@WhaleMenace: that's telling them. seriously if you dont read the comments then what the hell are you doing in kotaku. thats what makes this place great.

Milkzhakes

@Testamonium: They're saving that for when they license "Dead to Rights"

RadicalAns

Wonder how this pun would work in the Simpsons world..

1st2nd3rd4th

@der13manner: Right, I found my self writing the Nvidia slogan subconsiously, virtually word for word. Then I changed it and posted a clusterfuck of a response. Heh.

homernoy

Super perfect.

DreamDivision

@Duoae: Zombie hand, I'd guess?

Xeneizes

That's great. I love it. Wish more people took box art this awesome direction.

Xeneizes

Open Photoshop + Invert Image = Happy internet

wellsie_eng

i guess it would've been far fetched if there were 5 individuals on the cover..the left 4 of whom are the walking dead attacking the 5th non-infected person.

snowbeach024

@OGHowie: .... since when was boxart for a game about a zombie apocalypse supposed to be pretty?

MysteriousStranger

@Katoejoe: That is actually right, since your "reading" flow goes from left to right (I assume) and since the hand is still whole at the left and no thumb at the right it seems a bit more... Uhm... Harmonic... I guess! Well, as harmonic as a zombie hand with no vidjagame dreams whatsoever can be!

Eluith

Finally. Havn't updated it on steam yeat though.

MrTaco

why does www.l4d.com still show the old one? but l4d.com shows the new one?

Cazx

So it took me a minute:

The hand's been left.
4 fingers are left.
It's a left hand.
Oh, and it's totally the hand of the dead.

Anarchist_Gamer

@Katoejoe:

You realise that it's the same image but mirrored right?

Duoae

@homernoy: Neither, obviously.

General_Bison

@homernoy: Nvidia.

der13manner

Hehehe, Very clever.

General_Bison

@WhaleMenace: Also known as a rimshot, though the "normal kotaku reader" will confuse that with something similarly named, so maybe it isn't the best idea to use the proper terminology.

bobtheduck

@homernoy: "it's the way it is the format it's meant to be"

*It's the format it's meant to be played on.

homernoy

Wait... so where's the 'dead' on the box?

;)

Duoae

Is this an opprotunity where I can discriminate about lefties?

No?

How about Soulja Boy, then?

masterbanana

@Benjammn:
That was meant for the comment above me. :/

Benjammn

@Matonly1T:
As in we have finally cut off all thumbs of lefties in the world, you mean? Of course. Lefties are sinister.

Benjammn

@drunkentyger: Buy it for the PC if you have a system that can run the Source Engine, it's the way it is the format it's meant to be played on. Believe me. If you don't, I don't know what to tell ya.

homernoy

Wow, this is incredible. Valve, you have outdone yourself.

Lazlo

What Sith said, Left (Left Hand) 4 (4 fingers) Dead (Dead hand aka dead person aka zombie)

Heart-Skull-Kid

As a champion of punnery, this completes me.

Comatose Turtle

@uppitycracker: Oh come on, somebody, most likely EA, will end up making a PS3 version eventually.

KillerOnTheRoad

It'd be vain of me to think that I single-handedly caused the box art to change, but I did have the first comment in the original post that pointed out the error.

Kyattsuai

Left
Four
Dead
Xbox
Live

Four Fingers

Left hand

4 Corners on the box

So congruent, it's aggravating.

Defoliantonthemoneytree

@rodge020679:

Step one, read post, step two read comments, step three, ask anyway.

WhaleMenace

@Señor Cagon: it's the left hand

kaskeon

@y2julio: I believe you are referring to "ba-dumm cha!"

WhaleMenace

@vashthestampede: Well done, sir.

OrigamiNinja

pun on left in the title, pun on 4 and four fingers, pun on dead and thumb missing

Sith_Mafia

Bout
Damn
Time

Hand_O_Death

yeah i dont get it. so what if it was a right hand?

rodge020679

@ZetaCrossfire: What sucks, the game or the box art?

homernoy

So WTF is the "joke" about it?

Huh?

HAH?!!

*~*

Gigaheart

@vashthestampede: *does drum roll thingy*

y2julio

I c wut you did thar...

It figures valve would do that...

Shykin

Funny, but still ugly.

OGHowie

@concrete_d: i think i got it now actually. it's the left hand, 4 fingers, and the LEFT 4 FINGERS on the hand. the sad thing is i understood all this 2 months ago, i just forgot :/

jamesb2147

Those guys...

flyingsupernerds

@jamesb2147:

It's a dead persons hand. Well Zombie technically

Left hand, 4 fingers, Dead person

LittleBigPlaneteer

@Testamonium: oh wow, just reattach the thumb and saw off the left 3. THAT's the trifecta!

jamesb2147

@PercyChuggs: A normal Kotaku reader?!

vashthestampede

Why do people hate on zombies. Zombies are, I mean were, people too!

