Yesterday we reported that Valve was under fire from a Steam community group trying to ignite a boycott of the upcoming zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead 2.  Today, CVG has a response to the boycott group from Valve's Chet Faliszek.  In the article, Faliszek asks the community to "Give us a fair shake on this", saying that even Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell was hesitant on the project, but has since come around on the sequel idea.

Faliszek says that they have too many new ideas and that the changes they would like to implement in the game are too drastic to justify simply an update:

"We had some meetings about it, and we all talked about our ideas, and everyone was pretty focused and thoughtful, a lot of the same ideas were happening," Faliszek told Ars Technica. "We wanted the Director to be smarter, but to be smarter it needed more special infected in its stable. For example, the Charger that we see today.

"It just became very clear that this was a cohesive, singular statement we wanted to make, not a more slow update thing... too much stuff was tied together with too many other things.

"The Common Infected-now there is destruction in different parts of their body, to ship all the new Common Infected, even with an update, would be a huge thing."

Faliszek is also citing the release of the SDK for the original Left 4 Dead next week as an example of Valve's continuing support for the original game.  Additionally Faliszek states that Valve is looking into being able to play the maps and campaigns from the original Left 4 Dead in the sequel, saying "We have some additional work to do there, we're talking about how to do that. That's what we want to do."

Along with the response to the boycott group, Valve has also released some fresh screenshots.  Hit the jump below to check out the full gallery.  When you are down there, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think of Valve's response to you, the community.

Comments (14)

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Skate said:

... Hot damn, now I know how to get exactly what I want: Kick and scream like a two-year-old until game developers make MY games how I want them to be made!! -__- Looks like I'm going to have to boycott Nintendo until they make Smash Bros. DS! Who's with me?! Don't buy any Wii or DSi stuff until it's announced! Follow the Steam community's lead, throw your Gerber cups at walls and spit in faces until they bend and break to our demands!!

June 10, 2009

Skate said:

... On a related note, those screenshots look great.

June 10, 2009

Black Adam said:

... The screenshots look really good. Can't wait to see some gameplay footage. BTW, is that Warren Sapp? LOL

June 10, 2009

360cookie said:

... Screenshots look awesome. I doubt however that this will silence the people boycotting the game.

June 10, 2009

TinPanAlley said:

... Only thing that distresses me .. is that it's evident they are making the new game with more of a TF2 look to it... and I don't know if I'm diggin it.

June 10, 2009

Jay said:

... Trust me, the Left 4 Dead 2 graphics aren't THAT bad. Having played the Xbox 360 version, the shots you see above look a little like concept art to me. That said, there IS a graphical difference to the new game, but it's minor, and (IMO) not a distraction from gaming. There's still some work to be done on the character models, but that's to be expected at this point. For the folks complaining about the sequel coming so soon? Play it before you complain too much. The game is WAY more than just a DLC-worthy release. There's enough content here that it not only merits a new disc, it pretty much demands it. This isn't just Valve trying to get their hands on your money. That's coming from someone that felt remotely similarly to you, then subsequently played the game and fell in love with it. And it's also coming from someone who loved the first game and still plays it to this day.

June 10, 2009

Deschain said:

... If, come November 17, you feel Valve cheated you on L4D, don't buy L4D2. I'm pre-ordering it from Steam the day the pre-order is offered. I got more value from L4D than almost any other game I've played. I don't feel cheated in the slightest.

June 10, 2009

majorbromly said:

... I agree with Deschain. I'll be buying this. Sure, it's different from Valve's traditional strategy, [uhm, where's my HL2 Ep 3?] but I have faith in them that it will be a quality release that warranted being a new game.

June 10, 2009

BlackHeli said:

... i dont think valve is cheating any one out of their money with this... this doesn't look like it could fit as just DLC, its completely new levels, the AI that was allready amazing is being stepped up, the graffics look great, and the zombies look much much much more destructable in the vid that was released, plus more weapons and new characters. The screen shots look great!

June 10, 2009

Soldier X25 said:

... Left 2 Fingers looks good maybe I'll actually play it more then Left 4 Fingers.

June 10, 2009

nissac830 said:

... I actually thought about the graphical difference between the two games (having also played the 360 version of this new title) and I have to say I am not 100% convinced that there even really is a difference, other than the fact that because the map we played was lit in the daytime, colors and things tend to stand out more. I wonder if the old maps would look that vibrant if the lighting was simply changed. we'll have to see a little bit more before I'd come down either way.

June 10, 2009

blackjakk said:

... Looks like Left 4tress 2 is getting more cartoony with the bright multicolored clothing.

June 10, 2009

andy said:

... i feal people plyed thorugh the first so much that it warrents a sequal including all the other reasons stated b4 day 1 purches just like the last one but i wana know what happend to the first survivors

June 11, 2009

andy said:

... and whats up wirth the wierd lookin haze mat suit r fir fighter guy in the first screen

June 11, 2009