Odds of world ending on 12/21 in a zombie apocalypse? 2000:1!

Curious on how the world “will end on 12/21 ? The odds aren’t with it being a zombie apocalypse after all. Our friends over at Deep Silver, makers of Dead island, contacted book maker Paddy Power for the official odds and they came back with 2,000:1. It’s more likely we’ll all vaporize in a nuclear holocaust (1,500:1) or disappear in some sort of environmental disaster (1,000:1).

Zombie lovers can rest assured that they have a better chance of decapitating the undead than watching an asteroid take us out (3,000:1) or fending off hordes of human enslaving aliens (5,000:1). Curious to the odds on the world seeing the sunrise on 12/22? Paddy Power puts the odds at 1:1000 for us non-believers.

Deep Silver is laying odds on us wiping the floor with the rotting corpses of the deceased in the upcoming Dead Island: Riptide instead of in real life. Do you blame them, they are busting their humps to give us the ultimate in co-op blood filled zombie killing experiences. No matter how you feel, hit the break and check out the official world ending press release!

“The End of the World is Nigh 2,000/1″

Dead Island Riptide and Paddy Power set the odds of the world ending by a zombie apocalypse

December 20, 2012 – LARKSPUR, CA – Dead Island Riptide – one of the most anticipated video game titles of 2013 – and bookmaker Paddy Power have today revealed the odds of a worldwide zombie apocalypse occurring on 21 December 2012, the day that signifies the end of the Mayan calendar and, for some doomsday theorists, a date that also represents the end of the world.

The odds of a mass zombie outbreak on 21 December 2012 as depicted in the Dead Island Riptide video game published by Deep Silver has been set at 2,000/1. Meaning that civilization as we know is more likely to come to an apocalyptic end as a result of an environmental disaster (1,000/1) or a nuclear holocaust (1,500/1). However, that could be small comfort when you consider that we’re more likely to be overrun by the living dead than colliding with another planetary body like a giant asteroid (3,000/1) or being attacked and conquered by extra-terrestrials (5,000/1).

A Paddy Power spokesperson said:

“Punters fancying a cheery 2000/1 flutter that the world will end due to zombie apocalypse on December 21st are more than welcome. For those not totally convinced, Paddy Power is also offering 1/1000* that the sun will rise on the 22nd. Either way, someone’s going to win!”

Gamers will be able to take on the zombie hordes once again when Dead Island Riptide is published by Deep Silver on 26 April 2013 for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and for Windows PC.

*Max bet 10, sorry.

About Dead Island Riptide

Having survived the ordeals of the zombie infestation on the once beautiful island resort of Banoi depicted in the original Dead Island game, our group of survivors thought they had finally found a safe place to escape from this terrifying nightmare. But they were wrong. Shortly after the battle-hardened team had landed their helicopter on a military ship, a furious storm hits and havoc quickly spreads on board. Suddenly they find themselves struggling for their lives again with all hope drowning in the rising waves.

With invigorating new elements infused into a proven mix, Dead Island Riptide will reanimate the zombie terror in the original game. A monsoon has hit the once beautiful archipelago and heavy rainstorms have laid waste to large areas of the islands. The city of Henderson and jungle areas on the island of Palanai were flooded leaving boats as the only remaining way of transportation. Dynamic weather conditions will force the team members to adapt to changing visibility conditions.

In new hub defense missions the coop teamplay skills of the survivors will be tested to the limit – they need to strategically place traps, fences and turrets to fend off oncoming Zombie onslaughts and to protect the humans in these sanctuaries. New communication features in coop mode also allow players to enjoy an even more intense and strategic teamplay experience.

For more information, visit one of the following official Dead Island sites:
Official Website: http://www.deadisland.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/deadislandgame
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/deadislandgame
Twitter: twitter.com/deadislandgame

Geeky Game Review: Dead Island: Riptide

Once more into the breach my fellow geeks! We have zombies monsters to slay! After Dead Island dropped in 2011, zombie killing fans were left wanting more, much more. Well here we are, stuck in another island hell hole fighting off hordes of undead monstrosities and were we given the sequel we needed, the sequel we deserved?

