Class 3
Latest
Bollinger’s badass EV utility trucks arrive in 2021
The age of automotive electrification is once again upon us. Startups like Rivian and Lordstown are joining industry stalwarts like Ford and Hummer in developing the next generation of EV SUVs and pickups. But none of them can compare to the sheer power and utility of the Bollinger B1 and B2, which the company showed off this week at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Undead Labs says 'big things are going on with State of Decay'
Is Undead Labs working on its long-rumored State of Decay MMO? Maybe so and maybe no, but the company is working on something big according to founder Jeff Strain's latest blog post. "We'll be able to share details later this year," he writes, "but as with State of Decay, we think it's best if we just keep our heads down and build some prototypes before we talk too much. For now, suffice it to say there are big things going on with State of Decay. Strain also intimates that whatever it is will take quite a while. "It's been a long haul from the original vision to this point, and the road ahead of us will take years to travel. We hope you're up for the trip, because we can't do it without you," he says.
State of Decay comes to the PC courtesy of Steam
PC gamers feeling left out while watching their Xbox comrades playing State of Decay can wipe those tears away; the zombie survival title has arrived on Steam. State of Decay is available through the digital distribution platform for a straight-up $19.99. If you're curious about Undead Labs' maiden game, then check out our hands-on coverage. The game was a huge hit on the Xbox and hopefully will be followed by an MMO set in the same world. Undead is also preparing the first DLC for State of Decay called Breakdown that will come to both the PC and Xbox. [Thanks to Soren for the tip!]
Undead Labs still negotiating with Microsoft on Class4 MMO
Undead Labs' latest game for Xbox Live, State of Decay, is a resounding success. The game moved over 250,000 copies in its first 48 hours of release, landing it the title of "Fastest Selling Xbox Live Game that isn't Minecraft." However, one successful game does not guarantee another, and Undead is still at the mercy of Microsoft when it comes to getting its next game off the ground. The studio is set to begin work on Class4, an MMO follow-up to State of Decay, but cannot proceed until Microsoft gives it the go-ahead. According to Undead's Sanya Weathers, none of this can happen until the two parties reach a "mutually agreeable contract." She also noted that the two companies must agree on the goals of the project and on where the technology will be by the time Class4 finishes its multi-year development cycle. According to Weathers, the discussion between Microsoft and Undead is "in progress."
Learn to live in a State of Decay with Undead Labs' new survival guide
There's a lot to consider when you're stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Do you have enough food? Will your shelter hold up against the endless legions of undead? Do you have enough of that ammo that makes zombie heads explode? Thankfully, Undead Labs is here to help make State of Decay players' transitions to the post-apocalypse as simple as possible. The studio has released a day-by-day survival guide written from the viewpoint of characters within the game's universe. The guide provides a flavorful look at some of the features players will be utilizing to survive in State of Decay. Players will learn how to construct a defensible stronghold, how to scavenge for supplies, and of course, how to defend themselves against zed onslaughts. It's quite a read, but a very worthwhile one for anyone who would prefer to remain on the side of the living in the war against the undead.
State of Decay demonstrates the virtues of stealth
Pop quiz, apocalypse survivors: You desperately need to get into a nearby gun store to complete a mission, but it's surrounded by a small horde of zombies. Running through them and shooting your way in are both undesirable options, so what do you do? What do you do? In a short alpha video from Undead Labs, a State of Decay player instead uses tricks and stealth to achieve his goal. He tosses some fireworks from a nearby water tower, prompting the zombies to investigate and leave the scene. Following that, it's a quick dash in and out to trigger a job well done. You can watch this nail-biting footage after the jump, and don't forget to check out Massively's report on the game from PAX.
Undead Labs talks about guns in State of Decay
Today's official blog post about State of Decay is not about careful examination of different cultures. It's not about understanding what creates a zombie and how the sickness can be stopped. It's not even about the careful process of finding and maintaining your food supplies in the wake of societal breakdown. No, this is a blog post about guns. It is all about the weapons you will use to blow the undead into little bite-sized chunks of zombie. The centerpiece is a huge list of guns that players can expect to find and shoot in the game, each with varying properties and ammunition types. It's also meant to expand in the future. So there's no subtlety here, just deadly firearms and the promise of using them to mow down shambling zombies to ensure your own survival. What more could you really want? Aside from functional vehicles and a planet not crawling with monsters that want to eat your brains, of course.
PAX Prime 2012: Undead Labs' State of Decay
Everyone loves zombies, right? Apparently so because they're absolutely everywhere (like Miami, for instance), but we keep on lapping it up. Secretly, though, I think a lot of us are tired of the same old zombie games. After all, if you're one of the truly hardcore that has a zombie apocalypse plan that includes where you'll hole up, how you'll find weapons, what you'll eat, and so forth, it's a little disappointing that most games tend to focus solely on the zombie-shooting part of the zombie apocalypse (not that there's anything wrong with zombie-shooting). Undead Labs' upcoming MMO State of Decay might change all that. The game will take place in a persistent world where players are responsible for rounding up survivors, finding the necessary resources to build defenses and stay alive, and of course, fighting off the zombie hordes. Finally, those of you who have long debated the merits of going to the gun store vs. not going to the gun store in the event of an apocalypse can see whose plan works better. And what's more, at PAX Prime 2012, I got to sit down and play around with it myself, though not for nearly as long as I would have liked. Regardless, if State of Decay is on your radar -- and it should be -- then I'd be glad to tell you all about my 20-odd minutes with the title.
