The Samsung 2233rz at first glance…

For 5 years, I have seen the response time go from 35ms to 2ms, everytime with new promises that it would be the best screen for gaming. Ghosting diminished but the games still felt as if they were stuttering and blurry compared to my CRT… until today.

The Samsung 2233rz LCD for is the first LCD to ever screen to compete for against my CRT for fast action 3D gaming.

True 120hz

The new 120hz provided by the Samsung 2233rz is actually a true 120hz. That means that it receives 120 updates per second from your computer instead of the standard 60.

LCD TVs have a fake 120hz because they are in reality simply 60hz LCDs with a ghost frame inserted between the frames to smooth out the image. The ghost frame artificially inserted by 120hz TVs does help but can sometimes make the motion seem unrealistic and a little weird.

With a true 120hz, like in the Samsung 2233rz LCD, this simply does not happen. Although I would want to take the most scientific approach possible, it’s actually quite difficult to capture the 120hz motion in action without very expensive equipment. Therefore unless the Discovery Channel wants to lend me some high speed cameras, it will be a subjective review along with some pictures and a video that simply do not do the screen justice.

Specifications

• Samsung 2233 22″ Widescreen LCD
• GTG 3ms (3D) / 5ms(2D) of Response Time
• 20000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
• 170o/160o (CR>10) Viewing Angle
• Native 1680×1050 resolution
• 300 cd/m2 Brightness
• 120Hz Dual Engine

The specifications of the Samsung 2233rz are decent but not spectacular in any way. From a 5ms response time that has become the standard, to a dynamic 20000:1 which is closer to a 1000:1 true contrast, everything on the screen is pretty much what people have come to expect from 22″ LCDs today. The only difference, and this is a rather large difference, is the 120hz. I personally find that all LCD manufacturers have very misleading specifications and as we’ll see, Samsung is no exception.

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed with the Samsung 2233rz was the average build quality of the screen’s frame.

I believe that if you’re going to price your screen nearly double the price of other 22″ LCDs, it should at least not wobble when you set it on your desk. Although the exterior frame looks nice, when you actually handle the screen, you immediately get the feeling that they skimped on the build quality of this screen. The plastic feels brittle and adjusting the tilt on the screen usually results in it shaking around for a few seconds before it settles down.

However, as a gamer and a hardware enthusiast, I’d rather have the money spent on image quality and performance rather than the frame, and that’s exactly what Samsung did. That being said, my Dell wp2208 is much better built and was half the price. To sum it up, build quality is passable but definitely lacking for a screen of this price.

Image Quality

The Samsung 2233rz tries really hard to provide a good image quality for the average user but no matter how much tweaking with this monitor, I just can’t seem to get it just right.

When you enable the MagicBright option which enables the 20000:1 dynamic contrast, it disables all the other available options on the screen. So if you’re like me, and you find that the magicbright overdoes it, then you cannot fine tune it. Instead I found myself using a custom color scheme that was easier on the eyes.

Standing side by side with the Dell WP2208, the whites were brighter on the Samsung and the darks were darker as well. The colors tend to pop out more on the Samsung, providing a brighter, more vivid experience for the user. The drawback is that having intense, vivid colors makes it difficult on the eyes when you’re trying to read text on the internet. I found myself constantly adjusting the settings back and forth between gaming and normal internet usage.

Compared to the more recent screens by LG, Viewsonic and even Samsung’s own 60hz models, the Samsung 2233rz’s image quality is on par but does not excel in any way. You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the screens and I personally feel that the 20000:1 dynamic contrast is poorly executed. It does make the colors more vivid, more intense but by doing so, it lacks color accuracy.

The brightness on the screen is very uniform but there is a little light bleeding from the edge of the screen from the backlight. It’s very minimal and I normally would have not noticed if I wasn’t paying special attention to every little detail.

Usability (Controls)

The screen interface consists of cleverly hidden buttons on the right side of the screen. This makes the screen more attractive but at the expense of usability.

To compensate for the user not being able to see the buttons, the screen displays little arrows to tell you where the buttons are located and what they do when you go into ‘menu mode’. The menu is not very intuitive and I found myself more frustrated with it than anything else. To make matters worse, when you put the buttons on the side of the screen, the screen wobbles a little due to the poor build quality of the screen’s base.

