Writing about Games, Previews, reviews, commentary and lies

Alongside the video games industry there are games reviews and games journalists. These people tell us what is right and wrong in the gaming world, and what we should spend our hard earned cash on for a bit of entertainment. Not being a very hard-core gamer myself I really don’t know much if anything about games journalism and reviews. After a tiny amount of research I’ve learnt a few basics. A lot of games reviews come with a score, usually a number out of 10 or even a percentage. But as we progress many other forms of game reviews are cropping up. One that I particularly pay attention to, and doing this blog I’ve only just realised I do, are lets play’s on YouTube. Whereby a normal everyday game lover films him or herself playing a game and commenting as they go through. A lot of these are for entertainment purposes but some do voice their opinions on many aspects of a game. I’m pretty sure that game companies and reviewers work incognito to help each other, the whole thing is clinical, controlled and edited as they see fit. THIS IS NOT GAMING and has led to the public creating their own reviewing and advertising network. Being a spectator rather than a player myself it takes a lot more for me to consider actually purchasing a game and play it hence why gaming reviews do nothing for me. I don’t watch someone play to find a number, a score out of 10, I watch for the experience. The NGJ are redundant in many ways to the public they claim to serve, they are there purely as a business outlet, an extension of the games industry. As a race we have become lazy in this modern world, we will always pit for the easy option and pretty much want everything handed to us on a plate. We choose not to think for ourselves when it comes to retail. When buying a product online, from websites such as Ebay, before purchasing, you’ll read the review before purchasing. Everywhere we go we look to others to show us the way and what they think and this fuels our decision almost making it for us if we’re really feeling lazy and zombified at the time. Gaming and reviews are in a world of their own. Purely working for themselves within a system that actually alienates the gaming public. Money circulates between them Underhand payments from games companies to games reviewers such as IGN, to write about their game in a positive light to boost sales. What they make and the press surrounding them is something entirely different to what we as gamers actually experience when exploring these worlds they have created. Something that springs to mind as an example, being a game watcher I’m quite the fan of the YouTube channel PewDiePie.  http://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie?feature=watch
For those who don’t know, he makes videos called ‘let’s play’ where he plays a game and films himself playing it in episodes for the viewer to watch as a series. He’s popular for his funny comments and has a huge fan base spread right across the globe. I hadn’t been watching him for long when I came across his series for the game The Walking Dead which funnily enough was a highly acclaimed game, winning countless awards including 2012 Game of the year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(2012_video_game) I watched the series not expecting much, if anything the visual style of the game put me off a little, but being based on a comic book series I can see why they went for this particular style.

I became hooked, drawn in and the clever decision making that affects the characters and also change the flow of the story. I was up watching it until the ridiculous hours of the morning. Like a book I couldn’t put down I had to find out what happened next. The story takes a turn for the worst and as the story drew to a close, PewDiePie himself was becoming incredibly emotionally involved in the characters and story line. So much so that the ending scene reduced him to tears and so was I. I had never cried at watching a game like that and it amazed me. Writing this blog I realised, if I were to read a review of this game and hear it won awards, I may have batted an eye lid but never would’ve attempted to experience it in any way. Watching the story unfold before your eyes, hearing the comments and the thought process of the player, you couldn’t help but become emotionally involved. If I had to read a journalist interpretation on the game I seriously doubt they would be able to hook and completely immerse all my emotions into the game and story. What I’m saying is, the idea of a review where none of the gaming is being viewed by the public and writing is all they have to go by. This is then supposed to help us decide whether we would enjoy playing a game, the whole thing just doesn’t work. A game is a world, it evokes and awakens all your senses, apart from the obvious taste and smell. The only way writing would evoke these feelings, would be if it were a novel. That obviously isn’t the intention of a review, deadlines and word counts are what matter. In my opinion I would never judge a game by what review it got. No matter who gave it or where it was published. I have to be shown it or at least be told face to face with someone who has experienced it first-hand. This is a true test and a closest insight to a game you can get, without actually playing it. Depending on your preference in terms of your relationship with games, for me there’s no better review then seeing it with your own eyes.

