Posted: 01-10-09 In: Left 4 Dead By: Hectic Glenn | (30) comments | Add your comments

Gabe will soon be on his way down under after an entertaining email exchange with mod maker Joe W-A. The fund-raising began after Joe heard that Newell had recently flown the leaders of a gaming community group boycotting Valve's upcoming Left 4 Dead 2 to Valve's Seattle, WA headquarters. Joe emailed to ask if Newell would fly him to Seattle so Joe could show him his mod.

Gabe playfully replied that he wouldn't fly Joe to Seattle because he was "boycotting" Joe's mod. The Australian-based game designer appealed to the game community for $3,000-the funds necessary to fly Newell halfway around the world-and raised the money in less than 48 hours.

"The power of the gaming community and their ability to rally around a cause - be it serious or fun in nature - is amazing. In 2003, the community helped the FBI and European law enforcement officials find the people who stole the Half-Life 2 source code. This year, the community is putting me on a plane to the other side of the world to meet Joe W-A and see his MOD. It's going to be a fun trip."

Erik Johnson will be accompanying Gabe to stop him getting eaten by spiders during their trip next week. All news on the trip will be posted on the L4D blog. Check out the blog site used to raise the funds for this project!