Only on the internet are you going to get such a passionate furor over a game that has yet to be released. One of the bigger surprises at this year's E3 event was that Valve's new born baby [as of last year November], Left 4 Dead, would be getting a sequel by November this year. Battle lines have be drawn. Pitchforks are sharpened and raised. Go on over to the Steam forums and take a good look at what the mere announcing of a sequel can cause fans [on both sides] to take some pretty bold stances. On one end there are dedicated fans who have one 100% faith that if and when Left 4 Dead 2 comes out, it will be a quality product. On the other end of the spectrum, there are gamers who demand that Left 4 Dead continue to be fully supported and that the sequel be postponed until a later date or otherwise released for free or as an add-on or a paid expansion pack.

[After the jump video of Left 4 Dead 2 gameplay & trailer]

A couple weeks ago I watched Synecdoche, New York. A movie about a man named Calen Cotard, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, working on his autobiographical play. It takes Hoffman's character several years to 'get close' to completion until the inevitable happens.  Within this segment of Sign of the Times, we will see an oddly drawn parallel of the plot of aforementioned the Charlie Kaufman movie and 3D Realms only gaming property.

My heart goes out to all families involved with this, for lack of better words, heinous act.  Matthew Pyke and girlfriend, Joanna Witton, established their own gaming website [dedicated to Advanced Wars] only to then be harassed by a user, David Heiss.  After several harassing messages [most of which directed at Pyke's Girlfriend Joanna] and two of three plane trips, David Heiss is currently on trial for the murder of Matthew Pyke. Matthew Pyke died from 86 stab wounds. To alert the police, Pyke spelled out the first three letters of the accused last name.

After playing through the story mode of ACE Team's Zeno Clash, I found myself interested in the minds of the creators of this very odd, independent game.  As a little background, the ACE Team is a Chilean based game developing company. Zeno Clash is their largest release to date.  The the writing and art design was done by the three Bordeu brothers [Andres, Carlos and Edmundo].  This past week I had to opportunity to catch up with Carlos Bordeu to ask him questions about the concept and design of Zeno Clash and more importantly what is next for ACE Team.