Left 4 Dead preorders outpace Orange Box

Turtle Rock Studios' Left 4 Dead may have been announced in January 2007, but it wasn't until Valve picked up the one-time Counter-Strike mod maker one year later that the game became much more than a blip on survival horror fans' radars. Now, with the full weight of the acclaimed Half-Life creator behind the game, it's generating hype enough to rival Valve's much-acclaimed Orange Box, which included Half-Life 2, its first two episodes, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

Putting that interest in quantifiable numbers, Valve said this week that preorders of Left 4 Dead were selling at a rate 65 percent greater than the Orange Box at a comparable time before launch. Although Valve has not revealed how many copies, exactly, The Orange Box has sold across the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms, publishing partner EA said in January that the game had attained platinum status within three months of its launch.

A survival horror shooter, Left 4 Dead is set in modern-day America, in which the remnants of a town attempt to blast their way through an ocean of zombies lest they become infected themselves. The game relies heavily on cooperative play, and supports up to four players at a time in online modes. Valve and Turtle Rock's shooter also includes competitive modes, in which players can hunt or be hunted as part of both the human and zombie factions.

Left 4 Dead is expected to infect the PC and Xbox 360 beginning on November 18. Aiding those preorder figures, Valve is offering a 10 percent discount on the PC edition of the game to those who pick it up in advance through Steam. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.