All the standard options that we have come to find in screens such as color themes, temperature, sharpness, brightness and constrast are there. Navigating through them takes a little getting used to, which really shouldn’t be the case. After a few hours with the screen, I can now change any setting relatively rapidly, but I still feel that the learning curve for changing settings on a screen should be seconds, not hours.

It’s worth mentioning that in order to take advantage of the screen’s main feature, the 120hz, you need to install the display driver that comes on the CD with the monitor.

Unfortunately, Samsung fails in this aspect as well. Forcing the user to manually install the driver by right clicking on the device manager and then searching for the correct driver on the CD-ROM.Although this is a pretty standard way of installing drivers for technicians, Samsung could have made it much simpler by simply having one button that says: “Click here for automatic screen installation”

Once the driver is installed, it’s also important to go in the monitor panel and set the frequency to 120hz. This isn’t explicitly mentioned when you install the driver and I fear that a few users that purchase this screen might simply forget to set it at 120hz.

Gaming Performance

I started off testing the screen’s performance by running Crysis Warhead and I was immediately impressed. The first thing I noticed was that the image tearing that was common with 60hz screens with v-sync off was almost entirely gone.

Immediately as I started testing the screen, people gathered around and noticed subtle details that made the screen shine. Even though I disliked dynamic contrast for text and internet, it really started to shine when playing Crysis. The water was vivid, so were the trees, bushes… the game looked better than before. However, Crysis being the FPS monster that it is, the frames per second were hovering around 50-60 and I was unable to truly test out the full potential of 120hz. That being said, even at low FPS, the screen still provided a smoother image than the equivalent 60hz screen. This was especially noticeable when panning sideways through bushes and trees.

I was impressed.

I followed by running Left 4 Dead, a slightly faster Zombie based game that would really test the movement and rendering dark environments. Once again, I was surprised by the image quality produced in games. The screen was much better at rendering fast paced motion than previous LCDs. Rapid flicks of the mouse didn’t result in massive tearing and blurring, instead the image was consistent and much easier on the eyes.

There’s a world of difference between 60hz and 120hz in fast paced games and the difference is very obvious when you make rapid mouse movements.

Note: I recommend watching in Full Screen.
Unfortunately the video compression messes up the Freeze Frames, they look much better on 120hz. They are sharper and have less tearing.

Quake Live was much more enjoyable as well. It was unplayable on my old LCD screen and now with the new Samsung 2233rz, I can finally play and be competitive. The high speed action is where this screen really shines.

Team Fortress and Counter-Strike where exponentially better was well. The mouse movement is much smoother and when you turn quickly, the walls and characters follow remain in focus. To test the difference, I had the Samsung 2233rz and the Dell wp2208 running in clone mode, one at 120hz and the other at 60hz side by side. Jumping up and down next to a wall provided a noticeable difference. I attempted to capture this on video, but unfortunately my video camera only shoots at 30fps so the difference isn’t very noticeable. This is unfortunate, because when you’re playing a fast paced game, the 120hz is definitely noticeable and makes for a great gaming experience.

Conclusion

The Samsung 2233rz is currently the best gaming LCD I have ever used and it will replace my old Samsung 900NF 19″ CRT for gaming.

Even though I own multiple LCD screens, up until this moment, I still used my CRT because of it’s ability to produce 140hz at 1280×1024. Although the CRT is still slightly better at reproducing fast movement, it’s very close with the Samsung 2233rz. At the native resolution of 1680×1050, the LCD is actually faster than my older CRT, not to mention much larger and sharper!

When it comes to games, there is absolutely no comparison between the Samsung 2233rz and other 60hz LCD screens.

If you’re a gamer and are still using a 60hz LCD, then I believe the upgrade would definitely be worth it. If you’re like me, and have been waiting for 5 years to change from a CRT monitor, then run to get one as soon as possible.

