Poll: Why All The Zombies?
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No, zombies can sod off. Developers and those in general entertainment need to get their heads out of that corpse's ass mouth and try something creative and different. Make a new freaking monster/horror creature already and break things up. Twilight be damned, I'd rather have vampires, werewolves, or vampires making out with werewolves as pro/antagonists than even more chunks of reanimated, cannibalistic bulls-eyes with the interesting qualities of a foam cup. If it weren't for those prior two factors, they could be replaced by a line at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Dead Rising takes itself seriously? Wow, didn't see that comment coming.Fidelias said:
Anyway, I see a couple of DLCs involving zombies, and a few games, but really, "why all the zombies" seems a silly question. Especially when there are 50 WW2 games released a month. "Why all the Nazis" would seem to be a better question. Or "Why all the hypermasculine space marines" or even "Why all the ninjas" in a pinch.
Zombies are just fun to kill the shit out of. That's really it. And I'm confused about the view that Dead Rising and L4D take themselves too seriously. L4D is in the form of a bunch of cheesy mock movies, and Dead Rising is Dead Rising.
Did you like Twilight? If so replace zombies with evil vampires.
Except they aren't bastardized versions of their original selves.
Also, Ghouls aren't fucking zombies. They haven't died yet.
Except they aren't bastardized versions of their original selves.
Also, Ghouls aren't fucking zombies. They haven't died yet.
Dammit, I KNEW I should have brought my kitchen map!
But I digress. Zombies are...okay.
Everything in moderation...Oh hey, there's my fridge! Now to get back...
But I digress. Zombies are...okay.
Everything in moderation...Oh hey, there's my fridge! Now to get back...
First laugh of the day, thank you. ^_^ A good point too.Adventurer2626 said:
My personal view is that zombies got popular outside of the video game industry. In film and such, its a different game, and I think the public fascination really starts there.
Think about the fact that the unfair boss, from your teenage years at McBurgerJoint, is now a target dummy to try out your 'survival skills' and its always something that keeps people coming for more. This is the part I think transfers to video games well. It's the thought that everyone around you, that you have so much stress and anger about, is now a target. There is no humanity they have that restricts you to your manners. Pissed at the world? Well a zombie-pocalypse is exactly what you need, because then you can take out all that frustrating with no guilt what so ever. ^_^
Videos games are an interactive medium ... whats better than watching an average-joe be as free as you wish you could be, on the big screen? Why, simulating doing it yourself of course. Not having to care about your target in that 'fellow human being way' that even in war-time games, impedes all the gruesome freedoms you can take in dead rising, but not in CoD.
My thoughts. <3
A lot of people are saying Zombies are a fad, but fads don't generally last almost 20 years...
Fact is, a lot of games are about shooting things. If you want to make shooting tense, you make those things monstrous and unstoppable. So, you put a story to monstrous things running around, and a context that allows you, the player, to shoot them without getting too concerned about why you are shooting them. Hmm. Alien invasion? A bit corny, and you'd probably have to end up explaining the aliens. Same with any fantasy setting, you'd have to contextualise to make the player want to shoot anything. So, its a virus, or simply the dead walking. Easy peasy. Instant drama, as humans + possibility of turning undead = plenty of story opportunity, conflict and tension with half the work of any other narrative.
Then you have to consider the gameplay. Since Evil Dead, we've associated zombies, and zombie killing, with a) hordes and b) fully customisable weapons. That is pretty much the definition of what makes an FPS fun to play, besides multiplayer. We all know the joy of splatting a zombie with the nearest thing to hand.
The reason I think its been so popular in particular with extra and downloadable content is because publishers get concerned that their game is too gritty and realistic. They want to keep that in, but they also want players to have fun with the game. What's fun, and easy to write and set up within the context of whatever your game actually is? adding "AND zombies" to every line of code, of course.
Yes, its easy. Its fun for the IKEA generation. It might seem a little tiring to some, but it'll stick around because of the sheer guilt-free joy of splatting gross-looking humans with home appliances. I agree that it can be repetitive - this is why I don't play a lot of full zombie games like Dead Rising or Resi. But I'm happy for the diversion in games such as COD or Red Dead, a nice bit of crazy gameplay as a breather between the serious stuff.
I'm not saying I agree that there isn't some alternative, somewhere, but everything I can think of to replace such joyous fully-customisable splatty carnage is basically a riff on 'zombies', but by some narrative conceit, they go by a different name - and if anything that's more irritating. That, or you go all GTA with your splatty carnage, and that's been done to death too.
Fact is, a lot of games are about shooting things. If you want to make shooting tense, you make those things monstrous and unstoppable. So, you put a story to monstrous things running around, and a context that allows you, the player, to shoot them without getting too concerned about why you are shooting them. Hmm. Alien invasion? A bit corny, and you'd probably have to end up explaining the aliens. Same with any fantasy setting, you'd have to contextualise to make the player want to shoot anything. So, its a virus, or simply the dead walking. Easy peasy. Instant drama, as humans + possibility of turning undead = plenty of story opportunity, conflict and tension with half the work of any other narrative.
