Degeneration (no.4)

And thus we arrive to the fourth generation.

Now those who’ve been following this series will note that my recollections seem somewhat hazy. This is due to things being experienced out of order and exact moments in my gaming history are difficult to pinpoint.
But now all that is changed. Because I can recall one particular moment that sold me over: It remains burned in my memory as a turning point and, in retrospect, marks my true beginning as a gamer. And that moment was this:

Megadrive (or as some of you call it Genesis)

I recall reading through my brother’s video game magazine and was hit by a full page ad for Sonic the Hedgehog. And, like hundreds of other people, it was all over. I had know idea who this blue guy was but I was sold with his big eyes, cocky grin and a general ‘bring it on’ disposition. Naturally, this led me gravitating towards the Megadrive.



Needless to say, when I finally saw one in action, I wasn’t disappointed. It seemed a world apart form the eight bit games I had seen before. Of course this was all 16-bit but it seemed beefier: Anything seemed possible within this new gaming technology, with colourful graphics, large worlds to explore and character that would be impossible to replicate on the Master System, NES or Commodore 64.
As luck would have it, my cousin had one so many times were spent talking about games and playing them to death. Many memories were built up and some I still recall: Playing two player games of Golden Axe 2, the theme to the first level of Truxton, the character of Rocket Knight Adventures, being floored by the rotoscoped graphics to Flashback, playing an ace conversion of the Mortal Kombat arcade, being impressed by the tactical pace of Jungle Strike, being blown away by both Sonic and being excited about the arrival of Tails in Sonic 2 (and subsequently laughing by how many times he died through following Sonic).

However looking back through an adult perspective, there is a lot that hasn’t aged well in the world of the Megadrive. A lot of games have aged horribly (most of them being part of the pre-Sonic era when this new technology was being figured out) through lousy graphics, crummy sounds and being dull to play. Many game soundtracks now sound dreadful given the limited sound prowess of the console (ie Shining Force 2) and many games were really overshadowed by Sonic. True sport games had a field day on the Megadrive, the Shining series had some gems and the Phantasy Star’s importance as a pioneering RPG series can never be overlooked but beyond Sonic, one would struggle to come up with an equally important IP – whereas Nintendo had how many? Three? Five?

But in the terms of building a lasting impression, the Megadrive is in a class of it’s own. It’s arrival opened my eyes to the world of gaming: I discovered there was a world waiting for me and I charged right in: I read the CVG magazines my brother collected. I sought out the NES and the Master System. I became aware of Sonic’s intent to usurp the throne of some guy called Mario. I talked games with my classmates and built up bonds through common interests. I began to grow excited of the game that resided in the arcade machine. I built up an ear to the ground and grew excited about the hype machine (the arrival of Streetfighter 2 to home computers and the afore-mentioned arrival of Tails being two such examples). The wall may have been chipped previously, but this was a breakthrough. And it all came in the form of Sega’ s little black box.

SNES
Having spent the previous paragraphs gushing about the Megadrive it’s fair to say that I spent the fourth console generation as a Sega fanboy. So is there anything I can say about the other camp? Why yes there is.

I recall the SNES being really popular in it’s day: Even to the point when the Nintendo fans recovered ground lost by the Megadrive and, as before, outnumbering us Sega fans. But it was not without good reason. Now whilst I had a lot of focus towards the Megadrive, I will admit there some instances of the some Nintendo games slipping through the cracks. Through visiting friends at the time, I remember quite a bit: Getting my claws on Super Mario World and being impressed by how the familiar can be revamped quite dramatically, Playing Yoshi’s Island and thinking how the bizarre can actually come across as something very enjoyable, plunging headlong into the world that was Super Metroid and being very impressed with Donkey Kong Country.



But my own experiences with the SNES really come in two halves: With my childhood years and with my adult years. As described in the previous paragraph the childhood years were nothing more than flirtations but come my adult years, it was something completely different.
You see, it’s only in past few years that I started playing SNES games again – thus heralding the end of many years of wandering in the wilderness. In that period, I set about rediscovering the type of stuff that my comrades were doing years before. I hunted down many games that escaped my notice the first time and, needless to say, I found them very enjoyable. Even now it does indeed blow my mind that a game I noticed when I was a child could still work for me as an adult.

