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Valve shares a trailer for the first ‘Left 4 Dead 2’ update in years
Valve says a community-led update is coming to 'Left 4 Dead 2.'
'World War Z' updates to add horde mode and a new zombie
Saber Interactive has announced a post-launch DLC schedule for World War Z, the cooperative third-person shooter game that was released in April. Beginning in May, players will be able to access a new mission set in Tokyo, complete with zombies that can spit out deadly viruses and resurrect if not properly destroyed. A new six-skull difficult setting with rewards and bonus cosmetics comes to players in June.
Zombie survival game 'Days Gone' hits PS4 next February 22nd
After being pushing the game into next year, Sony has announced when its zombie apocalypse game, Days Gone, will be released. Come February 22nd you'll be able to pick the PlayStation 4 game up at your favorite retailer (or download it online). To celebrate the news, Sony dropped a new trailer, rife with cougars, motorcycles and hostile human survivors. If that sort of thing is up your alley, or, if The Last of Us' themes and characters were a little too subtle for you, maybe you'll want to give this a shot early next year. Based on our early impressions of the game, though, it sounds like Sony delaying the game was for good reason.
ICYMI: Head injury alert, zombie killing centers and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-604354{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-604354, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-604354{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-604354").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Google is putting its glut of satellite imaging data to good use with the "Sunroof" database, which helps people check their homes and figure out if they get enough sun to install solar panels. University of Pennsylvania researchers made a polymer that changes color depending on the depending on the amount of force used against it. They're hoping to make helmets that quickly signal the degree of a possible brain injury. And Australians beat the Americans to the virtual reality laser tag fun zone finish, building a VR zombie killing gaming center ahead of the U.S. one slated to open next year.
DayZ has sold over 3 million early access copies
DayZ has been on Steam early access for over a year now, and what does the post-apocalyptic zombie sandbox have to show for it? Well, over 3 million customers, for starters. A new Bohemia Interactive press release touts the 24 updates the game has seen since its "launch," and it also mentions ongoing improvements including a core engine rewrite begun in 2014. The new engine is called Enfusion, and it includes renderer upgrades and corresponding performance upticks as well as "vastly improved" particle effect aesthetics. Bohemia also notes that the DayZ dev team now boasts over 80 people. [Source: Bohemia Interactive press release]
Infestation producer: The War Z was a 'terrible choice of a name'
Infestation Survivor Stories (previously known as The War Z) Executive Producer Sergey Titov has penned a post-mortem on Gamasutra about the game's launch in 2012, noting how inviting the comparison to DayZ worked against the project. "That said, The War Z was a terrible choice of name, as it naturally invited comparisons between our game and DayZ," Titov admitted. "We made a big mistake in not listening to the vocal minority of our community who thought the name was terrible [...] Beyond not listening to the community, we were also very arrogant in our public communications. We should have taken more care to communicate how and why this was not a DayZ clone, citing specific differences in both design and conception. Instead of saying to ourselves 'Oh well, haters gonna hate!' we should have tried to understand where the hate was coming from and address it." Another key mistake that Titov and his team made was engaging in an "arms race" to get The War Z to Steam before DayZ, which resulted in its being yanked from that platform due to misrepresentation of the existing game features. Even with these missteps, Titov said that Infestation sold 2.8 million copies, and of those, over half logged at least 50 hours of playing time apiece. You can read Massively's hands-on impressions of this title from 2013.
Blacklight: Retribution loses studio, continues on anyway
It turns out that the worst news for an online game -- having its studio close -- may not be the end of the world after all. Zombie Studios, the devs behind multiplayer shooter Blacklight: Retribution, announced today that it's closing shop and that a new studio has arisen from its ashes to take care of the game: "Now it is time for us to part ways and close our doors [...] We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box, the new studio starting up that has acquired some of the work Zombie is parting with, including all rights to Blacklight: Retribution. The new studio is comprised of past Zombie employees that put their hearts into Blacklight and we have no doubt will continue to do so." Builder Box's Facebook page also posted a notice, reaffirming the game's future: "What does this mean for you the fan? While ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact. Builder Box will be working with Perfect World so that, as a fan, you can look forward to more updates and exciting changes in the coming year."
