I do love the drive of the Undead Labs guys (and girls) but they love to post two or three posts at the same time so in the flurry of news about Microsoft Game Studios being the publisher they also posted a blog about what the game will be essentially.
As I like to do with any news article I receive that is packed full of details I weed out all that boring sentence junk that the PR people and developers themselves put together and give you the cold hard facts. If you’re anything like me you appreciate not having to read through crap to find gold. Yet I do it for you. So here is their vision of the game:
UPDATE: Every couple of hours I tend to check the site statistics and realized that the fact that it is definitely coming for the 360 has spiked our search activity for the game. In that case here is the link to another set of facts we learned last year from an Undead Labs Q&A so enjoy this information also HERE.
**UPDATE 2**: If you are craving more information Undead Labs had a Q&A yesterday where they answered community questions that I summarize HERE. Be sure to check back later for a part two to the Q&A that is supposed to come out later.
1. It’s not just combat. It’s about meeting survival needs. Food, water, shelter, ammo… You’ll need them all.
2. The game must play like a great console action game.
3. Players’ choices and ability to build have permanent impact on the world.
In the article I linked to above they state that they will first come out with an arcade game for Live that will essentially be a beta test of the game. So you will get to experience third person shooter survival that allows 2 player co-op and a taste of the game that is in development alongside of it. These are the facts for that game:
1. Melee combat, gun combat, driving and exploration. It won’t include absolutely every gun and vehicle and zombie variation but it will get the point across.
2. You get to play it co-operatively. (I will use this game as a test for my friends, so when the zombie apocalypse really comes I know who is worth having and who can be a meal.)
3. You will be able to build. An isolated hideout for the night? A fortified base? How fortified? How many survivors do you bring together? Will you grow your food supply or scavenge for it? All these things will be up to you to decide.
4. The world will change. It won’t have huge changes like seasons yet but the world will change to affect your play.
5. The feedback received from the arcade game can affect decisions on different aspects of the title like gameplay elements.
As I mentioned I posted the announcement up in the article at the top but I also dissected that a little so here are the things I came away with from there:
1. Undead Labs is still independent and has full creative control
2. No game for PS3 fans which is obvious. (but they don’t hate you)
3. They chose Microsoft because other publishers wanted what they describe as “World of Warcraft Clones”
4. No game for PC gamers because they are taking on a new front rather than squeezing in a new game in a community that is full of MMO’s.
5. The arcade game code named “Class3″ will be 1-2 players through Xbox Live.
6. “Class4″ is the code name for the full console game that will release after and host thousands of players.
7. The arcade game will work sort of as a beta test that will test “how fun” the game is so they can tweak and adjust it for maximum fun.
8. No release date for the arcade game.
9. No price determined for the arcade game. I believe it will be 800 to 1200 microsoft points. Seeing as it is a third person shooter I can almost guarantee that it will be 1200.
10. There is no decision on if it will be free-to-play or have a monthly fee and will have to be discussed with Microsoft.
