Yesterday at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference, Valve confirmed that Left 4 Dead 2 will be released November 17 exclusively on the PC and Xbox 360. Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve, states that the new game "will set a new benchmark" for co-op games. The game will present new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items. Left 4 Dead 2 promises to be much larger than the first, bringing more campaigns and maps for all modes of play.


In order to provide more depth, Left 4 Dead 2 will add more to the melee aspect of the game. Instead of smashing zombies senselessly with your gun, there will be weapons such as chainsaws, baseball bats, axes, and even frying pans available for the player. Another feature of the game will be AI Director 2.0, which has the ability to modify pathways, the weather, and world objects. It is also able to manipulate the effects, sounds, and number of zombies in order to match the player's performance. The company hopes this will top the replay-value of the title's predecessor.

Valve plans to back the game with a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, much larger than that of the original. Also expect to see Left 4 Dead 2 as the cover story of this month's PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Is it still too early for a Left 4 Dead successor or will you be the first in line at GameStop come November?