Zombie sandbox MMO Immune enters early access on Steam
If you can't wait for H1Z1 and want to slay some zombies this Christmas, perhaps isometric post-apoc sandbox Immune will suffice. Billed by developer Vidiludi Games & Entertainment as an MMORPG, Immune launches into early access today and is pushing for Steam greenlighting. "Immune is a humorous early access sandbox survival MMORPG with PVP and PVE, in which you scavenge, hunt, and even grow your own food to survive. Inspired by classics such as DayZ, Rust, and Stalker, Immune takes place in a post-apocalyptic world following an outbreak of a devastating pandemic leaving only a handful of survivors. But beware of the gasmask wearing NPCs doing everything in their power to avoid the infection by shooting everyone sick or immune in the face!" The game is currently $10 US on the developer's website, half off as a holiday promotion.
Don't worry, the Pentagon's got a plan to deal with a zombie apocalypse
What would happen if the plot of The Walking Dead, or any other TV show with "Dead" in the title, came true? It turns out that the Department of Defense already has a plan for that, in a folder marked CONOP 8888 Counter-Zombie Defense. The document explains what to do should regular zombies, space zombies or, wait for it... evil magic zombies begin to attack the United States and beyond. In case you're wondering, the title page of the file does open with the phrase "This plan was not actually designed as a joke."
Infestation: Survivor Stories claims 2.5 million players to date
A new state of the game post is up today for Infestation: Survivor Stories (formerly The War Z), and the team claims that the title has seen 2.5 million players pass through its doors, with "over 100,000 people" playing the game daily. The team apologized for not getting its promised updates out on time and said that it's made "sweeping changes" to improve communications and be more accurate with releases. Part of these efforts included hiring CMs and pledging to an internal model of "complete transparency whenever possible." The state of the game post went on to list some of the game's recent additions, including vehicles, Super Zombies, balance tweaks, and an overhaul of the Colorado map. The team also said that it has committed itself to work on Infestation without external funding.
Bohemia Interactive acquires a new team for DayZ and assembles a roadmap
Are you ready to kill your fellow survivors and take their stuff in DayZ? If so, you've got plenty of company; according to creator Dean Hall, the game has sold 1.7 million copies on Steam thus far. It's given the team good reason to expand, at that. Bohemia Interactive has acquired Cauldron Studios, now renamed Bohemia Interactive Slovakia, and will be putting that team to work developing more content and systems for the zombie sandbox experience. Hall also outlined a roadmap of the game's coming updates, stating that the end of April should see the inclusion of fireplaces, loot respawns, and crossbows. New pistols and AI pathfinding are next on the list, followed by a 64-bit upgrade and the inclusion of animals for players to hunt and cook. Whether you're looking forward to what comes next or just like the current state of beating up players and taking what they've found, if you're a fan of the game you should take a look at the full rundown.
Dean Hall is leaving behind DayZ and Bohemia Interactive
Games are a bit like children. You work with other people to craft them, to help them go from little more than a twinkle in your eye to something capable of surviving without you. Dean Hall created DayZ, but he's jumping ahead to the part where he metaphorically kicks it out of the house and tells it to get a job. Or he's kicking himself out of the house... the metaphor is a bit tortured, but the important point is that he's leaving DayZ behind. Why leave a game that's still early in testing and doing well? As Hall puts it, keeping him on the project could eventually lead to his being someone who tells others how things are done rather than adapting along with a changing game and culture. Instead, he's heading to New Zealand with plans of opening a different studio. The changeover is not happening immediately but should take place before the end of the year. [Thanks to Zipzopboobidybop for the tip!]
Dying Light trailer waxes philosophical on shambling corpses
Moreso than shotguns, orange juice or even Servbot masks, mankind's most valuable resource in the event of a zombie apocalypse is its humanity, or so claims this trailer for Techland's most recent foray into interactive undead fiction, Dying Light. Dying Light is akin to Techland's earlier Dead Island in that both are first-person action games set in the ruins of civilization following an outbreak of hungry corpses. Dying Light, however, adds new wrinkles to this formula, such as a realistic day-night cycle and parkour-esque acrobatic maneuvers useful for navigating the crumbling world. Despite these mechanical novelties, the above trailer instead chooses to focus on a more intellectual angle, a strategy that has become a trademark for Techland. In 2011, the developer rocketed to fame with the release of a maudlin, melodramatic trailer for Dead Island that focused less on the gore of ambulatory dead people and more on the despair felt when watching a loving family torn apart – in this case, literally. Dying Light is currently slated for a March 31 release on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. [Image: Techland]
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.
