Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States; the world's fifth oldest after Gaumont, Pathé, Titanus, and Nordisk Film; and the oldest member of Hollywood's "Big Five" studios in terms of the overall film market. Its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age.
Like its predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 is set in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic of a disease nicknamed the "Green Flu", which rapidly transforms humans into zombie-like creatures and mutated forms that demonstrate extreme aggression towards non-infected beings. A few humans are immune to the disease, while some of those who are infected have no symptoms. The Civil Emergency and Defense Agency (CEDA) and the U.S. military create safe zones to attempt to evacuate as many survivors as possible. Left 4 Dead 2 introduces four new survivors: Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle, who are immune to the disease and have individual backstories that are provided through character dialogue.[36][37][38] While the game is intended as a continuation of the original, occurring one week after the first game begins, Valve decided to create a new group of survivors due to the change in location.[39] Like the first game, the five campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2 take place across a story arc.[40] Set in the Deep South, the story begins in Savannah, Georgia, and ends in New Orleans, Louisiana.[3][4] The four survivors have to fight their way through hordes of infected, using safehouses along the way to rest and recuperate in order to reach extraction points.
