Valve have announced the release date for Crash Course, the latest piece of DLC for their zombie smash Left 4 Dead, as next Tuesday (September 29th). Unlike last April's Survival Pack, however, this will not be free, instead costing a reasonbly priced 560 Microsoft Points. Ostensibly an all new campaign set after the original's No Mercy, Crash Course promises to maintain the basic gameplay options familiar to L4D fans (Single/Co-op/Versus), as well as providing an update for the original game.

In other Valve-devolped, zombie-based multiplayer FPS news, the demo for the controversial sequel Left 4 Dead 2 is due for release on October 27th. However, no other details have been revealed. The sequel has proven to be something of a contentious issue amongst die-hard Valve devotees, with many suggesting that the release of a follow up so soon after the original goes completely against Valve's ethos of care and commitment to all of their games post release, and view L4D2 as nothing more than an add-on with a full-game price tag. As such, it will be interesting to see if this demo will actually manage to heal the rift.

Left 4 Dead 2 is released on November 20th.