More zombies are a good thing, which is why I'm happy to report that Techland's Dead Island, an open-ended zombie thriller set on what should be an island paradise, is definitely still in development. Who is Techland? It's the studio behind the better-than-expected Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood.

I last saw Dead Island while reporting for 1UP.com way back in August 2007. There hasn't been much word on Dead Island, but Techland told me silence isn't a reason to be worried about the project.

"I can understand how impatient our fans must be to see more news and assets from Dead Island," said Techland international brand manager Blazej Krakowiak in an e-mail. "Unfortunately our agreement with the game’s worldwide publisher imposed a media silence on us. All we are allowed to say is that the game is in development and doing great and that all future updates regarding the game will come directly from the publisher."

Dead Island didn't have a publisher when Techland was showing the game off in Germany, so that's a good sign. The developer was more than happy to show off their layered skin system, though, which let you hack away at multiple dimentions of zombie flesh. Still, Dead Island was a shell of a game at the time, more of a promising zombie tech demo.

"I know it’s not much at the moment," said Krakowiak. "We’re really excited with what we’ll be able to share with fans but for the moment our hands are tied."

Whatever gets me more zombies!