My Personal Gaming History

My personal gaming history is probably not as colourful as most of the people on my course. My gaming history mainly consists of watching people play. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, but I’m going to go into more detail, giving ages and what was going on round about that time in the gaming world.
My brother being my main link to gaming has hindered my knowledge of all the games out there. For example, he wasn’t a Legend of Zelda fan, and yet everybody claims it’s one of, if not, the best game of all time, and yet because of my brothers taste I never knew the joys of Zelda until recently and therefor I was led to be believe otherwise to who owns the best game ever title.
My first gaming experience ever, would probably be, again watching my brother play on the Sega mega drive. A games console that I have grown up knowing and playing games such as Sonic 2, Streets of rage 1 and 2, Micro Machines and my mother’s personal favourite, Columns. My first exposure to games would’ve been this, even though I can’t quite remember. But I’ve been told countless times of the stories where I pulled my mother’s hair as my brother was thrashing her on Micro Machines. Did anything to help my brother succeed, he must have trained me.

My first memory of a game would probably be Resident Evil. No prizes for guessing why I remember it. Obviously a terrifying game for anyone let alone a 6 or 7 year old. Not too sure how young I was when I was first ever exposed to it but I know my brother was 12 when he first played it. Another game I can remember from an early age was Silent Hill 2, again, for the same reasons for Resident Evil. I’ll always remember the scene that frightened me the most. It’s the scene where you come across your first enemy. I literally ran out of the room I was that terrified. O_O However, another thing I remember thinking about that game in particular, was that the graphics in the cut scenes looked incredibly realistic for its time. Especially the opening scene that introduces the main character, James.

Another game from my childhood and quite possibly the most important game in my life was of course, Final Fantasy VII. I’m not going to go into detail; I’ve done it in other posts and I’m getting sick of explaining myself, but I think this game is the blue print of my ideal game. An incredibly deep and engaging story line, with a wonderful world filled with so much beauty and breath taking atmosphere, teamed with a group of lovable characters. The only thing that was missing were great graphics and talented voice acting. There were rumours of a remake, but the rumours were soon put to bed. According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII the rumour was sparked after the release of a video featuring the opening scene from the original game but using PS3 graphics. It was soon stated that at that time, there were far too many other projects that were happening and that there would simply be no time to start a remake project of such a long game any time soon. I would’ve loved to have seen this, but I can’t help but think it could potentially ruin the game, but I guess we’ll never know.
Let’s skip ahead to when I first started properly playing games. I dabbled here and there with a few titles. One I particularly loved was Guitar Hero. I love rock music and I thought the idea of appearing to play a guitar in front of a crowd was such an awesome idea. I played a few of the Sims instalments, but I think it was when I got a Nintendo DS Lite one Christmas. I had a collection of games for it, Tomb Raider Legend, Scribblenaugt, Final Fantasy 3, Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and the Phantom Hourglass, a couple Sims games, and even my old nemesis, Resident Evil 1, which was exactly the same as the original, and yet I conquered my fear and completed it, near enough, just had to kill the last boss. No health in sight though, so I took it as a victory for getting through the whole game and gave myself a pat on the back.
Next console I had was a Nintendo wii. As well as this I’d have a sneaky go on my brothers PS3 to play Devil May Cry 4. I completed that numerous times on all levels of difficulty. Probably one of my first proper gaming experiences.   
However, I discovered my first purchased game that I bought and got obsessed with. I did every single little bit of it. Usually I don’t bother with these and just do the main story but I got hooked and consumed. I don’t think this game was highly praised but I loved it. It’s called No More Heroes for the wii. It had such a unique look that I found really appealing. It had a comic book style, full of action and violence but it didn’t take itself seriously and did really well to keep it fun. I loved it, yet the sequel didn’t quite engross me as much. So it has been left uncompleted.


Ever since then I revisited a few games of my brothers, like Final fantasy 10, which I managed to complete and was quite proud of myself for doing so.     
Ever since that however. I haven’t really touched a game properly for a while. However I have begun to like watching ‘Lets Plays’ and ‘Walk Through’s’ on YouTube. It goes back to when I watched my brother on games and just enjoyed the story. I do think I prefer watching to playing, but there are some games in this world that you just have to play.
But it’s clear that computer games have been a big part of my life. They’ve influenced me since before I can remember, and I hope they continue to throughout my time on this course and in whatever career I find myself in at the end of it.

