It seems like some beautiful intangible force has heard the legion of prayers sent by zombie and gaming fans alike and has finally sent us Undead Labs. This brilliant, if not majestical companys sole purpose, thus far, is to create a high-end console based (PS3 and 360) zombie MMO.
"November 23, 2009 – Seattle, Washington – When flesh-eating, shambling undead corpses invade Seattle, Undead Labs will probably be the ones responsible. Video game industry veteran Jeff Strain today announced the formation of Undead Labs, a Seattle, Washington-based game development studio that’s on a mission to take online gaming in bold new directions. Undead Labs’ sole focus will be to create the definitive massively multiplayer online zombie game (MMOZ) for console gamers. Nothing screams funny quite like wading into a group of rotting zombies with lawn chair and a box of sharpened #2 pencils, and nothing says fun quite like doing it with your friends, whether online or on your couch. Undead Labs is committed to bringing to life an MMO loaded with action, humor and, of course, a whole lotta zombies, because the world doesn’t need more dragons."
In a recent interview with destructoid.com, Jeff Strain revealed some details about this upcoming masterpiece of a game,
""One of the things that is key in [the zombie] genre is really giving players a sense of purpose that is not just kill monsters and level up," he tells us. "MMO players like to have a home, and that is one of the reasons I'm not going to throw them out into a post apocolyptic world. The goal here is to make them feel like there is a purpose. You're trying to restart society. You're trying to reclaim the world. One of the very first goals is going to be to get together with other players and establish a place that you can call your own that you must actively maintain and defend, and that over time will allow you to have a home base that will allow you to restart the economy, start trading with other 'blue zones' and feel like you have a home again."
Strain says that you will have to be defending your town, especially at night when the hordes come, but that as you build your town you should also build a sense of safety. However, you will also be able to run out into the land of the dead in order to get special items, supplies, or other things that are needed for survival.
"The game is going to really encourage you to go out for all kinds of different reasons," adds Strain, "and when you are out in the world and walking through the streets, or small towns or shopping malls it will be very easy for the game to give you that sense of you versus the masses or the hordes. It is important to state that this is not a horror game. You have to have a purpose and you have to believe you're trying to survive for a reason and that is why you have a safe base.'"
Damn straight. Somebody's finally doing what fans have been thinking about for years. Sure there was that free online game Dead Frontier, but that pales in comparison to Undead Labs MMOZ. As a console guy myself, this is a dream come true. I have a Mac so the idea of a PC based zombie MMO is ever so slightly off putting.
I will update as soon as I hear ANYTHING.
- King of the Zombies
"Hi I'm a PC. And I'm a Mac. And WE CAN'T PLAY UNDEAD LABS UPCOMING ZOMBIE MMO"
I guess Frank West never thought to attach a shotgun to a pitchfork. Here are a couple of sneak peak videos of Capcom's upcoming Dead Rising 2 from Tokyo Game Show 2009, showcasing several of the more "unique" weapons available to the player. My personal favorite at this point is the Killer Wheelchair.
