8-Bit Left 4 Dead!

This is a couple days old, I apologize, but you all know I can't pass up an 8-Bit downgrade of our favorite modern video games! Apparently, Pixelforce NES and Eric Ruth are teaming up to launch this 8-bit gem in January 2010; available for download (if you have a PC-Justin Long and John Hodgman would not approve... well Hodgman would approve in character, but really I think he'd be unhappy). So this isn't just a clever animation, its a game demo! In the end, the game will feature all 5 special infected (right now you'll only find the boomer... who is offensively cute for so depraved a corpse), all 4 campaigns and all 5 maps. If you thought gun butting a hunter in the head was hella fun, wait till you try it in 8-bit!

Left 4 Dead Pumpkins-Reunited at last!

I was really excited to carve some L4D zombies this year, but was bummed when no one opted for my Tank stencil. But bummed no more! Thanks to Evan, I got to see my L4D Tank in action! I have to say, great job man! It looks pretty abominable-as anything with the Tank's gruesome visage should be! So, at long last, the Special Infected are reunited in pumpkin form! (except for the boomer-but really, if you imagine the special infected throwing a party, do you really think they're gonna invite the boomer? Yeah, I wouldn't either.) Thanks for making this happen Evan!

Now I just have to figure out what next year's batch of pumpkins are gonna be... any satisfactorily geeky ideas?

More Geekanerdy Pumpkins: BONUS L4D Stencils Included!

This year saw an amazing batch (or should is say patch? no I shouldn't) of Jack-o-Lanterns-some geekanerdy, some halloweeny, and some...thing else too. I may have been up all night working on stencils, but it was worth it! Everyone really pulled out all the stops and carved some crazy pumpkins. Also, the pumpkin squares and mulled cider were pretty tasty.


Here are the two Left 4 Dead pumpkins we did-I worked on the Hunter pair and Christine did the Smoker (in loving tribute of fellow G'Nerd Bishop-who was stuck in stinky old California... like some other G'Nerd editors I know...) Generally, I don't support anything that could be construed as zombie-hugging-lest we forget that they are unholy abominations-but the lure of violating these perfect orange gourds with the foul silhouettes of the special infected could not be denied! Plus, added bonus of seeing them deteriorate into shriveled messes! Take that filthy zombie kind! Hit the jump to see details, more pumpkins, PLUS BONUS Left 4 Dead stencils so you can make your own!




Some Detail shots of the two L4D pumpkins. I also designed a Tank stencil, but no one chose to carve it. Alas.


Mad props to Dave T, who masterfully carved this challenging Larry David Pumpkin I designed for him. I think he did a Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good job.

Now, I'm sure none of you would care, but my lovely wife wanted to do a pumpkin of our dog, Leo McGarry. How can you say no to such an adorable proposition? I think it turned out nearly as cute as the real thing:



Lastly, you'll find two of the four L4D stencils (we haven't finished stencil-fying the 2 Hunters). Since we didn't get a chance to do the Tank ourselves, I'd love for one of you to take a stab at it-send us a pic when you're done! I'm dying to know how it looks on a pumpkin!

Zombies in the Mushroom Kingdom?

In celebration of my brand new Xbox, I submit to you some amazing custom maps for Left 4 Dead. Prepare to have all of your childhood memories drenched in vile, bloated-corpse vomit-because some sick geek has "lovingly" recreated the princess' castle from Mario 64 and added disgusting, god forsaken, zombie abominations. The crazies over at at l4dmaps.com have a whole of slew custom left4dead maps and campaigns. This isn't anything new of course-creating custom maps and mods for beloved games is a time honored tradition. But there's something blissfully disturbing about throwing screaming, defiled undead into your adorable childhood favorites. The mushroom kingdom map really earns its keep when you can get pipe bombs from question mark boxes.

But they don't stop there, they've also recreated the battle of Helm's Deep (see video below), recreated a Zelda dungeon-complete with puzzles and keys, a Night of the Living Dead homage... and there's a Wolfenstein, Starship Troopers, and even Michael Jackson's Thriller mod in the works! Because what cherished memory wouldn't be better when infested with zombies?



via kotaku

Left 4 Dead 2 Coming Soon....Yay?

Photos: New York Comic Con 2009 - Saturday

Day two at New York Comic Con, and the cosplayers were out in force. AHR took most of these, so I don't know the story behind all of them, but this scary Joker sneaking up on Dr. Horrible is probably my favorite pic of the day. There's many more after the jump, including a cameo appearance from AHR herself!
The lovable Shin Chan...

