Word in today informs us that and are set to continue their relationship for the foreseeable future, once EA has helped deliver The Orange Box pack in October.

"Everybody always tells us what a horrible monster EA is supposed to be and we keep waiting for the hair to sprout out and the fangs to grow," chuckled Valve MD in conversation with site Eurogamer.net.

"We've had a great relationship with them so far, and bringing more titles to that like seems to be a natural consequence of that."

The boss also assured that Left 4 Dead would be delivered via EA, while the MD also hinted that a free launch weekend for the game could be on the cards, after one Valve staffer mooted the idea at QuakeCon.

"It's definitely a game that requires you to play it - you can describe it until you're blue in the face, but five minutes of playing it is definitely better than watching a 30-second spot on to try to get you to understand why Left 4 Dead is going to be worth your time and money."

By Luke Guttridge