People make all sorts of weird stuff in Minecraft that I just don't get, but playing Left 4 Dead inside of Minecraft, that's something I can get into. Mine 4 Dead: Blockhawk Down isn't just a Left 4 Dead level in Minecraft a full Left 4 Dead campaign complete with zombies, safehouses, 4-player coop and pills. Modder Bananafone31 brings even more terror to Minecraft with custom textures and sounds to skin the massive zombie-killing survival mod.

Mine 4 Dead: Blockhawk Down [via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Toy company NECA revealed at Comic-Con today that its range of merchandise based on the intellectual properties of Valve will start shipping in 2012. Oh, and they also let us know what they'll be!

While there are sadly no pictures yet of the figures or merch, here's what you'll need to be saving your money for next year:

HALF-LIFE 2

Gordon Freeman action figure

PORTAL 2

Atlas & P-Body action figures, replica Portal gun, "resin and plush" weighted companion cube

TEAM FORTRESS 2

Pyro, Heavy & Demo action figures

LEFT 4 DEAD 2

Boomer & Smoker action figures

So, mostly good news then! Bit of a shame about the L4D ones, though. I'd have liked to see the humans, Bill especially, up first.

In next week's episode of the AMC hit Breaking Bad, Jesse convinces two of his pals to dip into a little cocaine, spawning an insightful conversation about Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil 4, and Call of Duty: World at War.

They're not just zombies, they're Nazi zombies! Seriously, if this is the sort of conversation you get into when you use cocaine, I never have to use cocaine. This is pretty much me whenever I visit a video game store, though I sweat a little bit more than a junkie.

Thanks king_e_dawg for passing this along!

Earlier this week, Valve issued a challenge to the Left 4 Dead 2 community: if 20,000 players beat the in-development "Cold Stream" campaign by Sunday, they'd get the re-release of "Dead Air" early. That goal was met in about four hours.

That means Left 4 Dead 2 owners will get the tweaked Left 4 Dead campaign early. No later than July 22, Valve says—barring an outbreak of Valve Time, naturally. The developer says its testing and finalizing the "Dead Air" re-release, as it's not yet ready for prime time.

Also interesting is that the Left 4 Dead team says it's "working on and testing a new version of the 'Dark Carnival' finale and some gameplay changes for finales in general." Dark Carnival clearly has its own final quirks, but I'm interested to see what Valve has planned for other finale changes.

[L4D Blog]

Valve's asking players to test Left 4 Dead 2's Cold Stream campaign. If 20,000 players finish it by Sunday, they'll release the Dead Air campaign early! Coincidentally Left 4 Dead 2 is on sale for $5 on Steam.
[L4D.com]

Spoiler alert? Only if you planned to play community made campaign "Suicide Blitz 2" in Left 4 Dead 2, currently the officially featured fan-created add-on for Valve's zombie horror first-person shooter, the game that has a very neat Portal 2 Easter Egg buried within.

Watch as two Left 4 Dead 2-loving ladies discover the existence of a portal into the world of Aperture Science, commenting excitedly along the way about every machete, Companion Cube, propulsion gel and special infected zombie they run into. Really, you may want to turn the volume down just a notch.

You can grab the "Suicide Blitz 2" campaign right here, straight from Valve.

Left 4 Dead 2 Suicide Blitz 2: Portal 2 Easter Egg [YouTube via NeoGAF]

Valve's co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead is getting the fan film treatment.

There's some neat special effects, the cinematography is slick, and the trailer opens strong. The actors look just like their in-game counterparts. Shame about the headbanger music, though!

Thanks for the tip, Theron!

Gamers work well in teams. We've slaughtered zombies, repelled rebels, routed RED (or BLU)—all with the help of our friends. Now we get to rob banks.

In a bit of pre-E3 flirtation, Sony Online Entertainment has announced Payday: The Heist for the PS3 and PC, a squad-based cooperative shooter that casts players in the role of a "hardened career criminal" attempting to orchestrate a number of dicey, large-scale heists. Developer Overkill Software promises prospective gamers the chance to raid a bank vault, manage hostages in a hijacked armored car, and infliltrate a top-secret, high-security facility.

The mission structure appears reminiscent of Valve's Left 4 Dead; law enforcement agents—rather than zombies—will spawn in waves, their deployment and behavior patterns guided by a "dynamic" and "adaptive" scripting system. SOE's press release describes "FBI agents repelling down on ropes through the skylights, SWAT teams crashing through the windows...special units crawling through the ventilation shafts," and emphasizes the importantance of cooperative teamwork in repelling foes.

Players will be encouraged to revisit missions in order to develop their character along a "massive progression tree," and will be given the option to select one of three specialties: assault, sharp-shooting or support.

Payday: The Heist is due to launch later this year on the PlayStation Network and PC via digital download, and, according to Sony, will run for "less than half the price of a retail game."

We've been told that we'll get a taste of the game at SOE's booth at E3— we'll try to keep you posted on the how the title shapes up.

Turtle Rock Studios, the group responsible for the creation and much of the development of Left 4 Dead, has "got the band back together" after shifting away from Valve's ownership and will be releasing its next game for publisher THQ.

Having worked with Valve for years, first on the Xbox version of Counter-Strike and then Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock was first acquired by Valve, renamed Valve South and then, after some staff movement, quietly just...faded away into the night as Valve's main studio worked on Left 4 Dead 2 by its lonesome.

Well, now much of the original staff is back at a revamped Turtle Rock, and THQ has picked up the publishing rights to its new, major title currently slated for a 2013 release.

It's some kind of multiplayer game, and is being shown at E3, so you won't have much longer to find out exactly what it is.

Women love jewelry. Women love large, shambling, goo-filled undead creatures. Combine the two and you've got a one-way ticket to a night of messy romance, thanks to this charming Left 4 Dead Boomer necklace.

Video game jewelry artist DeadlyPretty is a big fan of Valve's Left 4 Dead series, and as it happens she creates charms, rings, and necklaces for big fans of Valve's Left 4 Dead, along with Resident Evil, Kirby, Ghostbusters, and more. This particular piece caught our attention because who wouldn't want a ticking time bomb of virulent pus hanging about their neck? As DeadlyPretty herself puts it, "He's kinda lovable and who wouldn't want to give him a big squish."

If you're seeing the sort of woman (or man) that would appreciate this sort of thing then congratulations, you've won. I have no idea what you've won, but you've definitely won.

Left 4 Dead Boomer Necklace [Etsy via Girl Gamers UK]