Universal Ramblings

Valve Software announced Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to its cooperative multiplayer first-person shooter, for Xbox 360 and PC.

Shipping worldwide this November 17th, Left 4 Dead 2 will focus on melee combat with new weapons like chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more. The follow-up will also introduce new survivors, boss zombies, weapons, items, co-op campaigns, versus campaigns, and Survival mode maps.

The game will also include AI Director 2.0, which allows Director to further custom-tailor gameplay by procedurally changing weather effects, world objects, and pathways, as well as “enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance.”

The original Left 4 Dead sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide at retail since releasing November 2008 thanks to a $10+ million marketing campaign. Valve intends to again support this new game’s launch with a multi-million dollar marketing TV/online/outside campaign.

“Left 4 Dead was backed by our most aggressive advertising campaign to date, and resulted in a top 5 showing on two platforms during holiday 2008,” says Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi. “Left 4 Dead 2 is a larger game and will be supported with even more consumer and retail advertising programs than the original.”

The game already has a release date for November 17 which means that this title has jumped up to near the top of the list of our “Big PC Games of 2009.” We hope to learn more about the game when we meet with Valve at E3 later this week.

E3 2009 — the game industry’s most important convention this year — is happening all this week! Check out E3.1UP.COM for news, previews, podcasts, videos, blogs, and more direct from the Los Angeles Convention Center.