DayZ • Eurogamer.net

DayZ finally leaves early access next week on PC

After nearly five years in development.

Bohemia Interactive has announced that the PC version of its long-in-development online zombie survival game DayZ will leave early access and launch in its 1.0 guise next week, on December 13th.

Five years on, DayZ finally hits beta

Aiming for 1.0 release before end of year.

Ageing online survival game DayZ is finally launching a beta build, nearly five years after it first arrived as a standalone release.

Up until now, DayZ has only been available in a version labelled as an Early Access alpha. Development progress has been slow, to put it lightly.

But a fresh update from Bohemia Interactive lead producer Eugen Harton has laid out an ambitious plan - to freeze the deployment of new items and focus on "bugfixing, polishing and balancing" to get the game ready for a full version 1.0 release before the year's end.

DayZ gets an Xbox Game Preview release date

Yes, it's still in Early Access on PC.

DayZ is coming to Xbox One in a little over a week. The granddaddy of multiplayer survival games (with a sprinkling of zombies) hits Xbox Game Preview 29th August.

More details to follow.

DayZ studio Bohemia announces a new survival game set in 90s Norway

Coming to Xbox Game Preview very soon.

DayZ and Arma studio Bohemia has announced a new Scandinavian post-nuclear-war survival game for Xbox One called Vigor. It's coming to Xbox Game Preview this summer. Whether it will land on other platforms we don't yet know.

Vigor was announced in a brief, cinematic trailer during an Inside Xbox broadcast at E3. In the trailer, survivors tiptoe through a tunnelled road, sifting through wreckage, before tension spikes as another survivor - possibly hostile - is seen.

There's no gameplay but the characters wear a jumbled assortment of clothing and wield guns appropriate to the game's 1990s timeline. There's been a nuclear war in Central Europe, and Norway, the game's setting, has become a cutthroat place to make a last stand.

"We're serious about it."

DayZ will finally - after more than four years - shed the Steam Early Access label and launch in 2018.

DayZ just got its most meaningful update in months

Denser forests! Ambient sounds! Wind! More!

DayZ just got its most meaningful updates in months.

Overnight, Bohemia Interactive pushed out the 0.62 update to its open-world survival zombie game. It reworks foliage and adds new ambient sounds, among other things. The idea is the the update helps make DayZ a more modern-looking and sounding game.

Here's what's new, as posted to the DayZ forum:

And it's playable on the show floor.

DayZ creator Dean Hall will bring his new, unannounced game to EGX Rezzed - the London-based games show run by Eurogamer parent company Gamer Network.

FeatureIs DayZ still coming out on console and, you know, WTH is going on?

Answers from the creative director.

Whenever I write anything about DayZ, the conversation is dominated by two things: DayZ not being finished and Dean Hall not finishing it. There are legitimate concerns tied around misinformed ones. I have tried to put all of these to the game's creative director Brian Hicks.

Dean Hall of DayZ fame is making a big new multiplayer game

"I need to be deliberately coy..."

Dean Hall's New Zealand studio RocketWerkz is working on a brand new triple-A game. We don't know what it's called but we do know where the money is coming from: Chinese online gaming behemoth Tencent.

DayZ forums hacked: usernames, emails and passwords compromised

New security measures are being implemented.

The forums for DayZ have been hacked, resulting in members' usernames, emails and passwords being leaked.

DayZ in 2016: aerial vehicles, predators, animal companions, more

"We understand the frustrations and difficulties of public development..."

Multiplayer survival game DayZ has a big year ahead of it in 2016. That's when it will leave Steam Early Access, and that's when it plans on hitting the Xbox One Preview programme (DayZ has also been announced for PS4 but there is no timeline for release).

Private DayZ servers can now be monetised

Just "a test run" for now.

Private DayZ servers can now be monetised, which means you can - among other things - limit access to people who pay. In order to be able to monetise your server it must be approved by Bohemia, and those that are will be added to a publicly available list.

DayZ creator Dean Hall announces new game Ion

UPDATE: "It's now about me proving I have learned lessons and we deliver on stuff."

UPDATE 17TH JUNE: Dean Hall has talked more about what Ion, his new game, will be. He started by saying his space game won't be Star Citizen, won't be Elite, won't be Eve Online.

Ion will be about owning regions of space and building space stations there, and surviving. And you'll view it from a zoomed out third-person perspective similar to Diablo. It's not first-person, to be clear.

You'll be a pioneer in space, and walk around space stations, and these space stations will exist in stitched together, persistent regions of space.

DayZ reaches 3m sales on Early Access

In only 13 months on sale.

