Well, in honor of Minecraft, a group of fans created this pretty kick ass video about a zombie apocalypse. I gotta say, besides the funny inside jokes about Minecraft, the video itself is really well made. It starts with a view of a post-apocalyptic looking city with the simple words, “13 Days After the Infection” and it gets better. Honestly, I would love to see this crew make a bona fide zombie film. Hell, even a buddy picture zombie film a la Zombieland except without the last half of the movie.

For those of you who haven’t played Minecraft, here’s a couple insights to the jokes but you might want to read them after you see it lest I ruin it for you.

First of all, everyone is dressed in what looks like block outfits. That’s because everything in Minecraft is rendered in cubes. Even your own character looks blocky. It’s the graphical style of the game and while it may cause some people to chew their own eyeballs, it becomes endearing after awhile. You may say this is the result of Stockholm syndrome and since the creator, Markus “Notch” Persson lives in Stockholm, I’d have to agree with you

The pork chops are used to restore health in the game. You have to kill pigs in the game, collect the meat, and then cook it. I always carry a ton of it when I go exploring because I usually end up pretty far away from my in game house when night falls. And when I find myself caught outside, I tend to mix it up a bit with the bad guys. By mix it up, I mean that I run away with my tail between legs, sounding like Curly from The Three Stooges.

There’s a bit in the video where the survivors are in the workshed, putting their resources on the table. That’s the crafting part of Minecraft with actual in game graphics. They ultimately make a blue pick and blue shotgun. The blue means they crafted them out of diamonds; one of the best (and rarest) resource in the game. Alas, you cannot make a shotgun.

And finally, the monster that explodes at the end of the clip is called a Creeper. He’s a pretty much a suicidal bomber. He actually doesn’t mind the sun so he’s a big pain the ass. He’s as silent as a ninja and well, likes to creep. Usually, the only thing you hear is his fuse going off which means he’s right behind you and that you are screwed. Big time. He tends to leave large craters in his wake if you are lucky enough to avoid him.

Well, I’m off to city hall to pick up my certified geek card. I hope you enjoyed the clip as much I did.

MINECRAFT – The Last Minecart (youtube.com <- new window)

I would have given the game a spin on my own iTouch but alas, it is currently missing in action. Hopefully, I’ll be able to dig it up soon, but in the meantime, if any of you give the game a whirl, let me know if you think it’s worth the download. Here’s a snippet of what Destructoid thinks:

The game is all about throwing knives at the undead, knives that you can psychically steer because of reasons. Flick a knife, touch the screen and then personally drive it through a flesheater’s skull. It takes a little practice, but it’s good stuff.

Needless to say, the game is basically a demo for the other two games in the series so don’t expect much. As for player reviews, iTunes only has three of them listed on their website with one of them written in Japanese (Chinese?). Thankfully, it won’t cost anything other than time (which is really our most valuable currency) so flick away and let me know how it turns out.

Free App of the Day: Zombie Crisis 3D: Prologue (destructoid.com <- new window)

Yahtzee nails some low hanging fruit such as the writing of the game. If you haven’t played the game, let’s just say that even during the high points, the writing is pure sludge. While some of the case files are interesting in their own respect, the entire arc of the story is flat and uninspired. The developers could have deleted half of them and nothing important would have been lost.

The smaller one-on-one psychopath encounters are even worse. While each psychopath story is unique in itself, the stories follow the same basic premise over and over and over again. It reached a point where I pressed start to skip the cinema as I wasn’t being entertained nor was there anything of value being imparted to me. Each cutscene, the different psychos followed the same script – they were about kill someone or were upset over a death of a loved one, they discover Chuck approaching them, usually making them angry enough to attack him. I found it hilarious that some of the psychos even recognized Chuck as a “famous motocross star”. Has there ever been a famous motocross star? Ever?

Moving on … Yahtzee also points out the hypocrisy of killing looters while looting yourself. You even stop a few bank robberies during the zombie apocalypse which begs the question as to why? Seriously. Everyone’s dead. Granted, the story is about Chuck trying to prove his innocence and while stopping the robberies threw a wrench into the bad guy’s plans, it was hardly necessary. Would the story have changed in any way had Chuck not bothered preventing the robberies, and instead, ran around the mall in a pair of kid’s pajamas? Not at all. Again, bad writing.

But I do have to agree with Yahtzee. The game is flawed, but it’s fun. It’s not at all like the mess of the first one. Had the developers simply removed the artificial time limits and allowed players to run like mad wolves through all the extensive areas, this could have been a great game. Maybe we’ll see this in Dead Rising 3.

