14 DAY TRIAL // Valve have confirmed rumors that Left 4 Dead, their upcoming squad-based zombie thrashing shooter, is not going to be available for the PlayStation 3. Valve spokesperson Doug Lombardi has said that the company does not have a dedicated PS3 development team. The port of the Orange Box to the console was handled by Electronic Arts, that specifically demanded the port.
Valve initially was a PC only developer with their earlier hits being grounded in the PC games market. Later, when porting the original Half Life to consoles proved to be a big task and very slow moving, the developer decided it needed a dedicated team that would work specifically for the Xbox 360 and in parallel with the PC team. With these two teams in place, Valve has not looked to create a third team to deal with the PS3, so all ports to this platform should get externalized to third-party developers. And that includes Left 4 Dead.
The game is currently in the final stages of polishing, with core gameplay and mechanics already solidly in place. It will put a squad of human survivors up against a horde of the Infected (which is really only fancy terms for the old men vs. zombie situation). The goal of the humans is simple and adrenalin pumping survival, while the goal of the Infected is simple and equal adrenalin pumping infection of the humans. What's new is that one can play both as the humans or as the Infected, and that the zombies have some nice bosses and special types of units to scare and, of course, infect the unsuspecting survivors.
Valve is tight-lipped about a release date and says that the game is now being balanced so that even the most well-balanced and tough survivor group has a tough time surviving the zombie apocalypse. Let's hope they do get it right.