A history of computer games: 90’s – 2000’s

The 90’s was the decade that created the video games industry to the level of success that it is today. So many familiar titles were created and also the format of games we are familiar with today were born. CD Rom games were being made for a range of consoles. It was also the decade which hosted the rise of the handheld games consoles. Despite the huge successes in the 90’s, there were still several flops that came onto the market. There were still instalments from Sega, but the real competition began in 1995. This was the year that brought us the Nintendo N64, but more importantly in my opinion, the Sony Playstation. This was the beginning of games as we know them today. This was the decade of 3D gaming, games that could do more, in a much more realistic way. So many well-known titles were released; Sonic (1991) Doom (1993) Resident Evil (1996) Final Fantasy 7 (1997) Legend of Zleda: Ocarina of Time (1998) Silent Hill (1999). These all played part in forming the modern gaming identity. www.unikgamer.com/tops/top-games-of-the-90s-12.html This website lists hundreds of popular games released in the 90’s. Many genre’s were explored throughout these titles. Resident Evil created the benchmark for survival horror. Using a range of unusual camera angles to create a uniquely terrifying atmosphere.

Being fairly young at the time I couldn’t really play, but I was still exposed to its horrors, that still make me feel uneasy to this day. My older brother played, while I watched looking away on the odd occasion if something particularly terrifying occurred. This opened the door for other survival horror games, such as Silent Hill. This game had a rather more disturbing quality. Something that I don’t think has quite been recreated ever since. These series in particular still have regular releases and a loyal fan base to this day. I feel Playstation and the games that were made for it, gave us the idea that computer games can be cool, a glimpse into the modern day game world. My very first memories of games were on the Playstation, never playing but just watching. As we move over into the 2000’s we see graphics greatly improving at a fast rate. Many game series are starting or producing sequels, as well as the next generation of popular consoles. 2000-2001 saw the return of playstation with the playstation 2 being released. With this release came the next instalment of the well-known game series, Grand Theft Auto 3.

This was the first game in the series that used the 3D format. Players were left in awe at a new, realistic world, something that took some getting used to. Being able to cause trouble and start car chases in this new format made it all the more exciting. We also saw the birth of its future rival in 2001, Microsoft jumped on the games bandwagon and with a tonne of cash, and introduced the Xbox. With the Xbox came Halo, again desperate to get a piece of the games market they put a huge sum of money into releasing a game that would create a hysteria and frenzy for the Xbox. Halo was the main selling point for the Xbox, a futuristic first person shooter that was like no other game on the market. It immersed players in an unique environment with an action packed storyline and a new concept of enemy, leaving players struck with awe with what Bungie actually achieved, creating a global fan base from just one game.

Over the next few years more game series were released spread across the different consoles and platforms. With each passing year, games had greater graphics and also the age of new gimics in gaming. In 2005 the game Guitar Hero was released. A role playing game with a difference. Players could physically feel like they were playing lead guitar in a rock band. This became a worldwide phenomenon, with a couple of spinoff idea’s. A year later Nintendo returned with a radical new way of gameplay. An interactive wireless controller that allows the players movements to control the game. The selling point was multiple players, physically getting involved with game play. Playstation and Xbox, the main competitors joined in after just releasing their next generation consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) they also decided to go interactive, with the Xbox releasing the Kinect and Playstaion releasing Move. Both allowing the player to physically be part of the game. Another area of gaming that begins to thrive in the 2000’s is online gaming. Huge communities spanning across the globe all playing together.

Games such as World of Warcraft became another gaming phenomenon, which paved the way for other gaming communities to emerge and thrive in an ever changing technological world. With greater graphics and new technologies for long running, well-loved series, the games industry is set to create more milestones in history. I personally, wanting to be a game artist, cannot wait to see where the gaming world is heading. To be a part of such a thriving industry which is always changing with new exciting idea’s. We can only imagine what the games world has to offer us. Me being not the most hardcore gamer, I much prefer to sit back and see the developments, with the occasional

A history of computer games: 70’s – 90’s

Looking through the history of games and research and lectures that I’ve had on the subject. I’m amazed to find out just how far back it spans but even more so, how quickly ideas were developed and the pace of the entire idea of video games, shifted and altered quicker then any invention or idea I’ve heard of. In 1971, the game ‘Computer Space’ was created. It was based on Steve Russell’s game ‘Spacewar!’ and was created by Nolan Bushnell together with Ted Dabney.



