Save Me Some Sugar – This won’t take long

September 1, 2010 - L4D Team

The Midnight Riders need your help. We haven’t seen the Riders for a long time. We were hoping they could help us with the official release of “Save Me Some Sugar” for the upcoming DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 “The Sacrifice”.

This is the first time Left 4 Dead 1 players will get to listen to the Midnight Riders while they slay zombies. To celebrate this momentous occasion, we wanted to release on YouTube their full music video for the song. This was the very first Music Video the Riders ever made “for the MTV”.

Sadly the video was lost and the Riders aren’t helping us find it. The only thing we have left behind from the band is one of Dusty’s guitars signed by the band. Dusty was not one to accept the charity of others so he had left this with management to be sold for bail money.

This leaves us with the guitar, the song, but no video.

Here’s where you can help. Make a music video for “Save Me Some Sugar” and post it on YouTube.com with the tag L4DMNRSAVESUGAR. The best video will win the guitar signed by the MNRs and a gift pack from Valve. We will wait until October 1st 2010 to judge the winning entry, so take your time.

Should you make it live action? Use game assets? Show the Riders? Well the band would have wanted this contest to have no rules. So you choose what’s in the video – THERE ARE NO STINKING RULES*!

Visit the official contest page for an mp3 of the song and the Midnight Rider’s Logo.

You can use this thread to promote your video.

*For actual boring legal rules written by people who don’t rock, please visit the official contest page here.

Week 19

August 27, 2010 - L4D Team

Split Vote! Whose back story?

Gib Fest (PC)
Blast the infected to shreds with M60s.

Swords can slice up some fun. Chainsaws can tear apart the infected. But you need to get close for both and well… chainsaws are really loud! Time to go with the ultimate gun, you and three friends armed with M60s and unlimited ammo.

Chainsaw Massacre (360)
4 chainsaws, millions of zombies.

You are armed with the only thing you need to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, a chainsaw. Rip apart thousands of zombies on your way to safety.

This Mutation is available in Campaign Mode.

Split Vote
Both the PC and 360 crowd want to see the blood flowing! 360 users preferring chainsaws and PC users going with M60s. Whichever way you like to kill zombies, it's going to be messy.
The numbers by platform.

xBox 360
26% Chainsaw Massacre
21% GibFest
18% Versus Survival
15% Last Gnome on Earth
11% Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse
  9% Bleed Out

PC
25% GibFest
20% Versus Survival
16% Chainsaw Massacre
14% Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse
13% Last Gnome on Earth
12% Bleed Out

Whose backstory?
The new DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 is due out in October. In the DLC you will get to play the Left 4 Dead 1 survivors. The accompanying Comic is coming in September. The Comic is broken up into 4 separate sections. Each section features the back story from one of the Survivors. Whose back story are you most interested in?

You're headed in the wrong direction.

August 26, 2010 - Kerry Davis

The new featured community campaign for PC players is Detour Ahead. This 5 map campaign offers Co-op and Versus gameplay. While the explosion in the finale will light the night sky, it's the train bridge you will remember.

To play, first make sure you have the Left 4 Dead 2 Add-on support downloaded in the tools tab of the Steam library.



To download "Detour Ahead" please visit our friends at L4DMaps.com

Double clicking the vpk should install it but you can also copy the vpk to \Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\addons Either way that is where the vpks need to end up.

Start up Left 4 Dead 2.
Choose to play online and any available game/lobby in your area will show up. Or you can create your own game and choose addons and select Detour Ahead for the campaign.

Since we have the servers up, you can choose Official Dedicated for server type.

If you missed the news, we announced new DLC for Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2. It will be coming out in October and Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 will both be getting the brand new campaign, "The Sacrifice." This will give you a chance to play out the events before "The Passing" using the Left 4 Dead 1 characters. In addition to "The Sacrifice" Left 4 Dead 2 will also be receiving the "No Mercy" campaign. With official inclusion of Left 4 Dead assets, we will be able to simplify the steps for playing community content in the future. Until then, you will need to make sure you download the Left 4 Dead 2 Addon Support.

