and thousands of people doing the same thing, eventually everyone will gravitate to one tactic and hence the only way this can be changed is if designers can forsee events like this.#

I guess in all the above, I will never play "professionally" since I prefer the ruggedness/randomness of being placed with strangers.

Conclusion: If you are in a clan, and play like I described. LIVE A LITTLE, you shouldn't under any circumstance make the other team fall asleep due to your inability to admit you suck.

For example, time in left for dead is useless. Eventually if you do happen to stand still, a zombie panic event happens but so few zombies come its no point even mentioning. So yes, the other team would camp in a corner until ALL zombies die, and also ALL special infected(that's us players). I shoulda really made demos to time how long it took for them to finish and for us. And by finish, I also include not making it to the safe-zone so yes, they could've taken 20 minutes longer, just to reach the same place we did and lose. And when you experience and realised what had just happened, you're already in snooze-ville.

Next patch inc ->

Though to be honest, if things like this keep up, I will just be playing survivor mode and making maps for it using the SDK (if it's powerful enough.)

Am I immature?

So, you live in London, you take the train. Chances are you've stumbled across the puzzle section in the London Lite newspaper. The word wheel is one of my favourites where you have to find as many words as possible using the central letter (in my family, we normally give ourselves 5-15mins timer). Here is the word wheel a few days ago:



I only found one. I must've been distracted.

Sore loser / It *does* suck winning (in l4d)

Yes, I shouldn't really have to say, they're everywhere. But when one *knows* what he's doing goes to show why I hate on all players - all the time.



The console log shows at the end of first half:

#2: That was quick?
#1: hey it's your turn now guys
#1: :-)
#1 has left the game.

Situation just goes to show by telling the story of what's going to happen and purposely putting an end to it, he somehow feels better about himself knowing that he's made a few others miserable. What a tool.

I move on to say that it sucks to win on L4D, mainly because of the latest patch where the team with the most points go survivors first. Which I think is fair in this way because:

infected get to scout the map to search for guns.

but you know, the other team are losing because that is what they *dont* do.

However, i think Valve do it for this reason:

players losing get to play infected first next round

that's right, they will play for one extra half because they will play infected, and then leave lol.

For some reason, Im feeling a major disappointment in this next patch...

Infected rushing?! and more...

Something interesting happened to me the other day. Someone left on the infected team I was on and subsequently was replaced by this guy:



As soon as he came in mid-way through Blood Harvest 4, that it what he said. If I was new to the game I may have listened to this guy, which would have been a grave mistake. I being an experienced player, I know what he obviously intends to do with this set up to incap the survivors in one shot. The reason I bring this up is because, people like this change the game style, the boomer is there for a reason and thus is people choose to use it then let them. You can't call orders and change people on the spot because let's face it, this is the internet lol.. (same reason I can't really prevent people from closet camping...)

Maybe it's just me but there is nothing wrong in just using a boomer full coat + spcial infected damage to bring down the survivors. And also that im a believer that a tactic like his worked once, and he probably thinks it works all the time even though he has attempted it about 20 times. You see, a situation goes like this in all multiplayer games: You do something once and get the congratulations of 100 people, it doesn't matter how you got there. You have it now and therefore, all the time. Seriously, it worked maybe a couple of times, get over it.

A very good example in all this are "skill" (i dont really know what to call them) videos on the internet, they get alot of comments, generally very good due to editting and sfx etc. But what the audience don't really understand or realise is, like filming, there were probably 100s of attempts or outtakes. And it doesn't matter it took them 6 months to make this video, they get alot of applause anyway so it was probably well worth making in the end. Don't know about the rest of you, but I would prefer a live-feed gameplay of "good" players. To see how they react in situations, plus they add in some of their own in-game commentry...

When/if I get a decent connection, I could do this myself and see reactions I guess.

Next patch incomming!

Hope?! and something else...

Just come from one of the most intriguing games ever. Someone on my team actually listened to me. But not just anyone, this guy accepted himself as a beginner to the game and willingly took my advice - and to good use aswell. We won that game in the end (the opposition were playing on LAN in 1 house)



After this day, I now have hope that players can actually improve if: They realise where they stand in terms of skill and ability, and most importantly if they are willing to listen. Because you see, what most people don't understand is even though we are all human and thus equal; we are not equals in terms of knowledge and skill. In life we have tests to prove this but in games, how does one prove that you know better? Well the answer is you don't and shouldn't even try and prove. Proof is in the now on the Internet; if you perform badly infront of someone, you are bad forever.

