zombies

The Walking Dead: Our World designed its AR game with MMOs in mind

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Are we, as a culture, at full Walking Dead saturation yet? Probably been there for years, honestly, but it is astounding how many video games this franchise has pumped out so far. There are so many, in fact, that it might be easy to overlook one or two — such as the Pokemon Go-style alternate reality game that’s not afraid to point to its MMO roots.

“We took a lot of inspiration from other games that use location mechanics on a map, but fundamentally we were building an MMO that has a single huge instance with every player in the same game,” said Next Games Lead Director Sulka Haro.

The Walking Dead: Our World encourages players to explore their environments, bash some (virtual) zombies, rescue survivors, and complete missions around the world. Characters from the TV show can be collected, and players can team up with others to accomplish goals. Our World is available on both Google Play and the App Store.

Source: Gamasutra, The Walking Dead: Our World

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The Survivalist: Excited for ARK’s Extinction

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I finally broke down and watched ARK: Survival Evolved’s Extinction trailer. It’s not that I didn’t want to! On the contrary, I was very interested to get that glimpse; I just wanted to wait until we had even more info about it so I could really delve into it. But since that doesn’t seem to be coming about, I couldn’t hold out any longer. It is the conclusion of the multi-expansion story arc after all, and we’ve just gotten all excited about ARK’s story!

After watching the trailer, my anticipation level inched up a few notches. The teaser hints at answers to some long-held questions, and I am excited to take on the all-new survival challenges. Helping to amp that enthusiasm up are the monthly Extinction-themed content drops: Say hello to some bionic dinos! (They even lay tek eggs!) Perhaps Extinction will be quite a grand finale. I definitely look forward to learning, and sharing, more as we learn about the expansion.

All that said, there’s still that little bit of nagging disappointment at the lack of attention older maps get, especially the original game. Who knows though, perhaps once the final game is out and done the devs can turn some attention back to fixing those issues with the island.

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Survival sandbox Scum hits Steam early access on August 29

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As a criminal who is trying to get out of the supermax system, you should probably know that nothing comes easily. So if you’re going to win your freedom, you should be prepared for a hard and long struggle… to become a reality TV star!

This is the strange premise behind Scum, an “extremely complex” survival sandbox that’s coming to Steam early access soon. And by “soon,” we mean “on August 29th,” because that’s the date that the studio just announced to its fans. The studio plans to keep Scum in early access for “at least one full year” while it tests the game and completes its launch day features.

It’s definitely a different type of survival sandbox, with a really in-depth character creator, mechs, zombies, drones, and more. Check out the (gory) release date announcement trailer after the break.

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Jace Hall confirms that he’s H1Z1’s new PC lead, promises the sky

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The rumors and hints are true: Monolith’s Jace Hall has made the jump over to Daybreak to take on the position as PC lead for H1Z1. Hall said that some of the details of this transition and future plans are still under NDA but that everyone should expect to hear a lot of details about the game’s development soon.

“Generally speaking, things that the community WANTS are the things that the community WILL GET,” Hall said. “It is not a question of ‘IF’ we are going to deliver desired changes to the player base, it is only a question of ‘WHEN.’ Count on it. The game is a service. A good service delivers what its customer’s want. It’s that simple.”

Hall certainly has high aspirations: “I believe that H1Z1 PC total ecosystem can slowly but surely and uniquely become something like the Counter-Strike of the battle royale genre. It’s an exciting thought.”

Oh, and the Daybreak H1Z1 forums appear to be back, so that’s pretty cool for those who don’t like to spend their lives lurking on Reddit!

Source: Official forums

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H1Z1 has officially launched on the PlayStation 4 as Jace Hall joins the H1Z1 PC team

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Daybreak’s battle royale game H1Z1 has been through more ups and downs and ups again in the last few years than most games see in their lifetimes. The game once bizarrely marketed to former Star Wars Galaxies players has split in two, undergone multiple name changes, seen its survival half falter, made it to television with esports events, wallowed in early access, missed multiple launch windows, suffered layoffs, and lost most of its playerbase to PUBG, and also shed most of its zombie nature, all before seemingly finding rescue in its wildly successful PlayStation 4 beta this past spring.