That being said, if you’re a casual gamer, or play slower paced games mixed in with a lot of internet browsing, then this might not be the best screen for you. Although it would do the job, there are better alternatives out there that will cost much less for the same result. When you’re browsing the Internet or even watching a movie, there’s absolutely no noticeable difference between a 60hz screen and a 120hz one.

I believe it really comes down to what the primary use of this screen is going to be. If you’re going to be doing a lot of word processing, text and internet browsing and photography, then this screen will do fine but there are better options out there.

Contrastingly, if you consider yourself a gamer then this is by far the best LCD you can possibly get.

Period.

Yes, versus mode is probably the most fun in Left 4 Dead, and if the game wasn’t so buggy (Let’s see… the game randomly goes into hyper speed, or even switches to a random map for no reason, you can hit people through walls with a tank… etc) then I’d have to say it’s probably one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences you can have.

Pouncing as Hunter, why I love versus

Seriously, there’s no greater feeling than doing a 25 damage pounce from a skyscraper that’s 2km away from the survivors as a hunter. The impact of the fall and having your opponent plastered against the ground as you consume his internal organs is very satisfying. A little too much actually…. Even better, light yourself on fire as a hunter and find yourself a lone target. Pounce on him and you’re doing double damage…. “OHM NOM NOM OMH OMH” as the Heavy would say.

So quickly, in case you’re a little new, let’s cover the basic ideas that will give you the edge in versus Left 4 Dead.

If you want to download the new Hunter Training map (Practice Pouncing & Climbing Buildings), then download it from the Training Section.

Survivor Tips –

1. Stay as close to your team as humanly possible… be IN THEM if possible. As dirty as that sounds, you’ll be safer if you can smell their breath.
2. You can hear EVERYTHING, listen and shoot through walls.
3. The tanks worse enemy is a molotov, always keep one handy.
4. If you don’t need to search an area, don’t. The objective is NOT to collect the most items, it’s to get to the exit with as much health as possible.
5. Be unpredictable, don’t go where the infected team will expect you to go.

Infected Tips –

1. You make noise, they will always hear you. The only exception to this is the hunter… if the hunter is standing up straight he will not make noise.
2. As a hunter, light yourself on fire to cause double damage. Before attacking, find fire, even if it’s far. It’s WORTH IT !
3. As a smoker, you can do more damage if you can pull a survivor off a ledge. That’s your job, pull people from high areas.
4. As a boomer, spawn at the absolute last second in a strategic place (you make a LOT of noise) and try to get all 4 infected with your spit.

The top mistakes people make as survivors is to simply linger around. Seriously, there is nothing in that closet…. and even if there was why would you want it ? It’s beyond me why people waste so much time at the beginning of levels looking for things like medipacks when you’re already at full health. Good teams move quickly together, skipping looking for items in favor for advancing through the map. Even when you don’t actively search the map for pipe bombs and molotovs, the map tends to give you some in very obvious locations along the way. Use those instead. The ONLY exception to this is to pick up upgraded guns. Don’t miss those.

Instead make your way through the map as fast as possible, utilizing the most direct line as possible.

Survivor Tips – Use Sound & Shoot through walls

The best thing survivors can do is to use their sound. You hear everything in Left 4 Dead, and if you use a set of high quality headphones, you’ll be able to know exactly where to shoot your survivors. If you want to take this even further and want to know how to you can make even better use of your sound, check out http://www.fragggingfundamentals.com for the answer to that one. Once you know exactly where the infected are, shoot through the walls at them! In Left 4 Dead, you CAN kill pretty much anything through a wall, as long as you shoot enough. It’s a great feeling to shoot a a boomer before they turn the corner… and even better to have them call you a cheater afterward!

If you want to truly own the boomer’s peanut, then figure out EXACTLY where you have to shoot in advance to get the kill. Let’s face it, after playing the same map over and over again, you KNOW around which walls the boomer is likely to spawn, so practice shooting through walls to hit him in single player and you’ll destroy everything and everyone in versus mode. Want to practice in single player?

Here’s how you do it quickly:
- First, start up a game in single player, choose whatever campaign you want.
- Second, bring down the console, type: sv_cheats 1
- Third, type “god”, followed by “noclip”
Now you’ll be able to float through walls and rapidly move around the map. This will allow you to rapidly figure out where to shoot through the wall.