I think zombies have been maligned for far too long. It is high time we put our differences aside and opened up a channel for dialog. I think someone should create a game where you have to negotiate a peace deal with the brain eating zombies, instead of killing the poor things. Maybe offer them something that it just as nutritious as human brains, but that aren't. Maybe a Quorn version of human brains will do it.

CartBlanche2

really? still sucks

ZetaCrossfire

@jamesb2147:

Presumably the hand belongs to a dead guy.

concrete_d

Hehe, Valve... good people. :)

Still, I'm getting a pun-overflow from the title and box art.

lumpi

i must be missing something. i get the left thing and the 4 thing and i understand the title as a whole, but surely i must be missing one if it is "a trifecta of wordplay fully realized." thanks for any help!

jamesb2147

@drunkentyger:

go ahead and panic. it still wont make it release on the PS3.

uppitycracker

@drunkentyger:
I would have bet the farm that I "heard' that they being valve would not be making L4D for PS3.

minywheats

@drunkentyger:

uppitycracker

Oh! I get it! With the missing thumb it has 4 fingers like the 4 in the middle of Left 4 Dead that at the same time the word "for" has been supplanted by the number 4.... Any other relations to the number like 4 player co-op?

Señor Cagon

@Katoejoe:

Are you right handed?

LemmingX

@drunkentyger:

That's because it's not coming out on PS3, at least not straight away.

LemmingX

@Maxyboy13: Damn Ninjas

Maxyboy13

@Ravel: I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think it used to be a right hand.

Pyro Jack

@drunkentyger:

GABE NEWELL HUNGRY, HE WILL EAT YOUR COMMENT BEFORE OTHERS SEE IT. NOM NOM NOM

LittleBigPlaneteer

"Left" 4 Dead!!

Damn it now I get, I didn't realize the first version had the right hand....

exkon

@Ravel: It was a right hand with the thumb off. Now that it is a LEFT hand with FOUR fingers, the box art is playing off LEFT 4 Dead.

Maxyboy13

@Ravel:

the joke is that the box art shows a left hand with four fingers.

Get it!? Left 4 Dead?! hahahahahahahahahaaha

Seriously, this is awesome.

wintersleep

@Ravel:
i believe it was a right hand...people complained because the name is LEFT 4 Dead, and not RIGHT 4 Dead, so they made it a left hand with 4 fingers...i dont care either way, i just wanna kill some damn zombies

Badassiousness

@houser:

I know I just realized the pun, but is it that big a deal?

Ravel

@Ravel: It was a right hand with the severed thumb. Now it's a left hand, hence, Left (hand) 4 (fingers) Dead (zombie hand).

Mit

@arniejolt: Nah, they'd just have to cut off another 2 fingers from the picture and re-register the license for Right2Die

Testamonium

I can't put my finger on why exactly, but I like this box art better than the one with the right hand. Don't say it's totally different, because it isn't...there's something about it that just appeals more to my eyes

Katoejoe

This is great.

Horusz

@Ravel:

It was a right hand with a thumb chewed off. Now it's a left hand.

houser

i dont see one for the PS3... must not panic...

drunkentyger

For a minute there if they had stuck with the original version they would have had to rename the game Right4Dead

arniejolt

As someone who only rents from an online source, I never see the box art, so I couldn't care less about this. And yet, I posted this comment to tell people I don't care. Oh, what have I become!?

PercyChuggs

I lol'd. Good show.

jello44

haha excellent! a triumph for lefties everywhere?

Matonly1T

I don't understand.

So they changed the box art?
what was it before?

Ravel

Finally. I can have closure.

WEGGLES90

Good thing they changed it. This would've been a major problem for a lot of people.

Perfec7

I've read all the posts,
umm I still don't get it..............

I'm kidding.................next

Zatoichi666

I'm impressed. Not in a million years would I expect them to make even better box art, but they did it.

Quilt

@Eluith: Of course, this means that everyone that lives in a right-to-left reading culture is now totally hating the box art. =P

Raynre

@Ravel: Kotaku gave you a link to see what theyre talking about. Asking wasnt necessary.

NoBullet

See it would've been so much more epic if Valve got the new box art back and it was now the left hand, but now with only 3 fingers. "Nooooo!" :D

gaijira

heh...

Lombax

@Matonly1T: YAY LEFTIES

rayne117

@Kayin:

Touche

Matonly1T

@Mit: I noticed the change to a left hand but I didnt got all that of left, the fingers and the zombie, thanks!

HELLSRIDER

@Matonly1T: Left. Right. It's all the same when you have no thumb.