The theme of games at this point were strongly based on the idea of space travel. I feel they probably did this due to this new technology they were creating. To them it was space age, so what perfect subject matter for a game then space travel and battling aliens. The most far out, high tech idea’s and interests around at the time. In the same year, Nolan Bushnell and ted Dabney started Atari Computers. Then to put a twist in the tail, along came Pong. It was basically a table tennis simulation game. It was highly popular I think due to its simplicity. Also up until this point, all video games were arcade versions. But in 1975, Atari re-released Pong as a home video game. One of the first ever home gaming console. It had the same affect on people as big releases we have today. There were reports of people waiting outside stores for hours to get one. This is a very small glimps into the impact games will have on people in the future. The frenzy and desire people have for games in the present day, is what drives the game industry. The idea to entertain a mass audience, to create something everyone can be a part of. But this frenzy, in my opinion, only comes with much loved running series of games. A sequel to long running series, a much loved one, that it creates so much hysteria, that its success is because everyone is and can talk about it. In 1977, manufacturers of older, obsolete consoles and Pong clone sold their systems at a loss to clear stock, creating a glut in the market and causing Fairchild and RCA to abandon their game consoles. Only Atari and Magnavox remained in the home console market, despite suffering losses in 1977 and 1978. This led to a crash in the video games market with companies going bust after too many clones of the original games were being released. These swamped the market causing sales of the originals to plummet. This shows that many games companies and the idea of video games, just hadn’t quite reached out to the public enough. Games needed to do more and be more accessible to the public in order for their popularity to grow. As ‘Wikipedia’ puts it, the 80’s were when the industry experienced its first major growing pains. Role playing games became highly popular in the 80’s huge releases that we are familiar with today and have sequels which are still being produced today. Titles such as Legend of Zelda, Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy, Mario and so many more that we recognise and see to this day in the present games market. There was a genre innovatoion. Games no longer depicted space travel and table tennis simulations new types of games were being released. Action adventure, role playing, survival horror. These genre’s gave birth to many of the games we see today. Personally, the 80’s gaming market was the jumping point, for things to begin to evolve into the games we see today. This obviously led to the 90’s which began the revolution of modern gaming. But the 80’s I feel was a genre in itself for video games. All of which were 2D based platform games, it’s a style that we link to the early days of gaming. This was the decade that gave birth to countless games consoles, varying in success. These were all cartridge games consoles. Even though the amount of manufactured games consoles was increasing, none of them were never hugely successful. http://njarb.com/2011/07/game-consoles-of-the-80s/ This website shows a wide selection of game consoles which I found fascinating. The amount of unsuccessful creations is staggering but these were all mere experiments. The most popular I think, was the Nintendo NES, released in 1983. Having 800+ games made for it, and like Sega, which in 1989 releaseed Sega Genesis, they are both recognised and still successful games company today, it was the beginnings of the modern age of gaming.

Game History: An Art Comparison

I recently had a thought. Whilst wondering through an art gallery, admiring  that span across multiple art movements and mediums. I compared several pieces, from impressionist to the Neo-classicism and realism, and wondered, why an art movement always seemed to challenge the last. Things appeared too realistic, and when photography was born the craftsmanship of creating the world in a 2D form, died to complete the art world circle of life. Such beauty in the human form was only truly shown in works by great artist such as Michelangelo (La Dotto Mano) This to then be challenged by things like the impressionist movement years later, it shows a huge shift in the dynamic of what we consider art.

I feel that the game industry has already shown a very similar transition in its short history, in comparison to the history of art that it. This is where I began to compare the two. After briefly looking up video game history, it turns out that the idea of video games was conceived as far back as the 1940’s. According to Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games - it was patented in America, but didn’t reach mainstream popularity until the 1970’s – 1980’s. In 1971 a game called ‘Computer Space’ was considered a landmark as the first mass-produced video game and the first offered for commercial sale. In 1972 ‘Pong’ was released and was far more successful. This lead to a game company in japan called Taito in 1975, releasing a game called ‘Gunfight’ Tree years later, in 1978 ‘Space Invaders’ was released and became known worldwide. After these arcade classics, the idea of the home game console arrived and things began so snowball from there. As time passed and new technology was being developed, we ended up with classics like ‘Mario’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ At the time of their release technology had come a long way, but was nowhere near today’s standards. This got me thinking back to fine art and how we went from incredibly detailed and skilled, realistic creations, to impressionist, surreal pieces of imagery that are beyond our world. The game industry has done exactly the same development, but in reverse in terms of it content.

