It's official, Left 4 Dead 2 will be released in Australia. Valve and Electronic Arts have submitted an edited version of the game to the classification board which has received an MA 15 + rating.

The revised edition, will not contain "depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment" the board said but it will still have melee weapons like axes, crowbars and chainsaws. This means that the game will now be available for it's November release but the everything isn't done and dusted with Left 4 Dead 2.

Valve have re-submitted the original game after working with members of the Office of Film and Literature Classification and it is still their preference that the original version is the one to be released. It will be interesting to see how reviewers and consumers embrace this heavily edited game especially when you compare it to the original Left 4 Dead which had tons of bodies left around the map at the end of a game and some extreme violence, like blasting the heads off the Infected. This example really strengthens the calls for a review of the classification process as it is definetley not a fair and consistent ruling.

In other news Valve have released a trailer for a new game mode in Left 4 Dead 2 entitled Scavenge mode. Up to 8 players can play this mode which sees a team of four human players trying to find gas cans strewn around a map while racing against the clock and the Infected. The other four players play the Infected bosses and have to stop the humans finding the cans either through killing them or holding them off long enough to run down the clock. Players then switch sides at the end of each round. The mode looks very fun and should provide players with some more kick ass multiplayer action.