Not sure whether you'll be purchasing Left 4 Dead 2 or boycotting? To help you determine whether the game will be worth a buy, Valve will be releasing a demo before its release.

"With Left 4 Dead in particular we've found that word of mouth really is the strongest thing," Valve's Doug Lombardi told OXM. "With Left 4 Dead 2 we plan to do a demo before the game comes out that'll have multiplayer in it. And hopefully we can continue the free weekends with the full game post-launch."

Lombardi also told Joystiq this weekend that folks who reserve a copy of the game at select retailers or through Valve's digital distribution platform will get the demo. With the first Left 4 Dead, pre-order customers were given access to the demo a few days earlier than everyone else. Even those who didn't pre-order got an entire week to play the demo before the game hit stores, though.

Left 4 Dead will be released on November 17th for the Xbox 360 and PC.