What I'm Playing Now: Left4Dead

Left4Dead was released by Valve for $50 this week, or $100 in the better whole-valve-catalog deal. Unable to raise that much cash for a mere video game when I've got kids to feed, but needing to play it, I reviewed my options: hawk my electric guitar, make an early withdrawal from my 401k, or ask my wife to prostitute herself in Danville's seedy red-light district.

Luckily, a friend gifted me the game, which may have saved my marriage.

Before L4D was released, I joked that it was going to be just a stupid FPS with zombies. Not so. This game forces teamwork on people in ways that even Team Fortress couldn't manage. Working in this foursome against the clever AI director is really a blast. You can't afford to have a jerk on your team, but it's even worse for him; get caught alone in this game and you're dead, period. You simply cannot fight the hunters & smokers without teammates, so you have to coordinate, and that's what makes this 20 times better than any FPS on the market since quake.