Kayin

I'd really like to see what Valve has up their sleeve artistically speaking other than a darkened green background with a zombified hand reaching for the outer heavens.

acez2087

They forgot to include the PS3 box in that image.
Oh waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait...

DigiMish

for people who DONT understand still....they changed it from the Right hand to the Left Hand (like above box art) cause it makes the wordplay 100%. 4 fingers on a "dead" persons left hand....Left 4 Dead..ehhhh get itttt?? EHHHH?

Oh how i love puns :D

DarthMetalHope

@WhaleMenace: Yes lol

y2julio

I just canceled my PS3 pre-order because of this.

Barbara

Nothing short of brilliant.

ArtemusWolfwood

ohh i get it, LEFT hand 4 fingers of un-DEAD

SudiptiEquestridomus

@Eluith: I think you hit the nail on the head there! Thanks :D

Katoejoe

@rodge020679:

LEFT for dead. Not RIGHT for dead. It took me a while to get it too.

TF2Soldier914

@bobtheduck: Or, you can do it in sound effect form, like so. *ba-dum-psh!*

Paladin58

Ok so for people who this is flying over their heads.

Original box art had a right hand with four fingers.
New box art has a LEFT hand with four fingers.

Get it? insert lawlz here ---> [ ]

:)

3elevenX

left hand, 4 fingers, dead zombie = left 4 dead it's just a word picture

before they had the right hand up showing 4 fingers now it's the left..

Hmm maybe Valva is trying to show support for Obama? ;)

SoldierX25

@3elevenX:

[ lawlz ]

animat0

@Ravel: The biggest deal ever. For silly box art puns at least.

Saigin

@Matonly1T: for dead lefties maybe

Vault

I'm glad Valve listens to the people!

NeVeRMoRe666

@y2julio: [instantrimshot.com]

Skuld

@Ravel: The biggest Change is. ITS Official now :P

Ruisu

This just in: Right 4 Dead officially cancelled.

TJL7170

@Mit: Thanks the only thing I noticed was the 4 )_)

lostinseganet

@Skuld: Win.

TJL7170

@NoBullet: So good of you to respond to something so unnecessary then.

ALT

I get the pun now, but I still think it is some pretty crappy looking cover...

AssassinXaero

Great....now it looks all weird to me after staring at the box art for the last couple of months. Its disjointing...CHANGE IT BACK!!

*Gobble Gobble Gobble*

NeVeRMoRe666

@1st2nd3rd4th: just a zombie hand. Probably

Nekusagi

What country are all you people from who don't get the pun?

Is English not your first language?

Terance! - In Before What My Message Says

So they went into photoshop and flipped it? M'kay.

belo

So much win.

Riuk27

Quite funny and I agree that this it way better than that horrible orange box.

However... did you guys miss all that attention from conferences where this image has been shown before? Or is the novelty of it the fact that the image was taken for the cover? Anyway, can't wait to play it!

Liraco

@Gigaheart: Its an inside joke, don't bother...

alright I'll tell you anyway...

Well the first box art showed a right hand with 4 fingers on it because... well... you know left "4" dead but then they realized it was stupid to use a right hand. So the joke is that now instead of a right hand, they switched it to the left hand now completing the pun "Left(Hand) 4(fingers) Dead (zombie hand).

Cloud92

@Señor Cagon: Yeah... What Cagon said

Cloud92

I HATE this artwork. I don't know why...

Cornerb0y

@Skuld: Bookmarked!

y2julio

NOW you may have my money valve.

bighit006

As we read this, the Left 4 Dead banner on the left side of Kotaku shows a right hand.

everybest

@Matonly1T: Hoorah for the southpaw!

Mooglepinoy22

Also, LEFT and DEAD are 4-letter words.

Captain Obvious away!

mcderek3000

Valve are always about the little things, makes them such a good company. Should be an enjoyable romp.

el_rezzo

So, did he leave 4 dead before he got his thumb chomped off?
Or did he leave 4 friends to die, and got his thumb chomped off?

--Core--

Open in Paint > Ctrl+R > Flip horizontal = New cover art.

How they didnt spot the joke before HAND i dont know. :)

GFX-187

This is awesome. This is SO AWESOME.

Wizzard

Oh.

I see what you did there, zombie hand. Clever.

Box art is nice, and I can't wait to get it!

Ursus-Veritas

LMAO =D

infestedDemon

@KillerOnTheRoad:
(EA will port it with the original Right Hand Missing Thumb Boxart as well)

calderon0311

The only problem is they did not fix it in the web banners. :-p

thomasonfa

@Ravel: Personally, it was the headline of this article that made me realize the change, hence the chuckle. "Completes the joke" is about goddamn right. I guess that's why I'm not in journalism XD

Etheo

so wait, why did they make it a left hand, wasn't it a right hand?

kokiri-kid