DayZ destroys Hall's early sales expectations
DayZ's standalone client continues its surprisingly successful run, topping 800,000 sales in three short weeks. Creator Dean Hall says he and Bohemia Interactive "had very ambitious plans for 2014, already, however this amount of sales was completely unexpected." Hall goes on to explain that he would've considered 250,000 sales in the first quarter to be a success, "so to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy." Finally, Hall recommends that gamers do their homework before shelling out $29.99 for the zombie survival sandbox's early access client. "I would recommend a very careful and critical review of whether purchasing now is such a good idea," he wrote on Reddit. "There are many problems which can ruin your gameplay experience. These are being actively fixed, but if you delayed your purchase by a month you would pay the same price but it would be a better experience."
DayZ moves 172,000 copies in first 24 hours of early access
The standalone version of Arma II zombie survival mod DayZ, which stealthily went live via Steam's early access program earlier this week, has generated $5.1 million in its first 24 hours of availability. According to Bohemia Interactive's Maruk Spanel, DayZ moved 172,500 copies on launch day and 142,403 players were online at the time of his last update. Creator Dean Hall has been celebrating the successful launch with regular tweets on the game's sales and performance, but he took a moment to remind possible buyers that this version of DayZ is still very much a work in progress: Please do not just buy the game because you heard it was cool. Many streamers are now streaming. Visit this and view the (many) bugs first. Early access to DayZ will run you $29.99.
DayZ standalone releases alpha on Steam
DayZ's "true blue" alpha launched on the Steam store today for $29.99. The release is part of Steam's early access program with a caveat posted that players should not purchase it unless they're OK with "serious issues and possible interruptions of game functioning." The launch was accompanied by a trailer which has since been pulled from the Steam store due to its graphic nature. Lead developer Dean Hall bemoaned the move on Twitter: "At the last minute, despite being told of the contents of my trailer for DayZ, Steam pulled my trailer due to censorship." The video is still on YouTube if you're curious, although be aware that it is NSFW and has a scene of a suicide.
Free for All: Two weeks on a private Infestation server
I remember when I first laid eyes on Infestation: Survivor Stories. It was GDC Online in 2012, and I did an interview with Alex Josef, Hammperpoint's PR consultant We made a quick trip to the press room, where he popped out a large gaming laptop to show me the game. I was really impressed with how simple its premise was: You're dropped in the middle of the wilderness, there are zombies all around, and you can starve to death. It felt great, as well, sporting realistic lighting effects and systems to simulate hunger, thirst, and sound. So much has happened since that first meeting. I am very, very aware of all of the drama concerning the developers -- the name changes, the patches, the community issues, and so on. I am not writing this to discuss that part of the story. My specific goal over the last couple of weeks was to see whether playing on a private, paid-for server would give me a different experience than Massively's Mike Foster's. During his time with the game at launch he was, to put it mildly, miserable.
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Rise and Shiny: Zombie Pandemic
I really want to recommend Zombie Pandemic, a browser-based, post-apocalyptic "MMORPG" by Pixel Pandemic. I really do. The problem is that I can see you sitting down to play a cool-sounding game, recommended by me, only to leave it within an hour because its server issues literally make the game unplayable at times. It's such a shame because there are several great ideas going on in the game and several systems and mechanics that rely heavily on real timing and, you know, the server running smoothly. During my time with the game this week, I had the game reset a good portion of my progress, kill me with server burps, and block me from purchasing item shop goods. Yes, that's right... not only did the game prevent me from playing at times, but it also prevented me from giving it money. Still, I'm going to tell you why I liked the game and why you should still check it out. It's a great game for players who enjoy zombies, post-apocalyptic survival, board games, and relatively deep storylines.
DayZ alpha will be an actual alpha
Early adopters are in for a rough ride when the standalone version of DayZ first enters Steam's early access program. According to a post made by Dean "Rocket" Hall on the game's official forums, DayZ's initial limited launch will be "a true-blue alpha." Hall noted that because the team is rebuilding "massive areas of the engine," many of DayZ's core features will not be seen for months. Buying early will be a recipe for disappointment. It's a chance for those who want to be part of that whole process. For them, the process is as much a part of the game as the whole experience. For many, this is the opposite of what they want. To enable a smooth launch, we're really targeting it at a core audience who want to get deeply involved in a very barebones experience that is a platform for future development. In other words, it's an alpha. Dean did not provide a release date, so we'll continue to keep this filed under Soon TM.