“The official H1Z1 launch update on PlayStation®4 includes:

  • Battle Pass Season 1: PS4 players can now unlock up to 30 rewards levels across 3 distinct lines (free, premium, and PS Plus). Battle Pass Season 1 premium line can be purchased for $5.49 / €5.49, while all PS Plus members will receive the PS Plus line included in membership. Level progression will carry over between lines.
  • Two New Weapons: The explosive RPG can be found in gold tier airdrops, and specializes in taking out vehicles. The deadly SOCOM Sniper Rifle can be found in purple tier airdrops, and offers a new tactical option for long-range gunfights.
  • New Vehicle: The ARV fits a full fives team and includes a hatch for a squad mate to fire out the top – making it the ultimate vehicle for squad-based gameplay.
  • New Launch Bundles: Players can now customize their character to the max through the new Viper Starter bundle ($4.99 USD / €4.99) or Hardline Deluxe bundle, which includes Premium Battle Pass ($34.99 USD / €34.99). Both Launch bundles are now available at a special launch discount until September 4 on the PlayStation Store.”

Meanwhile, MOP reader and tipster Kinya has pointed us to some cryptic tweets from Monolith’s Jace Hall:

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H1Z1 launches on PlayStation 4 on August 6

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Things are going to change in H1Z1 on August 6th. For one thing, the game is officially launching out of open beta on PlayStation 4, so that will be a noteworthy moment. The game is also removing skulls, by which we mean the currency rather than the skeletal component, replacing them with far less numerous credits (which we are promised will still have the same purchasing power) at a conversion rate of 50 skulls to one credit.

Players will also be leveling up the new Battle Pass, which has three different leveling tracks for free players, subscribers, and PlayStation Plus members. You can level each reward track you’re eligible for, so PlayStation Plus members who don’t subscribe to Daybreak’s All Access pass will still be able to level both the Free track and the PlayStation Plus track. Check out the full rundown to get all of your questions answered ahead of Monday’s launch.

Source: Official Site

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H1Z1 officially launches on PlayStation 4 next month

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The hopes, dreams, and (most importantly) finances of Daybreak go with H1Z1 as it officially launches on PlayStation 4 this August 7th. The original battle royale title did really well for itself when it went into a free-to-play early access on the console, racking up over 10 million players by the end of last month. How high will it go when it releases for good? We shall see!

Daybreak is going to do all it can to keep the excitement and engagement factor high with a content-filled Day One patch. The studio is adding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a SOCOM sniper rifle to the arsenal, along with the ARV personnel carrier that can truck around up to five people.

There are a few ways that Daybreak is hoping to profit off of the launch. H1Z1’s PS4 launch will kick off the first battle pass season (which retails for $5.49) and sell a Viper starting bundle and Hardline deluxe bundle for $4.99 and $34.99, respectively.

Source: PlayStation.blog

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Global Chat: Getting a handle on Legends of Aria

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One of the great benefits of reading the wealth of MMO blogs out there is that you can touch base on a huge variety of games that you might not have time to play. Haven’t gotten around to checking in with the indie sandbox Legends of Aria? The blogosphere has you covered!

While Superior Realities thinks that there’s a “skeleton of a good game” in Aria, he wasn’t won over by the closed beta: “After about thirty minutes of dealing with bugs, spectacularly tedious and old school gameplay, and generally terrible design, I decided life was too short.”

Inventory Full felt that the game had featureless maps but probably deserved a longer look, and Levelcapped said that Aria is “so damn close to being an Ultima Online sequel that it’s both wonderful and blasphemous at the same time.”

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Fallout 76 doesn’t want to be labeled as ‘survival,’ shows off emote wheel

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What is Fallout 76? Even Bethesda doesn’t seem to have a clear grasp on terminology to label it, avoiding both the MMO and survival labels for the upcoming multiplayer post-nuclear game.