Alright, now as infected.

Infected Tips – Coordinate & Use your Environment

THE GOLDEN RULE IS YOU HAVE TO ATTACK AT THE SAME TIME

That’s pretty much it. If you can coordinate 4 infected to attack at exactly the same time, you’ll do MUCH more damage than having a single hunter attack. How can you time this? Well, for starters make good use of voice communication. Warn your teammates 10 seconds in advance before you attack and pick effective places to attack.

There’s no point in attacking them when they are in a narrow corridor… they’ll just shoot you and a horde of zombies won’t do much damage either. Instead, the best time to get them is when they are in open areas.

For hunters, always take advantage of burning fire… it does SO MUCH more damage. And always find the highest possible point to jump off from. The further you travel in the air, the more damage you will deal on impact. Although difficult, it’s very lethal to land a 25 damage jump… which usually ends up being 30-35 damage points by the time someone helps your victim.

In versus mode, the infected are to take advantage of the environment, from hiding behind witches, to baiting survivors to shoot cars, it’s all about triggering the external forces in the game to do the work for you. My personal favorite is pulling a survivor towards the gas pumps on No Mercy… only to have the entire team come to rescue him and accidentally blowing up the pumps. If you haven’t tried that one yet… I highly recommend it.

A little note on the tank… Now the tank is both the most powerful force in Left 4 Dead and the worse played! I can’t believe how many players I see simply wasting a perfectly good tank. The first mistake people make with the tank is to assume that they are going to lose control immediately if they don’t attack. While it’s true that you eventually lose control if you don’t hit a survivor, the amount of time you have is more than sufficient! It allows you to carefully sneak around survivors, to tactically throw cars, wood logs, wheel barrels, whatever you find along the way to help you put down the survivors.

What a good tank will do is sneak up on ONE target, hit him until he’s down and then use him as bait. When the other survivors come to save him, hit them as well! Obviously, while the survivor is down, a hunter should immediately jump on him to try to kill him as fast as possible while the tank guards him. The worse thing to see is a tank running on fire, 1 vs 4 in the open while all the survivors shoot him. Don’t be that guy !

If you missed it, make sure you read my first article on Left 4 Dead, strategy and tips

Oh, and because I mentioned them in the first line, here are some videos of me speed running alone through the first levels of No Mercy on Expert. MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THEM IN HD!

No Mercy 2 – Done Fast

No Mercy 4 – Done Fast

Having your own 32 man public server comes with many advantages… power to kick, ban, choose maps, put fun mods, give admin rights, have private server slots, put up a password for private matches, basically everything a gamer wants.

The downfall however, is the cost of operation of a gaming server!

As you know by now, servers take up a LOT of bandwidth, 2000 GB per months if they are full time 32 man servers. That doesn’t come cheap and servers survive on donations from team members, players and the odd private slot sale. As we all know, usually donations don’t cover the entire cost of the server and you usually end up paying for the rest yourself.

But..

What if it was possible to actually reverse that and actually GENERATE money from the server?

Not only would the server pay for itself, thus making it essentially a free server, but could even give you extra income every month for whatever YOU want. Better yet, once you have a self-sufficient server, you can put up another one.. and another one…etc. Imagine having a fleet of 15 servers all owned by you, all generating income for you.

I’m telling you, once you start having 3-4 servers, EVERYONE knows your name. I know there’s a little ego in there, but when people know you run a few servers, you immediately become THE MAN. If you have a team, this allows you to recruit better players, and if you don’t, then you better believe it’s easy to join pretty much ANY team shall you choose to do so. Who wouldn’t want a server admin that runs 3-4 servers on their team?

The method

The one thing that gaming servers have is… gamers. A huge audience of gamers. On a typical day, a server can see upwards to 800 different players, all competing to be the best. They all want the top score, they all want to be the best player on the server and up until now, it was just a matter of spending a lot of time playing. You’re going to capitalize on this and generate a lot of revenue for yourself.

You’re going to give them what they want, and make money in the process!

In your server message of the day, server description, welcome screen, server website and even IRC channel, you have massive areas that you can use to recommend products.