Dead Island: Riptide is a psuedo-sequel to Dead Island. You could call it an expansion pack pretty much, a huge expansion at that. The same four heroes from the first are back with a new immune survivor in the mix. The game starts off exactly after the end of the first, with our motley crew escaping the infested Banoi. The gang ends up on a ship in the ocean where they find more hardship. Abducted, they become the focus of experiment after experiment. As with all things science, an outbreak occurs and the ship crashes. Not back on Banoi thankfully but an all new section of the cluster, Palanai.

More…

Palanai is its own creature, separate from Banoi but yet strikingly familiar. It’s a lush tropical paradise but so was Banoi and I believe that’s what starts the downfall of the game. Riptide feels much like its predecessor in every way, the good with the bad. Every thing that was wrong with the original is still wrong in Riptide. We’re talking the poor, stuttering frame rate, the stilted “I got a load in my pants” walk of your chosen avatar, the clipped sound and horribly repetitive fetch quests. It’s almost like Techland didn’t listen to anything the fans said and kept on with business as usual. And they brought along some new glitches to irritate fans.

Did you rely on the quest marker to lead you to the next destination, to help you bypass the throngs of brain hungry foes? Yeah, you can forget that bad boy in Riptide – it’s fundamentally broken. It works when it wants to, which isn’t very often mind you. Routinely you will become over run and murdered by the Left 4 Dead type hordes, by the constantly respawning zombies, by the ninja-like wretches that will appear behind you. It is pure frustration on an epic scale. Something I never encountered in DI but are present everywhere are insta-killing enemies. They throw one tiny knife and full health bar or not, BAM! you’re dead. Utter rubbish.

Not all is bad in Riptide, there are some improvements to be found, some additions to make it stand out. Something I thoroughly enjoyed was the hub defense for the various hideouts the gang holes up in. The zombies will swarm in from a scattering of weak spots in an attempt to swallow up the survivors. Each time I played, I had a blast laying down traps, rushing to a friend’s aid and cutting off little pieces of the horde. That brings up another new and fun item, mines and bombs. It’s delicious fun to drop a mine and watch some schmuck walk into it, set it off and then burn down to the ground. Fun, fun!

Beyond the usual quests, the team now has a set of fetch quests to achieve. Grabbing x number of whatever and bringing them back to a survivor grants newer weapons, cheaper prices at stores and more helpful friends during the hub defense. I handed off 4 blankets to one guy and next thing I knew, he was wielding a monstrous, multi-edged zombie slicer instead of his puny bat.

Techland introduced a few new monsters to the core set. The biggest pain is the Screamer, a monster that..screams. The scream is so deafening that your hero is instantly incapacitated by it, usually knocked to the ground. The Wrestler is a slow and deadly hulk of a monster that can kill in one blow. Also new to the game is the Dead Zones. Dead Zones are chock full of monsters as well as a boss monster. You got to be good and you got to be tough to clear the zone, which includes killing the tough as nails boss. It’s worth it though as Dead Zones usually have something rare for you tucked away in them.

I’m not here to say Riptide is utter trash because it’s not. It does have some serious issues that were never fixed from the first game and it has some new issues that impact gameplay but if you can look past them you’ll find a competent zombie slasher with real potential. There is plenty of real fun to be had in crafting new weapons and busting monster skulls with them. Each kill is a satisfying kill, especially when you’re surrounded by more ready to die – again.

I give Dead Island: Riptide a 6 out of 10 and would gladly bump that up if they can issue a patch to fix some of the technical problems. Hopefully Techland goes ahead with a full-blown sequel and fixes the complaints.

Many thanks to out pals at Deep Silver for the Xbox 360 review copy! May I never hear “I gotta find another way in” again!