“We avoid the word ‘survival,’ because people’s minds immediately go to DayZ and Rust and certain other games, and those comparisons are not really accurate for what we’re doing,” Game Director Todd Howard told The Guardian. “If you think about the survival modes we’ve made in Fallout 4, it has that vibe… Fallout 76, although it’s an online game, when I play it, I mostly still play it solo. We like those experiences as much as our fans do.”

Howard admitted that the project has the studio a little worried about taking this important franchise online: “We are sometimes afraid of doing it, as much as our fans are afraid of us doing it. But we’ve got to try new things.”

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PUBG is testing custom matches, so you can roll your own zombie survival game… hey wait a second…

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It’s a big day for PUBG as its latest patch has just hit the test server, and it’s a doozy: It’s the one that finally allows custom matches. Players will be able to combine their selected game mode with other presets, like weather, spawn types, and maps. Apparently “zombie mode” is the one to watch; according to RPS, regular players have been jonesing for this option ever since influencers started streaming it. Now everyone can whip up a humans-vs.-zombies match in PUBG, and we have finally come full circle in the world of survival/battle royale games.

Over on Steam, players are ascii-spamming – is there a better word for filling a comment section with word-art of your demands for the devs? – about the game’s ongoing desync issues. There are new weapons and beat-up ol’ trucks in testing now too; you can preview those down below if that’s your thing.

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H1Z1 roars past 10 million users on PlayStation 4

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After it looked like H1Z1 was being rendered obsolete by last year’s rise of PUBG and Fortnite, having lost 90% of its playerbase by February of this year, the battle royale title is making a surprising comeback on both PC and console. In fact, Daybreak announced this week that H1Z1 has seen over 10 million PlayStation 4 users since the game went into open beta on the platform back in May.

Here’s another big number: 102 million hours, which is how much time PS4 players have put into the game so far. Daybreak is so pleased with the response that it is gifting current and former PS4 players with a free Darkfire pickup truck and Sunrise parachute.

H1Z1 wants to bring its Revive game update to the PS4 this week, which includes the titular mechanic, an airstrike carpet bomb throwable, and aim acceleration options. Some issues have arisen and the team said that it is working on them and hoping to get the patch out soon.

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Battle Royale roundup: Realm Royale, H1Z1, PUBG, and Cuisine Royale

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All hands on deck, people! We are at Maximum Battle Royale this summer and the bubble hasn’t burst – at least not yet. Maybe it only ends when we have a battle royale game in which 50 battle royale games fight each other for supremacy. In any case, let’s catch up on all of the news of this weird and popular PvP sub-genre!

Making sure that the Sanhok event pass is working properly is at the forefront of the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds team this week. The event pass increased its daily XP limit and lowered some other requirements to progress through it.

Hi-Rez’s Realm Royale has a new alpha pack for sale and patched in a update designed to “improve the feel and gunplay of weapons.” The studio said that it focused on the responsiveness and unique qualities of each weapon to make them feel more satisfying.

“Realm Royale by Hi-Rez Studios hit 3 million players in just 3 weeks of early access. The hit new fantasy class-based battle royale game broke into the top 4 most-played games on Steam during its release week, and has been the #1 most viewed game on Twitch and Mixer. Today, an Alpha pack was introduced, the first purchasable content in the free-to-play game.”

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Daybreak mourns the death of H1Z1’s lead animator

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This week, Daybreak is grieving over the loss of one of its key developers, David “Sarge” Carter. Carter worked as an animator on a couple of the MMOs for the studio and was instrumental in the industry over the last quarter-decade.

“You probably haven’t heard his name but if you played PlanetSide 2 or H1Z1 you’ve seen his work,” said Twitch’s Jimmy Whisenhunt. “Incredibly talented animator. We worked together for a few years at SOE, tremendous dude.”

“This really made me sad,” said former Daybreak CEO John Smedley. “David was amazing to work with. Always an optimist and a true pleasure to work with. He will be missed!”

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