DayZ's standalone remake has sold 3m copies on Steam Early Access, where it launched in December 2013.

DayZ hit the 2m sales mark in May 2014 and is now due for an official 1.0 launch in the first half of 2016 where it's expected to cost €40. Back in November developer Dean Hall outlined his 2015 update plans for the ever-evolving zombie apocalypse survival sandbox.

The game has already received 24 updates in its time on Early Access. Many of these updates were based around optimising the new Enfusion engine to get the most out of DirectX 11, enhance performance and bolster the game's graphical fidelity.

A big interview for a big new year.

After a whirlwind three years Dean Hall has gone, left Bohemia, returned to New Zealand, started a new indie studio, walked away from day-to-DayZ. "Saying goodbye is like a mountain summit," he wrote on Twitter in December. "People focus on that, and forget that it is the journey there and then onward that really matters."

Dean Hall highlights impressive DayZ live action film

Friend or foe?

Departed DayZ creator Dean Hall has shone light on an impressive fan-made short film about the game.

DayZ creator Dean Hall's new studio is called RocketWerkz

Initially based in Dunedin, NZ.

DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall has announced his new studio, RocketWerkz.

DayZ standalone now due in 2016 for €40

Reveals update plans for 2015, price increases next week.

DayZ isn't going to come out of Steam Early Access until somewhere around the first half of 2016, developer Bohemia has announced, although it has detailed its update plans throughout 2015.

VideoVideo: Watch us play Mini DayZ from 4.30pm GMT

See the officially recognised spin-off in action.

Did you know there was an officially licensed 2D spin-off of DayZ, complete with 2D, top-down graphics and a bite-sized Chernaus? Oh, you did? Well, I didn't (I'm quite ignorant about these things) so I'm going to be watching Ian Higton stream the game from 4.30pm with interest. It is a thing that is happening here, below.

DayZ creator Dean Hall rumoured to be on his way to the UK - not New Zealand

UPDATE: Dean Hall says nope.

UPDATE: Dean Hall has denied a report that claimed he planned to move to the UK to work at a London-based technology company.

DayZ fan's free 2D tribute now hosted by Bohemia

Top-down MiniDayZ playable in your browser.

A free fan-made DayZ tribute, MiniDayZ, has been picked up by Bohemia Interactve and hosted on the publisher's official website.

EGXXbox One? "DayZ is definitely going to be a multi-platform title"

2015 release depends on console Early Access program, Hall says.

When asked at EGX whether DayZ was coming to Xbox One - having been announced for PlayStation 4 at Gamescom - creator Dean Hall answered:

DayZ producer moves to calm concern about development

"You are not playing DayZ, you are playing development builds."

The producer of survival zombie MMO DayZ has moved to calm concern about the game's development.

DayZ announced for PS4

Finally.

Zombie MMO DayZ is coming to PlayStation 4, creator Dean Hall has announced.

On stage during Sony's Gamescom press conference, Hall said the PS4 port will benefit the existing PC version. There's an entirely new cross-platform renderer to boost the visuals, for example.

More soon.

We ask the question.

It seems counter-intuitive to say it, but Steam, the biggest and most popular digital video game shop we have, may be selling too many games - or rather, it may be selling too many of the wrong kind of games.

Should Early Access DayZ be in Steam's Summer Sale?

Dean Hall "shocked" Bohemia put it there.

Since DayZ launched in Early Access, developer/publisher Bohemia has discouraged people from impulse - hype - buying it. "We strongly advise you not to buy and play the game at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle," a clear warning on the game's Steam page reads.

DayZ dev Dean Hall: "I want to make a Valve in the South Pacific"

Hall talks DayZ on console and his Tycoon style game.

DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall will return home to New Zealand at the end of 2014 - and there he hopes to establish the Valve of the South Pacific.

Arma 3 sales pass the 1m mark

Combined with DayZ sales, that's a nice Czech.

Czech developer Bohemia has more to celebrate than just DayZ: military war simulation Arma 3 has passed 1m sales.

Company boss Marek Spanel announced the milestone on Twitter last night.

By comparison, DayZ sales crossed the 2m mark in early May.

DayZ Standalone sells 2m in just over four months

Not bad for a Steam Early Access game.

Sandbox survival zombie game DayZ Standalone has sold an impressive two million units in just over four months on sale.

Chief creator Dean "Rocket" Hall announced the sales figure on Twitter yesterday, days after the DayZ mod for Bohemia's military simulation Arma 2 - the one that started it all - celebrated its second birthday.

