100 Posts!! Zombie News No. 23

Unnhhnn? 100 posts you say?

I can hardly believe it. 100 posts later and I am still here posting my heart away. Who knew I had that kind of staying power. I haven't given up on my dream of having an interactive community of gamers and zombie lovers visiting and commenting on my site/blog. Eventually, I will get off my tush and buy a domain name. For now, I am just trying to get more readers. Baby steps right? Or better yet un-dead shambling steps!

So as any dreary-eyed and caffeine induced PC gamer knows by now StarCraft II made its much anticpated release unto the masses on Tuesday. A fellow blogger who goes by JB has posted his intial impressions on the game, and Joystiq has posted a full review on it already. For you hold-outs, Kmart is running a $20 off sale that ends tomorrow.

Alan Wake has still not graced my 360 console, but for those that actually bought the game you got some free DLC content ready to take you back into Bright Falls. Go download the "The Signal" from the marketplace now!

Destructoid is giving us a reason to be excited about Madden NFL 11. In the way of a contest which includes  a NEW XBOX360 SLIM!! Simple contest (and fun) to enter. Just find a public place and strike a pose. Hell run a few plays with your buddies in the middle of the shopping mall. Best pic/video wins it all. Details here. Oh and for us skeptics (Aye!) on yearly reboots of said game the demo is out for your abusing.

I went back and read the July OXM report on Call of Duty: Black Ops this morning. I am so stoked to get my zombie paws on it! The highlights from the report detail the single-player campaign which sounds amazing with everything from flying an SR-71 blackbird, sneaking up on VietCong in man-made tunnels, and using a crossbow (with optional explosive tip arrows) to silently take out enemies. It's a must read and will get your heart pumping with just the thought of it! Oh and by the way, the graphics in this game look to surpass any other CoD game before it. With screens like the one below we could all be in for some visceral and stunning imagery. 

Time for some fun and interesting facts! GameStop has acquired the online game site Kongregate. For those that don't know, Kongregate is chock full of HIGH-quality flash games for you to enjoy. Case in point the game Mastermind. Not sure what the retailer has in mind for this acquisition but I am sure greedy executives are behind it. 

The beloved Major Nelson from Xbox Live gave a link on a recent tweet that is actually a pretty interesting read for the techie in all of us. Ever wanted to know how it is Rockstar can tell you how many pedestrians you ran over in GTA IV? It's a bit of a high-level read so if you don't have an IT background, you might skip it. Still, its fun to know how developers get all of these cool game stats!

Finally, Joystiq came across some plushies that are just downright adorable and cool. Portal 2 themed plushies no less! Here you can buy a GLaDos emotional spheres that repeat funny quips and phrases from the Portal game. I checked and it seems every nerd on the internet purchased one so you will have to wait for more to become available. For $45 I think I can wait, barely.

Until next time! 

Zombie News No. 18

Ok so yeah its been awhile since my last post to GZ, but hey having only a handful of hours of sleep every night to feed your growing kid can re-arrange your priorities. How did I make time for this one? I guess I am adjusting to the lifestyle of being a parent. Yeah that sounds good! So alot has happened in the last 11 days of gaming. For starters, we saw the release of Blur, ModNation Racers, Alpha Protocol, and a few other titles. The best bits of news aren't the new titles (which aren't any good according to recent reviews), but the DLC being released for multiple games as well as a few rumors and announcements that hit. Hit the links to read up on the latest.

Game News

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 gets another map pack from the grave of IW. The Resurgency Pack has 5 ALL NEW maps and retails for another $15. Xbox gets the exclusive release until July. Get it here.

Alan Wake gets a third DLC pack this year. Wow Remedy three episodes within a year? Cool.

Gears of War 3 screenshots are making Dtoid drool. Me too! It's been far too long since I curb stomped a locust solider.

Red Dead Redemption Co-op Pack June 22nd. OMG I can't wait for this. Gamefly will never get their copy of RDR back from me!

Reviews of Super Mario Galaxy are stellar. IGN, Dtoid, and others are giving it perfect scores. I still need to finish the first one.

