A new direction for the undead

[John Smith]

It is my personal belief that the poster is an indication that the Treyarch Zombie team has gone in a whole new direction.

I know the following is pretty loose and I am extrapolating from a tiny amount of information and influenced by personal bias, but here we go.

First off the story arc. WaW zombies was darn cool but it is my belief that when our group got to Der Reise it was meant to be the end. I mean really, we went to the origin of the zombies. For what it was meant to be the story was done. But it was a really popular game mode so they needed to put it in BOps.

So they needed to stretch this thing out. It got really weird and twisted. JMO but when time travel is introduced it is the lazy writers way out of a jam. But I digress. Moon is another end point. I mean really where are we going after that. We went to the moon and launched rockets at the Earth. I believe that is it.

Fast forward to BOII. What do we know? Well we know that Lamia has confirmed that zombies will be in the game. And he has used words like "most expansive" and as of yet unconfirmed 8 player co-op as well as different game modes.

We also know that the flip side of a gamestop pre-order poster appears to be a direct nod to zombies. This to me is very important. This is the first tangible acknowledgment by Treyarch that zombies is a huge selling point of their games.

Up until this point zombies has been an add on, a bonus something that, if it sucks, well they didn't promise anything.

Open marketing of zombies has begun and with that is a departure from the old attitude of zombie mode just being an add on. They now have to deliver something.

Now for the poster. I think that what is not on it is more important than what is on it. Our wise cracking heroes are not on it. It is a burned out city scape with an unknown female character holding an otherwise evil looking zombie head. This poster tells me that it is a whole new setting. With a whole new player character. This character appears to be a bit more edgy. A little more serious maybe. The zombie head appears to be more evil than the past zombies, if that is possible, lol.

Here is my prediction. Given that Treyarch, in my opinion, has tried to end the original story arc twice that if our original heroes do return they will be relegated to second fiddle. Which means to me a wave survival map that has little indication of a continuing story line.

There will be a new main story arc, introducing new characters. Less comical and more creepy. It might even have its own campaign, just to set the stage. I will take Lamia at his word and expect an expansive zombie experience with different game modes.

Treyarch has made their attitudes towards new games very clear. They like to push and not rest on the past.

I guess the point to this wall of text is that I am expecting a complete departure from our past zombie killing experience. A different story, different characters and different game modes.

[Monopoly Mac]

I can't say that I agree with you because like you said, we only have a small amount of information. However, I can say that I want to believe you! I think that if Treyarch respects the community, then they will try to at least make references to the events of Moon. The red atmosphere and chaotic setting definitely would definitely make sense since about 3 nukes have ravaged the Earth. If Treyarch would move on from these comical characters, this story would have such a better feel.

[brains] for offering the interesting idea and please keep using this color font. It makes the the thread so much more attractive. :D

[MNM1995]

i do like the idea, I just hope they don't get rid of the original characters as they are too loved in the community to be tossed aside. I think they will make them the secondary group of protagonists, and introduce new characters as the main protagonists or the other way around. The original group are too important to the story to be let go.

[football5699]

This was the poster of Ascension:

I remember when we freaked out saying Richtofen wasn't in Ascension and the mystery "black" man from the trailer wasn't Edward.

I think the woman is for dramatic effect but I may be wrong.

Very good thinking but the original gang will be related in some way whether it be COTD style or not.

[MyLittleHellhound]

Also, maybe the girl is just to capture interest...

didn't treyarch say they went "puyshing the boundaries of zombies to a whole new level" or soemthing?

[xXExpertCoahXx]

Also, maybe the girl is just to capture interest...

didn't treyarch say they went "puyshing the boundaries of zombies to a whole new level" or soemthing?

Your right. They did say they would be pushing the boundaries. And they are by integrating 8 player mode and multiplayer engine. As far as story line goes, we won't know anything concrete until closer to the release date. And as far as the poster goes for Ascension, most of us knew that Rictofen was going to be in Ascension. There was only a select few people that questioned it.