Left 4 Dead

It took a bit longer than we though but Valve has now released a beta SDK for mod makers to use for Left 4 Dead, their recent hit zombie co-op shooter. Naturally the mod tools can be downloaded via Valve's Steam service. The tools include a modified version of the Hammer level editor, a particle editor, example maps and more.

They can be downloaded by hitting the "Tools" tab in the Steam client and then download the "Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools Beta" section. Valve has also posted up a Wiki page on their developer web site with info on how to use the Left 4 Dead mod tools

If you like bragging about how much you have "achieved" while playing games, Steam has just set up something for you to show others that, yes, you unlocked that cool achievement in Left 4 Dead while most others players have not. This also applies to any game that uses Steam achievements.

You can check out the full list of games that currently have Steam achievements which include Portal, Team Fortress 2, World of Goo, Zeno Clash, Unreal Tournament III, Braid, Empire: Total War and many others. In fact the newly released Plants Vs. Zombies just added 12 Steam achievements. Signing up to the Steam community will let you see the percentage of players who have acquired each achievement within all of those titles.

For our first contest in celebration of Big Download's first anniversary, we will be giving away a whopping 10 Steam codes that can be downloaded to get a free copy of Left 4 Dead, the excellent zombie co-op shooter from Valve. We've talked a lot about how much we love this game so if you haven't had the opportunity to buy the title here's your chance to get one for yourself.

How do you win? As with most of our giveaway contests it's pretty simple:
* To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
* The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 12.
* You may enter only once.
* 10 winners will be selected in a random drawing.
* Each winner will be sent a Steam code to download a free copy of Left 4 Dead (valued at $39.99)
* Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.
Our huge thanks to Valve for the donation of the prizes. Stay tuned as we have even more giveaway contests planned in the next couple of weeks. Good luck.

Have you ever wondered how many times you have killed a zombie with a shotgun? How about the average life span of a zombie boss character? Well, these stats and lots more can be found on the new Left 4 Dead web page on Valve's Steam web site.

The game's official blog has the info on the new feature which has four main componants; an Overview page (favorite character, favorite weapon, how often you give med packs and pain pills to others), a Weapons page (number of shots for each weapon, head shot kills, etc). and stats pages related to Versus and the new Survival mode. You can even compare your stats to your buddlies.

If you haven't gotten you free play time with Left 4 Dead you are in luck. Valve's 24 hour free play for their acclaimed zombie co-op shooter was supposed to end a few hours ago. However, a note on the Steam web site has announced that the free play period has actually been extended to 5 pm GMT on Saturday (thats's noon Eastern and 9 am PT for us US folks.

And just another reminder: If you play and like the free version of the game you can go ahead and buy the full version from Steam for just $23.99. That's a 40 percent savings from its $39.99 normal price. The savings is still scheduled to end on Sunday.

As promised Valve has launched its 24 free play period for Left 4 Dead, allowing anyone who hasn't bought the zombie co-op shooter to download the full game and play it for free until 7 pm ET on Friday. Again the full version includes the new Survival mode (and what do you know; we have a guide to that mode posted on our site today).

In addition to the free 24 hour version, Left 4 Dead can now be purchased and download for 40 percent off its normal price on Steam. Normally the game costs $39.99 but for the weekend only you can purchase the title for a mere $23.99.

With the new patch, Valve has added a brand new game mode to Left 4 Dead. Let's take a look at the other ways to play first, however. First in the modes is Campaign, which tasks four friends to push their way through hordes of crazy infected on a path to true escape. Second is Versus, which pits four survivors against four special infected in a competitive form of Campaign. Finally comes the new mode, Survival, which is like Campaign mode... sort of. Think the finale of each campaign mode. Now imagine that finale if it were 10 times bigger and badder, and you had no way to escape. Only death lies ahead. Think you have what it takes? If not, no worries, as here's a handy-dandy guide for you!

Still haven't played Left 4 Dead yet? Still haven't felt the need to shoot lots of zombies with three other people (bots or real folks)? Still haven't faced the Survival Mode where you can't win but you don't care because you are shooting zombies.? Well you won'r have any such excuses any more after Friday.

