Unlock "Connecting Flights" achievement, get "Blood Harvest" beta

Although Valve is pretty close to releasing the "Dead Air" campaign for Left 4 Dead 2, they still have some testing to run through, and they are calling all Left 4 Dead 2 gamers on Steam to give them some help. Valve created a new achievement called "Connecting Flights," and if 60,000 people earn it (via playing a complete Versus game in "Dead Air") the studio will unlock the beta version of "Blood Harvest" on Steam "the next weekday." Again, it has to be a complete game, so as Valve says, "you can't rage-quit."

Left 4 Dead 2's "Dead Air" DLC Releasing Early [Hopefully]

Valve made the challenge--have 20,000 people on Steam obtain the "Stream Crosser" achievement in Left 4 Dead 2. The prize? An early release of the "Dead Air" downloadable content, a campaign taken from the original game. Well, within 24 hours of the challenge being issued, 60,774 people unlocked the achievement, and now Valve states that the "Dead Air" DLC will release earlier than its original July 22 date.

That is...if it's finished beforehand. The team is currently working out the kinks in The Terminal and Finalé segments of the campaign, and more work has to be done internally. Hopefully, we get to play "Dead Air" in L4D2 sooner rather than, say, a few hours before July 22.

Source

Yeah, I'll Head to No Mercy Again

After a long, hard week of work (and blogging), my girlfriend Gina and I spend the weekend together, doing the usual boyfriend/girlfriend type of things. Ultimately, this ends up in a nonstop barrage of, "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" While we can hardly every agree on what to do, there's always a certain question that ends up with the same answer no matter how many times it's asked.

"Hey, you wanna play Left 4 Dead?"

Left 4 Dead 2's 'Cold Stream' DLC Beta Now Up!

The beta for Left 4 Dead 2's 'Cold Stream' downloadable content is now up for testing and Valve wants the community to provide as much feedback about it as they can. The DLC, created by a modder named Matthew Lourdelet, is available on both the PC and Mac versions of the game.

Be warned though, Valve reminds the community that since this is a beta there are bugs present and it's still a "work in progress."

Be sure to head on over to the 'Cold Stream' Forums and report any shenanigans you encounter in the beta.

Press Release:

Today we are releasing the beta version of Cold Stream. Since we announced it, Matthew has been hard at work on the map and the initial release looks a little more polished than you may have expected.

The reason for that is the difference between how we work on a campaign compared to modders. When we work on a campaign, we normally work in a rougher state without textures for a long period. Level design artists come in later and give the game its finished look with textures.

Modders often texture early as they have to create the structures based on the available artwork. They don’t have a team of artists coming in after them. So don’t let the level of texturing fool you. The campaign is still in flux.

We have activated the in-game bug reporter for L4D2. You can currently submit bugs on Valve maps including Cold Stream. This system will eventually be extended to work with community campaigns.

So how can you help and give feedback on Cold Stream? 

If you see a bug report it. There are sure to be nav-mesh bugs, navigational issues, hit box problems, missing zombie ladders, art problems, etc. Remember it's a beta.

For suggestions and feedback, first play the campaign and then post in the Cold Stream forum. The finale is one place in particular that we think is going to change pretty massively but please post all your feedback.

If you want to follow the development on Cold Stream, make sure to subscribe to our Twitter account.

Reminders:

The beta is for PC/Mac only. The 360 version will be included in the full DLC.

Cold Stream is part of an upcoming DLC for L4D2. No release date or pricing has been announced.

Cold Stream does not replace featured campaigns, they will resume next month.

Campaign Release Notes:
If you have a problem with a spawn room, vote to restart that chapter.
Everyone needs to be by the radio headset to start the finale map.
There are bugs, this is a work in progress. 

Have fun.


Image via Joystiq