DayZ Standalone launched on Steam as an Early Access title on 16th December 2013 and quickly shot to the top of the digital platform's best-sellers list. There it costs �19.99, suggesting revenue of around �40m. Right now it's third in Steam's top sellers chart.

FeatureWhy is hardship the new hotness?

DayZ, survival, and the glorious cult of cruelty.

I'm always late to the party - even when most of the people at the party are dead. In the case of DayZ, I'm very late indeed. It's been two years since Dean Hall's mod started to turn ordinary gamers into hardened survivalists, and in that time, it feels like the game has helped cement a genre - or something that certainly behaves like one. I get hundreds of press releases in my inbox every week, and about two thirds of them promise that the latest title I'm about to fall in love with is just like DayZ - or just like Minecraft. These titles are not unrelated. In 2014, we love foraging and scavenging. We love finding our own tools and getting by on next to nothing. We love hardship. We love suffering. It's no longer enough to just thrive - we want to feel the sharp edge of survival itself.

FeatureBohemia's war: the story of the company behind Arma and DayZ

From Operation Flashpoint to a Greek prison and back again.

Imagine waking one morning to discover that two of your staff had been detained in a foreign country over allegations of espionage. What would you do? You're not the head of MI6. You don't employ spies. You employ developers who make video games. You discover the news in your online forum but soon it's spread like wildfire, to local radio and TV, and people are knocking at your door for comment. What do you say? What do you tell the families of the arrested men?

FeatureWho is DayZ creator Dean Hall?

Starving, mountains, zombies: his incredible story.

Dean Hall talked about the reaction to his leaving Bohemia and DayZ during a live on-stage interview at EGX Rezzed this weekend passed. The archived live-streamed footage is on Twitch now.

DayZ sales figures, new studio acquisition revealed

And 2014 roadmap: Respawning loot! Fireplaces! Crossbows!

UPDATE 28/03/2014 23:50 GMT: Bohemia has been in touch to clarify that its new subsidiary Bohemia Interactive Slovakia, the existence of which was detailed in Dean Hall's EGX Rezzed presentation, is a new studio built around former staff, facilities and technologies of Cauldron rather than a full-on acquisition of Cauldron.

"In 2013, Bohemia Interactive opened a new studio in Bratislava, Slovakia - as part of the Czech company's portfolio of next-generation game development studios," it said. "The new studio is composed by former recruits from the successful Slovak studio Cauldron, and has acquired selected Cauldron's facilities and technologies."

ORIGINAL STORY: DayZ creator Dean Hall has revealed that the game has now shifted more than 2m copies of the game's original Arma 2 mod and sold 1.7m copies of the standalone package.

First-person survival horror as Ian terrifies himself on DayZ's more challenging servers.

Is there any better way to see out the working week than watch someone s**t themselves up through the wonder of a video game? Well do we have a treat for you!

VideoVideo: How a town is born in DayZ

Chernarus town planning.

Ah, Chernarus, with your epic vistas and your rolling green countryside. Sweet Chernarus, with your hamlets and towns, and with you adorable little town of Stary Sobor. Dear, dear Chernarus, with your mobs and zombies and stale stench of death.

FeatureDayZ interview: full release, console discussions, horses and Rust

"Boy, Sony and Microsoft love their meetings, eh?"

When is DayZ coming out in full? How far down the road are discussions about getting the game on console? How serious is Dean Hall about putting horses in the game? And what does he really think about similar survival game Rust?

Dean Hall to leave Bohemia and step down as leader of DayZ

He explains why.

Dean Hall intends to leave developer Bohemia and step down as leader of his hit video game DayZ by the end of the year, Eurogamer can exclusively reveal. The game he created will be left in the hands of the team he leads today.

VideoWatch us play DayZ with Dean Hall

Yesterday's livestream in full.

UPDATE: It's finished! You can still catch the livestream in all its glory below, though - and we'll be bringing you more from Bohemia's offices over the coming week.

VideoVideo: Let's Play DayZ: Bromance turns to tragedy

Ian joins forces with James from Outside Xbox.

If you've subscribed to our Twitch channel, you may have seen that Ian has been live-streaming the DayZ alpha for several hours a day for the last few days. In the moments we remember most fondly, he has even joined forces with Outside Xbox's James Hills.

Dean Hall: "So much for the death of PC gaming"

DayZ hits 1m sales in one month.

'Open-world survival game with zombies' DayZ has broken the 1m sales mark in four weeks.

VideoWatch us play DayZ - for five hours straight

Undead marathon kicks off at 1pm today.

DayZ's quite popular, isn't it? Even with a half-hearted plea from its developers not to jump in just yet, the standalone on Steam early access is racing towards a million sales, which isn't bad considering the actual beta's pretty much at least a year away.

