Valve to release Left 4 Dead DLC details… eventually

Everyone’s got principles. For example, the guys and gals at Valve are staunch advocates of “better late than never.” From Half-Life 2 to Portal, most Valve products are delayed at least once before they’re released.

Concrete details on downloadable content for the company’s 4-player, undead opus Left 4 Dead will be out soon, said Chet Faliszek, a Valve writer. Unfortunately, “soon” seems to have already passed, as the content was reportedly set to be released before Christmas.

A developer pushing back a release date is nothing new (*CouBLIZZARDgh*), but Valve seems to exist in some spacey, ethereal plane where time is meaningless. Pacific, Central, and all the rest be damned… the guys responsible for Gordon Freeman run on Valve Time.

Still, despite the ambiguous release date, the DLC looks to be worth the wait. Coming simultaneously to PC and XBOX 360, the content will add versus mode to Dead Air and Death Toll (the game’s two levels that currently only have story mode) as well as some brand new scenarios for players to fight through. PC players can expect to get the content for free, but console gamers may have to shell out a little extra. It appears Microsoft is forcing Valve to charge for any content it distributes via XBOX Live.

And PC players are in for an additional treat. The software development kit is rumored for release as well, turning the game into an zombie-infested sandbox for the modding community.

Aside from those features, details about the DLC are still sketchy. Faliszek hasn’t say “yay” or “nay” on whether the DLC will add more “Special Infected” to the roster, and there’s been no confirmation of an in-game camera, which would let players cut and edit L4D footage into a flick that would make George Romero proud.

“What we want to do is just deliver more content you can play at this point,” Faliszek said. “The holidays aren’t actually so much delaying it as the press guys.”

In addition to flaky press agents, Valve’s had to contend with hackers as well. Somebody recently hacked the console version of L4D, spawning dozens of witches in safe rooms and creating player characters big enough to tackle Tokyo. Valve has apparently fixed the problem, cracking down on all cheating on its dedicated game servers.

However, one would think the time used to thwart console hackers would have been better spent finishing the DLC. So really, the people who thought it was a good idea to host the witch parade are ruining it for everybody.

Personal note to those individuals: you probably think you’re hilarious.
Everybody else thinks you’re assholes.