And if any of the developers are reading this … please take note of this one simple truth. More zombies does not equal a better time. In some cases, it’s just the opposite. Just sayin’.

Zero Punctuation: Dead Rising 2 (escapistmagazine.com <- new window)

The game will be will be available for download on October 26 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for $10. Undead Nightmare will be separate from the main story game, but you will need to have the full game to play it. (Gamestop also lists the expansion as being available as a separate game for $29.99)

Check out the official Undead Nightmare trailer and the Kotaku preview of the game.

Undead Nightmare trailer (Rockstargames.com <- new window)

Kotaku.com (Kotaku.com <- new window)

I gave the campaign a spin this morning and found it to be adequate. Is it worth the seven bucks I paid for it over XBox live? Well, the campaign alone is definitely short with the last level being a straight copy/paste job from the previous DLC, The Passing. So, had this campaign been released solo, it would have been a waste of dollars, but thankfully, the fine folks over at Valve decided to include one of the campaigns from the original game with the original characters which makes this DLC a steal in my book. The campaign is titled No Mercy where you must travel to the top of a hospital to alert a nearby chopper. It has some epic moments from traveling the depths of sewer to ascending the unfinished heights of the hospital. If you haven’t played this campaign yet, you’re in for a wonderful treat.

Moving on.

Valve also finished their comic adaption of the Sacrifice, showing in detail how old crusty Bill gives up the ghost. The comic as a whole is a pretty good read with some nice artwork, exploring the backstories of the original Left 4 Dead cast. It also illuminates how the infection is spread which is a pretty cool take on the whole rage virus genre.

The other piece of news is that Left 4 Dead 2 is now available to purchase for seven bucks on both Mac and Windows. Yes, for the price of the DLC, you can buy the entire game which includes both DLC additions for free. If you are in the mood for throwing some cash around, you can also buy Left 4 Dead as part of a combo pack for three bucks extra. If you have the computer that can handle it and like first person shooters, this is a no brainer (har har).

And by purchasing the game, I can pretty much say that any future DLC update will be on the house. Valve just loves to update their games for years. By constantly improving their games, they are driving new customers. They’ve been doing it for years now. They actually wanted to provide this update for XBox owners for free, but Microsoft wouldn’t let them, prompting Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve, to call the service a trainwreck.

Gotta love, Gabe. The dude doesn’t pull any punches.

In any case, gotta go kill some zombies. Maybe I’ll bump into you online and kill you too :)

Cheers!
Brian

Left 4 Dead Blog (l4d <- new window)

Cutscenes Galore
WOW … this game loves its cutscenes. At one point, I would move a couple feet only to prompt another cutscene. Sometimes, cutscene follows cutscene, making the game feel like an awkward movie with long drawn out pauses between scenes. Granted, it gets better as the game starts to move along but at the start of the game, I felt like I were playing a zombie metal gear hybrid.

Weak Story
Granted, I’m still in the first act of the game, but the story so far has been pretty weak. In the game, you play a motorcross star who is competing in an motorcross/zombing killing television show to earn money to pay for Zombrex – a drug to prevent zombification – for his infected daughter. I was confused right off the bat … was the zombie threat contained? Was the show occurring in a post-apocalyptic society? Are zombies considered pests? Well, I played the event and managed to win it. This isn’t supposed to happen because right after the event, everyone started calling me a loser in all the cutscenes. In fact, two hot women started berating me and I was like, what the hell is their deal? I wish I could have flipped them off in game because their reaction made no sense to me. That is, until one of my friends told me that the motocross event couldn’t be beat. Er, guess not. In any case, the rest of the story deals with a frame up which feels entirely weak in a zombie apocalypse. I later met an uber hot reporter who’s only job was to seductively pose in tight fitting clothes and an “earthy crunchy” who wishes to save zombies (yeah right). In short, we’re not talking Shakespeare. Hell, we’re not talking dime novel.

If it ain’t broke …
It feels as though the developers took Dead Rising 1, did a copy/paste, and changed only a few things. Even the safe house setup feels identical to Dead Rising 1 from the ringing phone to the duct access to the rest of the “mall” (the game feels like one sprawling mall instead of an actual city). When I realized this … I was about to smash my head through the tv until I noticed it wasn’t all that bad. Sure, you still have a countdown clock and survivors were dying all over the place, but the developers sanded off the sharp edges the game. What used to be mind numbingly frustrating design choices were now minor irritations. Granted, it would be nice for the developers to hire voice actors for the in-game content instead of having to read line of text while fending off zombies.

