Valve announces details for the Left 4 Dead 2 demo, reminding us that early access to the demo is reserved for those who preorder the game, even though they obviously won't need to be sold on the co-op zombie shooter sequel at that point. The demo will include part of the "Parish" campaign, and be available for preorder customers as promised on October 27, for all PC owners and Xbox LIVE Gold members on November 3, and for all other Xbox LIVE members on November 10. There is no indication that this demo will expire when the game is released like the demo for the original Left 4 Dead did, but we have contacted Valve for clarification about this in case that was omitted from the announcement, and we will follow-up if we learn anything new:

Oct 15, 2009 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced details and timing for the demo of its upcoming zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2.

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will feature gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections on both the Xbox 360 and PC (with two-player split screen available on the Xbox 360), the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and all the new melee weapons included in the full product.

Those who pre-order the game (at participating retailers or via Steam) will obtain early access to the demo on October 27. The demo will then be made available to Xbox LIVE Gold members and all PC gamers on November 3. Then all Xbox LIVE members will obtain access to the demo on November 10.