Valve not looking to leave EA (4 Dead)

After enjoying a healthy relationship with EA during development of The Orange Box, Valve will likely stay in partnership with the publishing giant for 2008's zombie apocalypse epic, Left 4 Dead. Valve MD Gabe Newell told Eurogamer that it would only be a "natural consequence" of the time spent on October's orange offering. "Everybody always tells us what a horrible monster EA is supposed to be and we keep waiting for the hair to sprout out and the fangs to grow."

Newell, who's obviously never seen the ending to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," now shares a tree with Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli, who earlier this month praised EA for the "freedom" (see: money) it provided throughout the creation of Crysis. Such freedom may hopefully and helpfully extend to Left 4 Dead, with Newell considering a free launch weekend for the first-person, undead person shooter. "It's definitely a game that requires you to play it - you can describe it until you're blue in the face, but five minutes of playing it is definitely better than watching a 30-second spot on MTV to try to get you to understand why Left 4 Dead is going to be worth your time and money."