Hay otro MMO de zombies en camino: The War Z

No tiene nada que ver con DayZ ni con World War Z, pero roba ideas de ambos con una facilidad acojonante. El proyecto lo llevan a cabo Hammerpoint Interactive y Arktos Entertainment, y conviene no confundirlo con el otro MMO de zombies que también está en el horno desde hace tres años, el Class4 de Undead Labs. Eso sí: estos parece que van con ambición y tienen bastante camino hecho a juzgar por la solidez y el detalle de las capturas del juego. Si The War Z va, como dicen, de recorrer el mundo a tu aire, a mí me tienen para lo que haga falta. Así habla de él Sergey Titov, productor ejecutivo:

Empezamos a pensar en hacer un juego de zombies el año pasado y empezamos a desarrollar un MMO basado en quests y ambientado en un enorme mundo infestado de zombies. Los jugadores podrían explorar y desbloquear nuevas áreas del mapa a medida que progresaban en sus quests asignadas. Cuando vimos la popularidad de DayZ (el mod de ArmA 2) y cómo los jugadores y la comunidad estaban reaccionando, nos dimos cuenta de dos cosas: primero, esa era la validación de que nuestra idea de hacer un MMO de zombies era buena y de que había mercado y base de jugadores para ellos; y segundo, decidimos abandonar la idea del desbloqueo de áreas, en lugar de eso el jugador podrá explorar todo el mundo y recolectar información y quests encontrando notas, diarios, etc. dejados ahí tanto pot NPCs como por jugadores reales.

War Z se situará cinco años después del apocalipsis zombie y saldrá con un mundo llamado Colorado, aunque hay otros ya diseñados. Estarán todos basados en zonas del mundo real y serán entregados al jugador de forma gratuita a medida que el desarrollo avance.

Queremos que los jugadores vean las señales de la lucha y la destrucción de la humanidad luchando contra los zombies y sientan ese miedo y esa ansiedad mientras exploran el mundo. Además, aparte de tener varios personajes entre los que elegir y otras mecánicas que creo que harán destacar a War Z, la otra diferencia clave es que al ser un juego independiente será mucho más accesible a la hora de comprar, descargar, instalar, entrar en un servidor y jugar.

Estamos de acuerdo en que la temática zombie lleva ya un tiempo saturándonos incluso a quienes llevamos amándola desde que eramos unos mocosos, pero también es justo decir que nunca se ha terminado de abordar el asunto de la supervivencia y el postapocalipsis en esa ambientación y que es ahora cuando Project Zomboid, Class4, DayZ y este The War Z empiezan a llenar el hueco que siempre se echó de menos. Veremos. Podéis acceder aquí a la entrevista completa en IGN, y a continuación os dejo la nota de prensa completa en inglés.

ARKTOS ENTERTAINMENT AND HAMMERPOINT INTERACTIVE ANNOUNCE THE WAR Z New Game Studio to Bring Zombie-Apocalypse MMO to the PC LOS ANGELES – July 19, 2012 – Arktos Entertainment Group and Hammerpoint Interactive, a new independent game development studio located in Los Angeles, Calif., are finally lifting the veil and announcing their debut title, The War Z (TWZ). A session-based, massively multiplayer online game (MMO), The War Z is inspired by all things zombie and is set in a true post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world where other players can prove to be a greater threat than the undead hordes that populate the land. The game is slated for release in fall 2012 for the Windows PC platform. “The whole team is completely obsessed with the zombie culture as well as with post-apocalyptic games like Fallout,” said Eric Nordin, senior game designer for The War Z. “Since we started the design of the game, we have continued to incorporate new features that inspire us as we go. At the end of the day we want to ship a game that we want to play ourselves and we’re hoping that other gamers will recognize our passion and be excited about playing as well!” In The War Z, players are thrust into a post-apocalyptic world five-years after a viral outbreak that ravaged the human population and left, in its wake, a nightmare of epic proportion. Hordes of undead zombies infest the cities, and the few remaining human beings have devolved into a lawless, nomadic society where the sole objective is to survive at any cost. Players must use skill and cunning in order to acquire food, weapons and other supplies necessary for survival. While navigating the vast landscape, they will discover cities teeming with the undead as well as other players that may or may not be friendly. With strong RPG elements, TWZ allows players toearn experience points and then “spend” those points to learn new skills that will aid in their survival. Additionally, there will be opportunities to acquire in-game cash and gold, which can be used to purchase supplies at one of the few safe-settlements located in the game. The War Z will also allow those playing together to join servers as a group or locate friends already playing and join the same server. Some features of The War Z include the following: Survival Horror MMO with entire game world build around a Zombie Apocalypse * Two modes of play: Normal (downed characters can be revived after “cool down” period) and Hardcore (death will be permanent) * Ability to switch between first-person (FPS) and third-person (TPS) perspectives * Huge maps ranging between 200 and 400 square kilometers * Meld of PvE (player versus environment) and PvP (player versus player) gameplay * Unique social elements, including bounties, rewards, help requests, trap setting, etc. * Safe Settlements: safe cities within the world where players can purchase, sell and store items as well as post notes for other players * Single purchase, downloadable client with ability to play full game without subscriptions or requiring in-game transactions * Full developer support with regularly scheduled, free content updates * Dedicated public servers as well as private servers that can be completely self-managed in game client “Hammerpoint Interactive is exactly the kind of developer we look to partner with,” said Sergey Titov, CEO, Arktos Entertainment Group. “They came to us with an innovative game design that fit our investment strategy and we’re excited to be backing this project.” The War Z is currently in Alpha phase, with a closed beta planned for the very near future. Players can visit http://www.thewarz.com to be notified of updates and other information as well as to pre-order the game and guarantee a spot in the closed beta. More information on this title can also be found http://facebook.com/warzmmo.