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Official website for “The War Z” goes live

Posted by Tony Schaab on August 1, 2012 in Undead News

LOS ANGELES – August 1, 2012 – Arktos Entertainment Group and Hammerpoint Interactive today announced the launch of the official website for the upcoming, zombie-apocalypse MMO, The War Z (TWZ). The game was first announced on July 19 and, within 24 hours, gathered more than 100,000 registrations for the closed beta. The War Z is slated for release in fall 2012 for the Windows PC platform.

“The response in the first week since we announced the game has been incredible and it’s totally inspired the team,” said Eric Nordin, senior game designer for The War Z. “We’ve been following all of the comments on the various forums as well as our Facebook page and it really validates that we’re creating something that gamers want to play.  We’re going to continue working hard and make sure we deliver the best game possible!”

The War Z is an online, multiplayer, survival-simulation game set in an open world infested with zombies.  Players are thrust into this post-apocalyptic world five-years after a viral outbreak that ravaged the human population and left, in its wake, a nightmare of epic proportion.  Hordes of undead zombies roam the cities, and the few remaining human beings have devolved into a lawless, nomadic society where the sole objective is to survive at any cost.  Players must use skill and cunning in order to acquire food, weapons and other supplies necessary for survival.  While navigating the vast landscape, they will discover cities teeming with the undead as well as other players that may or may not be friendly.

The War Z is currently in Alpha phase, with a closed beta planned for the very near future. Players can visit http://www.thewarz.com to be notified of updates and other information as well as to register for a chance to participate in the closed beta.

Gamers can find additional information about The War Z and also have the chance to win gear and beta keys by Liking on Facebook (http://facebook.com/warzmmo) and following on Twitter (http://twitter.com/the_war_z).

About Hammerpoint Interactive   Hammerpoint Interactive was formed in 2011 by a team of experienced developers looking to create a fresh experience in the online, multiplayer arena.  Having worked with large publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, as well as on multiplayer games, such as World of Tanks, the team possesses the knowledge and skill to create multiplayer games that appeal to both hardcore and mainstream gamers. The company, backed and financed by Arktos Entertainment Group, is located in Los Angeles.

About Arktos Entertainment Group   Arktos Entertainment Group (www.arktosentertainment.com ) is a privately held Los Angeles based investment and holding company, providing investment as well as creative and production management support for companies in the interactive and online entertainment industries. Arktos Entertainment will publish The War Z through OP Productions, LLC, a newly created subsidiary.

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New information about the upcoming third season of AMC’s “The Walking Dead”

Posted by Tony Schaab on August 1, 2012 in Undead News

From Collider.com:

The Walking Dead exec Glen Mazzara has promised more deaths in the zombie drama’s third season.

Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) were both killed off in season two’s closing episodes.

“You’ll have to find out when you watch it – but there are certainly deaths coming out throughout the [third] season,” Mazzara told Collider.

“And this is definitely a show where we take that stuff seriously. I think we showed that in our last few [season two] episodes. [Those] sort of hard-hitting emotional deaths are still going to be a part of the show for as long as it’ll be around.”

English actor David Morrissey will join the cast of The Walking Dead in season three as ruthless tyrant The Governor.

“[Series creator] Robert [Kirkman]’s got this great character named The Governor and we’ve cast David Morrissey to do that,” said Mazzara. “Trust me – he is a lot to handle. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group are going to have their hands full.”

The Walking Dead returns to AMC in the US on October 14.

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AMC unleashes the “Zombie Experiment” on New York City

Posted by Tony Schaab on August 1, 2012 in Undead News

From the Associated Press:

AMC has upped the ante in its dispute with Dish Network by unleashing a wave of the undead upon New York City.

The network, home to the hit zombie drama “The Walking Dead,” was recently dropped by the satellite provider after the two failed to reach a new contract extension. Since then, it’s been a war of the words — with AMC’s latest effort a creative means to raise awareness for its side.

Unlike the amateur “zombie walks” that often spring up around the nation, the zombies created for this campaign were based on the same professional makeup used for “The Walking Dead.” The impact, as shown in the video, was exactly what you would expect.

