Events: Running Zombies Invade British Cities

I need to move to the UK. This week, the media has been buzzing about the zombie adventure event being held in a British mall, but here's another zombie gem from across the pond. Enter 2.8 Hours Later. What is this event? Think a little bit of Run for Your Lives, a little bit of Z-Day, and a little bit of HvZ...except that it's (seemingly) way more organized than the last two in that list. I've never played HvZ though; maybe it's way more organized than I've been led to believe. Still, it seems to be primarily played on college campuses, effectively keeping away any of us 28 year old children at heart.

Anyway...here's how the game is played. British game designers Slingshot invade a selected UK city and transform specific areas of the city into zombie infected living hells. You pay about 28 pounds (45 bucks), and in return you get to play the game throughout the nocturnal backdrop of the city for 2.8 hours. The goal of your seemingly endless running? To find the "last safe place in the city". In pursuit of that goal, you use your smart phone to navigate, and you also find and interpret clues. Of course, the primary goal is to not get your butt devoured by the living dead, but isn't that just a daily goal?

The only negative is that this isn't a "fighting" game. Unlike with HvZ, your not allowed to bring weapons (despite the picture above from their website). They specifically state that the goal is to outrun the zombies, not kill them. Obviously I understand why you can't have people beating each other out on the streets of an actual city, but it's still a little unfortunate.

I say we flood this site with requests to make the jump to an American market. Chicago 2013! Check out this video if you're wondering what this event might look like...

2.8 Hours Later from SlingShot on Vimeo.

Events: Video Games Come Alive in the UK

How many of you, while playing Left 4 Dead or watching Dawn of the Dead, have ever wanted to walk right into the television and join the fun just like in a bad 80s video? No one? Just me? Oh...well, than maybe this post is a little irrelevant. Carry on with your normal, social Friday night.

What? You're still reading. Well then maybe I'm not alone. If you're anything like me, you'll read this article and immediately start searching the price of plane tickets into Heathrow Airport. Why? Because the UK's Zed Events have introduced their third zombie-themed fantasy event...and it sounds ridiculously awesome.

Fork over $188 in American money, and you will be transported into a scenario the likes of Romero flicks and first person shooters. "The Mall" is the haunted house every adult horror fan has ever dreamed of. For the cost of admission, you and fifteen others are plopped down in an abandoned mall for four hours. You're given airsoft guns, encouraged to locate melee weapons (think the original Dead Rising), and then you are sent into the dark, zombie-filled depths of the abandoned shopping mall. For four hours, you and a very small group fight through missions and zombie gore unlike anything ever seen in real life. And yes, you can shoot, hit, push, etc the "zombies". The only restriction seems to be that they discourage you to take the trademark head shot.

Overall, this sounds so awesome. I think I've heard of Zed Events before (they do a few other Zombie-themed adventures similar to this one), but this one sounds like a "bloody" good time. I know...that was corny. Interested? Who isn't! Check it out here.