Naughty Bear Pre-order on Amazon = Freddy Krubear outfit. Is chopping up plush bears going to be fun? Maybe!

His Airness Michael Jordan will be appearing on the cover of NBA2k11 this year. It's gonna be a tough battle this year between EA and 2k for B-ball supremacy on the consoles. EA's new shooting and dribble controls look sick! According to the latest issue of OXM, ""If the left stick is your body, then the right stick serves as your hands and the ball. Bouncing the ball behind our back, for instance, required rolling the stick down and around - the same movement our hands would make to pull off the trick."

Ubisoft teasing another Assassins Creed game? This looks legit.

New Call of Duty Black Ops Co-Op will be separate from the main campaign. I see a pattern here.

Cool Stuff and Other News

PS3 Owners will finally get some coveted HBO programming.

Gamestop will be selling DLC in-store soon. Why not just download it from Live or PSN as usual?
Play Worms 2 with the developers this month!


Lastly, Valve canceled their Portal 2 press event for E3. Why? Well its a surprise. Instead of the event taking place in the Regal Theater it will be replaced with a surprise. Hmm...Valve is crafty. I think the part that made most of the journalists antsy is the way the email was written. Here is what it said: (source-Dtoid)

Subject: A note from Aperture Science

Dear Subject Name Here,

Aperture Science is pleased to inform you that we have partnered with Valve to announce the gala CANCELLATION of the June 14 Portal 2 event at the Regal Theater. The event will be replaced by a surprise. And even though the cancellation of the event certainly counts as a surprise, we are pleased to further announce that the cancellation of the event is not THE surprise. However, per International treaties regarding the definition of the word "surprise", of which both Aperture Science and Valve are signatories, the time, date and content of the actual surprise will only become available as you experience the surprise.

If you'd like to ask fruitless questions about the E3 Portal 2 surprise or, more fruitfully, schedule an appointment to attend a Portal 2 screening at the Valve booth during E3, please contact Valve's Special Envoy to Surprises, Doug Lombardi.

Thank you for

PS: The surprising record scratch is also not the surprise.

Zombie News No. 17

Game Zombie is only 20 more posts away from hitting 100? Glorious! Reader Ominous Juan sent me some zombie related news.
Allow me to introduce to you Zombie "Bob" from http://www.zombietargets.net/. He is one of a handful of paper targets available for target shooting from the online supplier. Normally when going to the gun range one would find simple silhouette targets or the typical bad guy holding a gun cut out. I think having these as an alternative is brilliant! This way at least you have some sort of practice shooting at the undead before they invade your property. Speaking of shooting, I can't wait to start shooting bandits and wildlife in Red Dead Redemption. Should be in my mailbox today when I get home! Now for some news!



Game News

Rush to your local gamestore! New releases abound! Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Split/Second, and Prince of Persia are on store shelves today.

Ghost Recon Future Solider Delayed to 1Q 2011. Sucks, but I'm not surprised.

Split/Second Review at Dtoid

New Add-on for Splinter Cell Conviction. Bunch of new maps for co-op and hunter missions, new duds, and more.

If you want to stay in the Tom Clancy mood, there are two more titles in the works. Seriously? Talk about milking the cash cow, but it works!


IGN reviews the new Prince of Persia game and gave it a solid 8.0. Not bad, but I have had enough of the prince and his shenanigans. Count me out.


Cool Stuff



Before loading up Alan Wake check out the prequel webisodes online or on your Xbox. Creepy stuff.

Ready for Call of Duty Black Ops? This trailer might help make up your mind.



Well stick all that in your pipe and smoke it! Does this new CoD title look like a blockbuster? Doesn't look shockingly familiar to MW2? Yeah it does. My hope is that it will be better. Game on peeps!