Fun Zombie Killing
Zombie killing is fun as ever. My biggest complaint with the game is that there just isn’t enough downtime to enjoy killing the undead in different creative ways.

Unique Weapons
Probably the most hyped up feature is a big yawn for me. For the most part, creating the unique weapons is more of a scavenger hunt and while they last longer than normal weapons, it’s just too much work for too little gain. Especially in light of the constant time crunch.

Repetitive Zombies
The developers boast that the game can handle thousands upon thousands of zombies on screen at once. What the developers didn’t mention is that you will be seeing the same zombies over and over and over again. One time, I walked into a mob of clone zombies like Jon and Kate’s kids had grown up to be infected brain suckers.

Co-Op
Honestly … this is where the game shines. Co-op is a blast. Having one person swing a bat while another runs down zombies in a golf cart is a blast. The only problem with co-op is that when the host saves his game, the other person is kicked out of it. I’m guessing a patch will be coming shortly.

In summation, after playing Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, I fully expected to dislike this game and while this game does still have a bunch of problems, it is really fun to play. Granted, there are still plenty of boss fights to ruin the fun, but hey, as long as I have a buddy by my side, wearing boxing gloves and a sequined dress, the bosses shouldn’t be much of an issue.

What better way to get your zombie blood pumping than by reading the excellent comic book adaption of Left 4 Dead. I gotta say, it’s nice to see comic inspired from a video game instead of the typical reversal. It’s even nicer that the said comic is good. While the writing isn’t the greatest and the story sometimes trips into cliche, the comic is a fun read, illuminating all the different creatures of the game while also detailing some wonderful backstory about the characters.

And I’m not talking about Left 4 Dead 2 characters, but good old Francis, Zoey, Louis, and Bill. You know – the original zombie A-Team. It’s funny to listen to other Left 4 Dead fans talk about these characters like old friends. Somehow, the new fabulous four from Left 4 Dead 2 never caught on with the general public. I would be willing to put down hard cash and bet it was probably a result of the Left 4 Dead 2 backlash. I think that stink of announcement never left the game.

Now, if you’ve never played Left 4 Dead and have no clue what I’m talking about … you should still check out this comic. It illuminated the world of the game in pretty good detail. In short, you’d get a good idea of what it is like to play the game although the comic makes you think it is a zombie apocalypse, when in truth, the infected are still alive. It’s a small point and for some, it will be like sandpaper over their eyeballs. It doesn’t bother me, but I’ve argued with plenty of people over at All Things Zombie about the point. For example, one dude asked me for my favorite zombie movies and I mentioned 28 Days Later as being one of them. To which, he responded, that’s nice, but 28 Days Later isn’t a zombie movie.

I wanted to throttle him.

In any case, the comic is a fun read with good illustrations to boot. I’m not sure how many issues will be made, but as it stands, there are about seventy pages already. It took me about thirty minutes to read and when I finished, I definitely wanted more. Good stuff. Keep it coming!

Left 4 Dead – The Sacrifice (l4d.com <- new window)

Ah yes, the ‘effing save system strikes back. While it doesn’t sound as ridiculous as the first game, requiring you to travel ten minutes just to save the game, it still sounds like a lot of controller’s will be thrown through flat screens. From the fine article:

There is also the issue of saving your game. You get three slots to save your game, but you can only save at the end of episodes or when you find a restroom. That’s it. If you don’t save for hours and find yourself overwhelmed by zombies, then you lose that progress. If you stumble into a boss battle and get your butt handed to you because you were unprepared and haven’t saved, too bad. It can be frustrating, so save often, be aware of where the restrooms are, and always remember that there is no auto-save. The game does not care how harsh it’s being. After a while, you find a rhythm of weapon-collection, saving, exploration, and mission completion, but that takes a while. Until you understand how the game wants to be played, you may find yourself cursing at the screen.

Yes, this doesn’t bode well. Believe it or not, I didn’t even manage to finish Dead Rising 2: Case Zero because I lost two games from dying, literally negating a couple of hours of work. Some may say it accurately depicts the tension of a zombie apocalypse (yes, I’m looking at you, Ben :) but for me, it conjures the same feeling of a computer crash after just finishing a five page paper, and neglecting to save the thing.

