Valve unveils Left 4 Dead 2, says 'stay tuned' for HL2: Episode 3

To the dismay of many Half-Life fans, Half-Life 2: Episode 3 did not make an appearance at this year's E3. In its place was the surprising announcement for Left 4 Dead 2, a sequel to the original that came out less than a year ago. Many Valve supporters were upset by this announcement, arguing that Left 4 Dead 2 should have been the downloadable content Valve promised for the first game. However, Doug Lombardi and Chet Faliszek of Valve clarified L4D2's status as a full-blown sequel in an interview with ShackNews:

Yeah. At the end of the day, this is going to be a bigger game than Left 4 Dead. It's five campaigns versus four, all five are playable in Versus mode, Survival mode out of the box, the new multiplayer game mode. Plus over 20 new weapons and items. It's a full sequel."

When I first saw the trailer, I wasn't feeling as pessimistic as the other Valve fans. The idea of a Left 4 Dead game chronicling the story of four new survivors in New Orleans is a pretty cool premise to me. For me, it gives a greater universal feel to the Left 4 Dead games. It's also important to mention that there are melee weapons in the sequel: axes, chanisaws, frying pans and more. Check out the trailer for yourself and see what you think.

One of the most exciting components for this sequel is the AI Director 2.0 that will have full control over weather effects. So while you may have noticed the sunny atmosphere in the trailer, all that will change to the AI director's will when you're in-game. I'm also excited about the prospect of a lot of new weapons and new special infected.

While I am disappointed that HL2: Episode 3 did not get shown at this year's E3, I'm confident we'll be hearing about the game sometime this summer. And we have to trust Valve on this, because while Valve's development process is usually long and delay-ridden, their games always turn out to be the best in the market.

Here's a Left 4 Dead 2 gameplay video to hold you for now:

from concept art to fan art

Although I drool over the concept art posted in the last entry, I really enjoy coming across artists who take their talents and use them to share their feelings and interpretations of a game. While we wait not-so-patiently for news from E³, let's take a brief stroll through the digital art gallery of fan art ranging from Half-Life to Portal, Team Fortress 2, Pokemon and more.

Half-Life


Half-Life Ich. by *Luthrai on deviantART



Infected- Head Crab by ~Iron-Fox on deviantART

Portal


There really was a cake by =TotenVeloren on deviantART



Chell from Portal by ~edde on deviantART


Pokemon


Pikachu and Raichu by `hibarry on deviantART



Rapidash by ~JESGRAD07 on deviantART


Team Fortress 2


Worm Fortress 2 by ~mmiasmostati on deviantART



Team Fortress 2 - Pyro by =agentscarlet on deviantART


Metroid


Species: Metroid by ~AIBryce on deviantART



Metroid - See you next mission by ~chalcara on deviantART



Mario


Princess Peach by ~AmuthAlexiel on deviantART



Super Mario Brothers Fanart by ~living-oxymoron on deviantART



Bioshock


Bioshock fanart by ~Fenner on deviantART



Bioshock Fan Art Ver.2 by ~Jaruzel on deviantART

Anxiously awaiting some big announcements from Valve on Tuesday

It’s been 19 months since Valve Software released the jam-packed Orange Box, featuring Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Now that we’ve seen the release of Left 4 Dead and countless TF2 updates, I think it’s time that Valve opens their collective piehole about the next Half-Life game. It’s not even funny anymore. It’s been 19 months!

Yes, Valve released two concept art pieces for Half-Life 2: Episode 3. They are both great and compelling. Lets look at ‘em:

Those look pretty cool, but what else do we know about the game? NOTHING! NOTHING! Nothing besides what the end of Episode 2 implies.

Many of us Valve fans have been patiently and impatiently waiting for some information about the new game, but nothing else has come out besides the fact that Episode 3 will end the Half-Life 2 story-arc. E3 starts this week and Valve is going to make some presentations on Tuesday, so let us hope that they will spill the beans about the continuing adventures of our beloved silent scientist.

-smash- from HalfLife2.net will be meeting with Valve Software at the E3 on Tuesday at 2pm PST (5pm EST), and he has created a Twitter account to update on his findings about Valve’s latest projects, so be sure to follow him right here. Who knows… maybe we’ll hear about Portal 2 also! All I really want is some info on Episode 3 and possibly a release date (yeah right) and I’ll be golden.