Recently Valve announced a demo would be made available for its upcoming co-op zombie-shooter, Left 4 Dead but were scarce on details. In a quick interview with De-Frag, writer Chet Faliszek from Valve re-confirmed the existence of a demo but was unable to give any concrete details regarding the content or date.

Citing the demo is planned to be available on Steam "shortly before [the game] releases," Faliszek could only speculate as to what will be included in the demo. The demo "will most likely be the first two maps of the hospital campaign," Faliszek said.

Faliszek could not confirm if pre-order customers of the game will receive early access to the game, similar to the beta access The Orange Box owners received. Left 4 Dead lands on November 21 on the PC and Xbox 360.

Blizzard and MDY Industries, the company responsible for a bot called Glider, have been at each others throat since 2006. Using the bot Glider, World of Warcraft players were able to send a bot out to perform simple tasks that would lead to be rewards, most notably was the ability to have the bot auto engage enemies to grind levels. Blizzard quickly reacted by filing suit against MDY Industries citing the bot was in direct violation of the end user license agreement all players must accept in order to play the game. According to BBC News the courts agree.

After winning one legal battle against MDY Industries in July 2008, Blizzard has been awarded $6 million from the bot developer in its most recent court case. Blizzard, however, may still appeal the ruling as the famed game developer expected a larger stack of money. Further litigation is planned for a January 2009 court date which is expected to resolve other issues stemming from the creation of the product.

The entire quagmire began when MDY Industries filed suit against Blizzard claiming the software giant was strong arming them from selling the $25 application for invalid reason. Wow. Someone at MDY Industries is totally firing its legal team right now.

Heed that Pirate call land lovers! Capcom announced today that its upcoming downloadable title, Age of Booty, will land on the Xbox 360 Arcade on October 15 and the PlayStation Store on October 16 with a PC release shortly afterward.

Capcom also confirmed they wouldn't, once again, be pillaging the wallets of PC gamers by releasing Age of Booty for $10 across all platforms and in all regions. Capcom's pricing choice should be a popular one with fans after the publisher landed in hot sea-water for releasing the PC version of Bionic Commando Rearmed for $5 more than its console counterparts.

Age of Booty will be made available on PC via a number of downloadable services, including: Direct2Drive, Digital River, Metaboli, Impulse, and Steam. A PC demo is planned for the day of release for all those interested in the sea-fairing real-time strategy adventure.

Ed. Note: We apologize for all the terrible Pirate related puns included in this story.

On the official Age of Conan forums the titles game director has confirmed the development team has begun preparations to merge servers in North America and Europe for more enjoyable online experience. The server merge hasn't been given a date but the team hopes to make the transition as "fair and streamlined as possible" and hope the change "[Serves] as a positive injection to the social scene in the game."

Internally,DirectX 10 servers have been in the testing phase for a number of weeks and Funcom promises the long-awaited feature will showcase a number of visual treats for players. Age of Conan's game director promises that, as early as the next mandatory update, players will begin to see some DirectX 10 features as the team publicly tests the new additions until it is considered strong enough for a live release.

To say Google has sights set on the gaming industry would be an understatement. After recently purchasing in-game advertising firm Adscape, Google solidified its gaming intentions with the launch of its virtual world Lively and a appearance at the Austin GDC earlier this month.

At this point Google seems specifically focused on the social media aspect of games. Lively is the search engine giants plan to jump into the increasing popular online interaction environment which includes network sites such as Facebook. GamesIndustry.biz has a chance to speak with Kevin Hanna, creative director on Google Lively after his appearance at the AGDC08. Although Hanna wouldn't outline Google's future plans for the gaming industry he made it clear he wishes to grow the virtual space without interrupting the end user.

"This is just my personal preference, but I'd like for it to be invisible, where when it makes sense to have 3D aspects of the web, that everyone will have already downloaded the plug-in, it's one of the first things you do when you install your machine, and you're able to just jump around and play in a creative space."

Hanna is no stranger to the industry, having worked with Microsoft in the early stages of the Xbox and at Disney for "50 some-odd titles." As Google Lively enjoys its time out in beta form the question remains, what is the future for the service? "There may be multiple phases, and new iterations and - I think I can say this - we actually have a lot of content that we held back on. We have a lot of cool stuff that we're going to be releasing iteratively."

Konami has confirmed that a demo for its upcoming soccer franchise, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, will be released for PC and console users on Thursday, October 2.

Included in the demo is a five minute preview of the exhibition mode, multiplayer, and will also include promotional videos for the new "Become a Legend" and online "Legends" modes. Comparable to the "Be a Pro" mode which was included in FIFA '08, "Become a Legend" puts gamers in the control of one player throughout a match.

