He has been the face behind 20,000,000 units in video games sales. He was a simple scientist who fought his way through the disaster at Black Mesa and went on to become the face of the resistance against the Combine empire.

He was recently voted by the readers of Gamespot.com the Greatest Video Game Hero of All Time (even beating out Mario in the finals). He is Gordon Freeman of Half-Life and he has been able to do all of this without ever opening his mouth.

One of the key characteristics of Gordon Freeman, aside from being the “Free Man” as the aliens in Half-Life like to refer to him, is that he is also the “Every Man”. He was not a war hero. He wasn’t a super-powered being. He was a person doing his job when a terrible accident occurred and set the events of his life in to motion to lead him to a path of greatness.

Without ever being given a voice, players were given the chance to fill in the blank spots in dialogue during the game with what they felt would be their own responses.

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Anybody who’s been to a theater in the past year or so knows that zombies are all the rave today. From Sony’s Zombieland bringing in nearly $65 million in a matter of weeks, to the sudden resurgence in the work of George A. Romero, zombies are neck-and-neck with vampires these days.

With that said, of course the craze is bound to hit the video game world, as it did in spades with last year’s Left 4 Dead. The game managed to cram every zombie movie scenario into a first-person shooter to make you feel like you were really fighting for your life against an army of the undead, as scary as that sounds. While there were some pretty haunting moments in the game, there really isn’t anything as cathartic as blowing up zombie heads.

Like clockwork, game developer Valve (along with EA Games) is releasing the sequel to the highly-praised game this year around the same time. The characters are all new, as are the settings, but the most important is the new storyline. Many games these days are more compelling than some films, and the newest trailer for the game only proves that further.

Check out the Zombie Survival Guide trailer after the jump, and be sure to race to the game stores on November 17th when the game gets a nationwide release.

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As we reported yesterday, a title update went live for Left 4 Dead which updated the Infected HUD. Many people also speculated it would play a role in laying the coding framework for the new “Crash Course” Campaign, even though it hadn’t been given a release date. On the heels of that update comes the announcement that “Crash Course” is indeed coming before the end of the month to both PC and XBox 360 on September 29th.

The update will be free for PC players but will be 560 Microsoft Points ($7.00) on the XBox 360 due to XBox Marketplace rules regarding free Downloadable Content. “Crash Course” is presented as a more streamlined multiplayer experience for L4D players, containing a half hour campaign that links together the events of the original retail release’s “No Mercy” and “Death Toll” campaigns.

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Much like it will when the actual zombie apocalypse comes, the internet was abound with zombie discussion as Left 4 Dead had a dashboard update for users who logged in to the game today. Many were expecting to see the new “Crash Course” campaign but instead were treated to a revised Heads Up Display for the Infected during versus mode. Though some speculate that the update might also offer some of the code foundation for when “Crash Course” does go live.

The main noticeable change is the Infected HUD. Now, during matches, infected players can see the recharge meter for their teammate’s special attacks. While this seems like a minor change, it will end up adding a huge degree of strategy and planning to the often chaotic Infected teams. Without knowing their teammate’s standing, many players will often go full steam ahead repeatedly instead of specifically planning out attacks. This change can lead to a much more coordinated effort, increasing the challenge of completing levels for the Survivors.

More interesting to note though is the groundwork seemingly laid out for the addition of 10 new achievements added to the XBox 360 version. As reported by Kotaku, the game’s in-game achievements list now says a player has whatever number of achievements they have gained out of 60 instead of the original 50, though these ten new achievements are not listed anywhere in the menu.

Strangely though, XBox.com and the XBox 360 Dashboard still list a player’s current achievements out of 50. As a result, Valve message boards have been flooded with speculation as to what this means, or if it was just a mistake in the coding.

Stay tuned to the Flickcast for more Left 4 Dead, “Crash Course” and Left 4 Dead 2 news as it becomes available.

With Left 4 Dead fans eagerly awaiting the release of the game’s sequel on November 17th, Valve shows they have one more trick up their sleeves for the original with the release of a new single player, multiplayer and cooperative campaign available for the XBox 360 and PC. The new campaign, called “Crash Course,” takes place after the events of the game’s original campaign “No Mercy” and fills in the gaps of what happened to Francis, Zoey, Louis and Bill before they reach the “Death Toll” encounter.

According to Valve’s press release, “Crash Course” will include “new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale.” The game will contain full co-op campaign and Survival mode, the focus of the expanded downloadable content will be to give a more streamlined 30 minute version of the game’s versus mode. Added features to this new Versus mode include recharge timers for Infected teammates as well as a rebalancing item spawn behavior to help further balance the gameplay.

Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director at Valve said about the upcoming release: “Since the release of Left 4 Dead last November, the design team has been excited about creating new experiences for this world and allowing players to do the same, by releasing much of our internal toolset, like the Survival Pack and Authoring Tools… We’re working with the fans toward the ongoing entertainment value of the product.”

“Crash Course” will be available sometime in September as a free download to PC players and also available over XBox Live Marketplace for 560 Microsoft points ($7.00).

One of my favorite games of last year, Left4Dead, already has a sequel in the works. Valve showed off some new Left4Dead 2 areas, Swamp Fever and The Parish, at Comic–Con yesterday.

Valve also revealed two new breeds of zombie. The first, Spitters according to Kotaku, are fat zombies with pigtails that spew orange liquid that provided players with quite a challenge. The other new breed is currently unnamed, but Kotaku reported that they’re bullet-proof, which will be difficult to contend with.

Left 4 Dead 2, much like the first game, is a cooperative survival horror game. Players can choose to play alone or online with friends while fighting off screaming thrashing zombies in the zombie apocalypse. The sequel will take place in the Southern United States, starting in Georgia and ending in New Orleans, Louisiana.

A lot of fans have been complaining about how quickly a sequel has been developed, as Valve did promise a lot of DLC for the first game. But these new developments should give those unhappy fans a lot to be happy about.

Left4Dead 2 will be infecting PCs and XBOX 360 consoles November 15^th.