The dead are rising to the occasion (of PR)

If you’re a fan of zombie movies, chances are good that you admire the daddy of the walking dead, George A. Romero. Chances are also good that you’d love Urban Dead, a massive free Internet game inspired by classic zombie cinema like Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Now the 3-year-old game has gotten the official Romero stamp of approval for a tie-in with his upcoming release, Diary of the Dead. The already sprawling Urban Dead has added a huge new playing area modeled after the town of Monroeville from Romero’s movie. Players in the text-based game can loot video cameras, shoot footage of the outbreak and then edit together a video diary for a chance to win Romero box sets. Kevan Davis, the game designer behind Urban Dead, tells AdFreak he was approached by U.K. ad agency Beatwax about a possible tie-in: “I pitched some potential ideas, they arranged a preview screening of the film so that I could draw details from it, and they've paid for both the development time and the advertising space.” If you’re looking to film some virtual brain-munching — or bite off some gray matter yourself — now’s your chance.

—Posted by David Griner

February 25, 2008 in Griner | Permalink