Daily News - 9th August 2012 - DayZ Going It Alone, Plants Vs. Zombies FPS, and 18 Months Until Xbox 720?

DayZ To Break Away From ARMA 2 And Follow The Minecraft Model

If there is one experience you can point at and say "THAT'S the talking point of 2012" it's DayZ. A mod for semi-unpopular hardcore military simulator ARMA 2, it places in the zombie apocalypse on a large server with other players and hoardes of undead. With a focus on PvP interactions and with the player needing to eat food and stay hydrated to avoid death, not to mention dodging zombies which will kill you very quickly, it really struck a cord with gamers the world over and, despite is unbelievabe amount of jank, has spread like wildfire. The only downside to DayZ is that you have to own ARMA 2 to play it, a game which costs £25 and is, apart from DayZ, pretty shit (from what I've seen). Well, prepare to shit with joy, as I tell you that Day Z is going to become it's own, standalone game! The game will obviously be a little while coming, but the developers Bohemia Interactive are following the Minecraft model, offering you the Alpha at a discounted price and updating the alpha constantly, which means you'll get to see the game grow better and better, little by little. I'm so fucking pumped for this it's daft. SO PUMPED! The best way to articulate how crazy the game is, is for you to see it for yourself. Here's a Youtube video.

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Plants Vs. Zombies Will Be A First Person Shooter... I Guess

A job listing has shed light on a rather unique idea for a spin-off of one of PopCaps most popular titles Plants Vs Zombies. The job listing asks for people with experience with first person shooters, destructible environments and a cartoony style. Likening it to Team Fortress 2 probably isn't far off the mark, and quite how the zombies against plants angle will be played, but one things for sure: This is mental. Awesome, but mental.

It's gonna take some genius to make this into a FPS, I can't wait!

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More Job Advert Leaks Suggest Xbox 720 In 18 Months

Ahh, job adverts, gaming journalism's best friend. They give away everything from games, to consoles, to even, well, jobs! The latest massive leak via a job advert comes in the form of a Microsoft Marketing position being available. Some of the juicier morsels from that advert are:

"Over the next 18 months Microsoft will release new versions of all of our most significant products including Windows (Client, Server, Phone and Azure), Office and Xbox, along with completely new offerings like Microsoft Surface.  This wave of product launches will define the course of the company for years to come and thus provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to refresh and evolve our strategic brands. The Microsoft brand strategy team is looking for passionate, creative, team-oriented branding experts to help us lead this transformation."

Meanwhile, another job posting mentions Skype integration into the console. Seems pretty open and shut to me, though I'm sure Microsoft will deny everything.

It'll be sad to see it go, but it's served us well. Enjoy your 18 months, buddy!

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