Then you have to consider the gameplay. Since Evil Dead, we've associated zombies, and zombie killing, with a) hordes and b) fully customisable weapons. That is pretty much the definition of what makes an FPS fun to play, besides multiplayer. We all know the joy of splatting a zombie with the nearest thing to hand.
The reason I think its been so popular in particular with extra and downloadable content is because publishers get concerned that their game is too gritty and realistic. They want to keep that in, but they also want players to have fun with the game. What's fun, and easy to write and set up within the context of whatever your game actually is? adding "AND zombies" to every line of code, of course.
Yes, its easy. Its fun for the IKEA generation. It might seem a little tiring to some, but it'll stick around because of the sheer guilt-free joy of splatting gross-looking humans with home appliances. I agree that it can be repetitive - this is why I don't play a lot of full zombie games like Dead Rising or Resi. But I'm happy for the diversion in games such as COD or Red Dead, a nice bit of crazy gameplay as a breather between the serious stuff.
I'm not saying I agree that there isn't some alternative, somewhere, but everything I can think of to replace such joyous fully-customisable splatty carnage is basically a riff on 'zombies', but by some narrative conceit, they go by a different name - and if anything that's more irritating. That, or you go all GTA with your splatty carnage, and that's been done to death too.
Actually people like zombies because they are undeniably human but perfectly ok to abuse, we project onto them the aspects of people we dislike and then take it out on them. It's the reason a bunch of best selling games have you killing zombies or nazis or terrorists, we dislike somebody out there but we wouldn't kill them, giving us a more or less human enemy we can justify killing is pretty appealing to a lot of people.Atmos Duality said:
idk, they're just popular now
as for why zombies? well, this is a bit personal but, zombies are a great way to relieve stress sometimes, like, when you just want to shoot everything into shit, zombies are there just for that, I mean, they're walking and bleeding targets, you can just do whatever you want and they wont retaliate, well yeah they will try to eat your brains and shit, but the main point of them and the zombie apocalypse itself is just mass murder.... think about it =P
as for why zombies? well, this is a bit personal but, zombies are a great way to relieve stress sometimes, like, when you just want to shoot everything into shit, zombies are there just for that, I mean, they're walking and bleeding targets, you can just do whatever you want and they wont retaliate, well yeah they will try to eat your brains and shit, but the main point of them and the zombie apocalypse itself is just mass murder.... think about it =P
Zombies are the most recent horror monster. I'd say vampires are even more recent but.... sadly, they are not looking as horror-like as recent movies make them to be. When they get more horror feel to them, I'm sure there will be overloads of vampire games. But being a die-hard zombie fan, they are still really fun to play because you can kill millions and not feel guilty about it because your helping them.
I think its more of a realistic thing. Vamps, wolfs, mummy, so on and so forth are really far out there. The general idea is that zombies are created from a virus or disease. Kinda like rabies(sp?) you can have a happy camper dog then when he gets it, he turns bat shit crazy. It the most possible thing to happen so we are more prone to gravitate towards it.
Thats my thought anyways.
Thats my thought anyways.
BAH! Do you know how much I would give for a really good Pirate or Ninja game!?? There's so many awesome themes that haven't been explored properly in games, like westerns for example, which are just being done now (Eg. Red Dead Redemption).freedomweasel said:
If anything, I'd absolutely want Ubisoft Montreal to make a ninja game. Just laying it over the foundations of the Scimitar engine (Ass Creed and Ass Creed 2) would be amazing, but knowing Ubisoft, they'd go that extra mile and do so much research, so much detail and so much gameplay put into the game that it could end up being one of the best games they've ever released.
Especially seeing the new aggressive combat in AC: Brotherhood. Adapting it to japanese fighting styles would be awesome.
As for Pirate games, I'd definitely pick Rockstar games to do it. Their RAGE engine coupled with Euphoria could make such an engaging pirate game where you have your own ship and heaps of different islands to explore in the Carribean, or perhaps the Medeterranian.
Not to mention if anyone could write an awesome story and awesome dialogue for a pirate game it'd be Sam and Dan Houser.
lol sorry for gushing, but they're both in dire need of being made XD
Oh yeah, right, zombies. . .
OT: As far as zombies are concerned, game developers have really got to think long and hard about what games they put zombies in and why.
Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare pack is a good example of a company really thinking a process like this through and going the full mile to make it a completely rounded experience. Plus, if you don't like zombies then you can just either not download it, or download it and play the regular game with all the costumes and weapons you get, plus the secret locations.
Now, about an open world dinosaur apocalypse game. . .
I love zombies maybe because "zombies" pretty much describe anything that used to be dead and is now alive like the necromorphs from dead space (zombie aliens FTW!) also there are many types of zombies fast/running ones the good ol slow lumbering dumb as a rock ones (<-- my favorite kind) ones with special traits like the LFD ones ect. In my opinion we need MORE zombies!!!