“Left 4 Dead is Valve’s attempt to fill gamers’ desire for a dynamic and engaging co-operative action experience,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “This has been validated by the press, who are calling it one of the most anticipated titles of the year. We will be working closely with Akella as we prepare the launch of Left 4 Dead in one of today’s fastest growing gaming markets”.

“Akella is thrilled to be able to bring this unique game to Russian speaking territories. We are very excited by all Valve’s games and pretty sure of huge success of this new cooperative shooter hit in Russia and CIS countries. ” said Vladimir Koudr, VP of Publishing at Akella, “Left 4 Dead is already highly expected throughout the world, and Russian FPS players are eager to play this game.”

Left 4 Dead (L4D) is a new action title from Valve, creators of the Counter-Strike and Half-Life games, and promises to redefine the co-operative genre as those titles did for multiplayer and single player action games.

Set in a modern day survival-horror universe, the co-operative gameplay of L4D casts four “Survivors” in an epic struggle against hordes of swarming zombies and terrifying “Boss Infected” mutants.

Valve’s next generation AI technology, allows for games of 1 to 8 players. Players can play as a Survivor or as one of four types of “Boss Infected,” each of whom possess a unique mutant ability such as a 50-foot tongue lasso or a giant belly full of explosive methane gas.

The gameplay takes place across four massive campaigns. The “zombie” population of each mission is choreographed by an “AI Director” that monitors the human players’ actions and creates a unique and dramatic experience for them on the fly.

Left 4 Dead is scheduled for a worldwide release in Aug./Sept. 2008.