If E3 had a mascot it would be Gran Turismo.  I can’t say how many years E3 has been around, but let’s just say E3 has been around 25 years. I am confident 19 out of 25 years, some sort of Gran Turismo has been in development. Anyway, all you’re supposed to know something is happening with playing a bunch of Sly Cooper games; and Valve, there’s that. People still don’t have much faith in Socom Anal Bead. Personally, I’m looking toward Move for somebody to try something competitive with motion controls. I am probably the only person secretly wishing this.
Oh yeah, no PSP2.

3:08 mormonrage: I think shooters suck as demos
3:08 mormonrage: I’m so sick of seeing guns blowing & up for five minutes in these things

3:13 frozenlava: oh god
3:14 frozenlava: sly in 3d
3:14 frozenlava: big name!
3:14 rockhstrongo: i was just going to say gt5 3d

3:14 mormonrage: slycollection–hell yeah

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The last few months, I have been BioWare’s bitch as Dragon Age Origins and now Mass Effect 2 have completely taken over my gaming minutes.  As such I haven’t had as much time to jump in and kill zombies with my online crew.  Yes Lefty, I know you still find time, but I am sooooo close to nailing this alien chick that I… well, I digress.  

Now this doesn’t dissuade my love for Left 4 Dead 2.  It is perhaps the most fun multiplayer experience out there.  It’s challenging, tough and yet clever and fun.  There are some spoilers coming up, but seriously if you haven’t played this game yet, walk away from the computer now and get to it….NOW, I SAY!!! 

Ok, one of the best story endings in Left for Dead 2 takes place in Dark Carnival where you have to survive a wave of zombies in of all places a county fair rock concert stage.  The band that was supposed to be playing (we’re not really sure if there were eaten, or still in the trailer getting high) was called “Midnight Riders” and they claim to have the loudest and biggest stage show on the planet.  One player will activate the sound check tape from the booth while yet another activates the kick ass pyrotechnics show.  Not only is all of this crazy fun, but the rock and roll really added to the experience.  Simply put, it kicked ass and I could replay that scene all night (If I didn’t have alien chicks to bang). 

I often wondered if I might hear more from the Midnight Riders, perhaps in some DLC or in Left for Dead 3.  Then last week I was watching AOTS and Chris Gore was giving his DVD review.  I sat up and adjusted my eyes as I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but Chris Gore had on what appeared to be a Midnight Riders concert t-shirt.  That’s effing awesome I thought and I immediately searched to see if these were actually available or if he just knew somebody.  Turns out, and I may be late to this party but who cares, the Midnight Riders actually have a website complete with audio tracks, a CD (which you can’t order yet) and yes Concert T Shirts!  It’s part of a viral campaign for Left for Dead 2 that I hadn’t heard of until now. 

http://www.midnight-riders.com/

It’s just another sign of just how much Valve loves you.  Not only do they make awesome games that I will keep in my collection forever.  (Seriously, ever play a bad game from Valve?   Think about that…)   But they create an immense back story on something as seemingly insignificant as the band whose music is played at the end of a level.  We read in the blog about how they are gonna keep on touring even though the airports are shutting down.  We have a bus and it works just fine!  I laughed out loud while reading how their late bass player Riggs Donner passed away twenty-four years ago.  There are even You Tube videos of their music that look like they made them themselves.  Don’t expect much from the visual sense, but I dare you not to crack up with their Christmas hit “All I want for Christmas is to Kick Your Ass!”  You’ll want to check out the CD that you can only get on tour, as the song titles are funny as shit.  Hopefully they’ll release “Get Your Friends (I’ll Take Y’all On)” or “Stick it in your Craw” sometime soon…we can only hope.

I guess it’s…..Shamwow Guy week as well here at Robot Panic. Shit, I love this site.

Anyway, intrepid reader Carrotpanic (the ORIGINAL fucking panic, I might add) linked a video making the fairly accurate comparison between the TF2 Scout character and Shamwow pitchman, Vince Offer.

Well, my fixation on the guy took over after viewing the linked video and I had to find more. In no time flat, I came upon this hilarious retooling of the Meet the Scout video that Valve recently released. Accurate, I say. Accurate.

Enjoy.

Left 4 Dead, given to us by the good folks at Valve, may be one of the truest zombie games to come out in some time. For those not in the know, Left 4 Dead is a four player co-op battle of four survivors (you and three other online players) vs. a horde of undead zombies. The game is broken up into a variety of campaign style segments that play out over the course of 5 areas per campaign. Released for both PC and 360, the game features the use of the Source engine and folks accustomed to the feel of TF2′s first person shooter gameplay will be right at home.

We’re big zombie fans here at Robot Panic, as if you didn’t already know this. So we take our zombie stuff pretty seriously. As such, we applauded a game like Dead Rising for it’s adherence to George Romero’s zombie rules and setting far more than it’s gameplay. While it got the “killing zombies in a mall” idea down, the save system did it’s best to pull you out of the game. Not to mention getting calls every couple of minutes and always in the middle of a swarm of zombies.

The latest zombie outing on the PSN, The Last Guy, also fell short for it’s enemy creatures barely qualifiying as zombies at all. While the gameplay provided some intense moments, when the “zombies” have multiple heads and tentacles we weren’t exactly pulled into the world. In order for a zombie game to really work, not only does the setting and character designs have to live up to the movies, but the gameplay must as well. And that’s a much more difficult thing to attain.

So what makes Left 4 Dead stand out as a Zombie game worthy of the name? Here are a few of the many reasons.
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