This week's Link Dump Friday has zombies, because the internet without zombies is like a wedding without a cake or a pony without her cutie mark, but we've also got balloons and Slak. I think that might officially make this the greatest party ever. The strangest, of course, and the sort of party where the police wind up getting called fifteen minutes into it and then backing slowly away because they want no part of whatever is happening, but still the greatest.

Come Sail Away Love Nitrome's colourful, bouncy balloon action adventures Hot Air and Hot Air 2: All Blown Up? Then get ready to get carried away all over again with the upcoming Hot Air Jr. The game will have a new engine that will address some of the issues players had with the game sometimes feeling unforgiving, as well as introducing a new element every level to help keep things interesting. Who knew balloons lead such interesting lives? Here I thought they spent all their time being humorously stuffed under shirts or statick'ed to a cat's underbelly.

Soon To Be 100% Shinier So you've been playing the absolutely stellar Defender's Quest tower defense RPG, right? Of course you have. So, like me, you're probably going to be pretty excited to learn all about the upcoming Defender's Quest GOLD, which you'll receive as a free update when it's released if you bought the game previously. What's GOLD? Glad you asked! In addition to new art, it'll feature sidequests, bonus battles, something sneaky with "unique" rewards, and a pretty awesome sounding New Game Plus mode. If you love tower defense, you absolutely need to check this game out, and if you've already been playing it you can join me in pressing my nose plaintively against the developer's windows waiting for the "when it's done" release date to roll around. People like pitiful, right? It's all I got.

Building a Better Zombie Every now and again someone tells me about Project Zomboid. I know about Project Zomboid. We have known about Project Zomboid. It's zombies meets sandbox-style open-world survival RPG. The game has been shambling around for a while, available as both a demo and a Minecraft-style advance purchase module, but as the team buckles down it seems like a big release might be on the horizon. Having purchased the game a long time ago myself, I can tell you that it's definitely unique and shows a lot of promise, especially for fans of morbid narratives. If you're the sort of person who knows never to take their eye off a pot of soup, then check it out.

Speaking of Morbid Narratives So you might have heard about this show called The Walking Dead, which has now become loosely based on its striking but depressing comic book source material. Well, fans, start your engines, because Telltale Games has just released the first trailer for their upcoming episodic adventure game based on the comics, right here at the official site. I've gotta say, I'm impressed; I admit I expected Telltale to pull back on some of the gore and violence, but that trailer is pretty intense. Episode one will be released in the spring (which is right about now, thanks to Winter Wrap-Up) and be available on a ton of platforms. Neat! So, what's next guys? I have one or two suggestions.

Coming This Summer I love Baldur's Gate, but I wasn't necessarily thrilled to hear about the upcoming Enhanced Edition, mostly because the game didn't really need a facelift and it initially sounded sort of shallow. Well, I can admit when I'm wrong. Coming this summer, Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition will still keep the isometric 2D visual style as well as all the original content and voice actors, but not only will it include ALL the games and their expansions, it also SHOULD be compatible with your old save games and most of the community created mods! I don't think I have to tell you how remarkable it is that the developers have made the effort to make that happen, but it speaks volumes about how much they respect the community, who have arguably kept the game going all these years. The game will also feature updated graphics, new characters and quests, and will even be available to play on the newest generation of iPad... although I doubt the mods will work on that version. Still, this is definitely something to celebrate, and keep an eye on.