Left 4 Dead Arrives In Japan - As An Arcade Game?

Valve and Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead franchise has been out and going strong for years now, spawning a sequel (Or two), selling millions of copies on Steam and consoles and being a key player in the zombie genre revival that's been prevalent over the last few years. A new trailer unveiled yesterday shows off a new entry into the franchise called Left 4 Dead - Survivors which will be making it's debut in Japanese arcades relatively soon with field tests at the end of the month.

Developed by Taito, who have had a relationship with Valve since 2006 in creating some truly unique arcade adaptations of their core franchises, this looks like it's shaping up to be a more streamlined version of the core L4D cooperative experience with a series of networked arcade cabinets. You might ask yourself how on earth a first person shooter like this will work without a traditional mouse or keyboard setup, but we have a few ideas.



Half Life 2: Survivor took the classic sequel and condensed the entire experience into a more arcadey dual joystick shooter with a much more linear progression throughout. While the story remained relatively the same, a timer option added quite a bit of stress to wrapping up the campaign. The title was also networked with other machines to offer multiplayer modes, including a coop option.



CounterStrike NEO was an even stranger breed, taking the classic gameplay of the Terrorist Vs Counter Terrorist premise and reskinning it to have cyborg characters with an anime aesthetic, female announcers and maps I've never seen before. The arcade version actually had a rudimentary mouse and keyboard setup with a 'profile card' system that would allow players to store their stats and settings.

So why all these arcade ports of titles that could be easily purchased on Steam and other platforms? It's been pretty well documented that Japan's gaming community has always been lukewarm at best towards first person shooters, so this is yet another attempt by Valve to acquaint Japanese audiences with their franchises in a more palatable, convenient format. Left 4 Dead - Survivor will be premiering in arcades sometime this summer.

Gundam Extreme Vs Maxi Boost Is The Most Insane Game You'll (Probably) Never Get To Play

While the arcade scene died out in the mid 90's for most of the world, the arcade scene in Japan has thrived resulting in an experience light years ahead of the rest. It's always been a bit of a bummer to see the social aspect of gaming deteriorate, especially with games like Gundam Extreme Vs Maxi Boost. The PS3/Arcade/Mobile multi-platform game looks absolutely f**king insane.

Following up with even more characters from the 2011 release of Gundam Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost totals at around 70 playable Gundams. Arcade players will be able to battle across the country, taking on different missions while mobile users offer support via their phones.

It's an insane experience and I bet you're chomping at the bit to give it a go (I can't blame you). Unfortunately, at this point you're better off learning Japanese and importing the PS3 version, because I can almost guarantee we'll never see local translations of this gaming behemoth. Maybe next time, am I right?

Battleblock Theater Releases Today

To be honest, each time I saw any news on Battleblock Theater I had a deep terrible feeling that the game was going to end up as vaporware. Originally announced as Game #3 back in 2009, the game looked great and future iterations were a damn blast. Each year during PAX Prime, I made certain to check out the games progress and give it some playtime. The game was a f*cking blast every single time and I'm happy to see it finally hit the digital shelves tomorrow.

If you have a bit of extra XBL points I highly suggest picking it up, I can safely say if you like platformers or party games you won't regret your purchase. The game ins incredibly engaging with how incredibly well it does platforming while pulling elements form other genres that still create a cohesive experience (basketball anyone?). The game is the perfect party game with enough content to keep you coming back for more (no one can deny that unlocking vanity items isn't addicting as hell). It's been a long time coming, but this game is definitely worth it.