“One person was eating a sandwich and dropped the sandwich to the ground once she realized the hotdog vendor was a zombie,” Michael Krivicka, who co-founded the marketing firm Thinkmodo, told the Wall Street Journal.

After a series of shots that include an undead taxi driver, policeman, and a creepy boy, a zombie is shown walking down the street and dragging a Dish satellite behind him. The words “Zombies don’t belong here. Put them back on TV” flash on the screen; followed by a link to a campaign site detailing its dispute with the satellite provider.

“The simple truth is that DISH is using their consumers as pawns to attempt to gain leverage in a lawsuit involving an old and unrelated business venture that has nothing to do with AMC, nothing to do with our shows or fees, and certainly nothing to do with DISH subscribers, who just want to watch the shows they love and are paying DISH for,” says the site. “You will not see any AMC Networks’ shows on DISH any time soon.”

Only two days after its posting, the “Zombie Experiment” video already has more than 650,000 views on YouTube, fulfilling the viral message AMC was going for. Have a look at the reactions of New Yorkers confronted with realistic zombies below.

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Westboro Baptist Church Protest Countered by… Zombies!

Posted by Tony Schaab on July 31, 2012 in Undead News

From The Huffington Post:

A Westboro Baptist Church protest was overshadowed Friday when demonstrators dressed as zombies gathered at a DuPont, Wash. military base to counter the radical group’s efforts.

After members of the controversial Kansas-based church announced plans to picket Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a military base south of Seattle, 27-year-old Melissa Neace decided to organize a counter-protest, launching a Facebook group titled “Zombie’ing Westboro Baptist Church AWAY from Fort Lewis!”

“We wanted to turn something negative around, into something people could laugh at and poke fun at,” Neace told the News Tribune. “It was the easiest way to divert attention from something so hateful.”

About 300 counter-protesters showed up in varying degrees of zombie garb, far outnumbering the picketers from Westboro. According to KIRO in Seattle, just eight protesters from the controversial group showed up.

“I think that their message is very hateful, and Jesus was not a hateful person. He loved everybody,” one of the counter-protesters told KIRO.

While it is unclear why Westboro Baptist Church targeted the DuPont military base for its latest effort, the group frequently pickets military funerals. The group believes that deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God’s punishment for the United States’ tolerance of homosexuality. Last year, the group announced it would “quadruple” protest efforts after the Supreme Court ruled that such demonstrations are protected by the First Amendment.

However, counter-protests like the zombie effort in DuPont are becoming increasingly popular. Earlier this month, thousands of people in red shirts formed a human wall around a fallen soldier’s funeral to block the anti-gay protesters. At a similar protest at Texas A&M University, students dressed in maroon formed a circle around a funeral and seemingly discouraged Westboro protesters from ever showing up.

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G.O.R.E. Score: Asylum

Posted by Tony Schaab on January 27, 2012 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

Original Release Date: December 1, 2010
Publisher: Apex Publications

Growing up offers many new experiences: the first time using a curse word, the fist time seeing an R-rated film, the first kiss, the first date, and so on. Mark Allan Gunnells’ novella “Asylum” tackles one such experience, albeit one that only a small percentage of the population has ever faced: going to his/her first gay club.

Going away to college always brings new experiences, and for Curtis, this new experience is his first visit to a gay club: Asylum. The world within Asylum interests him, seeing men openly dancing with and kissing one another. But it also appalls the small-town side of him, stumbling upon such things as the orgy in the men’s room. Which is why he’s outside trying to find a quite, discreet spot to relieve himself.

His friend Jimmy doesn’t seem to mind the antics at Asylum. In fact, he’s joining in, taking advantage of both the backseat of a car and the young accountant he hooked up with inside the bar. But Jimmy’s evening is turned upside down when the accountant is pulled through a car window and he discovers the assailants devouring the poor man. Curtis can’t believe his eyes, either, but he realizes that he’s seeing the impossible: zombies. And worse, he hears more quickly approaching. The only thing he can do is to drag an unbelieving Jimmy into Asylum and try to keep the approaching horde outside the bar.

