Do you still remember Dead State, the “X-COM meets zombie apocalypse” game that I talked about a long, long time ago? The game is actually coming along, and they have cleared their Kickstarter goal by a wide margin.
Now the Kickstarter time is running out, and they’re still looking to reach some stretch goals, so they’re asking for support. I pledged $15, as their project is looking mighty sweet. The $15 will also get me a copy of the game in due time.
You can find the Kickstarter project here.
I just updated the Colonial Marine review with the UAMC Marines from Defiance Games. Go check out the verdict!
Click for a larger version
I try to avoid hyping (apart from some zombie flicks) but I believe I speak for a whole lot of Alien franchise fanboys, when I say Prometheus by Ridley Scott is one of the most hotly anticipated movies coming out in 2012. Of course, the big question hanging over the movie is “Is it an Alien prequel?”
Ridley Scott has been both denying and admitting it – saying that Prometheus is a new story, set in a new world. The following from Wikipedia:
In February 2011, Scott maintained that the film was not an Alien prequel, but confirmed in December 2011, that the Space Jockey was still an aspect of the plot. [Actor Michael] Fassbender stated the film would feature elements of Alien, saying “Prometheus is absolutely connected to Alien… There’s a definite connecting vein.” In June 2011, [writer Damon] Lindelof stated that he concurred with Scott’s belief that the Alien creature had been “diluted” by the exposure it had received since Alien and did not want the film to be “burdened by all the tropes of that franchise with Facehuggers and Chestbursters”. Lindelof stated that the film takes place in the same universe as Alien, but is not a story about the events leading into that film, saying “a true prequel should essentially proceed [sic] the events of the original film, but be about something entirely different, feature different characters, have an entirely different theme, although it takes place in that same world.”
In July 2011, Scott stated “by the end of the third act you start to realize there’s a DNA of the very first Alien, but none of the subsequent [films]” and called it “pretty organic to the process and to [Alien]”, but maintained a distinction between the two films, saying “we go back, we don’t go forward.” In a February 2012, interview, Lindelof described the film as a hybrid in tone between Alien and Blade Runner, pushing a philosophical idea alongside action.
To support the above, a new viral advertising video just recently popped up, showing one Peter Weyland from Weyland Industries delivering a speech in TED 2023.
What’s that got to do with Alien? The big bad corporation in Alien, Aliens and Alien³? It’s called Weyland-Yutani. I’ll let you compare the company logos:
Image from http://weylandyutaniassoc.deviantart.com/
To further underline the connection between the films, here are their respective trailers:
So, Alien meets Blade Runner? Count me in.
Some exciting and interesting news from the electronic gaming front.
First up is the piece of news that DoubleBear Productions is looking for some fresh blood to add to the development of Dead State. Remember this one? It’s the upcoming game that had me drooling over the keyboard and weeping tears of joy. Let’s hope they can get the game finished. Click here for the full story.
Next is something that might – just might – interest a fair few readers of this blog: an 11 minute gameplay footage video from the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines game. It looks really, really tasty, and it’s obvious (even without the commentator) that the crew are pretty big Aliens geeks. Might this be the game to finally get me to buy new gaming hardware?
And last but not least something for the smartphone folks. ZOMBIES, RUN! is a game designed to get you running, or if you already are, to add something to the often dreary daily/weekly/monthly jog. Their Kickstarter project has created roughly five times more money than they were asking for, so the game promises to be pretty excellent (despite the “brains” comment in the video bringing up alarm bells on the DotLOZDH test). I’m a sporadic jogger, and this might actually get me running a bit more. I’m sure a fair few gamers could do with more exercise, so this just might be the way to go. Be sure to check out the sales pitch video on the Kickstarter page, and support their project if you find it interesting.
[REC] is one of my all time favourite zombie flicks. [REC]² was a decent sequel, but it failed to match the original film’s intensity. We now have the first teaser trailer for [REC]³, which does seem very promising – if you can say that from approximately three seconds of actual footage. There’s apparently a chainsaw involved. Here’s a synopsis, courtesy of Dread Central:
The action now takes place miles away from the original location and partly in broad daylight, giving the film an entirely fresh yet disturbing new reality. The infection has left the building. In a clever twist that draws together the plots of the first two movies, this third part of the saga also works as a decoder to uncover information hidden in the first two films and leaves the door open for the final installment, the future ‘[REC] 4 Apocalypse.
…and here’s the teaser itself:
What better way to market a zombie game than (drum roll) viral marketing? If the term is not familiar, I’ll quote Wikipedia:
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or text messages.
To promote the upcoming video game Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, the homepage for our favourite zombie-producing megacorporation Umbrella has been opened and subsequently hacked. It’s pretty fun stuff, and I enjoy this kind of layering of the game world and our real one. This blog post is a perfect example of how viral marketing actually works, as indeed I’m now passing the link on and doubtlessly so are a few of you. Clever! Click on the Umbrella logo below to go to the site.
To celebrate Friday, here are some bad news for zombie fans. Well, they were for me at least.