Do you think you are pro? Hate playing Versus against newbs? Time to put up or shut up with CEVO launching a brand new Left 4 Dead 2 Tournament. The CEVO tournament will be running the latest Confogl configuration. Visit their site for more information. Arsenio, who runs our Valve store is promising Boomer plushies to the winning team. I think we need to bug him to come up with more than that... Arsenio?

We will have more news in the coming weeks on the DLC including a rockingly brand new contest next week and more news on the comic coming out this September. It's a good time to be a zombie killer.

Week 18

August 19, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 18: Last Man on Earth Returns!, Bill?, Favorite Mutation
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Movie Night

August 19, 2010 - Matthew Scott

While waiting for DLC news to be announced on Game Trailers TV at 12:30am (PST) this Friday on Spike TV, we thought we would see what the community has been working on. Checking YouTube we found a bunch of cool movies. Here are just a few. Yes, we know some of these may make it a bit cOld in here, but just in case you missed them.

One word of warning, some of these movies use naughty words, have violence in them and well... other things. You have been warned.


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Week 17

August 12, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 17: Iron Man, Diagnosing Mutations, Bill?

Iron Man
No respawns, no restarts, no ammo, all tension!
Did you vote the Mutations are too easy? Try this one on Expert. Realism rules are in effect. There are no respawns in the map. There is no ammo. If your team wipes, you need to restart the whole campaign.


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Here's Looking at You

August 12, 2010 - Chet Faliszek

2 Evil Eyes, Summer Sale, and Upcoming DLC.

We are starting a new feature for PC players this week. Bi-weekly community campaigns!

Every two weeks we are going to feature a new community campaign on our servers. We will feature one campaign at a time to make it is easier to find games. We’ll be keeping it featured for two weeks so people can familiarize themselves with the maps for competitive play.

We currently have 120 servers setup around the world with the first featured campaign – 2 Evil Eyes.

For PC users here is how you can join us playing 2 Evil Eyes:


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Week 16

August 6, 2010 - L4D Team

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Mutation Breakdown

August 5, 2010 - Charlie Burgin

With the first dozen Mutations out we wanted to take a minute and talk about the Mutations.

Overall the Mutations and weekly polls have been a great success and an amazing way for us to get feedback from the community. Don’t worry we still have more Mutations coming and we will also be tweaking and bringing back some of our favorites.

The idea behind the Mutations was simple. Left 4 Dead 2 is played by many different players and types of players. Some players have 300+ hours played in almost daily games and some players only play in weekly casual games with friends. We wanted to create weekly events that mixed up the game rules to experiment with gameplay and made people look at the game in new ways.


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Week 15

July 30, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 15: Split Vote! If you only had one thing? TANK!

We split in this week’s vote. PC users went with Survival Versus and Xbox 360 users went with Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse.


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The Invisible Tank

July 28, 2010 - L4D Team

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WEEK 14

July 23, 2010 - L4D Team

Mutation Week 14: Healthpackalypse!, What else are you playing?, Pick Your Mutation, extra updates.

Healthpackalypse!
No health in this versus game.

Grind down the Survivors and don’t worry about them bouncing back. With no Health kits in Versus, their permanent health is on a one way ride to zero.

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WEEK 13

July 16, 2010 - L4D Team

Mutation Week 13: Hard Eight, What is your favorite Melee Weapon?, What else are you playing?

Hard Eight
Double the specials, quadruple the fun!

Face eight Special Infected at one time, this is double the standard number! And if that wasn’t trouble enough, we also increase the spawning frequency so it is raining Specials.


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WEEK 12

July 9, 2010 - L4D Team

Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse, What is your favorite finale? What is your favorite Melee Weapon?

Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse
Four Swords against plenty of apocalypse!

Armed with only swords the survivors face near continuous streams of Special Infected ready to be sliced and diced.

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360 Update

July 2, 2010 - L4D Team

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WEEK 11

July 2, 2010 - L4D Team

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WEEK 10

June 25, 2010 - L4D Team

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We Might Need a Recount!

