The only bad thing about zombies is becoming one yourself, otherwise they’re a blast.  It can be quite viseral to take out a whole group of them with abandon.  One of my favorite  zombie games was the original Dead Rising for Xbox 360.  The great mix of gore and outright silliness (Mega Man costume!) created a sandbox that allowed for dozens of ways to tear through the zombie horde.

With great enthusiasm I’d like to pass on the news that the inevitable sequel to Dead Rising was officially announced by Capcom on Feb 9th of this year.   The story is set to throw at you, “tens of thousands of zombies” while you roam the “new gambling paradise of Fortune City” which seems to have a bit of Las Vegas flavor (zombie Elvis impersonators anyone?).  From the screenshots that were released along with this announcement Dead Rising 2 looks to be on par with its predecessor and seems to be attempting to up the ante in every way possible.

I really enjoyed the first one regardless of the technical difficulties (limiting save system, timeline based story progression).  If Dead Rising 2 dixes those issues and just follows the original’s flavor this entry will only add to the franchise’s appeal.  There’s currently no announced release date for Dead Rising 2 but I predict the game to be out sometime during the 4th quarter of ’09, til then I’ll be waiting impatiently to get my hands on it like the sick zombie fiend I am.