Featured in the upcoming demo are the complete licenced teams of Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and the Italian and French national teams. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is set to hit retail on October 17.

The modding team at Blackened Interactive have just impressed. Project Valkyrie is a complete modification using the Source engine in The Orange Box into a fun and exciting Metroid-style multiplayer experience. Complete with charging, morph balls and acquired powers, this mod is one helluva reference to Nintendo's big franchise. We're not only impressed with the mod because it puts the multiplayer mode created by Retro Studios for Metroid Prime 2: Echos in its place but because the entire Alpha release was concepualized and released in three short months.

Download the mod from Blackened Interactive today and join us online!

[via NeoGAF]

According to EDGE Online, Mythic Entertainment's recently released MMO has taken Europe by storm. Nabbing top spots in Germany and Sweden with a second place finish in Spain, Warhammer Online is building up quite a stable of characters in the fight of Order versus Destruction. Other notable PC sellers, in the very PC-loving region of the world, included appearances by Spore, Crysis Warhead, an obligatory Sims expansion and the Warhammer Online: Collector's Edition. Germany sales chart listed below, Sweden and Spain are available after the jump.

Germany (figures provided by MC-GfK)

1. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3)
3. Crysis Warhead (PC)
4. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector's Edition (PC)
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (360)
6. Spore (PC)
7. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii)
8. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
9. Wii Fit (Wii)
10. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS2)

According to PlayStation Universe the entire listing of perks for Call of Duty: World at War have leaked online. We're not sure if this list is the real deal but some of it looks legit. If some of the list looks familiar it's because half of the perks are ripped straight from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where perks were first introduced. Let's just hope if this list turns out to be true people can shy away from only using the Martyrdom perk; it's like they're pooping grenades out there! Call of Duty: World at War hits PC this November in two flavors, a standard edition and a recently revealed Collector's Edition for $70. A full listing of the rumored perks can be found after the jump.

Everyone excited for Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway? Great! Too bad PC gamers have to wait for it. While the World War II shooter hits consoles this week the PC version isn't finding its way to stores until early-October. Need something to tie you over in the meantime? Luckily, Barbie: Eye For Style is landing this week!

Has anyone ever stopped to think that everyone says PC gaming is dying because they release such drivel on a regular basis? Those of you looking for a real game this week can pick-up LEGO Batman. Sure, it's a lighthearted approach to the Batman franchise but it offers a few laughs and enough fan service to fill a BatCave. Seriously, the BatCave is in it too. Also, it's always a plus when you don't need to hear Christian Bale groan as The Bat. Let's face it, he seriously sounds like he needs a lozenge.

Jump in for the rest of the releases for the week ending September 27.

In an interview with Big Download, Warhammer Online Associate Producer Josh Drescher said the developer is, "relatively confident ... adding things like careers back in can be done in a way that's not disruptive." Warhammer Online developer Mythic Entertainment announced the loss of multiple careers within the game this summer.

While Drescher wouldn't confirm new careers would be made available in a future update to the recently released MMO he did say the development team is aware of balance issues caused by adding new content. "If we add a career back in we will obviously not do it in a way that is unbalanced," Drescher said in an interview that is available in this week's episode of the BigCast -- the Big Download podcast. "We won't add a tank to one side and not to the other. So you will almost certainly see those things coming in pairs."

The entire interview is available in BigCast Episode 012 which will hit Big Download today at noon. Stay tuned!

Since its inception, Big Versus has been centered around comparing two similar games and commenting on which would score the player more entertainment value. When Spore came up as the next title in our on-going series we all stopped to scratch our heads. With versions released on the PC, Nintendo DS and iPhone/iPod Touch how do you compare three distinctly different games, each with its own gameplay structure? This Big Versus isn't like others because the call is too easy to make but we thought we'd walk you through what you can expect from all versions and whether or not you should pay attention to the portable versions of the PC world's hottest new release.

Last year gamers complained that there were too many great games made available during the fall season they could barely keep up; this year is going to be much worse. As the cold front from a faded summer takes over gamers are already being treated with piles of games to add to their collection.

MMO fans are eager to get their hands on with Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online, which ships on September 18. Shooter fans, itching for more content in two favorites, are welcomed to land copies of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (September 15) and Crysis Warhead (September 16). Even fans of bad licensed titles are looking forward to Hell's Kitchen. Alright you caught us, no one is looking forward to a game based on Hell's Kitchen. But this post just seemed stronger with a fourth example.

Full list of releases for the week ending September 20 after the jump.