And why, pray tell, don’t they save the game before a boss fight? It’s like they spent a lot of time making those cut scenes before the fight and you sure as hell as gonna watch them … over and over and over.

Some might argue that an instant save system removes the tension since there isn’t really much to lose and a checkpoint system just kind of sucks all around. I think the big problem with the game (having not played it, of course) is that when you die, the game ends. Granted, you get to restart with your updated stats, but that’s a bitter consolation prize for now having to repeat yourself. It would be nice to have included a death mechanic in the actual game. For example, say you die and instead of saying “game over”, the game would give you control of one of the people you rescued. Your whole mission as this new character would be to “rescue” your previous character and bring him back to the safe room. Each death would raise some sort of difficulty curve, costing the player time and supplies until you ran out of both – then “THE END”.

Sure, It would still suck to die, but at least you won’t have lost much of your time investment into the game. You wouldn’t be forced to watch the same stupid cutscenes, talk to the same people, and refight the same bosses. Just a thought.

In any case, more impressions of the game as the week unfolds. Let me know what you think of it so far.

The funny side of nihilism: Ars reviews Dead Rising 2 (arstechnica.com <- new window)

And the bowling ball? It’s pretty awesome to see a zombie’s head explode.

But alas, not all of the game is glorious splattered brains and fountains of blood. Like sand in a bathing suit, there are some definite irritations. The game definitely carried over some of the weaker bits of the first one and even introduced some of their own. Here’s a non-prioritized list of things that tend to get in the way of having a good time.

Sluggish Interface
When the game prompts you to save or select a file, the game appears to freeze when you press a button. It’s only after ten seconds do you see any sort of progress bar, indicating the some file operation is in progress. It feels like you are playing a really laggy online game.

Written Dialogue
While the font is now readable without squinting, it kills me that I’m still reading dialogue at all. This is especially irritating when you are being attacked by zombies. It’s even more disjointing when the non-player character is saying something while his dialogue is different in tone. For example, the guy on the roof was yelling “over here” to me while I was standing next to him and his written dialogue was talking about his lost daughter. It just feels weird and sterile. Speaking of the guy on the roof …

Guy on the Roof
Uggh. The Otis of the game. He kept calling out to me “hey, over here” over and over as I tried to figure out a way to climb up the building. I wish I could have answered him just to shut him up. At least Otis stopped calling. This guy was nonstop and when I finally made it to the roof, he didn’t want to come down. Uggh.

Pawn Shop
Let me just say, when a town is overrun with zombies, currency will hold no value. There will be no buying and selling. Money might hold sway on the edges of an apocalypse, but in the center of the storm, money is useless. I believe bottled water and ammunition would have a higher value than a useless piece of paper. So, the whole “buying” game mechanic bothered me. Especially since I saved the pawnbroker’s life. Seriously, if that dude charged me a cool thousand dollars for information after I just rescued him from a zombie buffet, I would prop open his doors and ring the dinner bell.

Opening at the Gas Station
The moment you actually have control of your character, you can start collecting weapons. Mind you, you can’t swing your weapons, but you can hold them. I think the developers didn’t want people to attack the little girl but it was such a heavy handed move because I felt like something was “wrong” with the controls or I didn’t know the attack button. So when I first encountered zombies, I fumbled with the controls for a bit which isn’t fun when a horde is pressing down on you. It’s a small point sure that could have been avoided.

Too Many Zombies?
Hard to say. I’m noticing a lot of slowdown when the screen is filled with them and believe it or not, you don’t need a lot of zombies to create high tense moments. I’d prefer better placed zombies than a whole street of them if it affects the performance of the game. It’s fun for sure to see the wake of corpses behind you and it feels good to wipe them all out, but it just takes one bit of slowdown to make a tense encounter turn into a frustrating one.

Overall, I think the game is definitely worth the five bucks I paid for it. Hell, I would have been fine with ten unlike say, Onslaught Mode for Bad Company 2 whereby I paid ten bucks for the same maps I already own albeit with bots on it. And while the game has its issues, it’s still a fun romp. It’s a shame this wasn’t released earlier so that the developers could have analyzed the playtest data. Still, if it’s a sign of things to come, then that sign is a good one.