In fact, this perception of the SNES is an interesting counterpoint to the Megadrive: Whereas I can easily find a lot of things with Megadrive games that have been dated in the years since, this does not to be the case with the SNES library. I have played and enjoyed the likes of Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, Actraiser, Terranigma, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 4 & 6 and, of course, Chrono Trigger. All of which hold up remarkably well in this age of hi-def graphics. An obvious point would be the high quality game play the game is built around has outlasted many of trends that has come since the game’s initial release but the same could be said at an aesthetic level: Many of the SNES game are still as beautiful to look at now as the day they were released. I’m still impressed by how much detail can be squeezed out of such graphical limitations. And many of the music in games still hold up – and it seems that, through the presence of orchestral arrangements and remixes, many will agree with me. I love the Final Fantasy music (who doesn’t?), I rate the Secret of Mana very highly, and I think some of Link to the Past music outdoes many of the successive Legend of Zelda games.
Indeed, it’s fair to say that many games on the SNES have withstood the test of time very well – in fact, it makes one wonder whether the games we’re playing now will have similarly staying power ten years from now…
But one must take the good with the bad and in the SNES’ case I can see a problem: If the NES was something of a franchise starter, then the SNES is where the franchises took root. And to does raise the problem in that everyone was playing the same damn thing – even to the expense of the other titles. Granted it’s because the games were great but even now, you ask someone which was the best game on the SNES and they reply with the usual suspects: Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 (even as I type this I can see myself repeating myself and it’s damn depressing). Indeed, if you challenge anyone to name the best game on the SNES without mentioning those made by Nintendo or Square and they’ll struggle to say the least. Indeed, it’s this sense of entrenchment that may be costing Nintendo even now….

But criticism aside, the SNES was indeed one of the finest consoles ever made, blessed with superb titles and technological prowess. It represents for me staying power in games and a shining example of how something can last, and keep calling me back, years later. It’s a bastion still standing no matter what time, age and technological developments can throw against it.

Phew, what a mammoth post. No matter: I had a lot to say and I'm glad to have it said. See you this time next time next week for a shock to the system....

We can only Dreamcast

The rumor mill is rumbling with whispers that Sega may make a comeback. It's theorized that the once great rival to Nintendo will be making a successive console to the long-gone Dreamcast - spearheaded by this video:



It's compelling evidence - maybe not much in the way of concrete evidence but it does make a reasonable case for Sega to make a comeback.

However whilst it's a nice idea that Sega can make a comeback, it does raise the question of what can they do? During the Megadrive/Genesis era it offered soemthing of an alternative to the 'kiddy' fare on the SNES. And even the Dreamcast offered something of an opportunity for budding developers to work with. But now? Nintendo are relying their own IP and heeding little attention to fans, Sony are riding high on technical prowess and exclusives and Microsoft seem to have a whole lotta shooters at their command. So what can Sega bring to the table? A lot of their IP are on other consoles, many bedroom developers are finding homes on XBLA and sport games aren't going to get any better.

But here's what I want to know: Are comebacks readily accepted in gaming? Everything happens so quickly in gaming as it's a constant race to produce more powerful technology and utilizing that technology to wow all the potential buyers before they get distracted by something else - a tall order seeing as the people who buy this games have been raised to have ten second attention spans.
Thus, it is far too easy for some IP to get discarded and never returned to. Some titles may sell due to the nostalgia valuer or to entice the interest of those who missed out the first time around. But so often a game that someone loved then can be despised in the now - usually through seeing things with older wiser eyes and accompanied with remarks of "What the hell was I thinking?' and 'Man was I a dumb kid'. Many Sega games I've picked up off the Virtual Console have fallen into this trap so maybe Sega's time has come and gone and it's a fool errand to try and get back into the console race.

Personally, what I would like to see Sega do is dust off some games from the Mega CD and the Saturn and give them a new lease of life. If they seem intent on making some of their Megadrive and Dreamcast games more readily available then they can do the same for their failed consoles - oh wait....

And you R?

It's happened. Approval has been given to have the R18+ game rating down here in Australia.

So to celebrate this momentous occasion, a cartoon I drew:



That pretty much says it all.
Prior to this announcement, I recently learned the game Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude was never released in Australia due to sexual content and nudity.

But personally, I would've preferred that it was never released in Australia becuase the game itself was TOTAL CRAP.

This is what bothers me about the introduction of the R18+: Sure we may have 'adult' games finally released in this country but what if they turn out the utter shit? Surely we want an outcome worth fighting for yes?

Degeneration (no.3)

And here we are with the second instalment of this series. So let’s not dilly-dally. Here we go with the 3rd generation!

Master System
They say that when you always remember when you discover something new for the first time: It’s the one that leaves the greatest impression and influences your line of thinking from that point on. Which brings me to the Sega Master System.