Zombie News 15th Edition - Back in the Saddle

What a wild ride the past two weeks have been. In short, my wife and I welcomed our first child, a son, into the world on Apr 25th. Obviously, my wife's recovery and taking care of our new boy is taking priority. Will Game Zombie survive? Absolutely. I will keep this blog going as long as I like doing it. Originally I had hoped to have a few more bloggers on staff, but that hasn't worked out. It's just me. No one seems interested to this kind of thing. Alas, being the sole blogger on here I have come to appreciate how much information is released in just 14 days in the gaming world. In a word "aFugginTon." Ok I made that up but it translates to mean more than you can imagine. In an effort to stave off the hours of time to be wasted going through it all I am going to apply a huge filter to this edition of Zombie News and only post news on a select few items. Rest assured, I will be back later this week for a fresh edition of the news! Enjoy!

IGN reviews Alan Wake - A 9.0 is a good score from them. I should see this game in the mail next week. Once I beat it into submission, a review will follow.

We get our first look at Little Big Planet 2 - Sackboy returns!

Ubisoft's Assasins Creed game "Brotherhood" is confirmed. - Rumors abound as to whether this is a spin off or a full 3rd game. I think its the former.

Latest Left 4 Dead 2 Mutation - Follow the Liter - Scavenge mode turned up to 11! Loved it!

Oh and before I can submit my review of Splinter Cell Conviction, I have to play the co-op. My friends don't have this game yet so I am waiting to see what happens. In short though, SCC rocks! A great game with superb replay value. Highly recommend!

Til next time!

A super new Alan Wake trailer. Excited yet? You should be.

Remedy, the developer that brought us Max Payne, is set to release its next big thing. Maybe you've heard of it, it's called Alan Wake. Yeah so what if they named this game after the game's protagonist again? It's just their style. At least they don't name their main characters Cha-Chi or Buford. Alan Wake actually sounds cool. While its not an original idea for the crew at Remedy, it still works. The phrase 'Don't judge a book by its cover' comes to mind. So official word from the Alan Wake forums indicates that the team is officially done with the game and has passed certification. For good measure Microsoft has released a new 4 minute trailer on the game via Xbox Live, but I'm impatient and decided to embed the video below.


An extremely well done trailer. They do a great job of setting the scene without giving too much away. It actually draws me in and leaves me wanting more. Want more reasons to be excited about Alan Wake? Two words - Episodic Content. DLC for Alan Wake has been confirmed and has been dubbed as episodic in nature. Does that mean after the story in Bright Falls we can explore beyond? Only time will tell.

Getting excited about Alan Wake is easy for me for two reasons. 1) The psychological action-thriller this is tabbed as peaks my interest right off the bat. I love books, movies, and TV shows with weird and unexplainable events that keep you on edge. The psycho-action part...well that speaks for itself. 2) The gameplay is exciting and fresh. It brings me back to the first time I played the original Resident Evil and the feeling I got from exploring my surroundings and trying to put the pieces of the story together. The story is key.

May 18th is the Alan Wake release date. I don't know when, but this game will surely be in my library.

Alan Wake Previews are Rolling in

A few websites (IGN and Destructoid) have posted previews of the upcoming Action-Thriller game Alan Wake. Due to release on May 18th the previews are very positive and I for one can not wait to get my hands on this one. Remedy is the developer behind the game and from the previous hits Max Payne 1 and 2 I can already see this one turning into a movie or spawning a book. The content described by the authors of the previews is just great and the story they describe is already pulling me in. The fact that the game is heavily inspired by TV shows like the X-Files and Twin Peaks is a plus in my book because I absolutely love the X-Files (original cast only. Mulder and Scully rule!). Stephen King novels are also a heavy influence, and lets face it that really turns this into a powerful mix of strange and frightening! Not to be left out though is the fact that Alan Wake is an action game too. From what the previews report, there is not shortage of action and that's a good thing because I don't want to watch endless cut scenes all the time. The team at Remedy has built this game for awhile and the polish shows in the screenshots. They built the Max Payne engine from scratch and this game was no different. They really stuck to their high standards. I am highly anticipating getting wrapped up in the story of Alan Wake come May. I would suggest that all GaMe ZoMbiEs give this one a try or you can wait for my review after it comes out. Have a good weekend ZoMbies!