OK. So we know that zombies will be dressed up as Australian national cricket team members. Interesting.

Cell shaded?
It looks much less "real" that LFD, that second shot the shirt...infact the entire zombie looks like a cell shaded version, the clothing, helmet, head and arms are overly shiny and lack a lot of detail.

Shame, i thought this was a game about zombies.

the ashes tribute's just that.. its not actually in the game.. which is a shame as a cricket bat would bring back some nice shawn of the dead moments

Does anybody like the new main character models? i'm really not taking to them, they're not memorable at all

It's not cel-shaded at all. The second image is doctored. I'm not sure what the joke is meant to be but it's just that. A joke.

Or use your brain and eyes to see that the top part of that zombie is just pasted on.

Why bother then?
It's not funny, its not clever, its not interresting.
Screenshots are meant to be...screenshots, especially when they are officially released. Theres enough hostility around L4D2 without them dickin about releasing fake screens.

Because its a tribute to the ASHES - for the english and australians. Its not supposed to be taken seriously. Its cricket ffs..and obviously Valve for it would be fun for cricket fans - which obviously isnt yourself.

The second shot can't be in-game. Why confuse people who don't care about cricket or whatever it's supposed to be mocking?

lol! good one :D

because America's not the world? i dunno

not true!

Heh, it's a shame this weapon isn't in the game - it could have been an amusing Shaun of the Dead reference. But whatevs.

Ashes woooooooo!

meh...I love Valve but L4D's awesomeness was short lived. The PC ver is full of douche bags. I want Half Life 2 Episode 3 >:(

That guys shirt definitely gives it away as being doctored. I really hope that shot was intentional because if it's not, then that was just one sad attempt for a doctored image. It's not cell shaded, it looks more like what can be done with my photoshop brushes or sketch pro type programs. Weird.

We've already discussed this in the comments above yours.

How hard is it to tell that the shirt is painted on in photoshop? I saw it instantly and so should any and all of you :)

Its called artwork. The second image aint a screenshot lol

dont be incredibly stupid. its a joke about the ashes. you know, that big cricket competition. and it is funny you just dont understand because youre most likely 12. also its obviously not a screen shot look at the background it looks like concept art to me or something.

Jesus christ some of these replies are awfully hostile and very forgiving of valve. The shot is a screenshot that has been doctored, not a piece of concept art or anything else, you can quite clearly see aliasing and the poly's of the underlying models. All that has been added is the torso and the flag on the hat.

The bat is a weapon and was announced with the L4D2 London tour. We know the ashes are on, but its hardly an excuse to release some shitty shot and pose it as a screenshot, they didnt do that for the champions league final or anything because most people wouldnt care, and they didnt do it for any of their games in the past that I am aware of. Most people just want to see an accurate representation of the game. Especially when its relatively close to release and so far it has done nothing to distance itself from its predecessor except for valve sayin "wait and see...we have some...stuff".

This on the other hand is of a photoshop quality below that found in the forza 3 thread (godzilla im lookin at you) and from a professional house released as a screenshot, it ends up looking like some awkward attempt at cell shading thats why i was thinkin they were changing the art style, its just not something i expected any dev house to do for what is their only title release for the coming year.

If youre gonna throw abuse at me, at least have the decency to compose a valid point of view.

Just give me HL3 already, damn you f'cking Valve!

(Yes I said HL3, not EP3...I want HL3!!!)

Yes and a true CS2 with the HL3 engine. Source was a half assed CS1.5.

Eh, I just want me some more L4D action.

In fact, announce L4D3 already!

Dammit. The Cricket thing is relevant to the game because of the new Melee weapons.

Cheer up people.

valves big surprise is probably that secret multiplayer mode they haven't revealed anything about. that will most likely be the only thing that separates left 4 dead 2 from the original. valve has some very good marketing skills, and they will do everything in their power to convince people that this game is completely different when it is not. for christ sakes, if it was different it wouldn't have taken a couple of months to make. all they did was build off the current design.