Whilst this wasn’t that big a deal in the US or Japan (ie the places the matter), the plucky MS was actually quite popular in Europe and here in Australia. I first became aware of Sega during Primary school where many people had a Master System.
In fact, in retrospect, I think I knew more people with a Master System than people with a NES.
So what did the Master System do to win me over? I guess many of the reasons can only be attributed a childlike wonder of discovering something new: Colourful graphics, irritatingly catchy tunes and finding something that appeared to be world apart from what I was familiar with (which was the Commodore 64).
Some particular favourites in this era included The Ninja, Alex Kidd in Miracle World and Wonderboy. I was also impressed by how Sonic made the transition from the Megadrive and still came out great. And special mention must also go to Mortal Kombat – how they managed to replicate those graphics in an 8-bit system still blows my mind today.
Looking back however, there are more than few things wrong with the damn thing. Sure many of the games looked nice but they were plagued with wonky controls that sent your guy running in all directions, playing areas where everything therein could kill you and situations that insisted you memorise a pattern that had to be obeyed to the letter in order to get anywhere! With such poor designing in the games, it is little wonder that the NES outpaced the Master System with games and developers.
Still, in spite of my criticisms, the Master System played it’s part in furthering my interest in games. And that’s a worthy achievement in my book.

NES
Now you’re talking.
Again, this wasn’t a console I owned – but I still got to play it through a friend of my brother. Indeed, this is of particular interest: Whilst the Atari 2600 was confined to school and the Master System was owned by friends (and thus even further out of reach), the NES represented something of a breakthrough. Finally those fabled boxes had arrived in my house. They were hooked up to my TV and infiltrated their way into familiarity. And finally I had the chance to try these videogame consoles for real (or whatever you want to call it).



Whilst the memories of the Master System may be hazy and somewhat confused with youthful excitement, the games I played on the NES are far more ingrained in my mind. Compared to the Master System I can proudly point out the games I played: Super Mario Bros, Super Mario 3, Captain Skyhawk, Star Wars and TMNT.
Whilst the Master System got to me first, the NES however had a substantial selection of games – and the funny thing is I still play of some of them today. I guess most of it comes down to smart design – and now that I think about it, that’s most likely what I got the most out of the NES. True the Master System may have won me over on a stylish level but the NES proved what can be achieved with a little bit of substance. Indeed, if I’m still playing 8-bit games today then that says a lot about the staying power of them. In fact it makes me wonder if any games made today will still be played twenty five years from now….
Another of the more lasting impressions of the NES was being something of a franchise starter: Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid all had their humble beginnings here. Looking back I didn’t think much of serials: I was happy to enjoy games on both the Master System and NES, caring little of actual names. I didn't think that Mario and Zelda were big deals (like they were in the US or Japan) I just figured they were there and there were Nintendo - although being in a truly awful cartoon didn't really help their cause at all.
Funny thing was, many of the titles I mentioned above went on to become legends whilst many of the Master System games now look largely (and painfully) generic. In any case, the foundation stones were set for a survival of the fittest that even Darwin couldn’t comprehend. True the NES may have had it’s fair share of ‘generic’ games but I guess they’re easy to ignore on a system that became the birthplace for Mario/Link/Samus/Snake.
Can’t really think of much else to say. Much has been written about the NES and its importance to video game history so my own recollections and experiences may just well be enough.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for the next generation and a breakthrough of massive proportions….

Time to go

I've always liked this pic. It looks cute:



But there's something about it that bothers me: Maybe it's just me but Princess Zelda has a rather odd expression. What on earth could she be thinking?
Link seems happy to be there but Zelda's face looks like she's wondering what the hell he's doing hanging around her(matters aren't helped in that she seems to be facing away from Link).

What's she really thinking?:
"Are you going to leave sometime soon you annoying prick?"
"Don't you have your own timeline to back to?"
"Are you aware how irritating your fairy is?"

Rocket Man

Recently, I got on XBLA and downloaded the demo of the Rocket Knight Adventures revamp. Call it a curiosity: I remember playing the original Rocket Knight Adventures on the Sega Megadrive when I was a kid and thinking it was ace – And indeed, years later, I can safely say that this is a Megadrive game that actually holds up pretty well nearly twenty years later.

