Without a doubt the biggest news is that Valve will be running dedicated servers on Microsoft's Live online service. And while they didn't indicate how many exactly they'd have going, they did imply that they'd have everyone covered, as in when you played online, you'd be on a dedicated server, period. That alone should go a long way toward making the game a great online experience, but they haven't stopped there. Splitscreen play will also allow you and a friend to play together on Live from one 360, and you'll be able to slice the screen whichever way you like -- horizontally or vertically.

The team has also been conscientious about tuning the game to match the playing environment of the 360. Yes, a subtle amount of aim assist has been added, but it's unobtrusive. You also get a quick turn to flip around at a tap of the right bumper. Even with this, though, they've modified the A.I. some such that zombies are a little less likely to attack you from behind in the 360 version than in the PC version. And on the subject of the zombies, you'll see them doing a number of different actions as their A.I. responds to the world. They'll be attracted to loud noises for instance, including scrambling towards pipe bombs which emit loud beeping noises, or car alarms the player might accidentally set off. If completely enraged they may even start to attack one another.