When you recommend a product to a gamer and he purchases it, you get a cut of the profits.

This is called affiliate marketing and it is one of the most under exploited venues in the gaming world!

Here’s the process:

1. Recommend a gaming product and direct the traffic via your affiliate link.
2. Gamer visits your recommended product and purchases the product
3. You generate money that pays for servers, upgrades and gaming hardware.

The absolutely best product to generate huge amounts of revenue is the gaming book called Fragging Fundamentals written by Eric Lancheres.  This is an excellent book geared specifically towards FPS gamers that want to improve their game to the professional level. It’s THE reference & training manual for gamers. A review can be found here.

It also happens to have the LARGEST affiliate payout of all gaming products available, which is GREAT for generating revenue. For each sale that you recommend, you make $17 USD. Using some simple math… if you have 800 gamers that play on your server daily, and out of those, 50 visit your recommendation daily, and of those 50 you have 2 that purchase the book, you just generated $34 in a day.

At $34 per day X 30 days, that’s $1020 generated by your server per month!

What if you had 4 servers? That’s $4080 per month of revenue and close to $48960 a YEAR just from running 4 gaming servers. Not bad…

Doesn’t that sound better than the alternative? Where you have to beg people to donate and pay out of your own pocket to keep the server alive? I’d rather make close to $50000 per year than spend hundreds every month for a server.

The Setup

Step 1 – Sign Up.

First, you sign up for the Fragging Fundamentals affiliate program, it’s simple, free and takes only a few minutes to sign up. If you have ANY problems signing up you can simply send an email to the affiliate manager and you’ll get immediate assistance. (The reason you have to sign up is to get your own link and to tell them where to send the money!)

Sign up for the Fragging Fundamentals Affiliate Program

Step 2 – Get the link & Code.

Once you signed up, you get your own personalized link and affiliate code. Whenever you recommend the Fragging Fundamentals book, you must use the link provided in order to track your sales. This is what says: “I sent you this customer!”.

Your affiliate code should look something like this:
http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=###

Where the ### at the end is your affiliate number. When you recommend visitors, you must use this link (with your code) in order to identify that you sent the customer.

Step 3 – Tweaking your Link.

Tweak your own link code to maximize sales and make it easier for people to type. There are two ways to do this and both have the same result.

Method one: Create a simple redirect on your own server. Open up a notepad document and paste the following into it (replacing your ### with your ID):

<META HTTP-EQUIV=”Refresh”
CONTENT=”0; URL=http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=###”>

Then save that file as index.php and place it in any directory you want on your webserver. For example, if your team’s website is: http://www.supereliteteam.com, then you would create a directory called frag at http://www.supereliteteam.com/frag/ and place the index.php in the frag directory.

Then instead of sending people to:
http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=###

You send them to
http://www.supereliteteam.com/frag/

This makes it easier for them to remember and to type.

Method two (easier): Simply Email Eric at Fragging Fundamentals and ask him to set up a custom directory for you on the Fragging Fundamentals domain. What you’ll get is a special URL just for yourself, for example, if your server is called Northern Resistance, you would get a custom link made for you at:
http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/northern/

So you could send traffic to that easy to remember URL instead of having to remember the long http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=### code.

Here’s a template of an email you can send Eric.

“Hello Eric,

My name is <insert name> and I just signed up for your affiliate program, Fragging Fundamentals. I would like to have a redirect link created for me on your domain to further promote your book.

My affiliate link is: http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=###
and if possible, I would like to have http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/<insert name here> as a redirect URL.

Thanks,

<insert name>
<insert email>”

Send Email Eric at Fragging Fundamentals an email to request your custom redirect.

Step 4 – Server Title & Description.

Once you have your special URL, you should put it in your server title and description.
For example, if your server description is:

“Super Clan- 32 Man Server – Pro Maps ONLY”

You would change it to

“Super Clan – 32 Man Server – Pro Maps ONLY – Go Get www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/“
or even
“Super Clan 32 Man – Recommends www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/“
or even
“Super Clan 32 Man – Improve Your Game www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/”

Step 5 – MOTD – Message of The Day.