Side note: look at that circled in red. One thing I hate about l4d are the help boxes. It's ok trying to help out the beginners, but giving them the wrong advice is a no-no. You see, it's only natural for humans to develop strategies and thus: "let's wait for the tank as its going to rush in". And thus a beginner player will rush in to attack! but consequently be set on fire and blown about like a ping pong ball. This is the Internet, update those boxes dammit or try to be more accurate.

Oh and I just realised if I quote "..keep pressure on the survivors - rush in and attack" It's almost as if it's saying, by rushing in and attacking, you are keeping pressure on survivors. WRONG. Against an opponent which can hear you from a distance (roughly up to 20 seconds), they can use this time to prepare against you anyway. The pressure actually comes from teh special infected helping you out e.g. a Boomer spit will summon a horde to slow the survivors down...

Overall, good day today.

The term 'rush' in Left 4 Dead

Ok here goes my theory on the term 'rush' strictly in l4d which I came across on thursday. Basically, in europe, strangely there are alot of FRENCH players. Almost every game I surrounding by them, and generally they are bad. Until I met 1 guy, and he was skilled enough to know what he was doing, and he was even leading us. However, while he was playing he kept saying to us over the microphone "come on rush rush rush". What he meant in this context was "move". He'd simply be ahead by a few metres yet he wanted us to "rush".

Playing the Chinese Whispers game, the term rush was carried over to the rest of europe where 'rush' simply meant to move, and now it's describing an incorrect play-style where players are simply moving. I think I should try and just constantly walk to the end without stopping and see what players have to say about it. Because then the term rush would simply mean constant moving regardless of what kind of pace you have.

I still like to highlight this issue where other players attempt to "rush" and consequently die for it. Then I make my usual comment. "There's more to it than holding 'W'." That is if I manage to get the chat in before they leave :/

TBH a solution about rushing is to simply shut the f**k up about it since they ran through because your boomer failed to perform a full coat.

--

Another scenario is the tank, what happened was we did a few jumps to avoid the tank (where he had to climb and we quickly dropped etc.) All four of us made it to the safe room, and all of a sudden a chat pops up "omg rushers, come back and fight me pussies". No need to say what problem I have about that is. ButI think I should state the objective of surviving is getting from A to B with the most health. You don't get team points on infected side mate, sorry.

Sexism on the Internet

Funnily enough, I'm not bothered about such comments. I do however, like to point and laugh.

"
Respect me as an admin and don't complain if it takes me more than 2 seconds to spawn weapons/items. I do it extremely quick and when needed as is. This also includes because I'm a girl making vulgar comments. (this happened last night and a user was kicked/banned. I can handle rude comments but if you were in lobby with us and you remember this guy, it was disgustingly out of hand.
"

Oh right, cuz im a guy I can take vulgar comments and you can say whatever you want. But because you're a girl, you're extra sensitive to such comments and must be rid of 'those pesty foul souls'. Gosh. I should present her a banner labelled "WELCOME TO THE INTERNET."

Then again I don't know what the guy said, probably funny.

A prime example, with a twist!

So I yesterday I managed to get a shot of leavers however instead of them just leaving, one of them said "omg rushlamers". Note: All we did was my strat which was: no mercy stage 1, throw a molotov at the alarmed car, throw a pipe at it so all the zombies insta burn - safe passage to safe room. This was done very fast, and we didn't even have top HP bonus, more like everyone was in yellow or less...

And yet this happened:

#1: omg rush lamers
#1 left the game
#2 left the game
#3 left the game

What was funny about this was, they all left at the same time, I did some background check also, they weren't a group of friends; more like they had the same mind-set of leaving when their chance looks bleak. (note that this was the first half of the first round, their turn to survive was next)

I don't understand. Why do you leave?! It's such early days on the first stage. And also, it's not long till its your turn to be infected again?! Gah!!!

Screenshot:



Side note: Left 4 Dead Console log is TERRIBLE. You always get red errors (usually more than this) and for some reason my console was having problems with line-breaks.

This whole leaving thing brings up a question. Would I rather them leave without say? / or just say something stupid and leave? (I say its stupid but he probably believes what he thinks) hmmm, at least it gives insight on the typical player nowadays..

Next post: My discovery on how the term "rush" came to be. It's a good-un. Stay tuned!

I love geeky humour...

