There’s been post-apocalyptic MMO games in the past, but the apocalypse in those games has never been of an undead nature. Undead Labs is looking to fix that with the first MMOz, and the Z stands for zombies.

ArenaNet co-founder Jeff Strain, who’s resume includes Blizzard and NCsoft, formed Undead Studios to build a new MMO game from the ground up for consoles. He assembled a crack team of zombie-loving developers in Seattle, Washington, and set about creating a game that quite frankly begs to be created.

“Every time I see a good zombie movie with friends, we spend days debating our strategies for surviving the zombie apocalypse,” said Strain. “The police station or the supermarket? Garden rake or staple gun? Bach or the White Stripes? I’m a game developer, so I’d probably be useless for anything other than ghoul bait, but I’m excited to have the opportunity to build an MMOZ that lets us put those strategies to the test and find out for sure.”

This is the single best idea for an MMO game that I’ve heard in the history of the genre, and I’ve played a lot of MMO titles. To be able to work together with other players to survive a zombie apocalypse, without having to worry about the government simply nuking everything before the credits roll? That’s love right there.

Undead Labs plans on being pretty transparent throughout the development process of the game, so you might want to keep an eye on the official website for further apocalyptic developments.

Last month Capcom asked players how they wanted the extra content in the Japanese Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition delivered to Western players, and the fan base voted overwhelmingly for a DLC release. Well, Capcom is giving them that DLC release, along with a retail version with the main game plus all of the downloadable content. What did we vote for again?

The downloadable content includes two new episodes, a selection of new outfits and a Mercenaries Reunion multiplayer mode, complete with eight new playable characters. Players who’d rather not download all of that will be able to pay $US49.99 to get it all on a single PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc, or one Xbox 360 DVD with a voucher to download all of that anyway.

Announcing Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition [Capcom Unity]

That last bit certainly explains the teaser video that McWhertor posted awhile back, featuring the two criminals running through a Chinese restaurant pursued by gunman and an attack dog, caught on what looks like a grainy surveillance camera. IO Interactive is looking to “deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’ in video games”, and if that teaser was less tease, more gameplay, then they might just be on to something.

“Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days,” said Niels Jorgensen, general manager of IO Interactive. “A special thanks to gamers worldwide for their feedback. They are certainly in for a shock as we, with immense pride, welcome back our two dear, violent and somewhat unfortunate friends.”

Dog Days will feature the world’s most dysfunctional couple as they journey through the seedy Shanghai underworld. The original teaser vid plus a new one are now up at http://www.kaneandlynch.com, with screenshots listed as coming soon. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is slated for a 2010 release on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 under the Eidos label.

If you guessed the Nintendo Wii, we aren’t even going to give you credit, because it’s pretty much a no-brainer. Developed by Attractive Games LTD, Pizza Delivery Boy has the player delivering pizza to survive, unlocking faster vehicles and extra cash along the way through side missions like street racing and baking competitions. Players use the Wii remote as a combination all-in-one cooking utensil/driving wheel. It sounds a bit like Cooking Mama meets Paperboy, which translates quite nicely into the sexy fan-fiction I’ve been writing.

Pizza Delivery Boy is slated for a winter 2010 release. Finally a game that pizza delivery personnel can sit around playing, bitching about the lack of realism.

Access Games’ Deadly Premonition not only sounds a lot like Silent Hill, it also looks like it as well, with a bit of Fatal Frame thrown in for good measure. The game centres on FBI agent Francis York Morgan. investigating a murder in a small town. As the story progresses he unravels layers of mystery surrounding the place and its people. The game’s action sequences will allow players the chance to choose between slipping by enemies unnoticed or running in guns blazing and fists flying.

“Ignition Entertainment has done an incredible job finding and targeting each game’s primary audience and we could not be more excited to team up with them to publish Deadly Premonition,” said Hidetaka Suehiro, Director, Access Games. “We’ve developed the graphic styling and game play of Deadly Premonition to uniquely trigger the suspenseful emotions in every player. We promise an astounding ending if you can meet the challenge to solve the mystery and make it there!”