Similarly, you can get creative with your message of the day by using one of our sample messages:
“Play every day? Want to get better? http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/“
or
“Want to improve your game? Read http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/”

Step 6 – IRC Channel.

A great way to generate revenue for your team is using your IRC channel. You can put your link there as well, in the title or even the welcome message.
” SuperClan is proud to recommend http://www.fraggingfundamentals.com/SuperClan/ “

Step 7 – Website.

Finally, if you have a website or even a forum, you can post a link in there recommending the book. This is one of the best ways to generate revenue for your team.
Sample messages you can put on your website:

” If you want to improve your game, make sure you read Fragging Fundamentals ”
” Rated one of the best books on gaming, Fragging Fundamentals is the key to improving your game”
” The FPS bible, Fragging Fundamentals takes a novice player through the steps to becoming a pro.”

That’s it! You should be on your way to generating massive revenue from these simple steps!

Update: A lot of people have been asking where to sign up….

Sign up for the Fragging Fundamentals Affiliate Program here

If this guy could combine good timing with these attacks, he’d be unstoppable.

View in YouTube HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN7PrqVxJys&fmt=22

Or view normal quality here:

*UPDATE* Don’t miss the new Left 4 Dead VERSUS strategy & tips article *
*UPDATE 2* Make sure you download the new Hunter Training map from the Training Section !

So if you’re more of a purist, and want to play this as a single player game, with the best graphics on and the most immersion, then you might want to skip this article.

If however, you’re ready to tweak the game, learn the little tricks and rip everything to shreds, then read on.

The Tricks you NEED to know

1. Server Browser

First, if you’re looking to play with other people, you can use the new more limited friend finder that’s included in the game. If you’d prefer the OLD FASHION server browser, simply

1. Enable the developer console (in the options),
2. Press ~
3. Type: “openserverbrowser” in the console.

2. Increase Responsiveness and Reduce Mouse Acceleration

With hundreds of zombies flying your way, you’re likely to need to do some quick firing. If you’re going to be doing “twitch shots”, then it’s better to make your mouse as responsive as possible and reduce all the mouse acceleration that you can.

To make your mouse movement more responsive in Left 4 Dead,
1. Go to your video options
2. Clicked on Advanced
3. Find the “Wait For Vertical Sync” option and set it to DISABLED.
4. Then go to options
5. Set the “Mouse Filter” option to ENABLED.

But wait, we’re not done! To reduce mouse acceleration even further (which will make it easier to aim!), you must add a few commands to the launch options in Steam.

To those who how to add launch options, simply add:

-noforcemaccel -noforcemparms -noforcemspd

in your Left 4 Dead launch options. If you’re wondering how to do this, I made a quick video for you.

3. Tweaking Your System for Left 4 Dead

The default settings that Valve picked for my system made everything look great, but I was averaging 50-60fps instead of my usual 120+. Not happy with that, I ran through the entire list of possible variables in Left 4 Dead to find ways to tweak the appearance.

Shockingly, I found that nearly EVERYTHING is cheat protected! That means that custom configs are SEVERELY limited and therefore, you won’t be seeing many “MAX FPS CONFIGS”.

However, simply going to the video options and putting EVERYTHING on “Low” gave me a tremendous boost in speed. Remember to disable Anti-Aliasing as well.

Surprisingly, the game still looks great even when everything is on low settings.

It just runs better, provides smoother mouse movement, and makes it much it a much more enjoyable experience.

But wait!

I did find ONE secret variable that allows you to see everything better. Start by going in the video settings and putting your brightness to the max.

Then, open the console and type:

mat_monitorgamma_tv_enabled 1

For even MORE brightness. If properly set up, you’ll be able to see in even the darkest areas without a flashlight.

4. Tweaking your Network Settings for Left 4 Dead

Unlike most first person shooters, Left 4 Dead does NOT require huge network requirements to run fast. This is probably because the computer controlled monsters are rushing you instead of real human players. Even if your teammates lag around a little, it won’t make such a huge impact.

In fact, playing around with the interp (usually critical in FPS games) seemed to have a more negative impact.

