Treyarch: Games Could Still Use More Zombies

[Keane Ng]

Treyarch: Games Could Still Use More Zombies

With the living dead in everything from first-person shooters to tower defense games, have games been saturated with zombies? Call of Duty dev Treyarch doesn't think so.

People complain about games being full of personality-devoid space marines nowadays, but zombies are just as ubiquitous, and nobody seems to have a problem with that. Dead Rising. Call of Duty. Left 4 Dead. Even PopCap has a game with zombies.

Which begs the question: is this whole zombie games thing starting to beat an (un)dead horse? Are we ever going to reach the point at which people will say: "Enough. No more zombies in my vidyagames. The 'braaaains' thing has gotten old."

For Call of Duty: World at War developer Treyarch, the answer is a staunch no. Speaking on the Giant Bombcast [http://www.giantbomb.com/podcast/?podcast_id=84], Treyarch community lead Josh Olin remarked that he thinks we haven't reached the point at which this industry has had its fill of the living dead.

"Out of fear of showing my zombie nerd-ism I will contend that zombies aren't saturated at all," Olin said. "I could play zombies for the rest of time."

Olin then took the argument that zombie games are overdone one step ahead in order refute it: "People thought that about the World War II genre, right - that that was saturated? And I think that with World at War at least our hope was that we would come out with something that was new and different that people haven't been used to playing before."

I've never been too crazy about the zombie thing, but what say you guys? Have you had enough of zombies, or are you still hungry for braaaaaaaaaains?

[Via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5252376/zombie-saturation-has-not-yet-been-achieved]]


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[Hobo Of Hell]

I dunno I do like my brains.
Not a fan of WWII FPS games though anymore. That dead horse is nothing more than pulp on the floor.

 

[Sparrow]

Yes.

Games + Zombies = Bestsellers for a reason.

 

[Internet Kraken]

Well zombies have been done in many different ways.

Space marines always tend to have the same lame soldier personality. So they seem boring and dull.

Well, except the actual Space Marines. They're still awesome.

 

[John Funk]

Well zombies have been done in many different ways.

Space marines always tend to have the same lame soldier personality. So they seem boring and dull.

Well, except the actual Space Marines. They're still awesome.

Depends on the space marines. But that's for another thread.

 

[Andy_Panthro]

Too many WW2 games, too many zombie games, too many space marine games. Lots of people would prefer a different take on things for their FPS games.

Of course, we do get FPS games like Bioshock and Half-Life, which give us that something different. Perhaps more studios need to "open their minds" a bit, unless the zombies have already eaten them.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well I think the Zombie genre is perfect for a new twist or two. But it is by no means saturated. The genre is still throwing out things like Left 4 Dead. If zombie games are becoming stale then it's the fault of the game, and not of the enemy.

 

[azadiscool]

Zombies = cool

Nazi Zombies = Unexplainably beautiful!

 

[Cousin_IT]

zombies = kewl to shoot
space marines = boring to play
zombie space marines = needs to be done

 

[Pseudonym2]

I find zombies are just a way of disguising the bad AI. As soon as the AI gets good enough there won't be as much zombie games.

 

[Lord George]

I still want a realisticalish zombie game, a cross between L4D and the sims where you have to eat, sleep and basically survive while fighting off a city full of zombies. Fun.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

They need a full game of Nazi Zombies. Make a storyline and make it ridiculous.

 

[hem dazon 90]

I still want a realisticalish zombie game, a cross between L4D and the sims where you have to eat, sleep and basically survive while fighting off a city full of zombies. Fun.

great idea!

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

Its always fun to survive as long as possible against zombies in a small two floor house with three other friends. And earning cash by shooting zombies and using said cash to buy more weapons to kill more zombies. It's always really addictive especially with friends. You get to die together.

YAAAAAYYY!!!!

 

[Meado]

People complain about games being full of personality-devoid space marines nowadays, but zombies are just as ubiquitous, and nobody seems to have a problem with that.

I think they missed the point. These "personality-devoid-space marines" are usually the protaganist and his friends/squad/love-interest ([cough]Army of Two[/cough]). You're meant to connect with the main character, but when his life goals consist of being able to lift buses and having hourly snacks of face, you just don't care.
Zombies are meant to be personality-devoid. They're never more than fodder for you to slaughter.

 

[Lazarus Long]

There aren't enough zombie games, if you ask me. I, too, eagerly await the perfect zombie apocalypse simulator. Something between L4D and RE, with some resource management and perhaps a refinement of The Thing's morale system.

One little nitpick, though. Zombies eat flesh. Curse you, Dan O'Bannon.

 

[Vrex360]

I made a poll about this and I still feel zombies are the past. Alien infectious micro parasites are the way of the future, mutating and reshapin human corspes into hideous alien monsters is so awesome.

 

[Aegwadar]

More zombies.. yes.. sounds very good. I should caveat this a little: Zombie RPG; or something with replay value... please?

 

[milomalo]

There's a zombie on your Game(lawn)
There's a zombie on your Game(lawn)
We really want zombies on the Games(lawn)

I know your type: tall, dark, and dead...(8)

i always will like more zombies on my game