On the first day of May, Valve is opening up the full version of Left 4 Dead for free for a 24 hour period beginning at 12.01 am on Friday GMT (that's 5:01 am ET and 2:10 am PT). This version will include everything in the retail version including the just released content update that includes the new Survival Mode as well as the new campaign level No Mercy. You can go ahead and pre-load the free version now via Steam so you can be ready when it unlocks.

With the release of the new Survival mode last week for Left 4 Dead, Valve has now offered up some new merchandise for the popular zombie co-op shooter. The nicest bit of new swag to buy is a Grindhouse movie poster for The Last Stand, the new campaign that's included in the Survival mode.

Valve has previously made available similar movie posters for the game' four main campaigns so this obviously is needed to complete your collection if you already have the first four. There are some other new items available including a new t-shirt, a hoodie and a new CEDA coffee mug.

By all accounts the new Survival mode that was just added to Left 4 Dead is a popular one with players. However there apparently were a few issues with the "shoot all zombies until they eat you" mode that got developer Valve to release a quick patch for the game via Steam.

The official Steam web site has the dirty details on what's fixed in the patch. Among other things it shuts down some exploits that some players have found in Survival mode in a number of levels. A bug that disabled single player co-op mode after playing Survival online has been dealt with as well. There are quite a few other issues addressed in the patch so if you at all interested check the page out. Or you can just update your game and prepare to start blowing heads off.

As promised some time ago, Valve has now released the first free major content update for their hit zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead. The update is now available automatically via Valve's Steam service.

As previously announced, the update will now allow the popular Versus mode to be played in Left 4 Dead's Dead Air and Death Toll campaigns. It also adds an all new Survival mode where players will be subjected to wave after wave of zombies with the goal of staying alive for the longest time before your character becomes lunch meat. The Survival mode uses mostly levels from the original game but there is one new level, the Lighthouse map, that's included in the Survival update. As an added bonus, the game's price has now been lowered to $39.99.

Next week Valve will release the first major content update for their zombie-themed shooter Left 4 Dead. One part of the update is the Survival mode and this week's update on the game's official web site (written by Valve's Kerry Davis and Scott Dalton) deals with how the team came up with it's design.

Survival Mode will let players see how long they last against a wave of endless zombie attacks. David and Dalton talk about how hard it was to ramp up the diffiiculty for each zombie wave in the mode. They state, "It might seem that just gradually increasing spawn rates and numbers of infected will create a nice smooth curve, but it turns out to be much trickier than that." You can check out the site to find out how the development team managed to find a balance between making the mode challenging but still fun to play.

Valve's Left 4 Dead title has become a huge seller but the development team worked hard to make that happen including coming up with a number of box cover concepts for the game. The Left 4 Dead blog site offers up images of a number of prototype box cover artwork for the zombie co-op shooter

The blog entry features commentary from Valve artist Jeremy Bennett who talks about how they went through several concepts for the box art before coming up with the final design; a four fingered hand on a green background. As you can see, the first box art designs all featured four humans against the zombies before Valve went in a totally different direction.

While the official Left 4 Dead web site decided to hold off on doing an April Fool's gag today the site did have a legitimate news update with word that Valve's co-op zombie shooter will be having some matchmaking changes in the near future.

Valve plans to release the long awaited mod SDK for the game sometime after the Survival Pack content update on April 21. This will allow people to create their own maps and campaigns for the game. According to Valve's Zoid Kirsch, "We will be adding extra features so players will be able to find dedicated servers running the campaigns they have installed. They will also be able to see friends playing third party campaigns, and be directed to download them as necessary." Valve also plans to allow two teams of four to find each other and then compete in a Versus mod match.

Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead was certainly a big departure from the Half-Life universe that the developer had created before but it paid off in spades. According to a Shacknews story, Valve's Michael Booth revealed in a GDC panel this week that the game has sold 2.5 million copies worldwide.

That's a lot for any game (and that figure includes both PC and Xbox 360 numbers) but that may only be part of the story. As Shacknews states, the 2.5 million copies mentioned are only for retail sales. It does not include the sales of the PC version that have been made directly via Valve's Steam service. Valve is pretty notorious for not including specific sales figures for their games that have been sold via Steam.