June 23, 2010 - L4D Team

Voting is going strong for next week's Encore Mutation Poll.

On the 360 side, Chainsaw Massacre is the runway leader with 43% of the vote. On the PC side, we are quite a bit closer with Headshot! leading with only 33% over Chainsaw Massacre's 32%. This is a close race, so make sure to get your vote in by Thursday night!

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WEEK 9

June 17, 2010 - L4D Team

Headshot!, This is my Rifle, Pick Your Mutation

Headshot!
The only shot that counts is the one in the head.

Shoot them in the arm, shoot them in the leg, shoot them in the chest - it just doesn't matter! The only way these zombies are going down is with a head shot. Other hits will stumble them back, but only a head shot or decapitation will kill them.

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WEEK 8

June 11, 2010 - L4D Team

Room For One, Everything Must Go, Favorite Weapon Class

New Mutation
Room For One
Only room for one survivor in this rescue vehicle.

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WEEK 7

June 4, 2010 - L4D Team

Chainsaw Massacre, Loving the Dark, Is Less More, and Last Video on Earth.

New Mutation
Chainsaw Massacre.
4 chainsaws, millions of zombies.

You are armed with the only thing you need to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, a chainsaw. Rip apart thousands of zombies on your way to safety.

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Week 6

May 28, 2010 - L4D Team

Last Man On Earth, Special Infected Love, Favorite Campaign, and Last Video on Earth.

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Week 5

May 21, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 5 of the in game blog: Return of the Gnome and Realism Versus and Pick Your Favorite Infected.


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Week 4

May 14, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 4 of the in game blog: New Mutation, Angry and Confused, and Pick a Mutation.

New Mutation
Last Gnome On Earth
Protect the gnome at all cost.
Do you crave attention? Want all the infected to swarm you and the gnome you are carrying? Then we have the game mode for you. The team needs to carry the garden gnome from start to finish in any campaign. The common infected hate the gnome and will swarm whoever is carrying him. Watch out putting him on the ground, a boomer explosion will send him flying!

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Week 3

May 6, 2010 - L4D Team

Week 3 of the in game blog: New Mutation, Landslide Victory!, and what rages you?

New Mutation
Follow the Liter
Scavenge one can at a time.
No more fighting over what cans to grab first. This Mutation spawns only one group of cans at a time, so survivors know exactly where to go. There is only one problem: the Infected know exactly where they are going.

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Puking and Bleeding Out

April 30, 2010 - L4D Team

This week we introduce a new mutation, reveal poll results, put the game in your hands, have a Boomer sighting, and more!

New Mutation
Bleed Out
Your health is a ticking away!

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Passed!

April 22, 2010 - L4D Team

"The Passing" is now available on the Xbox 360 and PC!

The first game add-on for Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) brings the original Left 4 Dead Survivors down south for a meeting with the L4D2 cast, while delivering new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay for the PC and Xbox 360.

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Mutations

April 21, 2010 - L4D Team

The Passing introduces a series of weekly game mode events dubbed "Mutations." These are week-long runs of new gameplay modes that range from "Realism Versus" to "Chainsaw Massacre". Each week one new Mutation is featured and the previous Mutation retired.

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The Passing, Coming April 22

April 20, 2010 - L4D Team

The first game add-on for Left 4 Dead 2 brings the original Left 4 Dead (L4D1) Survivors down south for a meeting with the L4D2 cast, while delivering new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay for the PC and Xbox 360.

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Passing an Achievement

April 19, 2010 - L4D Team

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Worlds Collide!

April 16, 2010 - L4D Team

Celebrating the pending release of "The Passing" and the Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 teams colliding, we have a few other world colliding events to announce.