Do not expect DayZ beta before end of 2014

But Bohemia promises "huge progress" this year.

Survival game DayZ may be out and selling incredibly, but it's still so early in development that even beta status is still the best part of a year away.

"We do not expect to reach beta status sooner than the end of 2014," announced Marek Spanel, boss of developer Bohemia, on the DayZ blog.

He also shared an updated sales figure that was even bigger than DayZ creator Dean Hall suggested yesterday. It's many more than "nearly 800,000 in under a month", as Hall suggested: it's, according to Spanel, "over 875,000 copies ... in just three weeks".

Developer session and live interview set for March event.

We're just under four months away from this year's EGX Rezzed event now, and I'm very pleased to reveal that Dean "Rocket" Hall from Bohemia Interactive will be joining us again to showcase his latest work on DayZ.

DayZ sells 800,000 copies in under a month

Bean a long time coming.

DayZ is rampant; official sales are now up to 800,000 in under a month, revealed Dean Hall, the game's creator, on Reddit.

"We (Bohemia and I) had very ambitious plans for 2014 already, however this amount of sales was completely unexpected. Honestly, 250k within a quarter was what I would have considered a success. So to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy," he wrote.

"We'll be finalising our roadmap in mid January, but it is safe to say that this kind of result will be having a very positive effect on that roadmap."

DayZ week-one sales rocket past 400,000

Had a very Merry Christmas indeed.

Good things really do come to those who wait, as developer Bohemia revealed that more than 400,000 people bought DayZ during its first week on Steam Early Access sale. It was released on 16th December for �20.

Other week-one highlights, revealed in a Christmas update on the game's tumblr, include 40,000 concurrent users, three patches released and creator Dean Hall laying out the immediate future of the still-in-development game.

The rolling stone of success may cause people otherwise not interested in DayZ to sit up and take note. But Bohemia issued a warning to those such onlookers, reminding them of the unfinished nature of the game.

DayZ alpha review

Hiking prices.

Eurogamer's alpha and beta reviews are reviews of games that are still in development but are already being offered for sale or funded by micro-transactions. They offer a preliminary verdict but have no score attached. For more information, read our editor's blog.

I knew I shouldn't have gone back to Zelenogorsk, but I did anyway. The twisting streets of DayZ's smallest city are located in a bowl-shaped depression fringed by forested hillsides, with a large expanse of open ground between the two. It's a sniper's paradise, prowled by bandits searching for a catch slightly bigger than the completely new, equipment-less players who swarm the larger cities to the southeast.

But that's not why I thought twice about going back. Last time I was there, a man held me at gunpoint while his friend beat me about the head with a baseball bat. I only escaped that situation by running like Rincewind, and I wasn't keen on risking a repeat of the scenario. But I was desperate for a drink and short on ammo, and since Zelenogorsk has a military barracks and a supermarket, there was a good chance I would find plenty of both.

UPDATE: With over 172K copies sold in 24 hours.

UPDATE: DayZ standalone has gone on to sell an insane 172,500 copies in its first 24 hours. Wowzers!

VideoWatch us play the DayZ standalone from 12pm GMT

Alpha can you get?

Well, that came from nowhere. Dean Hall finally dropped the DayZ standalone on Steam last night, though there are plenty of caveats - it's an early alpha that's supposedly some 12 months off from entering beta phase, meaning it's complete with all the game-breaking bugs that made its predecessor famous.

DayZ sneaks up on Steam Early Access

Dawn of the dead.

The wildly popular Arma 2 mod-cum-zombie-MMO DayZ has released its standalone version, albeit in alpha form, on Steam Early Access today.

Dean Hall issues warning about DayZ Early Access

"Buying early will be a recipe for disappointment."

Standalone DayZ is, finally, nearing some kind of playable release. But creator Dean Hall has issued a warning to people getting too excited about the Early Access launch on Steam.

Dean Hall posts a raw 10-min video of DayZ

"Viewer discrection is strongly advised."

Dean Hall has posted a raw, unedited video of a DayZ multiplayer test to YouTube.

Standalone DayZ: "I'm not saying it will definitely be weeks"

"We need performance."

Where is standalone DayZ? Not as close as being listed in the Steam database recently suggested.

Arma 3 developer Bohemia hacked

Change your password.

Arma 3 developer Bohemia Interactive has been hacked.

FeatureHave traditional MMOs had their time?

And what do we make of the shared-world games and MOBAs that have risen up to replace them?