Fellow zombie website Hot Zombie Action did a nice write up of the game, covering all the bases for the five dollar download. I won’t spoil the surprise of their conclusion, but I will say that they had quite a few positive things to say about it. Here’s what they had to say about the most hyped feature of the game – the weapon combo system:

Combo Cards are easily the biggest improvement in this sequel. As one of my XBL friends commented, Chuck Greene “uses both sides of his brain,” allowing him not only the ability to use a litany of commonplace items as weapons of mass undead destruction, but the ingenuity to combine these items in ways that would make MacGuyver proud. Combo cards are the recipes for these combination weapons. Some are gained by simply combining two items and creating a new weapon. Sometimes, however, simple experimentation nets you only a “Scratch Card,” which is a slightly weaker version of the weapon. I found that leveling up upgrades these Scratch Cards into Combo Cards. In addition to adding a staggering amount of variety to the available zombie killing apparati, these combo weapons also net the player additional PP per kill, thereby making them a must. Besides, most of these weapons are so damn cool/hilarious that you won’t need much incentive to make them once you’re able.

Voracious D wasn’t too happy with the revised save system. I feel your pain, brother. Not having to walk ten minutes through a zombie infested mall just so you can shut off you XBox is a slight improvement. Still, it’s one big pain in the behind to break open a map for directions then fend off the unquenchable horde on your way through town just to get out of the game. Maybe one of these days, CapCom will discover the old “press start” then “select save game” mechanic that’s been in video games since the early eighties. Maybe that will be Dead Rising 3.

In any case, I’ve enjoyed the game so far. It’s quicker than I would have liked but the story is decent. Instead of slowly building up to a horde of flesh eaters, the mass of zombies come at you right out of the gate. Unfortunately, there’s a little slowdown when too many appear. And the game feels really short. I’ve played less than an hour and I’m almost done. In any case, so far, so good. If you own an XBox you should at least give the demo a spin.

Zombie Video Games: Dead Rising 2 – Case Zero Review (hotzombieaction.com <- new window)

I can hear the furrowing of a thousand brows just beyond my window. Why would anyone want to drop ninety bucks on what amounts to be a higher priced video game? Well, for some, it may be a little overkill. But for the poker loving zombie killer, this looks to be right up your ally. Here’s what is included:

-Dead Rising 2 Game (Xbox 360 or PS3)
- Poker set in a black high-impact case sporting the Fortune City logo and including:
– 100 poker chips- 4 different colors featuring the Fortune City logo
– 2 decks of ‘blood-stained’ custom playing cards featuring character art
– 5 green dice
– 1 ‘blood-stained’ dealer chip
-Fortune City Visitor Map featuring the game map and ads for Fortune City locations and attractions
-Terror is Reality XVII admission ticket with redemption code for the unique Psycho costume and skills downloadable content
-One Dead Rising 2 High Stakes Edition will contain the ‘Golden’ Terror Is Reality XVII admission ticket, which is redeemable for Burt the Zombie, a 6’ Dead Rising 2 zombie replica

Alas, not everyone wins the Burt the Zombie figurine, and if you’re disappointed about that, I’m sure you’ll be able to find one on eBay soon enough. One thing I do like about this kit are the cards and chips. It would certainly make for an interesting game night. Nothing says “we don’t like cheaters” better than blood stained cards.

You can preorder now for both the XBox and PS3. Enjoy!

CapCom store (shop.capcom.com <- new window)

Well, it seems like the folks over at Double Bear have been listening to my thoughts and writing some of them down, because it was just announced on Destructoid’s blog that a zombie role playing game is set to be released sometime in the future. There’s a lot of info at their site. Here’s some of the juicer bits:

- Strategic turn-based gameplay: combines single-player character control with streamlined ally AI management, allowing for innovative party control

-Open-ended gameplay: Large explorable world and non-linear storyline allow players to explore the landscape of Dead State freely, and encounter new challenges each time they play

-Compelling player choice: Players not judged by a linear morality scale, but asked to make difficult and challenging decisions to keep themselves and their fellow survivors alive

-Innovative mechanics: Noise mechanic affects how zombies track prey by sound, resource management within player shelter allows for streamlined upgrades and organization of ally tasks

For those of you wondering when this might appear on your XBox … you’re going to be a little disappointed. This game is slated for a PC release only, and I’m guessing since this is a small shop, it will probably only be a digital download. While it may lack the budget busting oommphf of bigger titles, it sounds like it will make up for that in terms of creativity and expression. In short, I’m sure you can expect a pretty intense experience.

Hopefully there are fewer days to release than since the project started, but development being development, things can change in but a flash. If you are looking to help this team out, head over to their site and join their forums. You just might be selected to be beta tester.

