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So earlier this week I read a note saying that the people who handle Michael Jackson's estate asked PopCap to remove his likeness from hit defense game Plants vs. Zombies... wait, what?
Michael Jackson in my game? When did PvZ become Moonwalker 2? Well, it's not "THE" Michael Jackson in the game, but the beloved dancing zombie that helped many of us through some levels of I, Zombie. The dude DOES resemble MJ in his Thriller music video digs and I guess some people weren't fond of the idea of the deceased pop-star getting shot with peas.
I knew there wasn't going to be an empty slot on the zombie roster once he got patched out, but I didn't know what it would be filled with. Well, today, my doubts have been answered.
Meet: Disco Zombie!
There's one more thing I was left thinking about after this whole famous person depiction fiasco.
Maybe, when thinking of characters to replace dancing zombie with, one of the candidates that kept being brought up was Saturday Night Zombie, with just a tad of that magnificent Travolta flavor. Now that would have been pretty sweet.
Alas, it is smart to go with something more nondescript rather than face legal action, and we can't say this guy is not without his charm.
PopCap said our groovy new friend had this to say:
“Dear Alive Peeples, I am pleazed too join the big brainz at PopCap and can’t wait to meat you all. And yes, I du my own heir.”’
There's something about that phrase that would have made it funny for all the wrong reasons had it come out of the maw of the now retired Dancing Zombie.
The switcheroo has already been applied to the iPhone version of the game, with all others following shortly (And yes, that includes the upcoming version for XBLA). If you play this game on Steam and love your King of Pop, set it to offline mode and NEVER, EVER go online again.
Source: PCGamer
Comments
14 years, 4 months ago
I never played PvZ so I don't know what the Dancing Zombie looked like, but I like this new Disco Zombie, not sure what it is, but I like it. The only thing I would like to know is how the designer for this new zombie came up with the idea of a dead Goldfish in his left Platform Shoe, it's such a small detail yet it adds so much to it.
14 years, 4 months ago
Open Steam.
Right click PvZ.
Navigate to Update tab.
Do not update automatically this game.
Victory.
14 years, 4 months ago
It's just dumb. In 20 years he'll be back in another video game and no one will say anything unless they want a counter lawsuit since you can only challenge likeness for soo long. It's ok to use Elvis in every game since it's been kind of a long time since he died and you could use the excuse that "oh, it's an Elvis impersonator." I have a feeling this game will be part of some game package in the future along with some other games and Michael Jackson will be back in it since all of us who were there when he died will be old and not be so deeply offended. It makes you wonder though, how are people going to talk about 9/11 in the future? Are they going to treat like Pearl Harbor as just another event in history or will 9/11 hold it's taboo?
14 years, 4 months ago
A user on another site made the comment that it may have to deal with royalties not because they were upset with Micheal being in the game, that seems more likely to me.
14 years, 4 months ago
Even though the Thriller zombie was pretty cool, I have to admit I kind of like this guy better. At the same time though, I don't know if it really fits with the whole back-up dancer zombies that the Thriller zombie spawned. Unless they removed that power entirely and if they did there is really no point in this guy existing.
14 years, 4 months ago
It does kind of suck that the homage of MJ is being removed, though his replacement doesn't look too bad, either.
14 years, 4 months ago
To me this is really stupid. It even says in the game that any resemblance to persons living or dead is "coincidental". And, while it obviously is MJ, i don't think that PopCap is breaking any laws here, and are simply removing it as a courtesy/respect for the dead thing.
Anyway doesn't matter to me, i don't have it on steam.
14 years, 4 months ago
I don't understand why people are getting a fly in there corn muffin about this. Wow people made a reference to a celebrity, not even a bad one at that. Pfft the world still confuses me so i'll just stay in my box/spaceship/yacht
14 years, 4 months ago
That music popping up so often DID get somewhat annoying at times, especially in the challenges though.
Which does bring up the question of if they're keeping the "thriller rip off loop" or what.
14 years, 4 months ago
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11 years, 1 month ago
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