I’m really psyched about the upcoming release of Dead Rising 2 because Dead Rising was one of my favorite games. However, now I hear about Dead State. Check out this article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun and then come back. I’ll wait.
It is as if someone took a peak inside my brain and designed the game I’ve been looking for. Obviously, I love zombies. Not in the “I want to be a zombie” sort of way, but in an “I’m pretty sure I could survive a zombie uprising, and I also think it makes a great setting for stories” sort of way. Frankly, I just don’t get the people in the former group at all. But if every promise of Dead State comes true, they are talking about making a game with no defined goals, no boss to beat, no final cut scene that leads to the inevitable sequel. You run a local shelter during a disaster and you have to go about finding supplied and food and other people. Based on how you choose to do those things will determine if the people you run into will like you or not, creating your enemies and obstacles through your decisions.
With a release date of “Not in 2010″ we’ve got a long wait ahead of us…
You know, it isn’t often you hear the shambling masses of the living dead used in economic theory. But Nicoholas Colas, ConvergEx chief market strategist, is not afraid to invoke the word zombie. The best part is that he continues through with the analogy, covering the spread of infection and the inevitable need to close the door on someone outside calling for help surrounded by the undead. I don’t normally talk politics on this blog, but this particular item leaped out at me (for obvious reasons).
It is a harsh thing to think about, letting the economy of an entire country fail, but I think sometimes we are better off air dropping supplies or tossing them over the wall instead of entangling and dragging everyone down. There is a point where the financial end of government needs to step away and let charitable and private organizations step in to help the survivors get back up on their own feet.
This month’s Gamer Banter topic didn’t inspire me. It was “Which game character do you identify yourself with most/least and why?” and I spent time thinking about it and the simple fact is that I don’t really even identify with video game characters at all. Sure, I like to follow along the story, and I might be immersed for the duration, but it rarely lingers. The characters that stick are the ones I create in MMOs. Even now, years after cancelling my EQ account, I still think about Ishiro Takagi, my human agnostic monk from Qeynos.
But after firing off an email to the Gamer Banter coordinator about how I wasn’t inspired to participate, I thought of a new angle on the topic.
The closest I even came to identifying with a character was Gordon Freeman in the Half-Life series. The reason was because Gordon is a shell in which I sit while I play. Gordon never speaks, and the game never has a 3rd person view cut scene. I am Gordon at all times. This makes Gordon more like my MMO characters than your traditional video game character because he has no personality unless I give it to him.
Thinking along this line, I drifted to a couple other games by Valve: Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Here, we don’t have Gordon-like shells. The four survivors in each game quip and banter, they call for help. Even when I play one, I’m not them, I’m just controlling them. However, because the game is light on cut scenes and outside the quips and banter the characters are player or AI controlled and not just standing around, these games have given me a group of friends to survive the zombie apocalypse with. And through them and their banter, I care about them. Ellis has told me so many stories about his buddy Keith that I want to know if Keith is out there surviving the onslaught of the undead too. (I secretly pray that Keith is one of the survivors in the inevitable Left 4 Dead 3.) In fact, since most of the time I play with my friends, the survivors are my friends.
These eight characters have come to define my view of zombie Armageddon. When the day comes, I want these people, or at least people like them, by my side. Even when I’m playing solo, I find myself rushing to their aid, not just to keep them alive but because I don’t want them to die. A subtle distinction, but an important one. Even when playing solo, I find myself talking to the other survivors, asking them what the hell they are doing, telling them to hurry up, even reminding them to cover me. It’s almost a little unnerving to realize that I do that, but there it is.
So yeah, the truth is that most of the time I don’t identify with characters, but in Valve’s Left 4 Dead series, they’ve added just enough to the shell I (and my friends, and the AI) inhabit to evoke a response.
This post was part of Gamer Banter, a monthly video game discussion coordinated by Terry at Game Couch. If you’re interested in being part, please email him for details.
I haven’t been playing much Left 4 Dead or Left 4 Dead 2 lately, but that is about to change. Tomorrow, Valve is releasing a new add-on called “The Passing” for Left 4 Dead 2.
The story behind this is you are playing the usual 4 people from Left 4 Dead 2, but the original Left 4 Dead gang shows up. Three of them alive and one of them… well, not so alive. The dead one is part of the mystery we’ll learn tomorrow. This add-on also offers a bunch of new game play elements and achievements, all of which looks fantastic and fun.
If all the stories are to be believed, Left 4 Dead will be getting an add-on itself that will let players play out the sacrifice of the fallen survivor, and it will be following in some measure of Valve Time.
Sadly, I won’t be able to play tomorrow as I have plans, but I’m working hard to clear my schedule for the weekend. Feel like playing with me? My Gamertag is Jhaer.
Yesterday, Zombieland was released on Blu-Ray and DVD. It was probably one of my favorite movies of 2009. I mean, I paid to see it twice in the theater. If you didn’t see it and you can handle a little zombie gore with a dash of comedy, then I highly recommend it. If you haven’t seen it, or if you don’t plan to, then you missed out on one of the best opening sequences since the Dawn of the Dead remake used Johnny Cash’s “When the Man Comes Around”.
To help you out, here it is. Be sure to switch it to 720p to give it a little more clarity, and turn off annotations to keep the viewing pure. It’s not as good as seeing it on the big screen, but it’s still pretty damn good. Enjoy…
I love zombies. Not like in a romantic way, but like in a “they make a great setting for human drama” way. I have enjoyed reading every page of The Walking Dead comic book, as it is probably one of the best zombie stories ever done. I was thrilled to hear that a TV project was in the works, and now I’m simply over the moon after hearing that AMC has given the project a greenlight.
It has actually been a while since I finished reading Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry, but I was waiting because I didn’t want to gush about a book I was giving as a gift to someone who might actually read the blog (as unlikely as that is). Plus, I forgot.
Patient Zero follows Joe Ledger, a cop who has recently been offered a position with the FBI. Just days away from his move he gets involved in a multi-agency bust of some suspected terrorists, one of whom doesn’t stay dead. He is then approached by the Department of Military Sciences and told of a possible plot to release a virus that turns people into zombies.
Most zombie novels these days start after the end of the world, or are set within the fall. Patient Zero is about trying to stop the zombie apocalypse from happening. Another great aspect of the story is that it follows not only the people trying to stop the zombies, but also the people trying to start it.
This book was good. Very good. Couldn’t put it down good. I blew through it, and so did the wife, and she’s not a fan of horror books or movies. I’d gladly recommend it to just about anyone.
I’m really psyched about the upcoming release of Dead Rising 2 because Dead Rising was one of my favorite games. However, now I hear about Dead State. Check out this article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun and then come back. I’ll wait.
Recent Comments