Let me explain. The limitations of early gaming, the lack of high performance technology to create realistic visuals, brought out the most imaginative creations for the game world. A super-fast hedgehog with a two-tailed, flying fox sidekick? An Italian Plummer who eats mushrooms to get really big and strong to save a princess from a big turtle crocodile creature? It’s all madness! As time went by and technology progressed, we have characters with human characteristics in realistic settings. With a much more in depth and complex story line. With the growth of advanced technology to create the visuals in games, we choose to make things far more realistic. Games such as ‘LA Noire’ that use real people, in a real time, doing relatively normal things, such as investigating crime. We have in-game cinematics that show complex scenes, were characters have near perfect facial expressions and body language. We are using the available technology to create realistic, organic things in games. Like how Michelangelo used marble to carve human form and flesh all those hundreds of years ago. Games design has made near exact transition, except art challenged the available materials to still create realistic outcomes. As mediums developed, such as photography, which captures realistic images in a 2D form, quickly and effectively. We decided to abandon making realistic imagery by hand and craftsmanship. We decided to create surreal imagery, unrealistic mark making that resemble nothing we see in the real world.

The game industry is using its new technological discoveries, to their advantage. By making a realistic world and characters to completely conjure a near simulated world where by the player feels part of the visuals seen before them. This also resembles the idea of the uncanny. Whereby, human characters are put in a complete fantasy worlds. The idea of the uncanny is something that is familiar to the viewer and yet there’s still something not quite right. Therefor, in games, a realistic landscape, with human characters, fighting dragons and trolls. Quite an odd concept but one that makes the gamer, feel one, with the game.   

Reflection...

Second blog and I feel after a particular lecture a little bit of reflection is in order. The lecture was on the horrors that some past student have drawn. Whether it be for the interview for the course, or things they’ve done very early on in the course. It made me realise how much of the game art industry is hidden to the public. It creates false ideas about the work people in the industry are expected to do. So many young people, including myself, instantly say they aspire to become a concept artist. Mainly because of all the beautiful finished pieces they see when they type, ‘Game Concept Art’ into google images. I know this, because I was exactly the same for a very long time. I designed a whole bunch of characters and even a storyline for a game. At one point, I actually wrote a letter addressed to a game company, that explained what I sent them, which was probably 100 odd pages of character designs and an in depth story of the entire game I had created. I did this at about the age of 13. Looking back it’s incredible to see how deluded a young teen can be. At the same time I think about the process I went through in order to create and conjure up the idea of submitting it. The whole writing and designing process completely consumed me. I was so inspired and passionate, all my gaming influences, even since before I could remember, filled me with the passion and drive to create something which is usually done by a huge team of people, all by myself. Obviously there was no way the quality would meet industry standard, but the point is I believed so hard and wanted it so badly.

As I grew older and cynicism of the teenager came into play, I lost that drive. I went to Art College as I loved art in secondary school. I saw school, as doing my time, a sentence, something I had to do, just to get through it. Then I could be free to take any route I wanted, but in the midst of all that, I actually looked forward to walking to that art room. Where I would be greeted with the biggest smile form my art teacher and I would be made to feel valid, not a person that people saw and never heard. It was here I was pointed in the direction of Art College. Where my passion for the subject, kind of nose-dived. Seeing as it was something I was constantly doing, it became a chore. Something that had to be done, and not because I wanted to do it. I lost all passion for concept art and I drifted through college like it was a monotonous dream. We had to specialise and I looked back at that game I created. I realised game art was all I really remember feeling passionate about, in terms of a career. So I chose graphic design, but as you know from my last blog, I hated it. Because of the tick box system of assessment they had there, I came out with the second highest grade available. At not one point did I feel I earned that grade. I was spoon fed to the point that one ‘wafer thin mint’ would have finished me and my integrity, would literally throw itself off the tallest building it could find.