Therefore, for the time being, the only network settings I would recommend are:

rate 25000
cl_cmdrate 100
cl_updaterate 100

5. Strategies for Left 4 Dead

First, if you’re inexperienced, take the machine gun. If you have semi-decent aim, take the shotgun. The shotgun is much more effective at killing hordes of enemies as long as you take your time to aim. Every shot counts, so instead of shooting quickly, make sure you are accurate.

In Left 4 Dead, it’s strongly discouraged to rush out alone… and even though I enjoy doing anyways, if you want to stay alive on expert, it’s strongly recommended that you stay near your team.

Because most zombies simply rush towards you, it’s usually recommended to simply walk backwards towards your team when you’re being rushed.

Usually the process goes: “Spot a pack of zombies… they see me…. they ALL start running towards me, I walk backwards towards my friends, we all kill them, repeat.”

As a team, the ONE thing you want to concentrate on is always making sure that your back is covered. If you can get into a corner or even a tight corridor, that’s a good thing. That way, they won’t be able to sneak up behind you. Seems obvious, but that’s really the key to winning.

If you’re looking for more in-game specific strategies, check out extra tips at Left 4 Dead 411.

6. Trick for the first level of the demo – First level in 34 seconds

It’s possible to do the first level of the L4D demo in 34 seconds if you do it right. First, pick Howie, which is the closest character to the edge, then simply pause on the ledge for a split second before walking off onto the garbage can. If you do it correctly, your team won’t stop you from jumping off and you’ll make it with minimal damage.

Here’s my rough speed run through the first level of L4D in 34 seconds.

7. Full list of commands and variables for Left 4 Dead

If you’re ever looking for a command in Left 4 Dead, you can simply go into the console and type: cvarlist and it should give you a full list of commands.

Even easier, you can START by writing a letter and then press the up or down arrow to scroll through the commands.

Finally, I’d like to give a big thanks to Dave Parker for creating PDF of all the settings for L4D. Download the L4D Cvar List

Update – Bonus Demo Tricks

How to try Infected in the Demo

Taken from Scuzball in the Steam Forums, Thanks Scuzball!

This works for single and multiplayer as of now, and is of course an incomplete feature, so don’t even think about bugs or balance! This is purely for fun and curiosity!

There are scraps of Versus mode inside the demo. If this post is somehow against the rules, delete it at your leisure.

1. From the starting screen, click Options, then Mouse/Keyboard, and enable the developer console.

2. Start a single player game and open your console with the ~ key.

3. Type “sv_cheats 1″ This will enable cheat mode.

4. Type “ent_fire !self setteam 3″ to join the Infected team

You get to choose where to spawn as a baddie, but the AI controlled survivors will not leave their starting room and the game will not start on its own.

5. Type “director_force_versus_start 1″ in your console to begin the round.

The survivors will start hacking their way through the apartment building and you finally get to try your zombie character!

6. When you die (and you probably will), you will not respawn. Press space to cycle through different spectating modes till you are in in free flight mode. You must then use these commands in the console.

z_spawn tank
z_spawn boomer
z_spawn smoker
z_spawn hunter

These will spawn you as that infected at the spot you are currently “flying” as a spectator. (If you use these commands while you are alive, it will spawn a computer-controlled boss of that type where you are aiming. z_add will spawn a regular infected. z_spawn witch also works, but she is always computer controlled)

In Multiplayer, this will only work if you are the lobby leader and you choose to host the game locally; it will NOT work on other people’s dedicated servers!

Many people including me have been unable to get the AI survivors to leave the safe room in the subways. Unless someone gets a work around, this only works on the apartment level.

I was iffy about my pre-order to be honest, but now that I’ve gotten 3 of my friends to try the zombies, they’re all buying the game today!

Have fun

More resources

Some great resources,
http://www.left4dead411.com
http://left4dead411.com/left-4-dead-strategy
http://www.l4d.com/

Don’t scare the witch !

If you’ve been living under a rock (or a crate) for the past few years, then you might of not heard of this game. It’s the upcoming hit by Valve, and they have their entire team working on it so they can finish it by November 18th.

Why am I so excited?

