Gaming Greats Pay Respects to George A. Romero

Filmmaker passes away aged 77

by Sammy Barker Mon 17th Jul 2017

Night of the Living Dead George A Romero

George A. Romero, the legendary director behind the Living Dead series of movies, has passed away. The veteran – who appeared as a character in Call of Duty: Black Ops – is considered by many to be the father of the zombie genre, and his enormous influence can be felt all over the video game industry. It’s not surprising, then, that developers like Neil Druckmann and Hideo Kojima have been swift to pay tribute to the filmmaker’s legacy.

Practically every horror game from Resident Evil to The Last of Us owes a portion of its success to Romero, and the likes of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead remain classics even today.

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
blah01
Mon 17th Jul 2017

RIP dude, or perhaps not.....
😉

2
Nikolaidas
Mon 17th Jul 2017

Goodbye George. And thanks for everything.

3
HUMPERDOO
Mon 17th Jul 2017

A true great of independent cinema. Few American filmmakers have achieved what he did outside the studio system. A massive influence on modern pop culture, and one of a small group who understood that unfettered gore is nothing without substance behind it. The Dead series in particular is only as great as it is because of its social commentary. I'm sure that's not saying anything knew to many folks here, but with the slew of generic zombie knock-offs being pumped out in recent years that fail to understand this it never really hurts to point it out again. Rest in feast, George, rest in feast.

4
Victor_Meldrew
Mon 17th Jul 2017

Mainstream media doesn't seem to care much unfortunately.

5
Victor_Meldrew
Mon 17th Jul 2017

@MadAussieBloke now you just made me need to watch that!

6
JerkWad
Mon 17th Jul 2017

Better destroy his brains just to be safe.

7
Rudy_Manchego
Mon 17th Jul 2017

I was so sad to hear of this. Being the wannabe hipster I aspire to be, I loved his films before it was cool (back in the 90's when zombies were considered lame). Classic films, great filmaker. I think he changed gaming as much as he changed film.

They're coming to get you Barbara!

8
TruthfulVoice
Mon 17th Jul 2017

R.I.P. Mr. Romero

Lets remember his greatest DIRECT contribution to gaming - the super cheesy (but AWESOME!) Japanese ad for Resident Evil 2 he shot!

Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSlRrL689Y
Short documentary on the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDP1ZFg2cvc

He also was hired initially to make the first Resident Evil movie, and got far enough to complete a script, before Capcom - ever the brilliant entity they are - fired him and hired Paul W.S. Anderson and unleashed their own plague upon the World in the form of that horrible movie series.

Related Articles