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Passing the Savings on to You

March 23, 2010 - L4D Team

That's right, Internet blog readers! It's tax season here at Valve, and we need to CLEAR OUT our digital warehouses! What does that mean for you? How about the award-winning Left 4 Dead 2, now available for 50% off the original price? (March 23rd to March 25th)

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12 Terms from the Left 4 Dictionary

March 19, 2010 - Phil Co

While we are finishing up on the new L4D2 DLC "The Passing", we wanted to take a minute and talk about the process we use when designing maps.

But before we jump into that, we also wanted to give you a heads up to Watch Spike TV's GTTV this Friday night (March 19th) for more information on the passing, including the poster tagline.

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Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac!

March 8, 2010 - L4D Team

We like the platform wars in the forums so much that we've decided to add a new platform to the fray. Later this spring, we'll be releasing both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on the OSX operating system for Mac computers, all through Steam.

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Don't worry, we'll make more

February 11, 2010 - L4D Team

In the first two months of Left 4 Dead 2's release, 28,981,249,043 zombies have been shot, bludgeoned, chainsawed and killed — or, for our younger readers, taken to a farm where they can frolic and shuffle around forever.

You read that correctly: 28 BILLION. To put that number in perspective:

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They Live

January 22, 2010 - L4D Team

With our last update having come out a few weeks ago and the next one a few weeks out, we wanted to let people know what we are working on. In addition to "The Passing" DLC, we are working on some other updates coming for both PC and 360. While not a complete list by any means, we wanted to give a heads up on a few Versus changes coming.

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Turning Silver into Gold

January 12, 2010 - L4D Team

For this weekend only, Microsoft is hosting a free multiplayer weekend for Left 4 Dead 2. What does this mean? You don't need to have an Xbox Live Gold account to access Left 4 Dead 2's multiplayer features. That's right: You will be upgraded from Silver to Gold for free. You can go online alone or with a split-screen friend. This event starts at 5pm GMT Friday, January 15th and ends at 5pm on Sunday the 18th.


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All I want for Christmas is an SDK

December 23, 2009 - Yasser Malaika

We are releasing the Left 4 Dead 2 Authoring Tools and Left 4 Dead 2 Add-on Support today.

PLAYERS: If you are not looking to design but play custom campaigns all you need to do is install the add-on support package. Just go into steam and open up the Tools tab. Look for the entry labeled Left 4 Dead 2 - Add-on Support click and install it. This download is sizable, but will update your L4D2 installation to allow running ANY map, including custom maps made for the original Left 4 Dead. Once installed, you do not need to run this application, it will always be active.

We will be updating the Left 4 Dead 2 game UI to include links to this package when applicable but for now please just download it directly. If you see any missing textures or models from your favorite map let us know in the forums.

DESIGNERS: Besides also downloading the above file you will need to download the Left 4 Dead 2 - Authoring Tools. Downloading it will add applications, utilities, and example files that are useful for building L4D2 game add-ons. These are similar to the tools released for Left 4 Dead, but include many updates and new features. Among the most useful are:

Gamemode Logic: Designers can now make a single map that can behave differently depending on the gamemode in which it is being played. This can dramatically reduce the file size of Campaign add-ons, as the same map can be used for Co-op, Versus, Scavenge, and Survival.

Director Logic: Maps can now alter their layout and behavior depending on how "angry" the A.I. director is. The better the Survivors are doing, the angrier the AI Director seems to get. This allows you to base variable paths and other events on the player's skill and current conditions.

Scavenge Mode Support! All the elements map authors need to support Scavenge in their maps. This includes game props as well as a full example in the form of Deadline 2, an updated tutorial campaign.

We have included an updated tutorial to help you get going and as always you can join the discussion on the map designer email list. What we want for New Years is to get to play your custom maps in Left 4 Dead 2.

For the best user experience and to take advantage of the new map and nav mesh formats, Left 4 Dead 1 Map Makers will want to compile Left 4 Dead 2 specific versions of their map in the new tool.

Happy Holidays,

The Left 4 Dead 2 Team
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Massive 360 Server Upgrade

November 25, 2009 - L4D Team

We have upgraded our network infrastructure to better accommodate the huge response to L4D2. 360 players will now have lag-free servers. We've also added more dedicated servers.

