Oh yes, it’s that time of the year again, the time where strangers and relatives turn on you, get violent and an insatiable thirst for flesh. No, not the start of the holyday season, although that makes sense, I’m talking about the Zombie Apocalypse, it’s back once more with Left 4 Dead 2. The game just got released a few hours ago and I’m giving it three thumbs up (it’s a birth defect). But just as with the holidays, the spirit of the zombie apocalypse is also that of sharing. So let’s share the warm fuzzy feeling of shooting the horde of the undead together!

Join the Dark Diamond Steam Group where you’ll be able to play with some of us as well as with other dear readers. You can bet that’s all we’ll be playing for days. Also feel free to share your Xbox Live Gamertags, phone numbers, credit card details and social security numbers.

Left 4 Dead 2 is looming in the horizon just a little less than a month away and here at DDN we’re all excited! Yesterday an amazing new trailer was conveniently leaked online. Finally we get a better glimpse at the personalities of the survivors. I’m quite fond of Coach, who we see showing complete disregard for the new melee weapons in the game and simply punching a freaking zombie right in the face. You know, I’m fine with that, a man should need no better tool than his fists to end a zombie apocalypse.

Are you excited? Let us know!

With an upcoming release date of November 17th, the Left 4 Dead 2 achievement guide sheds some light on what we can expect from the 5 campaigns of murderous infected mayhem. The real treat for me will be “realism” mode. Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi says this option is for the super hardcore player. I don’t know that means, but I can’t wait.

I’ve included the entire list of 50 achievements after the jump.

And for those political or philosopher nerds out there: “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously“. Valve, you cheeky bastards.

[Xbox360]

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After being rescued from Mercy Hospital, our foursome crash lands into new DLC released September 29th. Free for PC owners and 560 MS points for the Xbox360, the new campaign features two chapters, original voice acting (which provides good laughs) and a reason to get back into playing Left4Dead. New superficial details such as an improved HUD (which will be utilized in the sequel) and aesthetics like the writing on the wall provide you with the same sense of the murderous infected living behind the corner. The new maps keep the same style and feel of the original, but seem harder.

In the original, you’d run into a weapons resupply once a chapter. In the DLC, they are everywhere and it helps. Playing on expert, the horde is seemingly never ending and rather than the occasional special zombie (smoker, boomer, or hunter), you can expect all three to appear at the same time with the witch or tank in the most inopportune spots during the chase.

While short in length the two chapters appear both in Versus and Survival modes giving the DLC high replay value. Crash Course gives you a chance to hone your zombie killing skills and should you have bought L4D at discount, the $7 worth of MS points you’d spend makes it even more attractive. For those of us that bought it at full price and love the game, it whets our appetite for the real deal in November.

*Also for achievement hunters Valve gave us 10 more to collect…

I always enjoyed Left 4 Dead but I never really found it terrifying, not even a bit scary, until the Teletubbies came. Left 4 Teletubbies is a L4D mod made by Flameknight7, which replaces zombie models with the Teletubbies, complete with the ‘he-ho’ sound those horrid creatures made. With a few gory zombies left for ambiance this mod turns L4D a lot more sinister and, I have to admit, a bit startling to play.

Now if they’d only substitute the Tank for Barney, the Witch with Baby Bop and the Hunter with IT the clown, we could call it a day and be done with many childhood frustrations.

The zombie apocalypse was never so wonderful as when Luis Armstrong composed this song based on it. An avid zombie hunter that Mr. Armstrong, you know? It is in fact quite well known among zombie-hunt historians that Luis Armstrong would go out at night singing this very song while shooting zombies in the head with a hunting rifle. His favorite weapon, thought? His trusty trumpet fitted with explosive darts. Jazz was never so deadly.

[Wonderland]

The Horde is back and now it brought friends. Left 4 Dead 2 was announced today to the total surprise of everyone. Its bigger, better and brighter, with a lot of the campaigns now taking place in daylight. Set in the southern United States, this game is composed of 5 brand new campaigns which are now finally intertwined in a bigger story. Here’s what we know.

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