Snippets: Batman triumphs at awards, L4D2 DLC, Australia has a chance at R18?

Here’s a roundup of today’s news found elsewhere on the internet:

Batman: Arkham Asylum takes top BAFTA honour (gamesindustry.biz) - Eidos and Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum was honoured at last night's GAME British Academy Video Game Awards, taking away the gongs for Best Game and Gameplay.

The title beat Sony and Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to the top award, although the PlayStation 3 exclusive was recognised in the Action, Story, Score and Use of Audio categories.

The only award voted for by the public, the GAME Award 2009, went to Activision and Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Electronic Arts' picked up the Sports and Online awards for FIFA 10, while Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet for the PSP was judged the best Handheld title and Valve's Left4Dead 2 the best in the Multiplayer category.

Australia’s main mature games detractor calls it quits (vg247.com) - If you’ve been keeping up with the headlines, you could be forgiven for believing there were only two sides in the battle to create an R18+ games rating in Australia: South Australia Attorney-General Michael Atkinson and everyone else ever.

Well, good news, Aussie guys and gals. Mr. Atkinson has decided to step down from the front bench, effectively ending his status as the wicked witch in good ol’ Oz.

Atkinson will, however, stay on Parliament until 2014, according to a report from Adelaide Now.

Still though, unless Jack Thompson snuck into Australia’s Labor party while we weren’t looking, we can’t imagine anyone else opposing violent videogames with the frothing fervour Atkinson brought to the table. So yeah, sounds like it’s time to break out one or two party hats, crank some slow-paced music until it’s just barely audible, and raise a toast to cautious optimism.

One Left 4 Dead Character Won't Survive The Passing (kotaku.com) - Valve's poster for Left 4 Dead 2's The Passing downloadable content finally gets a tagline: Nobody Survives Forever. And while the original survivors will be showing up at the beginning of The Passing, only three make it to the end.

The news comes by way of Valve's Chet Faliszek, speaking to Geoff Keighley at GDC, as shown in the most recent episode of GameTrailers TV. As reported previously, The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 would be followed by downloadable content for the first game, and now we know how that's going to work.

While the original survivor's death will be readily apparent in the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, the Left 4 Dead 1 downloadable content will have players working through the events leading up to the death, which will require someone on your four-player team make the ultimate sacrifice.

JvJ wrote: Well, good news, Aussie guys and gals. Mr. Atkinson has decided to step down from the front bench, effectively ending his status as the wicked witch in good ol’ Oz.

About time.

why oh why did CoD:MW2 have to win.

I wonder how the new L4D DLC will work when it comes time for the character to die??? Do you vote or is it the same person everytime???

metalmannz wrote: I wonder how the new L4D DLC will work when it comes time for the character to die??? Do you vote or is it the same person everytime???

My guess is there will be an environment trigger that will require one of the players to stay behind ie blowing up a bridge or sealing a door etc

Roadskin wrote: My guess is there will be an environment trigger that will require one of the players to stay behind ie blowing up a bridge or sealing a door etc

that is how i expected it to happen as well.. would be nifty if it is 'man this gun, while everyone else bails' type situation.. so if the player fails everyone dies, but if they succeed then everyone else lives (apart from them).

NoooooooOOOoooOO Bill must survive!

Mogno wrote: NoooooooOOOoooOO Bill must survive!

ya'll know it will be token louis that dies.

I'm not so sure about that. They couldn't get Bill to do extra audio so maybe they will kill him off.

Seems odd that they would actually share that information about L4D2 pre-release. Would've been a much better retail reveal, I think.

Midi wrote: Seems odd that they would actually share that information about L4D2 pre-release. Would've been a much better retail reveal, I think.

I hope it isn't a specific character. I'm sick of "HURR HURR <insert spoiler here> HURRRRR" appearing at random places on the internet.

Well it would be cool if its a different character every time (depending on choices the players make).

Louis better live!
Louis is awesome.
Whoever isn't the chick, Louis or bill can die forgot his name.

Francis, but they're all pretty cool.

UberMouse wrote: Louis better live! Louis is awesome. Whoever isn't the chick, Louis or bill can die forgot his name.

"I hate UberMouse" Francis

Its mentioned that the dead survivor will be obvious in L4D2 The Passing, and its also mentioned that the L4D2 DLC will be released before the L4D DLC, so..how could it be anything but a scripted event thats already decided? or will they choose one character for continuity but allow anyone to fill that spot in MP?

HerbalSuicide wrote: Its mentioned that the dead survivor will be obvious in L4D2 The Passing, and its also mentioned that the L4D2 DLC will be released before the L4D DLC, so..how could it be anything but a scripted event thats already decided? or will they choose one character for continuity but allow anyone to fill that spot in MP?

Because the L4D DLC tells us how the original four came to be in Georgia, it doesn't take place after the events of L4D2.

The "Dead Survivor" in L4D2 is a type of special infected, not actually one of the characters in zombie form

Midi wrote: Because the L4D DLC tells us how the original four came to be in Georgia, it doesn't take place after the events of L4D2. The "Dead Survivor" in L4D2 is a type of special infected, not actually one of the characters in zombie form

What, what, and what?

"While the original survivor's death will be readily apparent in the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, the Left 4 Dead 1 DLC will have players working through the events leading up to the death"

It sounds like there is a form of timeline here.

Also, what's this about the "Dead Survivor"? Does this pertain to the death of one of the 4 mentioned above? Your post says it isn't them, yet it is injected in a reply about the death of one of the characters

I've probably got my wires crossed What I'm trying to say is that all four L4D characters will be available to play in the L4D DLC as that describes how the original four meet up with the new four. None of the original four are playable in the L4D2 DLC, they assist the new survivors - so yes, which dies is probably scripted - but it wont affect character selection in the L4D DLC.

Edited for clarity, but it's still a mess, sorry

"Valve have today released some more details about the first downloadable content update for Left 4 Dead 2, titled “The Passing.”

“The Passing” will see the new team meet up with original zombie survivors Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis in a small coastal town in the state of Georgia. The original four will appear as non-playable characters, aiding Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle in the third map of the new campaign.

Valve are also adding a new special infected, called Fallen Survivors, who they describe as people who mistakenly thought they were immune. This new special infected type will occasionally drop items such as ammo and health packs.

The downloadable content is still on schedule for release in March. "About a month later," Valve will introduce a DLC pack for the original Left 4 Dead that will describe how Bill, Francis, Zoey and and Louis came to be in Georgia.

Thanks for clearing that up

Is the new L4D 1+2 DLC free or will there be a cost attached?

silence. wrote: Is the new L4D 1+2 DLC free or will there be a cost attached?

tba, but don't think valve has charged for any dlc for its games.

sweeeet will keep my fingers crossed

silence. wrote: Is the new L4D 1+2 DLC free or will there be a cost attached?

No announcement has been made yet, AFAIK. But the PC content will highly likely be free, while the 360 versions will probably cost a small fee, 400-650MSP I'd guess. MS politics forcing Valve's hand.

Ooooo I cant wait for these content packs to come out!