We will continue to monitor the situation and add resources as needed.

Thank you for your patience. Now quit reading this, get out there and kill some zombies!

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Left 4 Dead 2 Nabs Six VGA Nominations

November 18, 2009 - L4D Team

Spike TV just posted their nominees for the 2009 Video Game Awards, and we're proud to announce that Left 4 Dead 2 is up for six awards—Game of the Year, Studio of the Year, Best Xbox 360 Game, Best PC Game, Best Shooter and Best Multiplayer Game. If you've been enjoying L4D2 this week, don't forget to drop into Spike's onine voting center and give us some love!

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An Update for all you Zombie Killers in the UK

November 17, 2009 - L4D Team

Due to high demand for L4D2, we decided to move various street dates forward for a coordinated worldwide release—except in the UK, where this was not possible (copies of the game are still arriving).

The good news is that we plan to have everyone in the UK playing Left 4 Dead 2 by Friday morning. Those who pre-ordered in the UK before the worldwide launch have been given access to the game.

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Left 4 Dead 2 is live on Steam!

November 16, 2009 - L4D Team

The PC version of Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to the best-selling and critically-acclaimed co-operative multiplayer thriller, is now available via Steam to gamers around the globe. The title will be available for the PC and Xbox 360 at retail stores on Tuesday, November 17th in North America, and worldwide throughout the week. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com.

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Our Contest Winners, and L4D2's New Special Infected

November 16, 2009 - L4D Team

The "Dude, Where's My Thumb?" contest is officially closed. Congratulations to contest winner Roland Nagy, who just won himself an extremely limited edition (i.e. one) customized "infected" Xbox 360 for his entry below:

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A Slight Clarification...

November 13, 2009 - L4D Team

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Get Free Wallpaper, Turn Yourself into a Zombie, and Win an Xbox

November 12, 2009 - L4D Team

During the production of a game, a lot of concept art gets drawn up, redrawn, thrown away, cursed at, and, occasionally, even used. There's a mountain of this stuff fluttering around the Valve offices, and while the non-artists among us might not know much (anything) about art, we hope we're not embarrassing our artists by saying it looks pretty kickass. So we grabbed some of it off the nearest pile and made it into desktop wallpaper:

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L4D2's "Dude, Where's My Thumb 2" Contest

November 10, 2009 - L4D Team

For our Left 4 Dead 1 contest giveaway, we gave all you gamers a simple proposition: take a picture of yourself or a friend doing something creative in front of a L4D ad. We were blown away by the inventiveness, humor, and photoshop mastery of some of the replies.

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Left 4 Dead 2's G4TV Interviews

November 5, 2009 - L4D Team

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Left 4 Dead 2 TV Spot #2 Hits the Airwaves

November 4, 2009 - L4D Team

Starting today, L4D2's second television spot (watch the first here)—drops on TV channels across North America. It's packed with explosions, jets, the song "Electric Worry" by Clutch, and hard-hitting action courtesy of our four Survivors Coach, Rochelle, Nick and Ellis.

Oh, and zombies.

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The L4D2 Demo is Live!

November 4, 2009 - L4D Team

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is live and available for download on Xbox 360 and PC. Featuring gameplay from the first two (of five) chapters from "The Parish" campaign, the demo is set in the New Orleans French Quarter and is playable in Campaign mode. Keep an eye out for all-new guns, melee weapons, items, Special Infected and "Uncommon Common," a new campaign-specific set of zombies with unique abilities.

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Pre-Order Giveaway Madness!

November 2, 2009 - L4D Team

Those of you who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 (for PC on Steam or at participating retailers) now have exclusive access to the momentous event they said would never happen. For the first time in history, two separate Valve universes collide. That's right: it's a Left 4 Dead/Team Fortress crossover! This is not fan fiction! This is not a dream sequence! The characters from Team Fortress 2 will team-up with Bill's hat from Left 4 Dead 1!

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We're back!