Because the last time I played a decent cooperative game, I was still playing with a 33.6k modem and Duke Nukem 3D was king (wait, it’s not anymore?).

This MIGHT be a revolutionary game… I’m excited.

Go see the Left 4 Dead video trailer:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/left4dead/video/6200402/left-4-dead-official-movie-1?hd=1

They also have a new driver for the Razer DeathAdder mouse (my current mouse) which fixes a bug that I never personally encoutered.

Official DeathAdder Release log:

- Fixed the bug where holding down a button on single key at advanced setting would act like a single keystroke. With this driver the key will repeat itself, just as when pressing and holding a key on a keyboard.
- Fixed Macro does not work if button was set to on-the-fly-sensitivity previously.

Official Lachesis Release log:

- Improved tracking performance and faster response
- There are still a limited number of people with jump issues, this firmware addresses people with this issue.

Razer Lachesis Driver 1.10 & Firmware 1.91(Get the firmware, that’s what fixes everything)
http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=18&pcid=0&nav=0

Razer DeathAdder Driver 1.09
http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=11&pcid=0&nav=0

Personally, I never encoutered the problem with the Deathadder, so I won’t be upgrading my driver just yet. However, if I used a Lachesis … I’d be RUNNING to get that new firmware.

They also have a new driver for the Razer DeathAdder mouse (my current mouse) which fixes a bug that I never personally encoutered.

Official DeathAdder Release log:

- Fixed the bug where holding down a button on single key at advanced setting would act like a single keystroke. With this driver the key will repeat itself, just as when pressing and holding a key on a keyboard.
- Fixed Macro does not work if button was set to on-the-fly-sensitivity previously.

Official Lachesis Release log:

- Improved tracking performance and faster response
- There are still a limited number of people with jump issues, this firmware addresses people with this issue.

Razer Lachesis Driver 1.10 & Firmware 1.91(Get the firmware, that’s what fixes everything)
http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=18&pcid=0&nav=0

Razer DeathAdder Driver 1.09
http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view&parentcategoryid=11&pcid=0&nav=0

Personally, I never encoutered the problem with the Deathadder, so I won’t be upgrading my driver just yet. However, if I used a Lachesis … I’d be RUNNING to get that new firmware.

The scout video tutorial shows you a mix of useful and novelty, so try to retain the useful ones for match time.

If you have any other links to scout jumping, post in comments!

The golden concept: What you practice, you get good at.

Remember that.

If your idea of practice is to jump on a public server and get as many kills as fast as possible… then you’re only harming yourself in the long run. Pubbing does not build skill.

Why?

Because on public servers, you’re matched up against mediocre players. So even if you miss a lot of your shots, as long as you shoot first, you’ll usually end up winning the battle.

Unconsciously, you train yourself to shoot first without aiming. That becomes part of you… even if you don’t want to. If you’re used to playing with the “shoot first, aim second” because you play on pubs a lot, then that’s what you’ll AUTOMATICALLY do even in match situations.

As I previously mentioned, what you practice, you get good at… even if it’s something that doesn’t help you.

The solution: Instead of going for as many kills as possible, go for the highest level of accuracy that you can possibly achieve. Make every single shot count, and always aim for the head. If you’re playing Counter-Strike, make sure that every single kill you get is a headshot, and that you don’t waste a single bullet. When aiming, take as MUCH time as you need to hit the head, even if it means dying in the process.

Concentrate on that, and you’ll be practicing perfection.

After a while, you’ll re-train yourself to automatically aim for the head before shooting. You’ll become a human aimbot.

A fair bit of warning, the first time you try this, expect to die. You’ll be taking a lot more time to aim than usual, so it will throw your rhythm off and consequently, you won’t get kills that you would of normally gotten by spraying. However, with practice, the time it takes to aim will decrease and your headshot percentage will go up.

Eventually, you won’t even have to think of it and you’ll naturally spend the required time to aim for the head. If you ever find yourself slipping and start shooting too quickly, make sure you do this exercise again!

So remember, if you practice shooting quickly, that’s what you’ll do in the match.
If you practice perfection, you’ll be accused of cheating because you got too many headshots! Life’s tough.