Brad Pitt has already turned World War Z into a movie, bringing zombie media circle at its cultural saturation point. There’s only thing one left to do to end the era of zombie obsession: Make World War Z a video game. Looks like Paramount Pictures is ready to make it happen.
MCV reported on Tuesday that Paramount has filed two trademarks in association with its theatrical version of World War Z signaling that games are on the way. From the sounds of them, Paramount is thinking of getting World War Z onto every platform available, from consoles like Xbox 360, handhelds like the Nintendo 3DS, and mobile phones. It’s even covering its bases for an online game.
The first filing points to an online title, outlining “entertainment services, namely, providing online electronic games.” The second trademark covers platform choices, describing “downloadable electronic game programs; Electronic game software for handheld electronic devices; Video game cartridges and discs.”
The Walking Dead. Day Z. Resident Evil 6. Remember the good old days when the only zombie games around were Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Zombie Nation? There was no Dead Island, no Dead Rising, no Left 4 Dead. It was all so simple, that graceful life in the world before Coke commercials starring the brains-hungry undead.
Yes, zombies have reached a new zenith of cultural ubiquity. They are to 2012 what ninjas and pirates were to 2005. Soon the zombie fad will pass and we’ll be on to obsessing about some other pop icon. My hope? Sea monsters! Before we get there though, let us ponder exactly what triggered this current obsession with reanimated, gluttonous corpses? An astute cultural observer might point to Max Brooks’ novel World War Z as the patient zero for the zombie zeitgeist. The 2006 best-seller garnered praise from genre nerds, mainstream readers, and academics alike, impressed with not just its ability to capture the desperate human drama that colors the best zombie fiction but also its convincing global scope.
World War Z won’t be a very good video game though. The novel’s essence is reflective, a story that looks back at a disturbing, lingering past. Video games about zombies require you to constantly be in the present. Day Z is exciting even in a beta state because of its survival scenarios. Resident Evil is still fun years after its PlayStation debut because of its power dynamics; you’re weak and zombies are strong.
Whatever Paramount makes, let’s hope that it has a good studio partner working on the games.
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