I wanted to find that passion again, so I added a few refined versions of my character designs to my portfolio. With this post, there should be some photos of some characters I managed to colour in Photoshop. Since coming to uni I’ve realise they’re not the worst things in the world, but they are nowhere near industry standard. Bear in mind I planned to send even less industry standard scribbles from my 13 year old self to a highly recognised games company, I’m glad I saved myself the embarrassment. Even though I plan to get to industry and I’ll look back on the original character designs and laugh, but they were the start of this journey. Yet I’ve only just realised that. I want to earn my degree unlike college, and it seems the graft has to be there for this course in order to get it. So I best get my finger out, it’s a very fast paced work load, but that the industry for you. Just have to man up and get on with it. Wish me luck.

Starting on this technological journey

Hello there, my name is Lucy and I’m a small, redheaded female, who can run her mouth a bit, but hey, this height makes it difficult to be noticed…the hair…not so much.

So, I’ve just enrolled on this crazy uni course where we draw all sorts of stuff and turn it into a 3D world. Pretty cool huh? This is the epiphany of escapism, which I’ve found myself doing quite a lot in recent years. So, I’m a girl, who likes games. That’s right, it seems us girls like blood and violence just as much as you meat eating males. I think this comes from growing up with an older brother, who in all honesty, only let me ‘watch’ whenever a game was in the vicinity. I’m not the most skilled in the technology department, as I still have a Nokia 5310 Xpress Music phone, but that doesn’t mean to say I’ve only watched games. I’ve played a few, but they don’t consume my life, I own a Nintendo wii…enough said.

My very first love of the game world though, came from watching my brother. It’s probably the earliest, yet most vivid memories of a game I think I have. This game, in my opinion, was far too complex and pushed the boundaries for the technology to handle at the time and yet it still blew me away. This was the one and only Final Fantasy 7. Yes, one of those crazy FF fans, but only for FF7 if I’m perfectly honest. Sure I may have dabbled in completing FF10, but let’s not go into that shall we. The main thing I noticed about number 7 though, was its incredible ability to consume you into the world on the TV screen, with these blocky characters who didn’t have voices but this still didn’t stop me from feeling like I knew these characters. I was right there, gripped from start to finish. As much as I love the story characters, even the music, I don’t think I could ever play it myself. I’d shatter the illusion my brother created when I watched him play. It’s a story to me and not something to get stuck on, or stress about. The story is so complex yet beautiful.

This was the game that has become my main inspiration and the source of my love for games. I’ve always had a knack for art. I truly began to love art and enjoy being creative, during year nine of high school. A crucial year where you decide on your GCSE’s (doesn’t seem so crucial now I’m doing a degree in all honesty) It was here where I met my first ever hero. My art teacher, Mrs Sanky. She was a true inspiration and filled me with so much confidence in my work. I was a shy, timid little thing and she was a rebellious ex punk artist who fancied bold men with beer bellies and chest hair, but I’m going off topic. What I’m trying to say is, she was like a second mum. A cool, artistic mum, who always just let me do my thing and praised me when I finished. She suggested I look at going to Leeds College of Art to do a National Diploma in Art and Design. After an interview and an A* grade in GCSE Art, I enrolled and for the next 2 years I struggled to decide on what to do. During school, I designed countless characters and even a story for a game (next instalment of the Final Fantasy series to be precise) I love the idea of creating a world and characters for people to get lost and fall in love with. During college however, I kind of forgot that.

After the first year, I specialised in graphic design, and hated it. When the idea of university came about, I rediscovered my love of game design and decided to look at a bunch of courses related to the subject. Being the first person in my family to go to uni, I felt like it was the right thing for me to be doing. I happened to stumble across a place called De Montfort University, and after an open day then interview, the letter came through the door and I’m now sat here, in a room twice the size as the room I grew up in, writing a blog about how I ended up here. Sounds quite dull now that I read it back. But hey, I’ve made some great friends already and am really looking forward to loosing myself  in this course, to get me into a career, that I’m willing to get out of bed for; because after working as a waitress for a year, I know damn well, that the mundane ‘normal job’ just isn’t for me. Give me dragons and zombies any day of the week.