The Start of the Season... With Zombies

I am on one of my chill vacations where I hang out with some my nerd friends in Central IL.  Since we wouldn't see each other again before or soon after Christmas, we exchange presents.

Knowing my love for zombie-slaying, I got this as my first Christmas present last night:

A plushie boomer!  It even comes with sound effects.  Isn't he hideous and adorable all at once?

I named mine meatloaf.  Maybe he'll make a guest appearance on the blog someday.

Left 4 Dead is a team game, people!

I've recently been getting my zombie-killing fix via the online games for Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam.  I love the game a lot, and I only play with my LAN group at most once a week (less since they're not always up for an undead apocalypse like I am) so I decided to try the online stuff.  Amazingly my wireless recently started kicking butt so I can play it in my room without hinderance.

Half the games I play are ridiculously fun.  If you get online at the right time you can be playing with some people who know the game and love it for the same reasons.  I'm totally in it for the team work as well as the shooting up zombies.  It's also a lot more fun for me since I suck at PvP games like Call of Duty.

The other half are full of selfish players with no thought of the team whatsoever.

I can understand wanting to be "that awesome dude" in a lot of other games.  Call of Duty and Counterstrike have been doing that for years.  There will always be games with that goal.  Left 4 Dead is NOT one of them.

The worst part is when it's the last scene of the map, you're at the crescendo when everything is rushing at you, and you're team is ready to go and that ONE JERK decides to fuck you all over and leave you behind.  The thing is in that game you cannot win alone in the entire level.  So essentially you used teamwork all this time and this one dude (or dudette) ditches you all to be the lone survivor, and then shoves it in your face.

I will say that this is easy to avoid if you get a bunch of people you know well enough online that actually play the game the way you want to play.  I'm slowly accumulating Steam names of people who I actually think are fun to play with, and over time it'll be easier.

But dammit, those ditchers piss me off!

On another note, if you'd like to join me on Steam for some zombie killing, my handle is of course d20sapphire.

Left 4 Dead 2: Why I am NOT offended.

The media is at it again!  Another debate about race in video games.  I'm a little late on picking up this one but that's okay, I was late with the RE5 issue as well.  

Again, this is coming from a GamePolitics article that read a post in a blog by a writer from the Houston Chronicle who's saying that Valve is being insensitive by putting black zombies in their Left 4 Dead sequel that takes place in New Orleans.

Okay... what?

Let's take a look at some game play, shall we?

Video Games | Left 4 Dead 2 | E3 09: PC Gameplay Part II

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Did you watch?  Okay, did you see anything that offends you?  I didn't.  If you are offended let me know because I might be missing something.  But I don't find anything that's inheriently racist.  There are zombies.  You are trying to shoot at them.  Or beat them with a frying pan, which makes a very satisfying PANG on a zombie's head.

The writer for the Chronicle says that Valve should be more careful about using the former disaster zone in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, with the remembrance of "bloated bodies".  I understand that, but almost every story has a tragedy.  Should we not have games that have fires in Chicago, or earthquakes in L.A.  Yes, Katrina is recent, we're approaching the 4 year anniversary (I remember because I had just moved into my dorms as a freshmen in college).  But we have to give valve the chance to deal with the situation appropriately.  If we don't you know I will whine about it on the internet.

I think what ticks me off is that unlike the RE5 incident, there aren't any instances where the game play has racist images or messages.  Yes, there are black zombies.  But New Orleans has black people in it, and I don't see African Americans being immune to a zombie outbreak.  Although that would be pretty sweet.  Anyway, there are also two black protagonist that don't seem to be overt stereotypes either.  There's just nothing for this writer to cement his assertion on.  Luckily the developers of the game are calling it "utter insanity".  Because it is, not every game with black zombies are racist.  In fact, none of them have to be as long as people think things through, and hopefully Valve will prove that they have thought things through.

I invite you to look at all the media available on Gametrailers here.  To be honest I haven't watched anything, but I have watched a substantial amount without seeing anything that is offensive to me as a black person.  Although, their standard redneck character might offended someone.

If you go to the article in GamePolitics, you might see that one commenter says it's a way to gain readership for the Chronicle.  I will say if it is, it's probably working.