Dead Island
From what I’ve seen a read, despite the awesome trailer everyone’s seen by now Dead Island disappointingly seems to be just another zombie game. Instead of the “realistic personal horror RPG about surviving the zombie apocalypse in an open sandbox environment” we seem to have video game silly-fare: special zombies à la Left 4 Dead, making special weapons à la Dead Rising, healing by drinking energy drinks…while there are loads of positive things said as well, comments like:
Sure, it may have shattered my disbelief, but…
are a great turn-off. While I don’t want to put down the game too much without actually playing it, I’m just disappointed that they didn’t really go for the unique approach they proclaimed earlier. From the gameplay trailers it pretty much looks like Left 4 Dead. That’s of course not a bad thing, but still.
Kotaku has a few articles on the subject. See this one for example.
World War Z
In a similar vein, the WWZ film seems to be taking a risky turn. Or maybe I should say risky in terms of fans, safe in terms of general public. The official plot description goes:
The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
While this is an understandable choice – centering the movie on a character – I can’t help the feeling that this detracts immensely from the appeal of the story. The major thing that bugs me, however, is the idea of one person trying to “stop the zombie pandemic”. This sounds horribly unrealistic, like a James Bond/Jason Bourne vs. zombies scenario. This doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a bad movie. Just as with Dead Island, above, it’s about suspension of disbelief. For me that’s one of the biggest hurdles that zombie fiction needs to cross, and this doesn’t seem promising in that regard. Might still kick ass, of course, and Brad Pitt is great.
The Walking Dead
The big news here is of course Frank Darabont getting fired. How this will affect the series remains to be seen, but it doesn’t sound good on a gut level. There are all sorts of rumours and implications, so I suggest you check out the Hollywood Reporter article here.
With these news it still pays to keep in mind that these are much expected works. There are lots of expectations resting on each, and that inevitably colours opinions, news and reactions. We might still end up with three excellent pieces of zombie culture, so keep those fingers crossed.
What we’ve all been waiting for – except those lucky people who actually were at the San Diego Comic Con – the trailer for the Walking Dead’s second season. See the trailer, then see my short comments below. Or read the comments and then see the trailer. Or..well, yeah.
What did I see? Major deviations from the comic books. This was to be expected, as it was already clear from season one that this is the way to go. Having read the comic books, I really enjoy this. While I’m a fan, I still don’t fancy seeing a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic. Instead, I want to be surprised and it seems this is exactly what will happen. The trailer looks very interesting, and it looks to me as if the series is being taken back to the grassroots of zombie survival after the (for me) disappointing near sci-fi flirt at the end of season one.
I can safely say I’m waiting for October.
It’s time for another look at what’s up and coming in the world of zombie (and assorted nasties) cinema.
Death Valley is a new series coming to MTV. Imagine Cops with vampires, zombies and werewolves and a hefty dose of humour. And it looks pretty awesome to boot. See this link for the trailer.
Monster Brawl features zombies only marginally, but it would be a crime against humanity to leave this one without mention. Eight classic monsters in a fighting tournament to the death. If this isn’t cool, what is? If you’re not convinced – and let’s face it, you might not be – see the trailer below and rethink.
More info on the film’s official site.
Dead Genesis
I’ve mentioned Dead Genesis a few times previously. The movie is doing the film festival rounds and has apparently been quite well received. They’ve released the first five minutes of the film, and it’s a pretty good, harrowing watch. Reminds me of the original Night of the Living Dead, which is always a good thing.
Infected
Infected might not be the most original title for a zombie film, but to compensate the movie doesn’t seem very original either. Still, it does have Michael Madsen in it, which always gives a film a few extra points. The movie is currently in post production according to iMDb.
Shouf Shouf Zombibi
What’s next? A Dutch zombie comedy? Yes. Not much I can say about this one, but it looks pretty zany! It’s coming out in 2012, according to the official site.
This concludes another episode of Upcoming Zombie Goodness, stay tuned for more!
Do you still remember Worst Case Scenario? It was the super eerie trailer for a movie that never was, where creepy zombie-like nazis waded out from the ocean surf. Here’s the video, in case you haven’t seen it:
As I said, it never came to be. There are good news now, however. The film-maker’s new project, focusing on nazis creating super soldiers out of dead corpses is apparently on its way. See the full blurb here.
MPI Media Group, LA-based XYZ Films and Pellicola of Amsterdam have entered into a coproduction deal to produce Richard Raaphorst’s FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY. The production-distribution deal was negotiated by Greg Newman, Executive Vice President of MPI Media Group, parent company of Dark Sky Films, Nate Bolotin of XYZ and Daniel Koefoed of Pellicola. MPI Media Group is financing the production while MPI and XYZ are co-representing international sales rights. Shooting is to begin in the spring in Prague and Amsterdam and will be completed by late fall.
Raaphorst’s Worst Case Scenario stands as one of the great horror films that never was. The Nazi-zombie project whipped up a massive international following thanks to two early promo reels. But due to financing and production difficulties, the project was abandoned in 2009. Now, director Raaphorst will bring his visionary design skills to this new horror movie, to be distributed by MPI/Dark Sky Films in North America.
There are two teaser clips, nicely blending authentic footage with directed stuff. They work great, as you can see below.
Nice, nicey nice! I don’t know what it is about undead nazis. They just get me every time.
Dawn of the Lead 