I’m super-excited to announce that we’ve just released info on a special collector’s edition for The House of the Dead: OVERKILL on Nintendo Wii.

Due for release in February 2009, this premium edition of The House of the Dead: OVERKILL arrives encased in an exclusive collector’s slipcase and is accompanied by an exclusive graphic novel. It will only be available through selected retailers as a pre-order bonus in PAL territories only (Sorry guys in the USA).

“Prelude to an OVERKILL” grahpic novel tells the fateful stories of Agent Washington and Varla Gunns, on the night before the violent and shocking events of the game. Illustrated by Steve Copter, of dissident punk band ‘Black Mekon’ (check them out on MySpace), this specially-commissioned comic is only available in The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Collector’s Edition.

For those of you not familar with the new game in the long-running series, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL puts players in the shoes of Special Agent G and Detective Washington. Whilst mowing down waves of infected blood-thirsty mutants in a last-ditch effort to survive Bayou City, gamers uncover the horrific truth behind the origins of the House of the Dead.

Here’s some images to get you all frothy at the mouth like an infected mutant.

To get everyone in the mood for some halloween ‘fun’ we’ve released a new trailer for our forthcoming ’shoot-them-all-up’ The House of the Dead: OVERKILL. This new trailer for The House of the Dead: OVERKILL, shows scenes of degradation from the second level of the game. Set in Bayou County general hospital, overrun by mutants, Special Agent G and Detective Washington are hot on the trail of Papa Ceasar, racing to uncover the perverse secrets of his disgusting experiments.

Developed by London based studio Headstrong Games, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will supply you with the only cure for the disease these mutants carry … bullets.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL is released on Nintendo Wii console in February 2009 and isn’t suitable for children or adults that get scared easily.

For those of you prepared to witness the onslaught of mutants - check out the trailer on GameTrailers.com

As a gamer, there are many great things I love about working for SEGA. I could spend a whole blog wittering on about the free games, insider knowledge, and SEGA branded coffee mugs but instead I’m going to witter on about the brilliant ‘parties’ or hands-on events as they’re known our UK team put on. In particular, our House of the Dead: OVERKILL hands-on from last night.

Last night’s event, hosted at London venue Ghost Inc., was the first time journalists were given hands-on with the game and was also an opportunity for the developers, Headstrong Games, to take the night off, dress up and show off the Bajou Hospital level. I think they dressed up; it was difficult to tell to be honest. Perhaps Headstrong employ a horde of undead medical staff as consultants.

Those in attendance were treated to some very strange looking shots, cocktails complete with eyeballs that I was reliably informed were inedible, and some very fine nibbles. We had a couple of little devils causing havoc, a nice lady with a charming snake and a man that stuck large pins through his body. Music was provided by Reading’s tallest country band, Damien A Passmore and the Lovable Fraudsters (check out their MySpace page). And for anyone wishing to “zombie-up” one of the guys from Headstrong was showing off his skills as a special FX make-up artist.

Everyone was spending lots of time in front of the bank of TVs sampling the medical-themed level and looked like they were having a jolly good time. Here are some screens from the level that was demoed.

What do you think? I totally love the whole 1970s schlock-horror b-movie style and can’t wait to get my gory hands on the full game.

We took loads of pictures at the event, and you’ll find these on our Flickr account. Here are a couple of my favourites.

Time doesn’t travel so fast when you’re one of the undead, but it’s been more than a week since we announced House of the Dead: OVERKILL to an unsuspecting public. The fan feedback has been so far - well, sensational really. Everyone went completely barmy when the trailer went live on YouTube, and it becoming Top Rated in Gaming in the UK. Comments such as:
“That was so incredibly brilliant. Definitely the best trailer I’ve seen in a long time.”

