Left 4 Dead originally only had a Versus mode, Valve's Chet Faliszek has told Major Nelson, with Co-op mode being added later.
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Left4Dead411

"Randdalf was searching within the game's .vpk files under materials/vgui and found concept arts of every boss infected in the game, including some never seen before which are pictured below. The first is the familiar Witch. The second is a mysterious boss called the 'Screamer'.

Again we have no idea if this was a scrapped or not yet implemented boss, but maybe we'll get more information in the developer commentaries."
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Eagle eyed players of the Left 4 Dead demo have discovered some interesting information on the back of cereal boxes in the game. Seems the fake cereal is giving away free Team Fortress 2 action figures and urges people to collect all ten. However, there are only 9 classes in TF2. Could this be Valve's way of hinting at a new class for the game?
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If you're thinking of buying the PC version of Left 4 Dead, you might want to look into purchasing the new Valve Complete Pack off Steam. In addition to L4D, the $100 package comes with both Half-Life games and a slew of additional content for each.
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Valve Press Release
"The Infection Begins Next Week

November 13, 2008 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (Steam and Source), today announced its upcoming zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead, has gone gold and is now pre-loading to those who pre-purchased the game via Steam.

Left 4 Dead is the new survival action game from Valve for the PC and Xbox 360 that blends the social entertainment experience of multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress with the dramatic, narrative experience made popular in single player action game classics such as the Half-Life series of games.

Those who pre-order the game via Steam save 10% off the regular price and may pre-load the game so they are able to play at 12:01 am EST on November 18, 2008 when the game is made available.

The pre-order discount is also available for both the PC and 360 versions at participating retail outlets.

Playable in single player, co-operative, and multiplayer modes, Left 4 Dead is one of the most anticipated releases of 2008 and winner of numerous pre-launch awards, including Best of E3 from multiple outlets. The official demo for the game is available now through November 17 for the PC and Xbox 360."
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Yahn Bernier, a Valve employee, on the SteamPowered forums writes,
"So splitscreen was always something we only wanted to officially support on the x360 due to the controller issues. However, we are planning on making some of the functionality work on the PC as an "unsupported" bonus feature. We turned it off for the demo because we didn't want to have to deal with any additional bug reports etc. about it interfering with the demo experience, but the current plan is to re-enable it after we launch the full product."

Split-screen is coming to the PC version of Left 4 Dead, but as an "unsupported bonus feature." The optimal configuration will be two joysticks, but one keyboard and mouse and one joystick will be possible; two keyboard and mouses will likely not be supported.
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When the Left 4 Dead demo went live for pre-order customers on Thursday, some very shrewd gamers figured out how to hack the PC version to allow split-screen co-op, play as the zombies, and use custom maps. Unfortunately, the fun's now over - Valve just closed the loopholes.
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G4TV has just sent out a link to their newest special, a 15 minute direct-feed video of their time with the newest Left4Dead demo (coming out tomorrow on the Xbox 360).The video does a decent job at expressing some of the story itself, which has been missing in previous trailers. Of course, in classic horror movie style, the voice acting and story themselves leave something to be desired. On the other hand, zombie movies are rarely noted for their acting and voicework, and the action in Left4Dead vid looks pretty damn frantic and fun.
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GameXtract writes "Gamestop is known for always getting the goodies deal with almost every title they receive allowing those who pre-order to cash in on some extra action figures, booklets or even demos, and closed betas. Left 4 Dead is currently in a early access phase of its demo in which pre-orders get an extra five days to play the demo before its open to all. Currently only those that pre-order the game from Steam or Gamestop/Eb Games get the special promotion, but in case you haven't already noticed, Gamestop are quite the lazy bunch."
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Early access to the Left 4 Dead demo begins Thursday, November 6 on both the PC and Xbox 360. The early demo access is scheduled to begin around 2 am PST on the Xbox 360 and 7 am PST on the PC.
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GamePlasma writes:

"Funny news title aside, Valve has announced that Steam Cloud will be rolled out later this month. Steam Cloud allows PC users to share data from their PC to any other PC they log into with their Steam account. This means that players' key mappings, spray paints and other configuration settings will transfer to any PC they log into."
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Aeropause writer Joe Haygood, takes a look at the upcoming November releases that are coimng to the PC. Some of the notables are Wrath of the Lich King and Legendary.
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Ripten: "Valve have announced an official contest today entitled "Dude, Where's My Thumb?" that challenges budding zombie hunters to take a photo of themselves in front of one of the many advertisements for the game (in London, New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area)." Read on for details...
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Patrick Klepek of MTV Multiplayer writes:

"If you're like me, you've noticed more ads for Valve's zombie shooter "Left 4 Dead" than there ever were for "The Orange Box."

"Half-Life" is Valve's bread and butter, but a press release yesterday said pre-release buzz for "Left 4 Dead" means Valve is pouring more money into pushing "Left 4 Dead" than any Valve game before it."
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Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (Steam and Source), today announced a special promotion granting those who pre-order Left 4 Dead early access to the official demo.
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The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle, or USK, are Germany's classification board. And as you may already be aware, they're a conservative bunch, banning games that even Australia let slide. But this, this is new. Witness Germany's box art for Valve's upcoming zombie co-op shooter, Left 4 Dead. Notice anything, uh, different?
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ShackNews writes:

"Valve has issued a new set of system requirements for the PC version of its cooperative zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. While the list is nearly identical to the previous requirements, it does lower the video card requirement from 256MB to 128MB."
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If Wii and the "LEGO" games have proven anything, it's that people still like to play games with other people in the same room.

Despite this revelation, games of the last few years have all but abandoned split-screen gameplay. Almost everything has been relegated to online multiplayer.

But split-screen was something "Left 4 Dead" lead designer Michael Booth believed was critically important to the Xbox 360 version of his co-op zombie shooter - even if it was going to be a nightmare to implement.

"Split-screen was a pretty huge investment," said Booth to MTV Multiplayer at a San Francisco event to unveil the zombie mode of the game last night. "It's hard. That's the thing."
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Blake Ellison of ShackNews writes:

"Left 4 Dead is getting close to its November 18 launch, and Valve is now happy to accept your money: the PC edition is now available for pre-purchase on Steam with a 10% discount before the game's release, making for a price of $44.99.
...
For those resisting the PC incarnation of the run-away-from-zombies shooter, the Xbox 360 version will hit retail on the same day. The 10% discount also applies to pre-purchase customers at retail outlets, according to Valve's press release. "
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According to Valve's VP of Marketing, Left 4 Dead is going to be more popular (and sell more) than the company's own very popular The Orange Box. No small feat to be sure.
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