We saw a very brief glimpse of Left 4 Dead 2 this morning at Microsoft's press conference, now we get a bit more details from publisher Valve.
"A large part of how Left 4 Dead became 2008's top-selling new IP on Xbox 360 and the PC was the custom-tailored gameplay made possible by the AI Director," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "With the knowledge gained from creating the original, new technology, and a passionate team, L4D2 will set a new benchmark for cooperative action games."
Set for Nov. 17 as an Xbox 360 and PC "exclusive", the game will add melee combat, deeper cooperative gameplay and new weapons, including a chainsaw, frying pan, axe and baseball bat.
The game will make use of AI Director 2.0, which Valve says will take the game's dynamic gameplay to the next level. That means the ability to procedurally change weather, world objects and pathways and "tailoring" enemy population, effects and sound.
The game will also feature new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items. Valve says the game is much larger than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.
"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," said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. "Left 4 Dead 2 is a larger game and will be supported with even more consumer and retail advertising programs than the original."