Left 4 Thumbs

[James]

If everybody stands on the ledge right at the back of the tower where we all were, it messes up the AI a bit and nobody except smokers go for you. Except it didn't always seem to work, hence the tank corpse right in my face. That guy nearly killed us all, so it wasn't exactly plain sailing.

For the record, we got past the first tank through legitimate means, but we kept losing at least one person in the process (mainly through bad luck, I'd contend), and one of our number started getting a little impatient. Amusingly, his daughter had turned his computer off earlier in the campaign, so he didn't get the achievement, as he hadn't been present throughout.

Anyway, regardless of our slightly shitty methods, I thought both clips were amusing, possibly because they both involve dear Daniel being incapacitated.

Also of note: my voice chat wasn't recorded (due to the set-up), meaning that (in my imagination, at least) I give the impression of a calm sage-like figure, rather than the screaming idiot I was in actuality.

[Wrestlevania]

So... any of my fellow stiff-shifters up for some reg'lar undead goodness this evening? I know I am.

[DanJW]

Braaaaaaaains!*

*zombie for "yes"

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[James]

We had a very good round of versus. Again, it was close enough throughout to be consistently exciting.

My team very nearly being amazing:

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A demonstration of why it's generally a good idea to get into an open space when a tank comes:

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Sorry these videos are so loud, by the way. I would have thought that, without my messing with the sound levels, they'd come out at the same volume as the actual game was while I was playing it, but I'm sure they're much louder.

I'll also probably sort out my headphone situation so that I'm not just recording everyone other than myself chatting (which would probably mean that I'd record none of the chat at all).

There are probably higher highlights to these videos (I record everything), but I generally only really remember the stuff right at the end, and if I don't upload things straight after playing I probably never will.

[DanJW]

Yeah thanks, my two most painful memories of the session

That and being left in the cornfield to die (although N0wak did come back for me eventually, to be fair).

But yes, a close match! I especially enjoyed your oh-so-close dash for the escape vehicle.

Can we do Death Toll next time? I haven't played that one much on vs.

[n0wak]

The first video: so annoying. I get out of the train to shoot some zombies and dude for some fucking reason falls off the edge and I spend that whole ordeal sitting there, hanging around.

And for the second, I didn't even hear that a tank was incoming -- I don't think anyone did -- and it got us completely off guard.

(You should also put video of the very first level when we completely got the jump on you and destroyed you before you could barely leave the safe room.)

[James]

I especially enjoyed your oh-so-close dash for the escape vehicle.

The thing Wrestle is apologizing for at the beginning of the first video is the fact that we alerted him of the approaching boomer, but instead of shooting it he flailed at it with his health pack. An easy mistake to make, of course, but very frustrating. Which is why I felt it was absolutely paramount I include his admission of guilt in the video.

T(You should also put video of the very first level when we completely got the jump on you and destroyed you before you could barely leave the safe room.)

Will do. I don't mean to be totally self-congratulatory with these videos, but I find things tend to be more coherent from the eyes of the victors. Also, I try to block out the painful memories.

It'd be cool if we could get several people recording, so that we could get multiple angles on things, but the logistics of editing that into something that makes sense could be nightmarish, particularly for a weekly event. Still, I think Danny boy (as in not DanJW) is going to give it a go.

[Scratch]

I'll go ahead and confess that the "amazing boom" in the second video was my fault. I totally saw the boomer right in front of me and said "BOOMER, shoot".

We were so ahead in terms of pts during the first two rounds, then for some reason the tables were turned. We completely lost it, in the next two rounds. It all came down to the final round and lets just say it was a real close game....and leave it at that.

Can we do Death Toll next time? I haven't played that one much on vs.

I second that. All I have played on versus is No Mercy and Blood Harvest. Death Toll could be a nice change.

[James]

(You should also put video of the very first level when we completely got the jump on you and destroyed you before you could barely leave the safe room.)

As an experiment with longer videos (and not bothering to edit things), here's the entire first round (well, the first half of the first round):

Bh_wyn-5p3M

[RobTheReverend]

This game is pretty awesome.

I usually just play a little TF2 here and there and a friend convinced me to download this and play it. Excellent multiplayer. I was skeptical about the balancing but having played both sides I think it works really well, I can see why you guys dig it.

[DanJW]

We certainly do! Alas I am working crazy hours this weekend and so will probably miss the regular Sunday night game

[James]

Sorry if I was being a bit of a dick tonight, team (of which only Toblix posts here, I think). I was annoyed at my voice chat problems and consequent inability to bark unwise orders at my team mates, who I erroneously suppose to be minions or something.

Anyway, it was a good game with some great moments. I don't know if the server had some crazy settings (the messages implied it had bots playing as infected, but I never knowingly saw them), or if we were all just playing better as

infected than survivors, but in only one round did anyone reach the saferoom. On a couple of occasions we barely got past the start before being slaughtered.