Things aren’t as easy as Curtis had hoped once they lock themselves inside the bar. Convincing the stragglers and the bartender that zombies are running amok outside seems impossible, until Gil the bartender takes a look over the wall behind the patio and finds himself facing down a mob of the undead. He quickly orders the patrons to barricade all the doors and to keep quiet so as not to attract any more unwanted attention.

As the night slowly passes, personalities clash as the patrons and staff try to rationalize and to deal with what’s going on in the world outside Asylum before the undead find a way inside the bar.

Leave it to a mob of angry and hungry undead to ruin a night out. Let’s run “Asylum” through the Score and see how Gunnells’ story fares….

G: General Entertainment – “Asylum” effectively relies on the threat of zombies and the psychological effect on those trapped within the bar rather than buckets of blood, gnashing teeth, and shambling undead bodies. The story follows how each character faces the situation and interacts with the other bar patrons, and it provides a nice, tense atmosphere. The knowledge that they may not have any way to escape makes some people go mental, while others become steadfast and almost heroic. The novella also manages to work in a little love story between Curtis and Jarvis, the stripper at the bar, which I found to be very sweet. 9/10

O: Original Content – These zombies mean business and hungrily attack their victims, such as the poor accountant at the beginning of the story. They also still have enough human left in them to kick their prey in the stomach or lick their lips before going down for the kill. And in what I see as a break with much of zombie stories that are out there, a person doesn’t necessarily have to be bitten by a zombie to become one. That’s not a new concept, but Gunnells uses it to terrifying effect as the story speeds towards the ending. 9/10

R: Realism – Each character handles the zombie situation as I expect real people would: some remain calm and take charge, organizing, thinking, and planning to stay alive or to escape; some refuse to believe anything bad is happening, hiding themselves in alcohol or sex; and some panic, allowing their frenzied state to confuse and affect their perception of the world around them. A few of the characters start to veer towards clichés, such as Devon (who struggles with his religious beliefs) and Gil (the bartender who firmly believes that the government won’t take the time to help a group of gay people trapped in a bar), but their backstories weave well into the main story. And I must say that I was surprised at how much sex occurred while the zombies amassed outside. My thought was “How could you think of sex at a time like this?!” but I guess stress can make people react in different ways. 7/10

E: Effects and Editing –Gunnells uses the semi-darkness of the bar’s interior to good effect, intensifying the action and the mayhem both as Jimmy and Curtis struggle to make it past the security door at the entrance to the bar and later on when Devon, who intensely struggles with his personal religious views, takes matters into his own hands. And the “blood and guts” factor is quite good, as I fleetingly mentioned earlier. What the female zombie at the beginning does to the accountant…I’m still cringing. The zombies aren’t pretty, either, with chunks of flesh missing to reveal bone or a torn-out throat or an empty eye socket. 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 8/10
VERDICT: SWEET

Speaking from my own experience, it took me months and months to work up the courage to set foot into the Main Street Bar in Laguna Beach, CA. Luckily for me, my first visit to a gay bar didn’t involve what Curtis had to endure – though some of the drunks could have passed for the undead now that I think about it….

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G.O.R.E. Score: Tooth and Nail

Posted by Tony Schaab on January 12, 2012 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

Original Release Date: April 1, 2010
Publisher: Schmidt Haus Books

War is Hell ~William Tecumseh Sherman, 1879

The phrase “war is hell”has been used throughout history in quotes, songs, and stories as a way to describe one’s feelings to being witness to the violence, death, and destruction of our fellow man. War is with us everyday, on the news, online, in the papers and some brave people literally live it. We, as lovers of the horror genre, take pleasure in the bloody, disgusting, and horrific things that mankind is capable of doing to themselves. To the men and women who serve our country with such honor and valor, the gruesome images we seek out for entertainment are a reality to them. This reality takes its toll on each of these individuals in different ways, and those horrific images, whether it be visions of what they have seen or what they have been forced to do in order to survive, sticks with them in a way that no person (unless they have been in the same situation) could ever understand.