Dead State is Doublebear’s new zombie roleplaying game
Dead State at Double Bear Productions (deadstate.doublebearproductions.com <- new window)

Having seen some stills of the protagonist, cruising the streets in a wheelchair armed with miniguns, I gotta say, I’m laughing a little myself.

Stacie, from Tape it or Die (a site dedicated for crafting zombie killing weapons in Dead Rising 2), noticed my displeasure about the first game and sent me a laundry list of improvements from the second one. Here’s what she sent me:

• More zombies than any other videogame – Battle literally thousands of zombies on-screen at any given time
• Combine items with tape to create your own ingenious & twisted weapons
• Increase your kills with these powerful weapon upgrades
• 2 player co-op mode
• Numerous multiplayer challenges for 4 players based on Terror is Reality
• Improved vehicle system – Twice as many as before!
• More satisfying physics and mechanics
• New ability to add armor and weapons to vehicles
• New plot, characters, locations, enemies
• Fortune City, Terror Is Reality, Zombrex, CURE
• Continuation of the Dead Rising story
• New hero with more compelling motivations
• Branching plot
• “Ticking Clock” – Complete the game in 72 hours or die trying!
• 50% bigger world than Dead Rising 1
• 20x the zombies per level
• More psychopaths and weapons
• More customization options for player (clothing options etc)
• New save system
• CP level up system

While the new features sound pretty cool, the revised save system sounds worth the price of admission alone. There was nothing worse in the first game than having to take ten minutes to backtrack through the mall just to save the game. Especially when your significant other was staring at you, pointing at her watch.

With Case Zero coming out next week, I’m sure we’ll be reading a lot about this game.

Jewels + flashlight = lightsaber? The joys of Dead Rising 2 (arstechnica.com <- new window)

Your weapon is a strange red Virgin (as in the corporation) phone that shoots out stickers. Shoot a zombie in the head, and they will glow in delight, before floating off into the heavens. Yes, you are wielding an orgasm gun which on reflection, seems like a waste of ammo when used against a zombie horde :)

Anyways, here’s the skinny about the game, courtesy of Sarah:

What is it?
It is a Google Street View Zombie game where players can navigate through the streets of London killing zombies along the way. You can play the game at any location available on street view (try your own address!) and the highest scoring players will be entered into a draw to win first class travel with Virgin Trains.

Facebook Connect Integration
One of the more entertaining features of the game is that once a player dies, their Facebook profile picture can be zombified and launched into the game. They then have the option to gain support from friends by posting a ‘rescue me’ message on their wall.

Special Guest Zombies
Also, later this summer there will be some special guest Zombies including Sir Richard Branson, who you will be able to kill or rescue (depending on your preference!)

I gotta say, killing Richard Branson with a organism gun is the pinnacle of mixed emotions. It’s kind of like watching your mother in law drive off a cliff in your new Porsche. If I could trade out the gun for say a shovel or maybe a rusty lead pipe – I’d be sold. Hook. Line. Sinker. In any case, it’s strangely fun. Check it out. Just don’t point the gun at yourself in mixed company.

Don’t Go Zombie (dontgozombie.com <- new window)

I remember in the summer of 2006, we faced a similar August except one game was released that won the hearts and minds of many a zombie lover — Dead Rising. It was a fun game for sure, taking on the zombie horde in nothing but your underwear, but the game had some serious issues that turned a fun game into a teeth grating exercise of patience. Does the name Otis ring a bell?

Thankfully, the fine folks over at Capcom are taking another stab at the game, hopefully fixing many of the first one’s most irritating flaws. With multplayer being added along with the ability to craft weapons, it sounds like it’s making some great progress. Killing zombies with a friend never gets old, especially if you trip him when he’s not looking ;)

Speaking of weapon crafting, the site Tape It or Die recently launched to not only promote the game, but also to promote good old fashioned homebrew zombie killing. In fact, if you’ve got some clever ideas and send it to them, you just might see your weapon in a future Dead Rising game. From the site:

Photos, video, sketches, paintings – heck, even stories and poems if they help us stay alive! Just send us ideas. We’ll even reward the people who send the best/most popular stuff, with the ULTIMATE WEAPON actually appearing in the next Dead Rising game.
Act fast or we’re gonna be zombie chow. If we’re going down, we want to go down with a fight.

Right now, the first weekly winner is a jack-hammer/shovel combination. Think you can do better than that? I know you can. Check it out.

Tape It or Die (tapeitordie.com <- new window)