This Thursday Valve will be releasing the first downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2, “The Passing” will bring the cast of both games togethor togethor while delivering new  single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay for the PC and Xbox 360.

Heres what you’ll get this thursday for Free on the PC or just 560 Microsoft Points on the Xbox360, happy slaying!

The Passing also introduces a series of weekly game mode events dubbed “Mutations.” These week-long runs of new gameplay modes range from “Realism Versus” mode to “Chainsaw Massacre,” which gives all players chainsaws with an unlimited supply of gasoline. There are over 20 Mutations planned, each playable on all L4D2 Campaigns. Mutations are exclusively available to owners of “The Passing” DLC.

In addition, “The Passing” offers a new co-operative challenge mode of play, support for infected bot play in Versus, a new “uncommon common” zombie class (the fallen survivor), melee weapon (golf club), and firearm (M-60).

Available for 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360 and free on the PC, “The Passing” takes place just after the Dead Center campaign of L4D2. Set in a small town in rural Georgia, players assume the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet with the L4D1 characters.

Exclusively available for Xbox 360 and the PC, L4D2 sets a new benchmark for co-operative action games. The title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

With the AI Director 2.0, L4D’s dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Finally, with new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and the new competitive game mode, Scavenge.

What are you most excited to play around with? I’d say chainsaw massacre sounds pretty enticing :P

Source: Left4Dead.com

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On March 8, 2010 Valve announced that steam will be coming to the Macintosh, now not all games will become available for the mac but Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 have been confirmed to be making the trip over. Valve assures players that there game experience will not change between platforms and that you will be able to transfer your purchases over meaning if you own Left 4 Dead on your windows, you now own it for mac. Plus mac and windows users will be able to go head to head since both are compatible. The mac version will be updated along with the windows version so never fear mac users, Valve wont leave you behind!

Source: Left4Dead.com

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On February 5th 2010 Valve released the latest patch for Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC version, this update will be released later to Xbox Live players when the next Title Update occurs. A few of the most notable changes in the patch are that they added Special Infected bots, a change that will help fill out the zombie side when playing with fewer than four online players. Also, Valve got rid of the dreaded “auto spawn” feature during finales. Although with every good new update theres always gotta be a negative side effect, Valve reduced the effectiveness of melee weapons against tanks, so hopefully you got your Tank Burger achievement before it got too difficult!!

You can view a full list of the Patch and its changes on Valves Website.

Source: Left4Dead.com

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On febuary 11th 2010 Valve announced that the total number of zombies killed has reached over 28 billion zombies, 28,981,249,043 to be exact! Valve helped us put that number into perspective by spouting these fun facts:

The entire population of the planet has been zombified and killed 4.26 times.

With the average height of a zombie being 6 feet, if you stacked them end to end they would circle the globe 1,322 times.

If you placed 28,981,249,043 rulers end to end, they would reach28,981,249,043 feet in the sky.

How many zombies out of that wonderful pile of dismantled limbs have you slain?

More importantly, what are we going to do with all of them?

Source: Left4Dead.com

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At Microsofts X10 event Valve further detailed the new Left 4 Dead 2 Content titled “The Passing” being released towards the end of march.

The Passing, is a entirely new campaign chapter in which the L4D1 survivors encounter the L4D2 Survivors, and although you wont be able to play the old survivors in this chapter there will be an unnamed campaign chapter later released for Left 4 Dead 1 that details the original survivors journey south killing zombies all along the way.

Along with the new campaigns are the new level’s ‘Uncommon Common’ infected, The Passing will feature its own unique zombie variant, the Fallen Survivor. These are apparently humans who had believed themselves immune to the infection only to discover that was not the case. Unlike your average infected, these zombies are capable of dropping health and ammunition when killed, i am willing to bet there not quite so easily slain either!

10 new screenshots and The Passing’s cover art have been revealed, check them out!

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Source: Kotaku

On November 16, 2009 Valve released the action packed sequel to Left 4 Dead 1 onto steam and shortly followed with the console versions on November 17.  Left 4 Dead 2 did amazing in retail prices scoring over 2 million in the first 2 weeks, and that is not even including Steam sales. Left4Dead 2 is looking to be another great game in the valve lineup!

