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Dear Aunt TUAW: Where's my Michael Jackson Zombie?

by Erica Sadun Jul 27th 2010 at 4:00PM

Dear Aunt TUAW,

PopCap Games recently released an update to Plants vs. Zombies boasting "multiple performance enhances and bug fixes" (sure, but I never had an issue on my 3GS). Now, the King of Pop Zombie is nowhere to be found! He's replaced with a zombie with an orange Afro, white 70s leisure suit and orange shoes.

Why? Why remove the King of Pop? Was there a threatening lawsuit? Can you all find out for us and get the scoop? I won't be updating anytime soon now.

Thank you from your loving nephew,

Alejandro


Dearest Alejandro,

Inside the popular game of Plants vs. Zombies, the almanac entry for the "dancing zombie" states that "[a]ny resemblance between Dancing Zombie and persons living or dead is purely coincidental." The estate of Michael Jackson didn't agree. They felt that the light-hearted homage wasn't a thriller in regards to Jackson's memory. They found it too close an imitator as far as copyright infringement goes. Or something like that. But let's not split peas over the matter.

According to a PopCap spokesperson, the estate objected to PopCap's use of the "dancing zombie" in PvZ based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson. After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original "dancing zombie" and replace it with a different "dancing zombie" character for future builds of PvZ on all platforms. PopCap tells TUAW that the phase-out and replacement process is underway, which is what you are seeing in the App Store updates; presumably the Mac and Windows versions are also due for tweaking.

So it looks like a new star-powered zombie will be stepping under the dancing umbrella-ella-ella from this point forward. As for us, we'll be starting with the zombie in the mirror. (And asking him to stop gnawing on our skulls.)

Braaaaaaaaaaaains,

Auntie T.

P.S. Billie Jean is not my Zombie. She's just the plant who thinks that I am the one...who can get zombies off her lawn...
P.P.S. More coverage here and here.


RIP MJ Zombie


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Dear Aunt TUAW, PopCap Games recently released an update to Plants vs. Zombies boasting "multiple performance enhances and bug fixes"...
 

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Ineedfiles

His estate sucks.
Did anybody see his dad on the televised funeral?
He was like "yeah he's dead... But I got a new record label!"
they were acting they were glad he was dead.



He was going to warn us about the vaccines!

August 22 2010 at 4:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
stinhoutx

In other news, the authors of Canabalt can expect to hear from the estate for it's character looking too similar to Michael Jackson in the Billie Jean video.

j/k....maybe

July 28 2010 at 1:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Josh Carr

Awesome post, Erica.

I especially loved the P.S.

July 28 2010 at 11:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shunnabunich

I suppose the jailbreakers in the crowd could try backing up the MJ zombie sprite image(s) before updating, and copying them back over the new ones afterwards. Or would that cause the app to fail some sort of integrity check? (I haven't bothered to do such stuff before...)

July 27 2010 at 7:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Shunnabunich's comment
ObamaPacman

The official apps are signed so if you altered it the signature doesn't match. But of course if it's jailbreaked anything is possible. However I doubt anyone would put in the work to do that.

July 27 2010 at 7:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shunnabunich

Well, not much work involved. Copy file(s), install update, copy file(s) back.

July 29 2010 at 12:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ObamaPacman

I am sorry but the PvZ version isn't white in skin tone, thus doesn't look like Michael Jackson. =p

July 27 2010 at 6:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to ObamaPacman's comment
FightTheFuture

after decomposition, noone's skin tone retains the original color :P

July 27 2010 at 8:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

Not to nit-pick, but he's wearing the "Thriller" outfit and doing the dance, and Michael's skin was still dark back then.

July 27 2010 at 10:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alejandro

Thank you Auntie TUAW for featuring my question! Parodies are protected speech. They shouldn't have been afraid of any legal action.

The King of Pop & PvZ forever :)

July 27 2010 at 6:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bereninga

I wished they'd kept it. If I was a zombie in a game and I'd passed, I would've loved to have still been kept in the game. It's better to be recognized than not at all.

July 27 2010 at 5:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

Before he died, this seemed like a cute homage to Michael Jackson. Now that he's dead, it is a bit creepy. I don't blame them for taking it out. I'm kind of surprised they didn't do it soon after his death anyway.

July 27 2010 at 5:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dawntreader

This update will not only remove the MJ zombie, it will also remove your ability to PLAY the game. Look at all the reviews since the update. My game was ruined by the update. I had to uninstall and reinstall to get it to work, thereby losing all saved content. Very frustrating.

July 27 2010 at 4:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robertdee

That pic top right reminds me of the full metal jackets poster for some reason. JUST SAYING.

July 27 2010 at 4:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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