AHR UPDATE: It doesn't come up on this site very much, but I am a HUGE Shin Chan dub fan. But the award for biggest Shin Fan of the day goes to the boy who saw this Shin Chan costume from across the room and shouted, "OH MY GOD!" so loud that Degan could hear it on the other end of my cellphone conversation.

Hm... Spider-Man, obviously, but something is wrong. Marvel Zombie Spider-Man? He doesn't appear quite zombied enough for that... Maybe just "Beat Up Spidey?"

AHR Update: It's zombie Spidey! He said his costume was falling apart by the time I took it...but it looked good to me. You're missing the detail of the Yellow Eye contact lens..
Hushhhhhh. AHR UPDATE: I had to check with this guy to see if maybe he was supposed to be the invisible man. But nope, he's Hush, the best new character ever. Glad he's getting some love.
Batgirl and the Huntress taking some time out in the cafeteria.

How do so many people have such perfect Boba Fett costumes? Are there communities dedicated to the fabrication of these things? Can you order parts from a bounty hunter supply depot? I'm always impressed...

AHR and Degan passed this in a parking lot on the way out there. Degan made a joke about Imperial blockades that I would like to steal, but I respect the man too darn much. Also note this is an Ohio license plate, and the van looks like it may have encounted some dust storms along the way...hooray for fandom!

Beyond! What a great pose, he really knows how to work that costume.

"Oh my God he's eating them all!"

Kyle Rayner is grabbing some Doritos across the room with a giant green mousetrap.

Every stormtrooper has a mommy.

Batman's lady rogues are looking good.

Princess Peach kidnapping some poor child.

These are pretty awesome Pokemon costumes. I love the intepretive aspect, supercute hoodies and little claw toed slippers. I don't know my Pokemon like AHR, but if I think the one on the left is calle Charizard, and the one on the right is probably called Batsoise or something.

I'm digging Leela's new hairdo.

Geekanerd's own AHR lookin' sharp as Zoey from Left 4 Dead. You can't really see her awesome medpack in this pic...

She's grabbin' peelz...

and protecting con-goers from pesky hunters.

Photos: New York Comic Con 2009 - Friday

Friday was Geekanerds "lazy day" at Comic Con. No stress, no running from panel to panel...just a stroll around the floor, chatting up creators and PR people, trying to get free stuff, and watching a bunch of uncensored episodes of Shin Chan.

I did manage to take a few pics of some of the more extraordinary sights...

Like this for example!

The ladies of Valve! This is Zoey from Left 4 Dead and Chell from Portal, but of course you knew that. I suggested this pose, and I saw them using it again later on the floor. This is because I'm a director, and when not blogging, I help the world by directing it to be more funny and visually pleasing.

Sketches, booths, Leias, and the requistite Storm Trooper, after the jump...


Look up in that window...see that? A Stormtrooper. He was watching me. Probably thought I was a Jedi. A lot of people make that mistake.


This was the best promo booth I saw. It's for a Showtime Show about clones (the name escapes me) but they were giving people a chance to watch clips of the show on those movie-goggle things while standing in cool sci-fi tubes. There's no reason these people had to be in tubes - it's purely for visual effect of the passerby. Get it, they look like clones! Eh, maybe you had to be there.

Mario seems genuinely surprised to see that Hunter. I guess when you're used to dealing with like, evil mushrooms and turtles, killer zombies are a little above your paygrade. I was genuinely surprised not to see more Left 4 Dead cosplay...there was a general lack of interesting costumes over all...I'm hoping it will pick up tomorrow.

Nice booth, Squaresville! What was the New York Times doing at Comic Con in the first place? I think they just unpacked their table, looked around, and left at around noon.

I guess this sweatshirt is old news, but it was the first time I've ever seen it. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I know it's not cool to like Boba Fett ever since Lucas killed that Golden Goose of Coolness with overexposure. But honestly; this is cool. The sweatshirt is by Ecco and can be purchased online for a Ben, and I don't mean Kenobi. I have to say, the dude in the picture did a good job accesorizing it, I think it was a smart purchase. I love cosplay that doesn't replicate a costume, but creates a cool outfit BASED on a character, like this.

Hey, remember this panel from Cleaners #2? It was the recipient of the Banana Randomizer Award in Panel Dicussion a few weeks back. I had the opportunity to meet the creators of Cleaners, who were both super cool and happy to talk about their work with a nerd like me. They had a book of the original inked pages, so I took of picture of my favorite scene. Artist Rahsan Ekedal was even good enough to sign a copy of issue #1 for me with a little picture of a shark fin.

Free fortune cookies in the press room! And possibly a free book? Honestly I didn't even notice anything beyond the cookies.