So I played through the demo but it left a rather mixed reaction. Sure the high def graphics are nice to look at and the platforming mechanics are still there but for some reason, the thing seems to lack…. Well….. heart.
One thing that endured Rocket Knight Adventures to me is it had a lot of creativity: I liked the various legions of pig-baddies and the various machines they had on board to stop Sparkster. Sadly, this creativity doesn’t seem to be present in the demo as the machines are absent and the baddies are all wolves – none of either have the character that made the original so appealing.
Also, I liked the fast action, the thrill of flying and the various efforts to mix up the action. And in a way, this new version doesn’t seem to have any of this: Instead of fast paced, flying action, it just comes across as being a standard issue platformer.

Which thus begs the question: What was this game trying to accomplish? Was it a remake? Or was it doing something new with the IP? Either way, I heard that this game was made not by Konami but by an English developer who (and don’t quote me on this) were motivated not by playing and loving the original but most likely for the sake of a paycheck.

And boy, even in a demo, does it show

Degeneration (no.2)

Thought I’ll try something different for this blog: So for the next following weeks, I’ll get a series going discussing my thoughts on the past console generations. Each Friday, I’ll go through past console generations and sharing my opinions and past experiences.

So let’s start at the beginning…with the second generation.

Atari 2600
They say that you always remember the very first console you’ve played. However, that precise moment has been lost to me in the mists of time (no doubt aided by copious amounts of alcohol consumed in the many years since). I never owned a console when I was a kid so I had to settle for a Commodore 64 – thus it was only through other people that I was able to play the machines made by Sega and Nintendo.
However, whilst the issue of the very first console I played may be debatable, I do recall playing the Atari 2600. So for the purposes of this series, the Atari 2600 will be the first console I’ve played.



I remember the Atari 2600 from my school days. On every Wednesday, I’ll spend the afternoon in after-school care where they had four Atari 2600 set up for use on creaky TVs. I often found the Atari’s a strange beast: They smelt of dust and age, the cartridges had to be beaten in with the force of a sledgehammer to make them work and half the controllers were defective.

Nevertheless, I played many games on many a Wednesday afternoon. Many of which assisted with my gamer education. I can still recall the thrill of actually winning a racing game with Grand Prix. I can still remember seeing the visual effects in Enduro and being awe-struck. I enjoyed the multiple battle options in Combat. And I can still point to Pitfall 2 as being the first game whose theme I committed to memory. Other moments I enjoyed was laughing when the chicken got splattered in freeway, running away from the polar bear in Frostbite, enjoying the vine swinging in Jungle Hunt only to get confused with the swimming challenge. Other enjoyable games were Ghost Manor, Mega Mania, Atlantis, Moonsweeper, River Raid and Seaquest.
I even got to play some conversions of noteworthy arcade games like Donkey Kong, Berzerk, Asteroids, Centipede and Space Invaders.

Looking back, these games are indeed primitive to look at now and show just how confined the programmers were with the tools they had to work with. Yet there is indeed a sense that these games appealed to me to then because they were fun to play.
They have a timeless quality that can still maintain attention even with nearly thirty years of gaming technological advancements. I guess with such (now) technology maintaining the fun factor was the highest of priorities. That being said, it’s easy to see how this whole business got started.
And of course, many of these games can even appeal to me as an adult – seriously, Asteroids is the only game in existence that, at the mere mention, can have me enthusiastically squealing like school girl (and I’m not afraid to admit at all).
And as they say, every journey has to start somewhere…

Time Machine

Still making my way through Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Whilst I've been intimidated before, I'm actually enjoying how things are going so far. Indeed, if people hailed this upon release and are still enamored of it some thirteen years later then it's usually for good reason.

Although I never played them, I remember being aware of the Legend of Zelda throughout the days of the NES and SNES. Indeed, it was only years later that I was able to connect Link to his likeness. And for reason the non-existent romance between between Link and Princess Zelda had some appeal - sure their actual relationship is more speculative but I liked the idea of an elf rescuing a princess. Indeed, much like his Nintendo brother in arms Mario, Link can maintain attention as a character due to that everyman quality.

Many people would've played the Zelda games in their childhood days, having grown up with Nintendo and their various console incarnations - thus much of the love for the Zelda games usually stems from that wide-eyed wonder of discovering something new for the first time. Indeed, many people now can point to Ocarina of Time as being a key moment in their childhood.



Not for me though: Tales of my childhood usually involved playing games on the Commodore 64 and playing various iterations of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons - Pool of Radiance being one such title. Thus in that sense, maybe seeing the Zelda games through adult eyes may make for an interesting experience. Indeed, one thing I love about Nintendo is that many of their games have a timeless quality that can be enjoyed by both children and adults.
Now, I played the original Legend of Zelda and Link to the Past when I was well an adult (ages 27 and 25 respectively) and I thought they were great. Of course I could dismiss them for having an appearance that many would consider childish but why the hell would I want to do that? I loved exploring the world of Hyrule, finding various tools and building up a character that grew stronger with each step. And most satisfying of all, playing these games helped me in banishing memories of watching that wretched eighties cartoon.