Blaq , game ?
nah
lo
c'mon
did you stop playing ?
who do u play agian?
oro :x
mmm
Cable

The game was Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. (just for those who don't understand, virus mentioned a character from X-men.)

Something funny, once, but happens often.

So we already know we get all kinds of players on the Internet and in games. And it's not so long till I actually get a live example for you. Let me explain the scenario: No Mercy#4 elevator stage, everyone always gets in the closet located next to the lift. Basically what happens is you sound an alarm, and you have to hold your ground for about a minute till the lift gets there. Sounds tense right? Wrong, almost everyone will jump into the closet, the two people at the front crouch to avoid friendly fire, and the people at the back melee spam. This looks and is very lame and you can literally see all the life from the game be sapped out from tactics like this. In which case this should be a standard strat right? Well yes, if the fact that holding your ground isn't difficult to start with lol..

But anyway, the chat follows after 1 person on survivors decided against closet camping. The team switches, and then it's the opposition's turn to survive who indeed decide to closet camp.

(Infected) #1 : why are they intelligent enough to get in the closet???
(Infected) #1: and you were not
(Infected) #2: becuase its stupid closet camping :/
*vote kick #2*
*vote successful*

Abit of irony is that #1 says "inelligent" in the same sentence as "the closet" It really isn't clever to stack nor closet camp (they are virtually the same thing) And the kick vote is way over the top, but then again that is how left 4 dead rolls and most games: If something works and it allows you to win, you do it.

Here is a console log given to me (This event did not happen to me as I would've loved to comment more)

Next patch valve say they will remove such strategies like this since in campaign it's the simple way to progress. And since it affects both campaign, and versus. It will most likely affect the new game mode: Survivor.

I say that this is funny once because, it shows how much of a clown a player can be. But then it's not so funny when you realise 80% of the player base are like this. It hurts more when they don't realise or learn that their strategy is 'flawed' in some way and an innocent player loses out on this.

My hand extends out to those kicked for no reason.

Bad players (strictly in Left 4 Dead / The Internet)

Hello everyone,

Short rant today about multiplayer games after a little collision I had in l4d from the opposing side and from my own team mate.

What i've come to notice in all games is that bad players seem to conform with each other, and the good players like to compete with each other(along with crushing the bad players). I'm just going to use one example here in left 4 dead.

While I was moving through the level with my friend (stage 2 Blood harvest /versus) I wasn't singled out but the opposite team decided to say "damn rushers" and "lol rushers", this was comming from 2 seperate people (at the same time surprisingly..) As far as im concerned, I was killing stuff, at a very fast rate and moving on. My arguement to them is this: if there are no zombies in sight, and team-mates are OK, move on. I will do this until I reach the safe-room, pretty standard.

However my confusion about all this is: What is rushing? Is that just a noobs sorry excuse of being bad and not being able to play the game better than I? Well I maintain that it is. Since the next round they failed at reaching the safe-room (and left the game). Mockingly, I stated that "going slow" wasn't allowing them to win (even though i knew it was due to the fact they got crushed from a higher skilled player), however this was enough to convince the guy on my team that I was simply "running faster than usual"... Day after day I have to deal with silly comments like this.

I guess im gonna call this the "noob-effect" or the "excuse-shield" summin like that. All games have this, only I believe that the concept of "rushing" does not exist in l4d as it *will* most likely get you and your own team killed which to me fails the objective of the game. And to me, a rusher is one who *tries* to run to the safe-room as fast as possible in record time. For those who play l4d, know that this is fairl impossible since the game is designed for you to work together.

The things I aim for in an l4d versus game is -> Team mate multiplyer -> health bonus -> time taken. (Even though time taken isn't factored in as score, I hate waiting around for someone who wants to "take it slow") And an example of this is simple: A team I played walked through the whole stage meleeing each other to remain safe, it took them about20 mins to finish stage 2 of No Mercy. Our turn, we got exactly the same score within half that. Now in this case im taking skill aside, and simply saying: where is that wasted time going? But I have no problem with that anyway as it can be seen as a "play style".

Little conclusion. The L4D community skill level needs to take a step-up. Have some kind of rating implemented. Cuz right now, bad players will leave if they are losing without knowing what they have done wrong. I have two cases for this though: Leaving out of pure anger (or "things aren't going their way aka winning") or leaving because they know theyre terrible and just want to find another opposition who they can beat. (eg. I smack a hunter out of the air and headshot it = noob has left the game)

New patch don't let me down.

Yes I am addicted to Left 4 Dead.