If you would backtrack to E3 for a little bit, you may remember seeing the Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360, PC) poster from the Valve booth. Y'know, the one with the hand that looks like three of five fingers got chewed off, with the remaining fingers holding up a "two" sign? Apparently the ESRB does not take too kindly to such marketing material, so Valve had to change it to something slightly less offensive to those who'd rather not see it.

There aren't many images of the old Left 4 Dead 2 poster around anymore since Valve had to scratch those out. One of the last times the image was seen was in this pic of Valve's Chet Faliszeck standing next to the ring-and-pinky-less poster. That poster was the one that the ESRB wouldn't allow for future marketing materials. Valve had to change the poster, then replace it with this one.

So they added the missing pinky and ring finger, but the thumb still looks chewed-off. Doesn't seem to matter though, because Valve has been using this poster ever since, without qualms from the rating board. As for the in-game content, we're still quite free to chew as many fingers off (or have it done unto us) as we want. Left 4 Dead 2 will still get that M rating without having to make any changes like the one on the poster.


Chet Faliszeck image courtesy of Ars Technica

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More on Left 4 Dead 2:

• Gabe Newell: Interoperability between Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 is important