Outbreak: Undead is a niche role-playing game (RPG) based around everyday people dealing with some sort of zombie apocalypse. I’m not sure how small a niche this is, but perhaps 95% of RPGs are fantasy themed, with another 4% having a science fiction theme. All the other possible themes taken together are in the remaining 1% shared with Outbreak: Undead. Being part of a tiny niche is not a bad thing at all, as it means there are few competitors (the closest game to Outbreak Undead is Final Days, which has more fantasy elements), and it’s much easier to cover topics not seen anywhere else.

Cheers of joy were certainly mixed with groans of “brains!” when the Judge’s Choice Ennie awards were given out at Gen Con 2011. A Judge’s Choice award is given when the judges can’t agree on a top product, forcing each judge to give an individual award to his personal favorite among the hundreds of submissions. In this case Judge Wil Upchurch (of influential Star Wars: The Role Playing Game fame) gave his award to Outbreak: Undead, the very first product by start up company Hunters Books and Apparel.

Zombies are a whole genre of movie entertainment and have certainly been a part of computer games (Left 4 Dead) but have never had more than a supporting role when it came to role-playing games.

Considering the fundamental equation [Zombies + Guns = Fun!] and the profits to be had from a successful game, it’s downright odd that no such game exists.

All that changes with Outbreak: Undead, a pen-and-paper role-playing game/simulator that will allow players to test their survival skills in a variety of zombie scenarios, from evil necromancers messing with graveyards to a full on zombie apocalypse.

Well kids, just as we were about to report the rumor that has been going around that the Xbox 360′s exclusive content may be a zombie infested outbreak in Liberty City, Rockstar made an announcement on its Rockstar Social Club that almost totally deflated our hopes.

An advertisement by Eugenics Inc. that a “contagious disease” said Social Club spark a bit of chatter earlier today causing many, including us, to speculate that the citizens of Liberty City would be turned into blood thirsty zombies. We were almost right. Instead of being the “exclusive” downloadable content that Microsoft promised us for Fall 2008, its a Halloween gag by the Rockstar folks.

Instead, its the players that will become zombies, or at least gain access to that ultra-Halloween zombie skin…