Valve is making some noteworthy changes to the way Left 4 Dead 2 plays, the way it scores and the way it can sometimes infuriate players. When Valve polled zombie apocalypse enthusiasts on their rage quitting reasons, this was why.

The official Left 4 Dead site outlines some, but not all, of those impending changes to the Charger, the Tank and how friendly fire between Survivors is handled. In short, the Charger will be better rewarded for utilizing his special skills to take down humans, some friendly fire will be ignore, and you'll be switched to an already flaming Tank a lot less.

Here are some of the specifics.

The Charger

• Charger now receives 300 points for any Survivor that is insta-killed.
• Charger now receives 100 points for any Survivor that is insta-incapped by a charge.
• Any infected that causes a Survivor to stumble into a "ledge hang" situation will receive 50 points.

Friendly Fire

• Bullets that first pass through an infected character before striking a Survivor are now ignored as friendly fire.

The Tank

• Tanks go into a stasis when they spawn and leave stasis when the human player takes over.
• Tanks do not attack when they are in stasis.
• Tanks in stasis are invisible but still show a glow to the infected team.
• Tanks in stasis cannot be set on fire.

The Invisible Tank [L4D Blog]

To go with Team Fortress 2's Heavy, due out later this year, collectible company Gamingheads will be relasing another Valve-inspired statue. Only this one's a zombie.

It's Left 4 Dead 2's formidable Tank, and while you can't make much out in this frustratingly blurry teaser shot, what you can see looks suitably detailed (and decomposed).

Preorders will kick off on July 30, and while no further details have been revealed, TF2's Heavy had a price tag that said "$250".

Don't let the cute pony act fool you; this is one cold-blooded killer. Found on deviantART, via Plaza.fi - Thanks Marcus!

Were you wrongfully accused of cheating and summarily banned from the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 recently? You weren't the only one. Valve's anti-cheat software goofed and they're offering free copies of Left 4 Dead 2 as an apology.

Many players of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 were surprised to find their Steam accounts banned this past weekend by Valve's anti-cheat software, more succinctly known as VAC. Valve president Gabe Newell says that was mass banning a mistake and offered an apology to those affected.

In addition to restoring players' access to the game, Valve is giving players a copy of Left 4 Dead 2 and one to gift to a friend, along with an explanation of how even players exhibiting good behavior were hit with the banhammer.

Read Newell's message to Modern Warfare 2 players below and take comfort in the fact that you totally did nothing wrong and you're not crazy.

Hello,

Recently, your Steam account was erroneously banned from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This was our mistake, and I apologize for any frustration or angst it may have caused you.

The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game. This wasn't a game-specific mistake. Steam allows us to manage and reverse these erroneous bans (about 12,000 erroneous bans over two weeks).

We have reversed the ban, restoring your access to the game. In addition, we have given you a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 to give as a gift on Steam, plus a free copy for yourself if you didn't already own the game.

To share your extra copy of Left 4 Dead 2 with a friend, you can 'Manage Gifts and Guest Passes' from the 'Games' Menu in Steam, or visit this article on the Steam Support site for detailed instructions: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4502-TPJL-2656.

To access your own copy of Left 4 Dead 2, visit your library of games in Steam. If you didn't already own the game, it will now be listed among your others there, and is available for download immediately.

Regards,
Gabe Newell
President, Valve

Thanks to everyone who flooded the tips@ inbox this weekend with their banning story.

Technically not a recipe, this is more like cosplay for lunch. And it still doesn't solve the mystery of what "meat" is actually on Heavy's health-regenerating treat. But I do like the attention to detail, especially the cheese overhang.

Alright, who wants to make Jarate?

Making the Sandvich [xTReeTooNx on YouTube, thanks reader Andreas L.]

Seen via Reddit.

Video games, from Space Invaders to Bubble Bobble(!), invade the slopes and skate parks of Mt. Hood's High Cascade in the best video ever to combine snowboarding and Super Mario World, pool tables and Portal, chiptunes and hip-hop.

Hey, Mac owners, you can now play Day of Defeat, courtesy of Steam.

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Quilt will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak. As seen and sewn by Kotaku reader Tiffany H.

The latest playlist in Left 4 Dead 2's mutation mode breaks out the katanas - "Four Swordsmen of the Apocalypse" is easy to figure out from the title alone: swords only, versus the horde.

The Left 4 Dead blog says the mode pits survivors against "near continuous streams of Special Infected ready to be sliced and diced." And look, it still cuts a tomato like this!

The update teases next week's change - something called "Hard Eight." Is that a spiteful response to the last poll, which found the Hard Rain boat wait as the least favorite finale of the game? Who knows.

Week 12 [Left 4 Dead Blog]