Undead Labs reveals State of Decay gameplay trailer
Undead Labs has been working in relative secrecy for going on two years now. All we knew about the firm's cryptically (and temporarily) titled Class3 was that it had something to do with zombies and that it was coming to the Xbox 360. Now, thanks to a new trailer, we know that the game is officially called State of Decay and it's also coming to the PC. Whether it's an MMO or simply a precursor to the rumored Class4 MMO is still undetermined. All that said, the trailer shows off plenty of open-world third-person shooting action, zombie-centric gore, and even a muscle car and the requisite rusty old pickup truck. Undead says that State of Decay is set in an "open sandbox world [that] develops in real-time" and that gameplay involves "designing and fortifying your home base." Click past the cut for the full video.
Undead Labs hires community director, Class3 info forthcoming
With the rash of MMO-related job losses in recent weeks, it's nice to see the occasional blurb about a dev finding a new home. Former Dominus and Dark Age of Camelot community guru Sanya Weathers has landed at Undead Labs, where she'll be heading up -- you guessed it -- the community relations department. This is good news for fans of the firm's tentatively titled Class3 zombie MMO as well. As Undead Labs' Jeff Strain writes, "you don't hire a kick-ass community director if you have nothing to say."
Undead Labs' Jeff Strain takes players behind-the-scenes of Class3
If you're as big of a zombie fan as we are, we're sure you're anxiously awaiting Undead Labs' Class3 project as well as its massively multiplayer counterpart, Class4. The studio's founder, Jeff Strain, stopped by the official Undead Labs site today to post the first dev blog entry of 2012, and in celebration of the new year, he's offering fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Class3 in action. Strain notes that the team is "not quite ready to post official trailers" of Class3 at this juncture, but that didn't stop him from prowling the offices with his iPhone in order to catch some footage of the in-development title. The spy-cam footage gives players a look at various facets of the game's development, including. but not necessarily limited to, zombies (duh), a guy running alongside a giant rolling buzzsaw blade, concept art, the studio's wall-o'-fan-love, and two players defending their encampment from a zombie siege. Strain closes on a high note, stating that "Class3 is on-schedule and looking great. We're excited to show it to you and the rest of the world officially." For the full, zed-tastic video, just click on past the cut.
Undead Labs' writer talks story in zombie MMOs
Don't look now, but there's another MMO jumping on the story bandwagon. This time it's Undead Labs' Class3 console game, and there's a new dev blog up on the title's official site that outlines writer Travis Stout's modus operandi. Stout is a huge fan of the zombie genre, and that's a good thing given Class3's focus on the walking dead and the creeptastic atmosphere surrounding them. So what does Stout see as a writer's main mission when it comes to the upcoming MMO? "Take the zombies out of the equation and be damn sure you've got a rock-solid story full of interesting, well-developed characters and exciting action," he explains. "Then put the zombies back in so those characters can smash their heads in with tire irons."
Undead Labs Q&A touches on health bars, death mechanics
Undead Labs has posted another question-and-answer session with fans of its upcoming Class 3 zombie MMO. The firm fielded a bunch of queries relating to healing, death, health bars, and assorted other topics. "You'll have a health bar so you won't have to guess how much health you have, but zombies won't. While we could have opted to have no health bar for you too, we wanted to emphasize the survival aspect of the game by having the damage you take stick with you until you can heal up," the dev team says. The Q&A also features some interesting tidbits about weight, fatigue and stamina, and the fact that zombies will respond to the noise generated by building survival structures (translation: Bring your duct tape). Read all about it at the official Undead Labs blog.
Undead Labs moving right along with Class3
The end of September marked a graduation of sorts for members of the Undead Labs development team. The company's untitled maiden voyage has officially crossed the threshold from pre-production to in production, and a blog post on the firm's web site celebrates the milestone with something of a rah-rah speech from founder Jeff Strain. "I'm blown away by how far we've come in such a short amount of time. Our task now as we move headlong into the production phase is to take this fun little gem and turn it into something we're proud to show the world," Strain wrote. The gem he's referring to is currently known only by its Class3 codename. We do know that it's about zombies and that it's only for consoles. Aside from that, the title is shrouded in a fair bit of mystery. Strain's post also features a time-lapse video that shows off the game's CryEngine 3-powered time-of-day effects, and you can check that out after the cut.
