The Anticipation Is Killing Me

Dead Island

If you are a fan of horror, video games or zombies (and if you're not, what are you doing here), you would have had to have been living under a rock these past couple of days to not have caught wind of the trailer debut for Techland's (for Microsoft Windows) Dead Island. Nearly overnight, the fanboy excitement went from zero to...well, a number that is really high. I actually think that it broke the buzz o'meter as all of the internet was seemingly rumbling at it's arrival. Truth: it's been a long time since your host was so overwhelmed by the undeniable coolness of a trailer that I completely forgot to keep hold of my trademark, healthy cynicism. Which, is exactly what happened 15 seconds into this thing. Yes, I am now one voice out of thousands voraciously feeding the hype machine, and you will be too once you've had your mind blown by Dead Island's stellar teaser trailer. Even though we've been told that the trailer's "footage and characters may not even represent the actual game". Which would be a bummer really if this teaser in no way exemplifies the tone, quality and emotional resonance of the finished product. I mean, when was the last time I got teared up from a video game trailer? Exactly.

What's even crazier, is that in the aftermath of the online hysteria following Dead Island's trailer debut, is that a film deal transpired. Yes already, not even a day afterwords (that's got to be some sort of record). Producer/Universal exec Sean Daniel (The Mummy, The Wolfman) scored the movie rights reports Hitflix: "Daniel recently established The Sean Daniel Company, and they're the ones who bought the rights to the game. Techland, the Polish developer for the game, has got to be dancing in the streets right now. This is a game that had been delayed and that had fallen off the radar after being announced a few years ago. As soon as that trailer, created by Axis Animation, popped up online, Dead Island went from 'troubled game that's taken forever to come out' to 'game everyone will play this fall because the awareness on it is gigantic."

I'm less thrilled about this news. I mean, hows about we see the actual game first? Call me a snob, but I belong to that camp of people that think movie adaptations of video games (not to mention board games and theme park rides for that matter, you know who you are) are the absolute bottom of the "creative" barrel (somebody convincingly justify the existence of films like Alone in the Dark, Doom and House of the Dead to me and maybe I'll change my tune). In the end, they are what they are and they certainly have their fans, but I imagine that like every other video game film adaptation, I'll simply opt to stay at home (though I do have my fingers crossed that they'll get it right this time, in regards to the upcoming Silent Hill 2 movie...see even I can't help myself sometimes).

Techland's Press Release:

Terror. Violence. Madness. Bedlam. A holiday paradise gone mad. A tropical island turns into total chaos after a mysterious zombie outbreak. Cut off from the rest of the world, the player’s only chance to survive is to fight to the death and find a way to escape from the island.

Deep Silver announced today that it will publish Dead Island, the upcoming gruesome zombie slasher by renowned developer Techland. Dead Island combines first-person action with a heavy focus on melee combat, character development and customization of a vast array of weapons. All of these gameplay features are presented in a dark story inspired by classic zombie movies with a gritty and engrossing campaign that can be played with up to four players in co-op mode.

Set in an open world tropical island, hordes of different festering zombies await players around every corner while they embark on a variety of thrilling missions through the holiday resort. With firearms and ammunition being scarce the player must rely on utilizing found items as weapons for self-defense and fight off zombie hordes in intense melee combat. A diverse range of items can be collected and will later serve to transform the player’s ordinary makeshift weapons into serious instruments of destruction.

In addition to satisfying even the most bloodthirsty action fan’s fantasy, Dead Island also features role-playing elements which allow the player to develop one of the game’s unique character classes according to their preferences, all the while learning new skills and fresh tactics during their journey through the perilous environments of the island. What’s more, anytime during a game up to four players can seamlessly join together and experience the intense combat and immersive story with cooperative gameplay.

With the all-new Chrome Engine 5 powering Dead Island, the game will use the latest installment of Techland’s acclaimed proprietary game engine, allowing the player to experience the tropical island paradise in graphical splendor with diverse environments like lush forests and detailed city environments.

Dead Island will be released worldwide for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC later this year.

My trigger fingers are absolutely itching to pound some zombie brains.

Visit Dead Island's official website: here.