Make us feel quite gooey inside…

Well, seeing as there’s clearly quite a lot of zombie love out there, we felt it appropriate to join in by listing some of our favourite zombie related games. There’s quite a few, and some of the most successful gaming franchises have come out of a combination of shotguns, serious amounts of gore and a whole load of walking corpses. So, without further ado, here’s a list of some of our favourite titles:

Zombies Ate My Neighbours
It’s not exactly the dark game that you expect in a terrifying zombified list, but when trying to think of zombie games that I’ve loved and still love, this one really stuck in my mind. It’s got the great quality game play that you can always rely on from classic Mega Drive and SNES games - and it runs a little like the Amiga stalwart: Commando. You simply run around a graveyard/Egyptian tomb/something weirder bumping into things to ‘rescue’ stricken cheerleaders, school teachers and other hapless humans. In the process, zombies appear from absolutely everywhere and you have to send them back from whence they came with some great weapons. Fire extinguisher anyone? It’s cheesy nonsense with great graphics considering its age.

The House of the Dead
A zombie top five, especially a zombie top five on SEGA’s own blog wouldn’t be complete without The House of the Dead. For simple, instant action, it doesn’t get any better than this series. Everyone has their favourite of the series, me, I just like shooting stuff, undead stuff preferably and so I’m happy to play any of them. The thrills come thick and fast in these “on-the-rails” arcade (and home conversions) classics, and they’re a must play when visiting any seaside arcade in the UK. I’m really excited about our forthcoming game in the series, which is set before the first game and stars everybody’s favourite one-letter agent “G”. Don’t suffer like G did; give it a look when it arrives next year.

Resident Evil
Now I know a lot of people love Resident Evil IV and all its newness, but I’m not sure I’ll ever beat the nameless dread that I felt walking down a silent corridor armed only with a knife and a lock picking set, before two mutated zombie dogs burst through the windows barking out of their slavering jaws. The first of the Resident Evil series spawned the rest through its creepy music and settings, moments of total panic and colossal body count…. and that’s not to mention the shotguns, red and green herbs, giant snakes, spiders, sharks, crazed crows and a whole lot of seriously corny acting (about 1minute into the video below) that gave players a comic respite from the brutal proceedings. Oh yeah, there’s a LOT of zombies in it too.

Dead Rising
I was so excited when Dead Rising was announced, and leapt on the demo when it became available; I wasn’t disappointed. Dead Rising is essentially George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead movie as a videogame. Imagine if you will, being stranded in an out-of city American shopping mall where the dead are walking around like they’re at an all you can eat buffet. I’m not talking about a couple of zombies here and there, we’re talking hundreds all after a slice of thigh. As the role of a photographer, it is your job to take photos of key events in a time window while rescuing others who are stranded at different locations in the mall. At your disposal are all the stock from all the shops and cafes in the mall. So, if you fancy throwing CDs at the zombies you can, however a nice katana blade conveniently located on a café canopy would probably be better. A stand out moment for me is mowing down undead pedestrians with a shopping trolley full of sharp things.

As a side note, Dawn of the Dead starred one of my favourite special effects guys/actors Tom Savini, who has starred in quite a few zombie flicks over the years including, Dawn of the Dead (both versions), From Dusk Till Dawn, Children of the Living Dead, Land of the Dead and Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse horror homage).

There’s always room for one more… *The Last Guy
This is a very new addition to the ever-growing list of games that feature zombies, and for me it’s a must-include on this list. It doesn’t have the graphical qualities of say Dead Rising, or the pant-wetting scares of Resident Evil, but it does have three very good things going for it.

1) Zombies (a must have in this list)
2) It’s immensely enjoyable (a requirement for all video games in my book)
3) It’s incredibly cheap at just £4.99 ($9.99) (we are in a credit crunch after all)

For those not familiar with the title, and I expect that to be quite a few of you given that the game has only just surfaced on these shores, let me explain. This PS3 exclusive title has a very simple concept; save the residents of real-world locations from the on-coming zombie and monster menagerie by herding them to a safe zone within a given timeframe. Imagine if you will, herding tiny pixel people round a Google Map while trying to avoid getting eaten. There’s a lot more to it than just herding hordes of humans; you get more points by saving more people at once and you can also pick up items including speed boosts, temporary invisibility and a zombie-halting power-up that’ll stop the beasties in their tracks for a short while. It may not be the scariest zombie-fest out there, but it is very enjoyable. The Last Guy is only available to buy via Sony’s PLAYSTATION 3 Network (PSN). If you’ve got a PS3, get downloading the demo today.

So, those who’ve dared to tread so far - what are your favourite zombie games??