New interview with Undead Labs' Jeff Strain covers technology and fun
Console MMO fans, rejoice. We have a new interview with Undead Labs' Jeff Strain on the studio's upcoming Xbox 360 titles. The two titles, code-named Class3 and Class4, are an Xbox Live Arcade title (which will allow the studio to test their technology and give players a taste of what's to come) and an open-world MMORPG, respectively. Throughout the interview, Strain touches on a few important subjects, such as Class3 and how it is helping the team develop and prepare for Class4. He also mentions that the team's concern with Class4 is not with the fact that it's a server-hosted online world, but ensuring that said server-hosted online world is fun to play. Although it's a somewhat short interview, it's certainly worth the read for any zombie fan anticipating Undead Labs' upcoming titles.
Undead Labs talks about environments and the undead
The upcoming zombie games from Undead Labs are aiming to give players a feeling of genuinely surviving in a world ruled by shambling corpses. To make that work correctly, players are going to need lots of little touches here and there to reinforce just what has gone wrong and what sort of threat living humans are facing. In the most recent set of questions and answers from the development team, more elements of the environment and interaction with same are spelled out, giving prospective survivors an idea of what to expect. While the game isn't planned to be an ornate physics simulator, there will be a practical limit to how much an individual can carry -- and while vehicles can carry more, the problems of noise and fuel will place some limits on stacking an SUV to the brim with heavy weapons. Hunting wildlife and handling aquatic environments will both be issues in the game, with the obvious caveat that humans drown far more easily than zombies. There are a lot of other interesting tidbits in the full rundown as well as some valuable takeaways that aspiring survivors would do well to internalize.
Lock and load: Undead Labs talks guns
If you're going to include zombies in your game, they're there to be shot. That's a simple fact of life, a fact that Undead Labs seems to be fully cognizant about. The company's most recent developer blog talked about firearms for its upcoming zombie outbreak games, and the topic proved so irresistible to potential players that a second question-and-answer session has been posted talking more about guns. Whether it's in the console version or the full-scale MMO, who doesn't want to be sure of the highest-caliber destruction one can wreak upon the undead? The original developer blog talks in depth about trying to balance a realistic feeling with what players will expect from guns, but the follow-up goes into more detail. Gunfire and sounds will indeed attract zombies to players, but the team doesn't seem interested in burying players under mountains of different ammunition types. The guns in question will most likely not be licensed brands, although some licenses are being sought for some more iconic weapons. There also won't be a full spread of exotic firearms in the console game, Class 3, although the MMO version will likely have a wider variety. Take a look at the full set of answers for more details on the best part of zombie invasions -- sweet, sweet hails of bullets.
GDC 2011: Jeff Strain lets us eat... err... pick his brains on Undead Labs' upcoming zombie MMO
The team at Undead Labs has big plans for the studio's first two projects currently under development: Class 3 and Class 4. So far, we know that Class 3 will be a non-MMO console zombie shoot-em-up game developed for Xbox Live, and Class 4 is intended to be the game that crosses into a massively online world. That's why we were glad to sit down with Jeff Strain, founder of Undead Labs, to hear more details on the studio's gory game goodness, which is surely lurking and primed to pounce on us and eat our brains -- or at least some of our gaming time. Are you hungry for all the meaty details of this ambitious console horror game? Join us behind the break for more!
The MMO Report: The sad, strange death of Company of Heroes Online
Bad puns, sexual innuendo and all the MMO news you can handle are crammed into yet another MMO Report, brought to us by our friends at G4TV. Casey Schreiner and his fabulous tie recall a few of the biggest stories from the previous week. First up on the docket is the cancellation of two THQ titles previously in development: Company of Heroes Online and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw Online. Both of these games were an attempt by the studio to bring its western-style MMOs to a Korean market, although THQ ultimately decided that this move wasn't at the top of its priority list. On a more upbeat note, Casey talks up LEGO Universe's Crux Prime update, which came complete with ninjas and multiplayer madness. And yes, Casey, we agree that LEGOs are "awesome." Other topics for the Report include Undead Labs' "Class 3" single-player XBLA title that's hopefully leading up to the studio's zombie MMO, robo-Batman in a new DCUO video, the announcement of BlizzCon's 2011 dates, and a Blizzard theme park called "Joy Land" in China. Face it: We have a weird hobby. Hit the jump to watch the full MMO Report!
Nokia Siemens, LG hit LTE speed record
What, 43Mbps not good enough for you? Well, clean room testing doesn't really say much about what kinds of data speeds we'll be seeing in the real world -- but for what it's worth, LG and infrastructure joint venture Nokia Siemens have announced that they've hit a new speed record for an LTE Class 3 device: 100Mbps. The tests were performed at Nokia Siemens' facilities in Germany and Finland using pre-production USB modems from LG operating in the 2100 and 2600MHz frequencies, but they're not stopping to celebrate -- work is now turning to tests in other bands that'll be used for LTE around the world and to upping performance even further. That's a good thing, we'd say, because past experience tells us that transfer rates in actual use are a mere fraction of what we read on the spec sheet.