So how does Ocarina of Time look through an adult perspective? Well some of graphics look dated (but being a fifth generation game that's hardly surprising), I the player have no control whatsoever over the camera and there are some elements that point towards 'kiddie' game. But everything else is good fun: The mini-games are amusing, the combat is great, the exploration factor is as strong as ever and it's really fun using various items, not least the Ocarina, at various points and seeing what happens.

So yeah, I'm enjoying Ocarina of Time - And so far so good....

There is a bear in the woods

It seems a current trend, both in games and movies, to have Russians as baddies again. A trend I find nothing but baffling. What? Is the US annoyed that the Cold War ended? Are they irate their favourite former rival is more interested in other things? Are those bought up in the Reagan era working on a contempt inherited from eighties nostalgia?! And what do those in Russia think of this?

The more I think of this trend the more it becomes clear that it's the work of someone spoiling a fight. It's someone inventing a scenario on the unflinching hope it does turn out true. It's someone who'd bother old opponents just for the sake of having someone to fight.
Now, some would say that this resurrection of Russians of baddies trends is just writers struggling to find a compelling baddie. But I call BS on that: I can think of a much more compelling baddie and he's described in the previous paragraph.

So, to work on this idea and continue with my trend of violating the bond of trust between game and gamer, I present my own idea for a scenario in a warfare/shooter type game.

The gamer is playing a soldier, fighting in an army, led by a charismatic general named.......Barry. As the player progresses through the game, Barry is shown in cut scenes delivering encouraging speeches and urging his men forward, insisting the baddies are foes worth fighting and we're fighting for the glory of their country.
However as the game progresses, something starts to grow amiss: Traveling through enemy territory reveals soldiers belongings made up of family letters and diaries questioning the movements of their enemy (ie YOU). It is in these pieces of text that the soldiers you've been fighting are confused as to why this war is happening, why the enemy (ie YOU) are doing this and why they suddenly decided to break a peace treaty that has been lasting for many years.
And then it is revealed: Barry is a career soldier. It was he who started this war just for the sake of starting a scrap. With a genius for conflicts, he's having trouble adjusting to a peacetime so he decided he'll start a war out of nothing better to do. Such is Barry's contempt for peace that he's taken upon himself to invade another country and disguise it to the war-hungry with propaganda. And seeing the country in question was an old foe, any excuse will do.
And thus the player has gone into battle thinking he was fighting for freedom when it was he who ended up the aggressor. It's a good idea and one I wish games would do more often.

It's an ideal scenario but the only problem I can see is that Portal may have beaten me to it. Damn....

Rock and Roll Music

Recently, I beat the story mode in Rock Band 3. I'm somewhat surprised that was so short and ended when it did - especially considering that the story in RB2 sort of continues and offers more locations and more chances to take advantage of DLC. Granted the music library in RB3 can do that as well, but without some degree of game-based purpose, it kinda falls flat.
I guess the short campaign mode is there to encourage people wanting to try a new instrument can jump straight in but honestly that seems more an act of obsessive compulsiveness if anything.

But with regards to the short campaign just what is the point of having a large collection of DLC? The goals in the game seem to have their eyes focused on the songs included in game so what's the bloody point? Sure they might turn up in the story mode but what good is it when it's the game songs that seem to really matter?

Ultimately though it would become clear that rebuilding my RB collection all over again now seems like a truly dumb idea.....

Australian Gaming Rules

This piece of news caught my eye:

The Australian Government's proposed research and development tax credit is the most convenient support package the Australian games industry has seen from the national government, says CEO of the Game Developers Association of Australia, Tony Reed.

The new A$1.8 billion ($1.89 billion) research and development tax credit legislation, currently waiting to pass through Australian Federal Parliament, will deliver a 45 percent refundable tax credit to businesses with a turnover of less than A$20 million, a bracket that many Australian game development studios fall into.

Reed says this will help the local industry become one of the top three game development territories in the world, something the GDAA hopes will be achieved in the next five years.

"No matter how big or small a studio is, this is the kind of thing that will encourage development. It is designed with our own independence, creativity, and innovation in mind. Our goal at the GDAA is to prepare Australia to become one of the top three territories in the world for game development within the next five years. I think this can be achieved--the industry is doing really great right now and we seem to have gone back to our roots in generating amazing content."