Now imagine that you have survived the hell that is war and you are on your way home, home to your wife, your husband, your children….your family and friends. That is something all military personal dream of while on the battlefield: going home. The members of Charlie Company’s Second Platoon, who make up the characters in Craig DiLouie’s “Tooth and Nail,” were being called home, but not for the reason they had hoped – into the arms of their loved ones. Rather, they were being recalled to the states in order to aid in safeguarding hospitals and other buildings vital to the U.S. government. A plague has infected millions of Americans; of these infected, many become rabid and violent but are fairly easy to control; however, as more and more people become infected, the ability to control them becomes more and more difficult. Eventually, the virus spreads completely out of control, and Lieutenant Todd Bowman must lead his men across New York City to a research lab that might have a cure. The importance of the Company’s mission is vital, because if there is a cure, there is hope to save what is left of society.

G: General Entertainment – “Tooth and Nail” was very entertaining but, for me, it was a different kind of entertainment. It wasn’t like any zombie book I have ever read. It seemed so realistic. (I will go into more detail about the realism of DiLouie’s work in the ‘R’ portion of the Score.) The characters were very well-written and balanced. As with many stories, there were some you loved and some you just loved to hate. The battle of the infected versus the soldiers, as they move from point to point across New York to the research facility, were familiar and were also action-packed. Nearly every action scene was filled with enough description of the mess left behind to keep the imaginative juices flowing with visceral images. 8/10

O: Original Content – Of the zombie tales I have read over the past 2 years, I have never read one that was strictly based from a military standpoint. I have read books were there are a group of characters that are a part of the military, but never one where all (save just a couple of minor characters) are military. That in itself makes “Tooth and Nail”a unique work of zombie fiction. The infected could also be considered original, in that some zombie purists may contend that they are not truly zombies, but merely infected with a virus that causes them to act rabid and violent. I will leave that argument for you to decide. 8/10

R: Realism – This is the area in which I feel DiLouie truly shined when writing “Tooth and Nail.” I am not an expert when it comes to the military weapons, ranking structure, and protocol. So as I read, I would ask my husband, who is very familiar with all aspects of the military, questions about certain weapons and their function, would a soldier do this or that, and each time his answer corroborated the actions of the soldier, weapon, etc. What I felt, as I was reading “Tooth and Nail,” was that I was reading a history book depicting the events of a real battle through the eyes of the men who were a part of the event. There was not a moment in the book where I felt any of the soldiers did anything unbelievable or not in character. 10/10

E: Effects & Editing – I am lucky enough to have both a physical signed copy of “Tooth and Nail”and an eBook version. Formatting for both is spot-on. I noticed few (if any) grammatical or spelling errors. The cover of the physical book has the faint outline of a gas mask with the single silhouetted image of, I believe, a woman walking toward what appears to be a camp in the background. Only thing I found odd with the cover was the lack of a New York skyline. The book is set in New York, yet the woman on the cover seems to be walking through more of an empty field rather than a paved metropolis. 7/10

TOTAL SCORE: 8.25/10
VERDICT: SWEET

This well-thought-out, fast-paced, gripping story is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. The intensity level starts out on a high and just keeps going up until the explosive end battle that just may make some reader reach down and pick their jaws up off the floor.

The G.O.R.E. Score is now battle ready! Hoo-ah!

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G.O.R.E. Score: Zombo

Posted by Tony Schaab on January 9, 2012 in G.O.R.E. Score Reviews

Released: 2009 – 2010
Publisher: 2000AD
Format: serialized in 2000AD #s 1632-1639 & 1678-1684; collected graphic novel

Hidden gems: those rare breed of items that you had no clue existed, yet when you find them you wonder how you’ve gone so long without knowing about their existence.

