November 17 == Left 4 Dead 2

That's right, it'll be released on November 17, check out the trailer here. One thing you can say about these guys is they don't waste time, and it looks like this will be a worthy sequel. Despite the rush time, almost exactly a year since the release of the first one, I think they had everything they needed to make another first rate game here. The limited campaigns in L4D kind of speak for themselves, they begged more and better, and that looks like what we're going to be getting.

Up until this morning I had been concerned about the fact that Valve didn't give enough content for Left 4 Dead, especially after they went to the trouble of releasing the Survival Pack, but I understand a bit more now. According to what I've read they changed the basic system so much that a new launch was the only reasonable path to take here; I'm sure the fact that they will profit enormously from a new title played no part in their decisions, but I digress.

Set in New Orleans, new guns, new zombies, and actual honest to god melee weapons, including a chainsaw and a frying pan. I love the line at the end of that trailer, "if we run out of bullets, they gonna wish we hadn't!". That's what I'm talking about, full 3 dimensional zombie killing, guns, brains, and melees. Nothing makes me happier than watching a zombies brains explode when I get a solid headshot, but true zombie hunting is done with tools, guns are always a last resort.

I'm more than a little excited about this one so I won't go into much more detail right now, over the next few months we'll get some more looks at this and hopefully it won't turn out to be a disappoint. My thoughts are, either this is going to end up being another serving of Left 4 Dead with very little new or exciting content or, if we're lucky, the first one will end up being more of an extended beta, paving the ground for what this game looks like it should be.

I dunno though, I think I'll miss Louis' terrified face during those heavy firefights!