Here is Valves description of the new title in case this is your first zombie apocalypse.

Set in the zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead™ 2 (L4D2) is the highly anticipated sequel to the award-winning Left 4 Dead, the #1 co-op game of 2008.

This co-operative action horror FPS takes you and your friends through the cities, swamps and cemeteries of the Deep South, from Savannah to New Orleans across five expansive campaigns.
You’ll play as one of four new survivors armed with a wide and devastating array of classic and upgraded weapons. In addition to firearms, you’ll also get a chance to take out some aggression on infected with a variety of carnage-creating melee weapons, from chainsaws to axes and even the deadly frying pan.

You’ll be putting these weapons to the test against (or playing as in Versus) three horrific and formidable new Special Infected. You’ll also encounter five new “uncommon” common infected, including the terrifying Mudmen.

Helping to take L4D’s frantic, action-packed gameplay to the next level is AI Director 2.0. This improved Director has the ability to procedurally change the weather you’ll fight through and the pathways you’ll take, in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match your performance. L4D2 promises a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience every time the game is played, custom-fitted to your style of play.

Be sure to pick up a copy November 17th on Xbox® 360 or Steam®, and discover for yourself how much fun a zombie apocalypse can be:
- Next generation co-op action gaming from the makers of Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress and Counter-Strike.

- Over 20 new weapons & items headlined by over 10 melee weapons – axe, chainsaw, frying pan, baseball bat – allow you to get up close with the zombies

- New survivors. New story. New dialogue.

- Five expansive campaigns for co-operative, Versus and Survival game modes.

- An all new multiplayer mode.

- Uncommon common infected. Each of the five new campaigns contains at least onenew “uncommon common” zombies which are exclusive to that campaign.

- AI Director 2.0: Advanced technology dubbed “The AI Director” drove L4D’s unique gameplay – customizing enemy population, effects, and music, based upon the players’ performance. L4D 2 features “The AI Director 2.0” which expands the Director’s ability to customize level layout, world objects, weather, and lighting to reflect different times of day.

- Stats, rankings, and awards system drives collaborative play

- Support for split screen play (Xbox 360 version only)

Source: L4D.com

In a recent interview with SlashDot, Valve’s Project Lead on Left 4 Dead, Chet Faliszek, tried to defend Valve’s decision to go ahead with a sequel so quickly after the original game’s release.

“Trust us a little” has been the company line over the past few months as Left 4 Dead 2 has filtered out of Valve’s development news. Disgruntled Left 4 Dead fans are concerned that the release of the sequel will mean the end of updates for the original game.

And why shouldn’t they be? Valve originally promised continuing updates and new campaigns for Left 4 Dead. None of those promises were met in the last year despite their being a main selling point of what can only be called a rather unfinished title.

Now Left 4 Dead fans are being slapped with a new title accompanied by a new $50 price tag. How’s that for loyalty?

Source: SlashDot

Weapons:

The Uzi has become the PKG, a silenced version. There’s a new autoshotgun model, and new weapons are to be added.

Melee weapons including the Frying Pan, Chainsaw, Bat, and Fire Axe.

Incendiary ammunition ignites zombies on impact. (Other bonuses are also apparently on their way)

New special infected – the Charger – can plow into Survivors like a bull and stun them.

Daylight gameplay and weather changes. Apparently the weather can change and it may be daylight. If so, Witches wander during the day and can litreally walk right into you.

Of course we all can’t wait to hear more about this new game! Stay tuned!

Source: IGN.com

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Valve has released the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools Beta on Steam. These tools allow users to create custom content for the game including maps, skins, sound effects, and music. New campaigns are sure to be forthcoming. Who knows what can happen when a community gets the same tools as the developer? We might have a few more competitive maps than the four currently released.

You can check out the authoring tools in Steam by visiting the “Tools” tab. Install it and you’re ready to go! Be sure to share your creations with the community.

Source: Steampowered.com

This weekend should be full of.. um.. new players. Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, be sure to grab your shotgun because its ZOMBIE HUNTIN’ DAY! Welcome to the new players and hope to see you online.

Source: Steampowered.com