L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009's marquee titles, adding melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and more.

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo features gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections on both the Xbox 360 and PC (with two-player split screen available on the Xbox 360), the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and all the new melee weapons included in the full product.

Like last year's contest, gamers are challenged to take a creative photograph of themselves in front of one of the outdoor media placements in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Phoenix, Dallas, Minneapolis, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Contest rules and submission guidelines can be found at www.L4D.com/contest. All entries will be reviewed and judged by Gabe Newell, president and founder of Valve. The top 25 entrants will win a free copy of Left 4 Dead, and the overall winner will receive a custom engraved L4D2 Xbox 360.

"Last year's out of home media campaign proved to be one of the most effective vehicles for helping land Left 4 Dead on 2008's top 10 seller list in the North America," said Doug Lombardi, vice president of marketing at Valve. "Valve has once again partnered with Gibson Media to execute the Left 4 Dead 2 out of home campaign and extend it to more markets across the US."

Introducing the AI Director 2.0, L4D's dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance. The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

In addition to the new campaign and boss monster L4D2 also includes "Mudmen," the "uncommon common" exclusive to the Swamp Fever campaign, and a few more of the 20-plus new items coming in the full product (cricket bat, AK47, and grenade launcher).

Featuring new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original with more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, and maps for Survival mode available at launch.