Okay this photo is blown out, sorry. But still - two slave Leias! Eh? Ehh?

More to come tomorrow!

Dying Artforms: The Best Left 4 Dead Fan Art On The Web

Remember how much we at Geekanerd love Portal? Sure you do. Well, for the past few months, we've devoted a sizable fraction of that love to Valve's newest venture, Left 4 Dead. Perhaps you've heard of it.

While I would not attempt to try to recreate the monument of fandom that is Portal Authority, I've been looking at so much Left 4 Dead fan art in the last few days, I find it's necessary to share the highlights as a service to you, the reader.


First up, an adorable Hunter jumping an adorably oblivious Louis. This is from DeviantArtist Slushy-man's spin on Left 4 Dead DeviantArt meme, a source of endless fun.

Scary zombies, cute zombies, animated zombies, sexy zombies, and PEELS, after the jump...



Apparently this is this whole subculture of geek icons rendered in crochet...and windgie79 posted these Left 4 Dead "super zombies" on the Crafter.org messageboard. As much as I like to see zombie bile rendered in yarn, I would pay cash money for that lil Hunter on my desk. I would throw it at my roommates EVERY DAY.


I think we've all been here. From SAsukaLangley's L4D meme.

These are only two female characters in L4D. Here is them kissing, courtesy of Bar1Scorpio. For more Zoe/Witch escapades, check out this Nyoro meme comic by DDRshaman38. No pron, sorry.


Here's yet more Zoe/Witch BFFness...although if you read the full comic by Fishgut-San, you'll see it's all just part of a cunning plan.



Part of the LD4 meme is drawing yourself as your favorite character. This is a nice take on Zoe, and bonus points to artist Lauren for so subtly weaving in the Peelz Meme.

Speaking of the Peelz Meme...

Impressive work by CosmicD. The best part of this is the first 40 seconds. I'm thinking using the "Pills Here!" chorus as the backing track for my yet-to-be-written L4D rap.


Grabbin' seels. And if you think that's a misspelling, you need to brush up on your Pokerap.


Just a snippet from one of the better L4D comics I've seen. He's got a pretty good command of the survivor's personalities, and Louis's plan made me LOL. Read the whole thing at Sean's DA Page.


Are you noticing that there's a lot of really simple art here? You can't deny this scene from Wibbletfish has personality.


This is evidence if a disturbed and brilliant mind. "The Left For Deadfast Club", via Visually Pink. I have to include the artist's captions as well.

Thomas the Tank - A star football quarterback, likes throwing shit.

Bobby "Boomer" - Awkward fat kid, always sick, but when he's around, he really gets the party started.

Smokin' Sam - Weird smoking dude, always doing his own thing in the corner. Might get lung cancer or something worse one day.

Whitney - Quiet, sad girl. Always down for some reason. The boys don't know how to deal with her, so they just leave her alone.

Hunter - Sharp, quick kid. Don't know why he dresses like that - you look like a hoodlum, boy. >:/

Bright kids, with a bright future!! What lies in store for them!? Only time will tell!!

Haw!


Chibi-tastic cartoon, by Brad Redfield. People seem to really feel for the witch. I think perhaps there is a bit of The Witch in all gamers.

Beavotron has made a whole series of nerdy valentine cards, including one for each Special Infected. This is my favorite, because it's the only one that reaches it's full PUNtential (dies).


There are tons upon tons of these fan created "movie" posters, and almost all of them are terrible. I like this one by Naruzap, because the title is PUNderful and I'd love to see zombie congressmen.

This post has been a little Cute Overload for the most part, so here are some distressing images to close...


Not everyone survives a campaign. "Zoey's Final Moment" by Xerios.

And finally...it probably comes as a surprise to no one that there is a definite trend towards Smoker smex in fan art, combining the fun of tentacle rape with the emo-ness of necrophilia. Can't wait for those keyword searches to roll in. Oy. It's unavoidable on L4D fan art searches, so here are two relatively inoffensive examples.


Zoe is the focus of most of this stuff...poor girl.


OTP indeed. Seeing Francis like this is really upsetting. From super Smoker fan, Queen DeDeDe's meme.


Ahah, shoe's on the other foot now! Also by Queen DeDeDe.

Sorry to subject you to that, dear readers. Here some excellent non-sexual Smoker art by Browning43 to get that, ahem, taste out of your mouth. Uch. It's late.




HALLOWEEN UPDATE: This year Gnerd editor Degan went ahead and made a Smoker pumpkin. We've even got the stencils posted on our Halloween wrap-up, go check it out!


That's it for now. If I missed anything insanely brilliant, hit us up. I've got to go get my Zoey costume ready for ComicCon.