‘Walking Dead’ Video Game Gets a Web Series

Zombies get a bad rap. Sure, they’re dim-witted, undead, flesh-eating, brain-fiends, but they’re also really savvy transmedia story tellers. For proof, just check out the many iterations of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead (and the series’ growing number of accolades).

While Telltale Games’ adaptation of the popular series (which Kirkman claims will be more charter-driven than its action-oriented genre predecessors) is slowly lurching toward major gaming platforms, fans eager for a peek at the title set to release sometime in mid-2012 can checkout Telltale’s behind-the-scenes web series, Playing Dead.

In the first installment of the nine-part series, actor AJ LoCascio talks to the designers, who emphasize their commitment to authenticity in the look, feel and storyline of the game. Players will lead a new group of survivors through the first days of the undead apocalypse in zombie-plagued Atlanta. Fans can expect run-ins with familiar characters, like Hershel

and Glenn, and scenarios that intersect with plot points from the comic and television show.

The first episode of Playing Dead includes screen shots of the game, which pay homage to the comic’s original artwork. Fans can expect more screenshots in upcoming episodes, which will also feature in-depth interviews with comic creator Robert Kirkman and story consultant Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli).