WHAT.

That was my reaction when I first heard about this. And you have heard me correctly. The sequal to the highly popular "Zombie" (term being used quite loosely) Shooter Left 4 Dead is being boycotted. Right after a trailer being released.

WHY??

The game is being boycotted over many reasons. This includes:

• Significant content for L4D1 was promised, and never delivered
  
• Valve put little faith in L4D1 since they almost certainly started working on L4D2 right after release
  
• The fact that L4D2 is nearly identical to L4D1 will decimate the community for both games
  
• The announced date is not nearly enough time to polish content or make significant gameplay changes
  
• The new character designs seem bland and unappealing so far
  
• L4D2 is too colourful to fit in with L4D1's visual aesthetic
  
• The fiddle-based horde music is extremely disliked, though the differently orchestrated music is otherwise welcome
  
• L4D2's release will result in a drop in quality and frequency for L4D1 content, even compared to before
  
• The community has lost faith in Valve's former reputation for commitment to their games post-release

All this was ripped straight from the Steam Group representing the boycott, which, over 2 days, has gained almost 3,000 members. They call this game a "money-grab," a ploy from Valve to make a bunch of extra money. The Steam Group can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/L4D2boycott

Also, on a slightly, off topic note, the avatar for the group is the L4D infected hand giving Valve the bird, which made me laugh.

Mr. Warden's Opinion

My opinion on this game is that, honestly, it looks fun. I am a big fan of Team Fortress 2, and the vibrant colors of New Orleans dusk is quite refreshing from "OH GEEZ ITS DARK I HOPE THERE WILL BE NO ZOMBIES POPING UP, OH LOOK A ZOMBIE! GEE, I WAS SO SCARED BECAUSE IT WAS DARK!" Left 4 Dead was NOT scary. It was more of an "OH S--T TANK RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN" game. So I am looking forward to this game because I still had fun for Left 4 Dead. 

On the other hand, I see the boycotters' point. There is absolutely no need for a new L4D game to be released so soon. I see how much of a clone it looks like. And I frown on Valve's stupidity, which I'll explain next.

Where Valve Went COMPLETELY WRONG*

*Note: This part will be using facts and history from Steam, and using these facts to theorycraft. It will also use theory from the trailer and gameplay videos that have been released.

To keep this simple, Valve went wrong by making a new game. Completely, undoubtably wrong. Gameplay seems completely the same, and the UI is nearly identical. The only difference is the Infected, characters, and maps. This is what Valve SHOULD have done;

I've been watching the rate of sales from free weekends that include updates. The recent Spy vs. Sniper update for Team Fortress 2 coupled with a free weekend brought thousands upon thousands of players to try it out. And when the price was halved to $9.99 USD, purchases SKYROCKETED. Many purchases were made, bringing new life to an old game. A week after, there was a free weekend for Unreal Tournament 3 Black, coupled with the free Titan update. According to Steam, sales went up 90% and took the top slot for most selling game. NINTEY. PERCENT. That is an AMAZING amount. From this I can come up with a simple equation. Free content + free weekends = SALES. If all the content from L4D2 was released as free content or cheap DLC, this would solve the problem of alienating L4D gamers. Besides, since L4D's SDK was released recently, the maps, characters, and Infected from L4D2 will be ripped by users for use on L4D. And if nobody else does it, I guess that means I shall be the first.