Faliszek has confirmed to Shacknews that the update is on target for this week.

Original story: A major patch for the PC version of Left 4 Dead should arrive later this week, according to information from Valve that comes by way of forum fans.

Developer Chet Faliszek apparently detailed the patch in email responses to two fans, saying that the patch "got larger than [the team] would have liked."
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Gamerdeals.net writes:

"For the week of January 9, 2008, Left 4 Dead takes the top spot on the cross-platform Gamefly Top Ten 'Most Queued' list.

Left 4 Dead released November 18, 2008, so it appears that positive word of mouth has given this title some extra legs on the Gamefly charts. This surprise hit has been praised for it's replay value, and addictive co-operative play.

Queue up the complete Gamefly Top 10 most requested lists:"
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An update for Left 4 Dead has eliminated any hacks that cheaters were using within the online modes. Reports came from people that people were using hacks to create giant-sized players and super-enemies along with the spawning of tanks in huge numbers in various sections of the levels.

The problem sounds much like the days of hacking on Halo 2 for the Xbox, but Valve who make Left 4 Dead has released a title update which will fix all the problems.
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Joystiq reports: "Left 4 Dead has received an update on Xbox 360, which ... actually, we haven't a clue as to what it did. We've contacted Valve for details regarding the inoculation. Perhaps Valve's statistics have revealed a few nasty cheaters that need to be squished.

We really don't know, but we'll update when Valve gets back to us with exquisitely detailed patch notes. You've "refined the ambient shading algorithms?" Fantastic! Tell us more."
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Left 4 Dead gets new content, more PixelJunk for your trunk and the possibility of another Mega Man WiiWare game as we start breaking our resolutions early this year.
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Here we are then, the final installment in our Top 50 Games of 2008. It's worth reiterating once again that the list is not intended as a definitive rundown of the 50 best games of the year, but instead reflects votes cast by our staff and contributors based on the games they have played and enjoyed.
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2008 was a big year. There were so many great games released that it's incredibly hard to decide which one deserves to be the Game of the Year… so that's why Ripten is going to make you do it. Have a gander at Ripten's nominees and let them know which game you think deserves top honors. Additionally, they want to spark some debate as they also want to know which of the nominees is least deserving of Game of the Year.

The best commenter (best arguments, most interesting or humorous comments - as decided by Ripten staff) will also be rewarded with a super awesome prize: a free game! Let your voice be heard!

The nominees are:

Left 4 Dead
Metal Gear Solid 4
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Grand Theft Auto IV
Fable II
LittleBigPlanet
Fallout 3
Gears of War 2
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"Downloading new content for a game? Awesome. Finding out the details and release date for downloadable content? Good. An announcement that downloadable content will soon be announced? Meh. The third one is what we've got for Left 4 Dead, though."
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Kotaku: At least one of the German Left 4 Dead covers features an edited hand - complete with extra finger. Japan is getting not one, but two edited covers.

Both the Japanese Xbox 360 version and the PC version of Left 4 Dead are shipping with edited covers. The Xbox 360 version (above) has an edited finger, while the PC one (below) features a "Best of E3" label over the missing digit.
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Kezins.com writes, Grand Theft Auto 4 accidentally left one of their female characters with 6 fingers. Left4Dead Zoey's 15 fingers is more of an obvious fault on Valve's part.

The error is Zoey holding a pistol with two right hands and one left. 15 fingers or 3 hands, what do you think?
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www.pushingplay.com writes "We've covered some pretty impressive Hunter jumping video's here at PushingPlay, but this one takes the cake. The guy in this video is doing incredible wall jumps and pouncing on the survivors from ridiculous heights. What I didn't know was that the higher you pounce on the survivor from, the more damage you do.

I haven't been playing too much L4D but these videos make me want to fire it up again… and I'll definitely be going straight to versus mode.
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Here are 3 VGA Awards Leaked By Spike TV itself.

Best PC Game: Left 4 Dead............
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Valve has issued a server-side fix to stop cheaters from taking advantage of Left 4 Dead exploits on the Xbox 360. Reported cheats allowed players to spawn infinite items and enemies in online games.

A follow-up statement from Valve says that the fix has already been deployed to address cheats on dedicated Xbox Live servers, which accounts for the majority of co-op and versus mode play.

It expects to deploy a title update "in the coming days" for Xbox 360 owners playing on user-hosted servers or via system link. Thanks, Valve!
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Valve's Left 4 Dead has emerged as a sleeper multiplayer hit for Xbox 360 this winter. Many outlets, ourselves included, are having a hard time keeping it off the 2008 Game of the Year final contestants list.
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This week there are no new games being released on the Xbox 360, that's right absolutely zero, so it's a perfect time to catch up on some of the recent triple A titles that you may or may not have had time to play; we list our top five after the jump.
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SnagWire: Valve has released a patch for Left 4 Dead in hopes of easing some of the user frustrations that we've been hearing about.

Versus mode has now been locked to Normal; as for co-op mode, the server will now switch to whatever difficulty the party has selected.

Here's the full list of changes...
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G4 and their hit show "X-Play" have announced their complete list of nominees for the "X-Play Best of 2008" awards show that will premier in a one-hour special on the network Tuesday December 9, 2008 at 8pm est/pst. The show's hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb will be revealing the selections from the 20+ categories in the sixth annual special.
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Kotaku writes

"Those deliciously pun-laden movie posters that precede each of Left 4 Dead's campaigns can now decorate the wall of your choice. Valve has put all four posters up for sale at its online store.

The artwork for No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest adorns each of the posters, which measure 18" by 24". That's definitely smaller than some of us would have liked, but at $6.99 each (or $14.99 for all four), we can't really complain."
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Today Valve released the online stats for its zombie co-op title Left 4 Dead and to sum things up the numbers are about as pretty as an exploding Boomer.

Only 0.6% of all players have completed the "stomach Upset" achievement, which requires the entire team be untouched by vomit for and entire campaign. Even worse, only 0.4% of teams were able to kill 1,000 Infected with a mounted machine gun, thereby keeping the "Red Mist" challenge out of the hands of 99.4% of players. Sad.
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Destructoid writes: "Valve's Gabe Newell recently wrote an article for Edge that dealt with procedural narrative (dynamic AI that can handle level scripting by itself), and how it's used for both a story and a gameplay device in Left 4 Dead. As a result of procedural narrative a lot of traditionally human play testing isn't necessarily needed anymore.

But that isn't going to stop Valve. In fact, human play testing may enter into the realm of crazy weird. According to Newell, Valve could start wiring 'players up with EEGs' to catch the physical reactions players have in response to action in games. In short, Valve could monitor stuff like heart rates and brain waves to see if the decisions that they are making in level design are properly impactful.

It's not scary in a Terminator way, but I'm not exactly sure if machines need to be the deciding factor in terms of level progression and freaky stuff like monster closets. I'm just fine with how nervous I am while playing Dead Space. I don't need to actually get to the point where I feel like I'm about to experience a heart attack to have a good time."
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