According to the Left 4 Dead blog, 28,981,249,043 zombies have been killed since the games release in November 2009. Here’s the breakdown from their post:
• The entire population of the planet has been zombified and killed 4.26 times.
• With the average height of a zombie being 6 feet, if you stacked them end to end they would circle the globe 1,322 times.
• If you placed 28,981,249,043 rulers end to end, they would reach 28,981,249,043 feet in the sky.
Yesterday we reported on Zombies in Love – an upcoming art exhibition celebrating Valentine’s Day and zombies. Today comes news of two zombie flicks in production with a romantic bend: Diablo Cody Hopes to Spark Zombie Romance with Breathers and Jonathan Levine Directing Warm Bodies Zombie Love Film.
Obviously the commercial success of vampire/romance crossover Twilight is to take some of the blame, but does this mean we’ll soon see sparkly zombies? Or is this an attempt to lighten up the typical doomsday scenarios of most zombie movies?
Here’s why I don’t think it will take off as a fad: zombies make terrible protagonists. The very definition of the word zombie uses the term “a soulless corpse” – not exactly something that would be exciting to watch. A soulless corpse is boring, has no motivation and a desire for little other than human flesh. The best zombie flicks tell stories about human interactions – betrayal, cooperation, mortality, and endurance of the human spirit. Telling these stories through the eyes of a zombie seems gimmicky at best. Audiences will it find it difficult to connect with characters that look as gruesome as a corpse.
What are your thoughts? Care to disagree? Let us know in the comments!
Holy shit! It’s an 8-Bit version of Left 4 Dead! Go see Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead for yourself. It’s available as a free download from Eric Ruth Games. Here’s a brief description from their site:
Go alone, or invite a friend for 2 player co-op against the zombie apocalypse in all 4 of the original game campaigns. 2 difficulties and all 4 of the survivors make a glorious 8-bit appearance, complete with first and second tier weapons scattered along your path to escape.
Thanks to game blog Co-Optimus for the head’s up on this.
George emailed to alert us to these awesome Left 4 Dead costumes spotted at this year’s ComicCon: Bill, Zoey, and a Tank, a Witch, and another Zoey. Very cool costumes, but how the heck does the Tank move around?
Many people wrote us to let us know that Left 4 Dead 2 was announced yesterday at the annual E3 conference. Not only was it announced, but it was also dated for release this November! The sequel to last year’s hit zombie game will have a stronger focus on melee weapons, new bosses and maps, and in general just more of what we loved so much about the first game.
It’s finally here! Yesterday Valve released the long-awaited downloadable content for Left 4 Dead. I was so excited about this that I played while I should have been working and tending to other important things in my life.
Survival Mode is intense! And the new “Last Stand” lighthouse level is the toughest to withstand of them all. And the fact that your melee attack has to “recharge” in Survival Mode makes it all the more challenging.
If you haven’t gotten online to play this yet, what the hell are you waiting for? It’s the perfect way to whisk away several hours.
Joystiq has the lowdown on a new zombie game coming to XBox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Tucked away in a corner at a recent press event, Zombie Apocalypse was a big hit with game journalists until electrical problems caused the game to no longer function. Looks like a fun, lighter Left 4 Dead aimed squarely at the casual gaming crowd.
I’ve spent the last half an hour trying to find a copy online of the Left 4 Dead zombie-video-game-porno-parody, Left 4 Head. But…every time I come close to a copy of it, the video has been removed due to “copyright infringement”. You can find more info on it here, here and here. Also, if anybody finds the video online, please let us know.
It’s been quite a week for fans of zombie video games so I’ve decided to consolidate all this week’s news into one big roundup. Yee-haw!
Valve announced some new downloadable content for their mega-hit Left 4 Dead. Once the content is released this spring, you’ll be able to play both the Death Toll and and Dead Air campaigns in versus mode. Also, they’ll be introducing a new mode of play called “survival” in which you’ll be pelted with wave after wave of zombies and compete for the amount of time you can stay alive.
Speaking of Left 4 Dead, George sent us a link to these awesome Left 4 Dead valentines, suitable for printing and handing out to your loved ones.
Prototype, the superhero zombie fighting game we posted about last month, gets a release date for June according to a company memo.
Wii gamers who wanted to play the critically acclaimed Dead Space will finally have a chance – EA announced they are working on a Dead Space game for the Wii. It is unclear whether this is a direct port or some sort of spin-off of the series, but either way it’s definitely good news for Wii fans.
Capcom also announced this week that they are officially working on a Dead Rising 2. They even released a viral video last week to get people amped up about running through a zombie horde in an American Gladiators style hamster ball.
And finally, speculation has started around a fourth Resident Evil movie. The screenplay has been written, and FX team assembled; all they need is Milla Jovovich to sign on to play Alice again. Even though the movie franchise continues to diverge from the video games, I still find them quite enjoyable. Here’s hoping for at least one more movie!
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