Left 4 Dead for the Xbox 360 and PC hits shelves this week and looks to pack a ton of multiplayer mayhem. Think Gears of War 2's horde mode, on crack, with zombies and with a different experience every time that you play through a level. There are quite a couple of gameplay videos available now and I can tell you that some of them are showing off exactly how dark and scary some of the locations will actually be. I'm all for zombie bashing though, so I cannot wait to pick up my copy and let rip on the suckers. Honestly, where would the world be if Zombie's weren't invented.

So then, we are midway through what could be called the most incredible release line-up in gaming history and to make things even more interesting, it's right in the middle of a worldwide financial crisis. With all of the games that have been released and indeed, a few more on the way, our poor little wallets and credit cards are cringing in fear as well decide on how much debt we are happy to sit with. This week sees the release of Left 4 Dead, the zombie infested, action filled, not-so-randomly generated gore-fest from Valve that promises to bring gamers a co-operative experience like no other. But promises are one thing, what is actually delivered is another. I went to go and check the first review scores that have been released and it looks like the wallet is going to have to prepare itself for one more hit. Check out some of the initial reactions, after the jump. To give you a rough idea of the initial reactions, IGN have given it a 90/100 saying that: "There's absolutely no doubt that Left 4 Dead is one of the most social and exciting multiplayer games that we've ever played. It's almost pitch perfect in how it captures the tension and the action of a Hollywood zombie movie." Then there is the reaction from the Official Xbox Magazine that has slapped it with a mighty 95/100, saying: Left 4 Dead's simplicity offers purity of gameplay - the same reason that gamers keep returning to classic arcade games. Come to think of it, with a handful of levels and unpredictable events happening within them, Left 4 Dead has more in common with "Ms. Pac-Man" than just the eating. It's the same thing over and over - but when simple ingredients are perfectly prepared, what could be a mere snack becomes a feast. This one just happens to be on human flesh. [Holiday 2008, p.32] With the lowest score of the four released reviews being a 90 and the highest being a 95 I think that it will be well worth your while to take notice of Left 4 Dead, because it looks like we might have somewhat of a gem on our hands. Keep your eyes peeled for our review soon.

This week, Valve’s Steam Cloud will become the latest addition to the company’s ever-growing list of features comprising its Steam digitial distribution service. First announced in May, the Steam Cloud stores save games and configuration options for supported games on Valve’s own servers rather than on users’ hard drives, allowing those files to be accessed from any PC. Last Updated: …

Just like with Dead Space, I seem to be sitting in yet another awkward situation. Left 4 Dead will now be the second game that I have ordered and am left wondering why in the hell I did it. As much as this game looks awesome, I really can't afford the extra laundry bills that are going to need to be paid because I will be browning all of my pants on a daily basis. Well, at least I will be able to do it with four of my friends, but judging from the look and quantities of the enemies, I'm not entirely sure if that makes me feel any better. The game releases on November 18th, and maybe if I have actually mustered up the courage to finish Dead Space by then, I will actually put the game into my console.

Valve have announced that a Left 4 Dead demo will be made available on Xbox 360 and PC on November 6. Here is the catch though, if you want the demo on November 6, you will need to have pre-ordered the game. If however, you are one of the many people that couldn't be bothered about pre-ordering a game that will obviously be in steady supply, the demo will be released to everyone on November 11. The demo will include both single player and multiplayer, with the multiplayer component being reported to end on November 18, the day of the games release.

Brett posted up yesterday about the rumour that Google may be preparing to take over Valve. While Brett (and a lot of the world) feel that Google entering the gaming market is a good thing I am one of the few who disagree. I think Google are excellent at creating online applications and are miles ahead of most of the …

I have a feeling Google are trying to take over the world. They are the king of all the search engines and they now too have their own internet browser, Google Chrome. Now they are going for one of the most successful content distribution systems in the world, Steam. Last Updated: September 17, 2008

Good news for anyone that is interested in the latest zombie bashing survival shooter from Valve. Valve's Gabe Newell has confirmed that a demo will be coming out soon for Xbox 360 and PC. "I don't know what the date is for release [of the demo] though. I think it's going to contain the first part of one of the campaigns. I think it'll probably be Hospital but I'm not sure." says Newell when discussing the topic. Hopefully we will see it before the release of the game in November because if my memory serves me correctly, the demo for Half Life 2 on PC came a good while after the release of the game in stores. So with the demo giving gamers a taste of both single and multiplayer, it should give us enough to decide if its worth our money in the crazy upcoming season of releases.