On Monday, Left 4 Dead 2 was announced during Microsoft's E3 press conference, which is still more than a little surprising given Valve's history. Some have been complaining about L4D2 being released just under a year apart from the original. I can understand why some folks would be worried about that, even though I myself do not. But what I really don't understand is how people are saying that the contents of L4D2 should be released as DLC for L4D1 instead of a on a retail disc. Anyone who says this is being highly unrealistic for a number of reasons.

First off, lets make a list of all the new content and features in L4D2:
   
    * 5 new campaigns(all playable in co-op and versus out of the box.)
    * 4 new survivors
    * AI Director 2.0
    * Dynamic weather patterns
    * New guns, as well as new melee weapons
    * New special and regular infected
    * An additional, unannounced game mode

First off, all this new content is by far enough to warrant a new retail release. If all this stuff was released as DLC, it wouldn't be free DLC either. There would be no way to justify the production costs of DLC that had more content than the retail version of the L4D1. So even if Valve made 5 more campaigns and released them as DLC, those campaigns would probably be released at a rate of one every month or so, and you'd probably be paying close to $10 dollars for each of them. There's $50 right there, without the additional survivors, infected, weapons, etc.

The people driving the DLC debate also like to bring up Team Fortress 2. While it is true that Valve has generously supported TF2 with loads of free content, it's irrelevant. TF2 is a completely different IP, and the post-release support Valve is giving it is unique unto itself. Just because Valve puts that kind of time and money to put free updates in one of their games, doesn't mean they have to for all of them. When they release Half-Life 2: Episode 3, I highly doubt people are going to argue that it should have been free. Plus, the class updates Valve has been rolling out for TF2 is in an attempt to bring greater variety and balance to the game.

I bought L4D1 right after Christmas, and am still running through campaigns with friends multiple times a week. I'm still finding new situations, hearing new dialog,  and  just having a lot of fun. There's no question in my mind as to whether I've gotten my $60 dollars worth. I'll be surprised if I'm not saying the same thing 6 months after L4D2 is released.

What I'm saying is, if you feel L4D2 isn't worth your money, don't buy it. But just realize that it's ridiculous to think you should be getting it for anything less than a full priced game.