ESRB not happy with original Left 4 Dead 2 box art

We all know the ESRB does their best to rate games accurately for the uneducated masses.  But who knew they had something against people chewing their own fingers off?

Well, now Valve knows, because the ESRB didn't like their original Left 4 Dead 2 cover art concept.  They initially intended to depict someone ripping off the two fingers -- ring and pinky -- but discovered this wouldn't exactly fly with the Ratings Board.

L4D is a visceral experience, and its box art deserved the same approach. Valve artist and L4D1 hand model Andrea Wicklund was more than happy to help.

Sadly, the ESRB got wind of this, and cited some fake-sounding legal loophole about it being illegal to take pictures of people biting off parts of their hands. So for L4D2, Andrea used state-of-the-art eye-tricking techniques (tucking two of her fingers behind her hand) to create the illusion that her fingers were missing:

And that's how we get the current box art, with two missing fingers that looked cauterized, rather than chomped off.  Now you know!