Aussie studios must register with the government to apply for the tax credit and show proof of research and development.

"From a contract point of view this is really attractive because it really does help offset the really high Aussie dollar," Reed says.

Source: http://au.gamespot.com/news/6322401.html

Speaking as an Australian this certainly sounds overly hopeful but it certainly has some degree of potential. I guess the only problem is whether or not the Australian government will over turn this ban on R18+ ratings.
But you know, such a rating could work in our favor. HEAR ME OUT! Having the rating in place would force a restriction on the game designer and make them think of new, clever ways to get their point across. It make them think outside the square and make them try soemthing new beyond Big-gun-in-hand-shoot-dudes. It will make them try something new to engage the audience and the pundits lining up up to buy their game.

But what's the chances of that happening?

Link! He come to town!

Well it's finally happened: I got off my arse and sat down to play Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Virtual Console.
It may have been a long time coming but, truth be told, I'm something of a newcomer to the Zelda games: I never played them during the respective heyday of the NES/SNES/N64 and the only way I heard of Link and Princess Zelda was through write-ups, artwork and that lousy cartoon in the eighties (not the best source but still...).

So it's only been in recent years that I've become a fan of the Zelda games: I played Link to the Past and it was pretty much all over. Since then, I've played the original LoZ, Twilight princess and have cosplayed as Link - I even managed to persuade my partner to cosplay as Zelda to match! However there was the issue of Ocarina of Time....

Why is that an issue? Simple: it was a case of intimidation. In the time since my proper introduction to the Zelda series, Ocarina has grown in status as one of, if not THE, greatest games ever made. People younger than me now recognized it as an integral part of their childhood. Personally, I downloaded Ocarina (and Majora's Mask) back in 2009 but it is only now I actually committed myself to beating this game.
Again, it's a simple matter of discovering things in my own time, knowing the reward will be sweeter for it. And in the case of Ocarina, people revere it on a level comparable to Jesus so that knowledge is indeed enough to put one off. Indeed, this is not the first time I've been intimidated by game only to have the experience soured by other people telling me how it's going to be.

Grumbling aside, how's the game going insofar? Actually it's quite enjoyable. Sure the controls are bit disagreeable at times and the camera is utter rubbish but all in all, Ocarina of Time is turning out to loads of fun. And it's aged quite well which is more than can be said for other games of the fifth generation *coughMario64cough*.

So from here - who knows? Guess I'll have to go deeper into Hyrule to find out...

In your head! Zombie!

Still truckin' through Red Dead Redemption. Great game :)
Got no time for the Undead expansion though - I'm a bit baffled by it's need to exist seeing as Red Dead Redemption seems set well into the past - historical fiction if you will (which IMHO is something that needs to happen more in gaming) - so introducing zombies seems somewhat jarring.

But most of all, I'm tried of this zombie fascination. They seem everywhere: in movies, in games even organized zombie marches (an oxymoron if ever I did see one)! This zombie fascination has come to a point where anything with zombies will guarantee sales.
Personally however I think this line of thought undermines one simple rule about horror: Monsters aren't ever scary in the light. You take them out of their monstrous context and they become boring and lose all sense of identity. After all, if you're a monster and you aren't scary then what you? A pussy would be a fair answer.
And in this case, the idea of a zombie apocalypse is a strong one but to run into the ground kinda takes away the scariness of the idea. Good lord, Michael Jackson's Thriller has a lot to answer for.

I don't know: Maybe the time is right to give the zombie genre the slap in the face it deserves. It could work as, established above, anything with zombies will automatically sell big. So how about...
- Reversing the concept of a zombie apocalypse and having the player controlling a single zombie up against a whole horde of humans keen to live out their zombie apocalypse fantasies (becuase if the Zombie Apocalypse did occur, you'll most likely have the zombies outnumbered by people who know exactly what to do).
- Following on from my interest in breaking the bond of trust between game and gamer, how about a zombie march, of people dressed up like zombies, being interrupted by a nutter (controlled by the player) thinking it's for real, is armed to the teeth and starts shooting all these innocent bystanders?
- Or how about a zombie RTS? You gather resources in zombie fashion (eating people) and built/invade structures that generate upgrades and other undead monstrosities and you go take out a village/military base/zombie lover club/whatever?

Indeed seeing as the zombie genre has been done to death, I'll pay good money for a zombie game that does things differently. Any takers?