Did any of you guys sign the Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360, PC) petition? You know, the one where the fans were asking to boycott the sequel of the zombie-killing game from Valve because they didn't want a sequel too soon to the first one?

Well, it looks like despite the 37,000 strong members, it did not do that much dent to the campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 as pre-orders are even reportedly twice that of the original game's. At least that's what a Valve's Doug Lombardi is saying.

Off to pre-order Left 4 Dead 2.

Talking to Eurogamer, he said of the pre-orders:

Our pre-orders are currently double what they were for Left 4 Dead 1 (Xbox 360 and PC) at this point in time away from launch. We're like 20 weeks out or something like that. We're seeing great enthusiasm from retailers, from EA, [and] the press called it multiplayer game of E3.

He did not give exact figures, but if this be true, it's probably that some of you've been playing for both sides of the team, huh? I kid, I kid. But really, Lombardi attributes this hostile reception of fans to the sequel to mere misunderstanding. He's clarified previously that:

I think there was a little bit of confusion that we created unintentionally, by announcing a sequel and not having the complete story ready: announcing it and not saying, there's still a lot of stuff being worked on for Left 4 Dead 1, and the mod tools will work with both games.

I think that, over time, folks will see what we're up to, and there's more of this story to be told in terms of what's to come for both games.

The supposed premature arrival of Left 4 Dead 2 is on November 17, 2009. The first iteration of the game franchise came out almost exactly a year ago from the second one's release date, November 18, 2008.

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• Left 4 Dead DLC announcement by the end of summer, demo planned for Left 4 Dead 2
• Modder pays tribute to Michael Jackson via Left 4 Dead
• OXM to give away Left 4 Dead Premium Theme for XBL
• EA official site listed Left 4 Dead 2 also for PS3, removed