Left 4 Dead 2 ... already? It's a question that Valve's Chet Faliszek has undoubtedly been answering all day. Wary of the negative connotations that come with annual franchises, Faliszek gave us a candid explanation. Put simply, Valve wasn't entirely satisfied with the original game. "Left 4 Dead 1, like I said, had some of those fundamental things that we wanted to change about it, like the changes to the director, which took really long periods of time and a really long period of testing," he said. "And so, those changes fell in line with the long period of time it takes to create characters and everything else. That's why we're doing Left 4 Dead 2, right?"

A more refined game will also set the stage for a longer lifespan, with Faliszek having no qualms calling the EA-published Left 4 Dead 2 a platform, one that Valve sees "lasting for a much longer period of time" via updates and DLC. "We haven't decided anything yet, obviously, but we're looking at it and looking at Left 4 Dead 2 as being that platform to build on." There's a caveat, of course: "I would say definitely there's some stuff I think, like world-wise and location-wise, that we're saying, 'No, this isn't going to fit in this one, let's put this aside and maybe come back and revisit it.'"

Valve hopes to produce more incentive for revisiting Left 4 Dead 2, with a new gameplay mode -- in addition to the unrevealed one shipping with the game -- already being considered. "There's a lot of ideas that we can start playing around with. But we first need to get this first layer down and settle it." We'll be settling the score with the zombie menace on November 17th.