[toblix]

Sorry for being completely shit tonight. It was awesome, and we won and all, and it was fun, but I really sucked. I had just come home from being away for the weekend, dropped my bags and started playing. So that's why I never healed and always missed.

[James]

Hahahaha. That's OK. Glad you could join us.

[Wrestlevania]

As infected, the game seemed to be saying that you could optionally set the tank as a bot when you took control. I'm certain there were no bots playing as any other special infected though, definitely not.

All in all, it seemed like one of our shortest versus games yet, but also probably the most brutal and harrowing. Some of the ambushes on both sides were tremendous, though I should apologise again for completely fucking up our second round early on by dancing into the tongue of a smoker whilst everyone else was floored.

I especially liked our hold-out after escaping from the church; Thayer (a non-Thumb friend of mine), n0wak, Scratch and myself managed to slay the tank quite quickly. But then we somehow managed to survive three rounds of spawning with one of us dead, two of us incapacitated and the remaining survivor flitting about trying to revive us whilst we gunned down specials with our pistols. The third time the boomer showed up is what really finished us off, but it was a brilliant hold-out none the less.

[Scratch]

We should have these happen more often if possible. The reason I bring this up now, is because I have the next two weeks off work. I am planning to catch up on all the games I have left unfinished and I am open to play L4D anytime during those two weeks.

Then again, I suppose Sunday is the best time for most of us.

[Wrestlevania]

We'll stick to one formal Thumbs event a week. Trying to organise a cascade of sessions over multiple days just doesn't work, and it'll break down.

Ad-hoc's cool, though -- I'll be around tonight again I think.

[James]

I especially liked our hold-out after escaping from the church; Thayer (a non-Thumb friend of mine), n0wak, Scratch and myself managed to slay the tank quite quickly. But then we somehow managed to survive three rounds of spawning with one of us dead, two of us incapacitated and the remaining survivor flitting about trying to revive us whilst we gunned down specials with our pistols. The third time the boomer showed up is what really finished us off, but it was a brilliant hold-out none the less.

I'd forgotten about that. I'll see if the video of it was any good.

Ad-hoc's cool, though -- I'll be around tonight again I think.

SOME OF US, however, will be in GTA.

I'm open to playing more often, although I don't pay especially close attention to Twitter and so on, so I don't always realize people are playing. Oh well. Also, I haven't been at a loss for what to do gaming-wise recently. I keep getting new things without finishing old ones.

[toblix]

Since I don't really play any other Xbox 360 games at the moment, I won't be on Live just waiting to be invited to an ad hoc game. I'm on MSN Microsoft Live Messenger or whatever the fuck it's called, and I'm on Steam. If someone is up for L4D or GTA or LBP or WTF, send me a message. I don't get annoyed by people inviting me, although for some reason I imagine everyone else are.

[DanJW]

If I'm logged on to Steam, then I'm usually free to play and will welcome invites.

[toblix]

Also, another reason I never invite is because it might end up being just two people, which is awkward, because one would expect me to speak.

[James]

I don't get annoyed by people inviting me, although for some reason I imagine everyone else are.

That's pretty much how I feel. Which doesn't always stop me, but you know.

[Scratch]

Crash Course. New campaign coming as a free addon to PC and paid to 360. Of course, that means corresponding survival and versus maps based on the campaign as well. I like the fact that it is scheduled to be released in Sept., two months ahead of L4D2.

Also, I don't know, how many of us here are ready to make the transition to L4D2 when it comes out. But I for sure, will be all over it.

[James]

I am completely excited about L4D2. I'm pretty sure non-Thumb Danny Boy will be getting it at launch, too. That's three already. Everyone else pretty much has to join us.

Anyway, about that thing Wrestle mentioned:

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Or, if you prefer an upscaled version with inappropriately sombre music:

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I would like to draw attention to my pounce at the beginning. I conspicuously fail to repeat the feat several times later in the videos, but I think it was pretty cool the first time around. I would also like to draw attention to how well the other team did, and how delightfully sneaky Toblix was, because I feel like a bit of a dick for going on about myself so much.

In fact, when I was watching Toblix live, I was wondering what he was doing back there, and presumed he was trying to stage an ambush behind where they were meant to be heading. In retrospect, it's obvious that he was just waiting for his stomach to recharge, and that he had an excellent angle of approach from behind the TV van. A good thing I didn't reveal my stupid, then, eh?

Also note how, near the end, on accidentally pouncing on Wrestlevania instead of Thayer, I'm about to type a message in frustration, only to find that either I've been knocked off or Wrestle has died, and I'm standing around with a chat box open. I frantically hammer the escape key, taking me to the menu. Fortunately Thayer was blinded by spew and surrounded by the undead, so I got away with it. Also also note n0wak's left hand being thrust forwards in a peculiar fashion at the three minute mark.

[n0wak]

It was a losing battle since we pretty much all ran out of ammo at that point. Couldn't do shit against the constant horde attacks and couldn't revive more than one person at a time.