''City of the Dead'' (also known as ''George A. Romero's City of the Dead'' and ''The Living Dead: City of the Dead'') is a canceled

first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, based on

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero Jr. (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and actor. Regarded as an influential pioneer of the horror film genre and in particular zombie films, he has been called an ...

's ''Living Dead'' series of

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

films. The game was intended for release on the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

and PC platforms. Originally announced in December 2004, it was due for release in March 2006. No further details or announcements have been made about the game since its showing at E3 2005. It is presumed cancelled due to declared bankruptcy of publisher Hip Interactive in July 2005.

Story

''City of the Dead'' was set on a fictional island called "Ningún Futuro" ("No Future" in Spanish). A zombie outbreak occurs on the island after a series of secret military tests on

cadaver A cadaver, often known as a corpse, is a Death, dead human body. Cadavers are used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue (biology), tissue to ...

s backfires. Reports had said there would be no reference in the game to '' Dawn of the Dead'' (because the 2004 version ends with the survivors winding up in a zombie-ridden island), one of the more popular films in the ''Dead Series'' due to

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

issues with the MKR Group who hold the rights to the film.

Development

Hip Interactive announced on December 15, 2004 that they had made an agreement with Living Dead Productions to produce a series of games based on Romero's films, with ''City of the Dead'' being the first to be developed and released. The company also expected to develop games based directly on the movies ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American Independent film, independent zombie horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, written by Romero and John A. Russo, John Russo, produced by Russell Streiner and Karl Har ...

'' and ''Dawn of the Dead''. Before the cancellation, it was announced that

Tom Savini Thomas Vincent Savini (born November 3, 1946) is an American prosthetic makeup artist, actor, stunt performer and film director. He is known for his makeup and special effects work on many films directed by George A. Romero, including ''Martin ( ...

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...

and regular actor in the ''Dead Series'', would be providing the voice and likeness of a character in the game. The character would have been William "Red" McLean, a supporting character that later becomes playable himself. A trailer was released to publications, and actual gameplay was shown at E3 2005 (but was not playable by those attending). Those that saw the presentation have commented that ''City of the Dead'' contained exceptionally extreme amounts of

graphic violence Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially explicit or detailed acts of violence in mass media. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated. Intended for viewing by mature audiences, ''graphic'' in this context is a synonym ...

References

{{Livingdead Cancelled PlayStation 2 games Cancelled Windows games Cancelled Xbox games First-person shooters Hip Interactive games Kuju games Video games about zombies