October 13, 2009 - Erik Johnson

As many of you might have heard, Gabe and I went to Australia last week to try out the Source MOD made by Joe W-A, after he was able to raise the funds for the $3000 plane ticket in less than 48 hours.

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Warning!!! Zombies Invade Tokyo and London!

October 2, 2009 - Chet Faliszek

We just had a great showing at the Tokyo Game Show. One of Left 4 Dead 2’s level designers, Kim Swift made the trip. You can check out her multi-language interview here.

Next public showing will be at the London Game Show where we will be showing the as of yet unannounced new game mode. We really should announce that soon… We can give you one hint, the game is 4 v 4. So get your team together and join us in London on October 29th or 30th.

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I Hate Helicopters

September 29, 2009 - Chet Faliszek

Crash Course DLC is here! Find out what happens to Bill, Zoey, Louis, and Francis after their rooftop helicopter rescue in the No Mercy campaign. To celebrate the release of our second DLC for Left 4 Dead, we are offering Left 4 Dead for 50% off until Oct 2nd.

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Left 4 Dead 2 Summer Tour Continues

August 27, 2009 - Chet Faliszek

Next Stop: Penny Arcade Expo

We will be unveiling Dark Carnival at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle September 4-6.

Dark Carnival is the third of five campaigns we have revealed. It is the second campaign of the game and picks up after you have escaped from Savannah.

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Left 4 Dead 2's Zombies Invade Gametrailers TV at 12:30am on SPIKE!

August 13, 2009 - L4D Team

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Left 4 Dead 2 Summer Tour Begins

July 31, 2009 - Andrea Wicklund, Arsenio Navarro and Adrian Finol

First Stop: Comic Con

During the San Diego Comic Con gamers had an opportunity to visit us in our Left 4 Dead 2 room and try out two L4D2 levels from the "Swamp Fever" campaign. The response was overwhelming, with lines going out the door well before we opened. Throughout the four days that the demo was made available, there was never an empty seat.

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Get your Campaign On

June 19, 2009 - Yasser Malaika

We're pretty excited about this next Left 4 Dead update, and we hope you will be as well. Since the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools Beta was released several weeks ago, mod authors have been cooking with gas, so to speak. The ranks of dedicated community members working hard to create new content have been swelling, and a very hungry horde awaits...

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Rules of Thumb

June 15, 2009 - L4D Team

When it came time to photograph the box art of L4D1, our art staff had three goals. One, there should be a hand in it somehow. Two, the hand should have a thumb bitten off, so customers would look at the four fingers remaining on the hand and think, "Hey, four." Three, under no circumstances would we use Photoshop. L4D is a visceral experience, and its box art deserved the same approach. Valve artist and L4D1 hand model Andrea Wicklund was more than happy to help.

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Announcing Left 4 Dead 2!

June 1, 2009 - L4D Team

We've just announced that Left 4 Dead 2 is coming later this year! It's a much larger game than the original, and features new co-op and versus campaigns, all-new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, as well as melee combat. Check out the teaser trailer, and watch this space for more news in the coming days.

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Now Hiring!

May 19, 2009 - Zoid

It's been an interesting week for us here on the Left 4 Dead team. This Monday, for instance, somebody accidentally told Robin Walker he had the power to fire people. In other interesting news, the Left 4 Dead team has all been fired.

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A Subtle Hint

May 19, 2009 - L4D Team

The 27th Annual Golden Joystick Awards are now accepting votes for your favorite game of the year. Now, we'd of course never for a second want to sway your vote and suggest you follow this link and vote for Left 4 Dead. We're above that sort of thing.
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Personalize your apocalypse

May 15, 2009 - Yasser Malaika

Today we are opening the beta of the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools to the public. It is available as a free download for all owners of the PC version of Left 4 Dead, and can be found under the "Tools" tab in Steam.

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Left 4 Dead, by the Numbers

April 30, 2009 - Charlie Burgin

Valve has always seen the value in gathering real-world gameplay data and using it to improve our products. Now we're hoping you'll find it as useful as we do. With the creation of the L4D stats page, our customers will now be able to see a wide variety of gameplay data across all of Left 4 Dead's various game modes.