Even the marketing quotes sound like Silent Hill! Check out the first teaser trailer below, or visit the game’s official website for more info.

Possibly the purest Magic: The Gathering experience ever to grace a game console, Wizards of the Coast is keen to bring Duels of the Planeswalkers to the PlayStation 3 and PC audience, while continuing to show love to the Xbox 360 audience with a couple of new expansions. The PC version of Duels is scheduled for release in the (northern hemisphere) summer of 2010, featuring the same gameplay of the Xbox Live Arcade version with an “extra bonus”. I’m guessing the extra bonus is some sort of card marketplace, but don’t quote me on that.

The PlayStation Network version of the game won’t be hitting until at least mid-2010.

Meanwhile, Xbox Live players will enjoy the release of the second and third expansions for the game early-mid next year.

I’ve yet to download the first expansion, what with our review season in full swing, but I look forward to sitting down and getting my game on soon. Once a Magic addict, always a Magic addict.

The latest in the SMT series, already released in Japan to favourable reviews — the highest Famitsu-rated Shin Megami Tensei entry yet, according to Atlus — will come to the DS in North America early next year, bringing with it the mind-scrambling box art you see above. Go on, admire it.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey’s science-fiction flavoured storyline tasks the player with unravelling the mystery of a “growing, black void” that has appeared at Earth’s southern pole. The SMT standard role-playing and demon managing rules apply, with Atlus saying that Strange Journey follows in the tradition of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.

The game’s website is now live, offering more information should you want it.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger confused and delighted fighting fans when it was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, being a fighting game that you couldn’t simply pick up, perform Street Fighter-like moves and win. Now Arc System Works is bringing that delightful confusion to the PlayStation Portable with BlazBlue Portable. It features all 12 fighters from the console version of the game with Ad Hoc fighting for up to four players along with a new addition in the form of Legion Mode, a territory control game in which you move your character over a map taking over new areas via rounds of fighting.

BlazBlue Portable is making its way to Japan on February 25. No word on releases elsewhere, but as long as there’s a UMD and you haven’t upgraded to the PSPgo there’s always import shops.

BlazBlue Gets PSP Port [1UP]

SOE’s fascination with card games finally comes full circle. After years of creating collectible card games based on their popular MMO properties like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, now the company’s Denver studio is creating a strategy game based on the inspirations for those games – Magic: The Gathering.

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics draws on the Planeswalkers lore of Magic, putting players in control of 3D figures and spells from the popular CCG. The game will include both single player scenarios and online PVP multiplayer. As with any Magic-related product, fans can expect regular content expansions and strong tournament support, along with achievements and rankings.

“By collaborating with Wizards of the Coast, we’re able to combine the strengths of both companies to develop an innovative, online, 3D game based on an extremely popular IP,” said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’re going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen.”

I still prefer the Xbox Live Arcade Magic game myself, as it’s the straight-up card game and not a strategy derivative, but it’s nice to see the PlayStation 3 getting a little Magic loving either way.

Looks for Magic: The Gathering – Tactics to hit the PC in early 2010, with a PlayStation 3 release coming soon after.

Blue Dragon: Awaked Shadow is set two years after the original Blue Dragon and a year after the previous DS installment, Blue Dragon Plus. Instead of controlling Shu, the player creates their own character in this game, selecting the look and gender of your avatar before setting off on an adventure to rid the world of a newly-awakened enemy and restore balance.

A customisable character means the player can also change shadows to fit the situation, adding an element of strategy to the game that wasn’t there before.

I have to admit, the original Blue Dragon is one of my least favourite RPG games of this console generation, and the first DS follow-up didn’t impress me much. However, Awakened Shadow is developed by tri-Crescendo so there might still be hope.