In my line of work, the hidden gems are many times mentally cancelled out by some of the less-fortunate pieces of media I have to schlep through, so it almost counts as a double surprise when I do find a highly original or overly entertaining piece of work to enjoy.  Avid readers of The G.O.R.E. Score will recall, both from this website and from Vol. 1 of the book series, that I haven’t had much luck picking up zombie-related graphic novels at random from my local big-chain bookstore.  Yet, darn it if the cover for “Zombo” with its simple image of a half-smiling zombie asking “Can I eat you, please?” didn’t make me smile and snatch it right off the shelf.  A quick flip through told me enough to make me take it home: the artwork looked great, and the comic was taken from the pages of one of Britain’s greatest fantasy and horror magazines, 2000AD, the original home of Judge Dredd.  Sold!

Once I got it home and cracked it open, the book was definitely a pleasant surprise.  The combination of witty writing, good-looking art, and a very unique zombie story had me hooked from the get-go.  The “Zombo” graphic novel collects the two main story arcs published in 2000AD between 2009 and 2010, as well as a one-shot story from the 2009 Christmas special issue and even a brand-new one-pager not available anywhere else.

The two primary storylines featured in this graphic novel are loosely connected to one another.  In the first tale, an interstellar governmental passenger ship crash-lands on what is revealed to be a “Death Planet,” a grade of world that is almost sentient and wants nothing more than to do harm to outsiders, and the planet immediately begins killing off surviving passengers in very horrendously-creative ways.  Traveling in a sealed stasis pod on the ship is Zombo, a being created from the combination of human and astro-zombie DNA.  Incredibly tall and muscular but also surprisingly polite and well-behaved, Zombo has instructions to protect the passengers from the deadly world, which he does…to varying degrees.

In the second story, a group called the Suicide Boys travels to the Death Planet to find Zombo, in order to use him to achieve high ratings for themselves on DeathTube, a snuff-film-sharing social-network site.  Zombo decides to leave the planet using their transport ship, but they soon run into an orbital shopping center in the middle of a heist gone wrong that results in – surprise! – a full-on zombie outbreak!

Let’s hit the Score so I can tell you more:

G: General Entertainment –Both stories feature a healthy dose of off-kilter, dark humor that has become synonymous with 2000AD productions.  In addition to this, there is also a very interesting story and a lot of good zombie carnage as well.  All in all, it’s a highly entertaining experience. 8/10

O: Original Content – “Zombo” takes the extra-terrestrial zombie story to a whole different level.  The title character himself is also a singular element: he seems blissfully unaware of the amount of death and destruction his actions bring, or perhaps he just doesn’t care.  He’s polite to a point, often veering dangerously close to being condescending to folks, and he has an almost child-like virtuousness that makes him incredibly sensitive.  Take, for instance, his rambling response to being caught on camera “accidentally” attacking one of the Suicide Boys: “I’m sorry, Mr. Hairdye, were you just taking pictures of me eating your friend’s face off?  I’m not sure I’m too happy with that.  I feel a bit violated.  I mean, that was a bit of a personal moment for me and Mr. Tastyface and I don’t think it’s being treated with respect.  Just because I eat people’s faces doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.” 8/10

R: Realism – Taking into account all the fantastical elements of these tales – the interstellar travel and the post-techno society and the nigh-sentient evil planets – it all kinda works together.  I mean, if an environment like this really did exist, these characters and their actions and reactions seem like they would be right in line with the way you would think people would behave.  And really, isn’t that what good speculative fiction is all about? 7/10

E: Effects and Editing – As mentioned previously, the artwork in this series is really top-notch, and the credit for that goes directly to “Zombo’s” artist and graphic designer, Henry Flint.  Al Ewing provides the writing for the series, which I’ve previously noted as being very enjoyable as well.  While things in the graphic novel do get a little choppy in terms of following the story from one section to the next, you can chalk this up more as the piecing together of the serialized story instead of any glaring deficiency in the individual episodes. 7/10

TOTAL SCORE: 7.5/10
VERDICT: SWEET

“Zombo” is a welcome breath of fresh air in an increasingly-crowded zombie market.  I could see this storyline being adapted for a television cartoon series on one of those snarky late-night comedy blocks, like Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” lineup.  Even if “Zombo” only stays as a 2000AD serial, it’s well worth the effort to track down.

And now, my friends, you know the Score!

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