Zombie Outbreak Spreads to GTA IV Multiplayer

By Kris Erickson

Posted on Oct 24, 2008

We received a frantic email from Rockstar today, alerting us to the fact that there is a virus sweeping through Grand Theft Auto IV and turning many unsuspecting players into Zombies. Like many players, we have noticed a strange skin while playing multiplayer matches (many months ago) and it seems like this mysterious character is at the center of the current outbreak. The skin appears to be a naked zombie wearing only yellow underwear. According to Rockstar, players can catch this "infection" by coming into contact with the strange yellow-panted character in any one of the multiplayer modes. The virus is spread when an unsuspecting player kills someone who has the infection. The signes of infection are:

- Access to the zombie skin
- having the Achievement "Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie".

Players can find out if they have contracted the virus by checking in with the Rockstar Social Club. With a new feature, members can now see whether they are currently infected, the number oftotal global infections and the number of infectinos in the last 24 hours. Digging deeper, Social Club members can also browse a color-coded world map tracking the spread of the infection worldwide, including breakdown for all 50 US States.

Is this a teaser for Zombie Themed DLC?

An image on the Rockstar Social Club website shows a chain link fence in front of the words "Quarantine: Contagious Disease ". The Eugenics logo is visible in the bottom right corner (Eugenics was one of the parody companies featured on the game's radio stations). Does this new multiplayer feature/promotion portend anything more serious for Liberty City? Have the team at Rockstar finally relented in the face of fan complaints and decided to take Liberty on a turn toward the silliness of earlier games? We aren't sure, although such a move would correspond well with the planned release of new single-player downloadable content, which is expected to arrive before the end of the year.

[Update: Rockstar has denied that this multiplayer patch has anything to do with the planned DLC. We think that's a shame, because the thought of fending off hordes of zombies from the roof of Dimitri's club in Broker had us kinda excited.]