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DLC Released! New L4D swag at The Valve Store.

April 22, 2009 - L4D Team

We just released the DLC on the PC and 360. This includes the new Survival Mode, The Lighthouse Survival map, and 2 new Versus campaigns. To celebrate the release of the DLC we have cooked up a few items for the Valve Store.

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Surviving the L4D Survival Pack

April 16, 2009 - Kerry Davis and Scott Dalton

Survival Mode pits your team against never ending waves of infected. Sounds simple. Just trap the survivors in a small part of a map, unleash the hordes, and record the longest time. Survival Mode, which will be released next week, is actually a bit more than that.
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Lose the Thumb: Creating Left 4 Dead's Box Art

April 9, 2009 - Jeremy Bennett

Hello. My name is Jeremy Bennett, and I'm an artist at Valve. Most gamers only ever get to see the finished product of a game cover, so we thought some of you might find it interesting to hear the process that led to Left 4 Dead's final art. As you'll see, there were quite a few attempts along the way, all of them eventually abandoned.
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A Match Made In Zombie Heaven

April 1, 2009 - Zoid

In a recent update for L4D on the PC, we provided the option for players to choose between starting a game on an Official server or the Best Available. This is just the first step in giving players control over what servers they play on and the type of experience they have.

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Building a Better Apocalypse

March 25, 2009 - Chet Faliszek

We recently updated the PC version of Left 4 Dead with some exploit fixes and Versus balancing. We are going to be releasing another small update shortly that contains some server issue fixes and one small, but very large, gameplay adjustment. We have made a change to the melee mechanic in Versus and the soon-to-be-released Survival Mode.
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Game of the Year

January 8, 2009 - L4D Team

With 2008 behind us, the gaming press has once again sorted through the year's releases and made up their annual lists for Game of the Year. Find out how Left 4 Dead ranks with IGN, GameSpot, GameSpy, 1UP, Onion AV Club, Destructoid, Kotaku, Team XBOX and more by clicking here.
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L4D Art Direction, Part 2: Stylized Darkness

January 2, 2009 - Randy Lundeen

Aesthetics, fiction and gameplay: these are three criteria that we always consider when employing a new art direction for a game. With a game as dark as Left 4 Dead, this meant having to figure out a lot of new ways to use the absence of light to our advantage.

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The Moviemaking Process: Left 4 Dead's Intro Movie

December 4, 2008 - Jason Mitchell

Because Left 4 Dead is a new property for us, we wanted to provide some basic player training prior to the start of the game. Traditional in-game training mechanics didn't make sense for Left 4 Dead, because they would take away from the sense that players had been immediately dropped into a very real, very dire zombie apocalypse.

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Play Left 4 Dead with Valve

November 20, 2008 - L4D Team

Join Left 4 Dead’s developers for a few campaigns against the zombie horde this Saturday, November 22 at 9:00 pm (EST). All you have to do is send off a game invite to one of the gamertags listed below. See you there!

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L4D Roundup: Contest Results, Great Deals and Early Reviews

November 18, 2008 - L4D Team

Our "Dude, Where's My Thumb?" contest finishes today. We asked hopefuls in the US and UK to submit a picture of themselves in front of a Left 4 Dead billboard for a chance to win prizes. Gabe Newell's looked through all the entries and selected 25 lucky winners
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Left 4 Dead is live on Steam

November 18, 2008 - L4D Team

As of midnight EST, the PC version of Left 4 Dead, Valve's zombie thriller, is now available via Steam to gamers around the globe. The title will be available for the PC and Xbox 360 at retail stores on Tuesday, November 18 in North America, and worldwide on Friday, November 21. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com.
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Update, 5:24 pm

November 17, 2008 - L4D Team

Good news on the Valve Launch Box test run! There was an electrical fire, and all the bees burned to death. The bad news: several employees also perished in the fire and the game will be delayed. Just kidding! About the game. There were some burning deaths. But the game's coming out!

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The End is Near...

November 17, 2008 - L4D Team

Less than four hours to go until Left 4 Dead goes live at the stroke of midnight (EST) on Steam, and that means the Valve Launch Box will be dragged out of its off-season home in Gabe Newell's tool shed.

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Downloadable L4D Desktop Wallpaper

November 14, 2008 - L4D Team

We were going to title this post "Infect Your Desktop!" until someone remembered what a bad idea it is to put those words together in conjunction with free downloads. Our back-up title, "Put These Pictures on Your Computer," wasn't nearly as clever, so we'll just quit while we're ahead and let you download the wallpaper.

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Download the Left 4 Dead Demo!

November 11, 2008 - L4D Team

Left 4 Dead is finally here! Well, almost, anyway. The full game won’t be available for another week (November 18 on Steam and in retail stores across America). But you can get a taste of the blood-splattering, zombie-killing fun right now!

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L4D Art Direction, Part 1: Filmic Effects

November 10, 2008 - Randy Lundeen

One of the goals of Left 4 Dead's art direction was to capture the tone and feel of being right in the middle of a horror movie. This meant making the environments look scary in a specifically cinematic way.

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Left 4 Dead Intro Movie

October 31, 2008 - L4D Team

Less than a week from today, everyone who pre-ordered will be playing the Left 4 Dead demo. We know! We can't believe it either. To make the wait easier, we've released the five minute movie that opens the game. Caution: The movie may actually make the wait harder. Anyway, happy Halloween.

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It's the Zombie Ad-pocalypse.

October 30, 2008 - L4D Team

As part of our ongoing marketing campaign, we're airing a pair of commercials on network and cable television, including ABC, FOX, Spike, ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, CBC and more. Created with footage from Left 4 Dead's opening sequence, the commercial goes live on television November 8th. But you can watch it online now!
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Dude, Where's My Thumb?

October 28, 2008 - L4D Team

Want to win a free copy of Left 4 Dead? How about a new gaming PC? All it takes is a snapshot of you in front of a Left 4 Dead billboard, bus, Jumbotron or other piece of outdoor advertising. So fire up your Leica and get over to the official contest page.
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Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

October 25, 2008 - L4D Team

Hot off of solving the global credit crisis, world leaders have turned to more important matters. They have declared this Sunday October 26th, World Zombie Day. What better way to celebrate World Zombie Day than dress up like a zombie and shamble around?
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A Contest so Easy, Even a Zombie Could Win.

October 18, 2008 - L4D Team

The guys over at Left4Dead411.com just launched a new contest today with the grand prize being four copies of Left 4 Dead. The contest is all about getting your picture taken in front of a horde of zombies.

Where can you find a horde before November 18th? Left4Dead411 has plenty of tips. Just please remember to respect the native zombies, they get hungry for brains if you anger them.
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The Left 4 Dead Pre-Purchase Infection is Now On!

October 15, 2008 - L4D Team

Left 4 Dead is now available for pre-purchase worldwide via Steam! As with our pre-purchase promotions for retail PC and Xbox 360, customers who pre-purchase Left 4 Dead via Steam will save 10% off the regular price. Left 4 Dead will be released at retail on PC and Xbox 360 on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe. The worldwide Steam release will be November 18.
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Left 4 Dead Spreads Around the World

October 10, 2008 - ?

In Germany, lucky members of the press were able to play co-op with Gabe Newell at the Leipzig Games Convention, while Torsten Zabka manned the L4D tour bus outside.
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Legoland of the Dead

October 3, 2008 - Erik Wolpaw

This weekend, expert Lego Builders from all over the world will convene in the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall for BrickCon 2008.
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First post - Welcome to the L4D blog

September 30, 2008 - Mike Booth

Since we announced Left 4 Dead in late 2006, the growing online community has been a great source of feedback and support during the development process. We're planning on using this blog to talk more directly with that community - through stories, artwork, and insights into our design and development process.
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