Preorder Left 4 Dead 2, Get a Special TF2 Hat

Play Team Fortress 2? Want your characters to wear Bill's beret from Left 4 Dead? Preorder L4D2 to make it happen.

This should be of great interest to the Valve fanboys in our audience (which is to say, that's pretty much all of you): There are plenty of good reasons to preorder Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam. For one, it's about $5 cheaper. For another, you can start playing the demo right now. Valve has added in a third reason to go ahead and put your money down for L4D2 - anyone who buys the game ahead of time will be awarded their own exclusive hat for use in Team Fortress 2.

The more sharp-eyed amongst you all may notice that the jaunty beret atop the heads of the Demoman and Soldier is actually the very same hat worn by grizzled old military veteran Bill in the first Left 4 Dead, a fact which is neatly handwaved in the TF2 blog announcement:

For the first time in history, two separate Valve universes collide. That's right: it's a Left 4 Dead / Team Fortress crossover! This is not fan fiction! This is not a dream sequence! The characters from Team Fortress 2 will team-up with Bill's hat from Left 4 Dead 1!

And lest you think this is just some marketing gimmick, here's the intricate back-story justifying it: while conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe.

Is Bill's hat the tenth class? All will be revealed in time, but don't hold your breath. Will you get to wear Bill's hat right now, in TF2? Go ahead and hold your breath-now exhale like a champ, because you're a winner and it's happening.

If you've already preordered, the hat should be awarded the next time you fire up a game of TF2. For everyone else, there's still time before L4D2 hits shelves on the 17th.