Traditional MMOs have gone out of fashion lately. It used to be that every gaming brand had exciting untapped MMO potential and every publisher wanted an MMO in its stable, but the gold rush inspired by World of Warcraft yielded little precious metal, and a lot of publishers got burned in the process - especially Electronic Arts with Star Wars: The Old Republic - while the term "MMO" has become taboo when discussing a new breed of games that includes The Division and Destiny, even though in many respects they are both massively multiplayer and online.

EGXDayZ standalone alpha release: "We've set a date now"

Dean Hall presents the latest build at Rezzed 2013.

The alpha version of DayZ standalone still isn't ready for release but now there's an end in sight.

FeatureThe next-generation will be open-world

Ubisoft and more on connected freedom.

The bombastic E3 show floor was packed with open-world games.

EGXRezzed developer sessions to be streamed online

Watch PC and indie panels, live demos and developer talks all through this weekend.

With Rezzed 2013 now just a few days away, we can finally confirm that the full schedule of developer sessions will be broadcast live here and on the Eurogamer YouTube channel this Saturday and Sunday. Yay!

Dean Hall interested in bringing DayZ Standalone to PS4

Has already been approached by Sony and Microsoft, but is focusing on the PC version for now.

Cult favourite massively multiplayer curio DayZ could be coming to PS4, according to the mod's creator, Dean Hall, who's currently working on a standalone version of the Arma 2 mod.

EGXFull Rezzed developer session schedule includes DayZ Standalone, Hotline Miami 2

Plus panels with top developers, hosted by RPS. Full schedule for next weekend's PC event now online.

The final pieces of the Rezzed developer session schedule are now in place ahead of next weekend's PC and indie game showpiece at the NEC in Birmingham, and the last sessions to be announced include biggies like DayZ Standalone and Hotline Miami 2.

Only Dean "Rocket" Hall would take a two-month sabbatical to climb Mount Everest

He's not LayZ.

What better way for DayZ creator Dean Hall to unwind than with a brisk march up Earth's highest mountain, Mount Everest.

A console version of DayZ "is almost certain" and talks with Sony have already happened

"I don't think it necessarily has to hurt things."

There's a good chance DayZ will make it to console, provided the PC launch of DayZ Standalone isn't a disaster.

DayZ Standalone zombies shown on video for first time

Plus, a poor diet will affect a character's long-term health.

Dean "Rocket" Hall has shown, on video, DayZ Standalone zombies for the first time.

DayZ Standalone: the first and extended gameplay video footage

Creator Dean Hall talks through some of the changes.

The first video of DayZ Standalone has been released.

It's nearly 15 minutes long and features the game's creator, Dean "Rocket" Hall, explaining what you're seeing. DayZ operations manager Matt Lightfoot talks along, too.

Lightfoot and Hall demonstrate the game's log-in screen and simplified menus. They also run together through the game world, playing dress-up and showing character customisation. Lightfoot could do with some trousers.

Turns out he had his own plans for something called DayZ Origins.

What can you do while waiting for DayZ Standalone? Chew on someone's face while spangled on bath salts, or try a new ArmA 2 mod called DayZ Origins?

New DayZ Standalone screenshots

Is she, is that, am I...?

When is DayZ Standalone out? "We don't know"

But Dean Hall feels "fantastic about the situation" at last.

DayZ creator Dean Hall seemed stressed. DayZ Standalone missed an end-of-year release window and it feels like he's been apologizing ever since.

Martin Pezlar: "Now I finally believe we are free"

Bailed ArmA devs arrive home to emotional scenes.

Martin Pezlar and Ivan Buchta - the two Bohemia Interactive employees jailed on espionage charges in Greece but now bailed - have returned home.

DayZ's Dean Hall: "I am angry about the The War Z"

"I'm very angry."

Dean Hall sounds fed up, and he's finally broken his silence on shady DayZ copycat The War Z.

DayZ creator Dean Hall feels "huge relief" as jailed ArmA 3 devs are finally given bail

"It's going to be very emotional for everyone when they are home."

Imprisoned ArmA 3 developers Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar have finally been granted bail after 128 days behind bars in a Greek jail.

Where is DayZ Standalone? Dean Hall answers

Seized chance to make game "we all dreamed it could be".

DayZ Standalone didn't make an end-of-2012 release, the target creator Dean Hall announced at the Eurogamer Expo in September last year.

DayZ Standalone screenshots

Tables, broken windows, man in pants.

FeatureGames of 2012: DayZ

Diary of the dead.

Like all the best zombie games, DayZ isn't really about zombies at all - it's about the way that the presence of zombies and their implications make people behave. But DayZ was the only zombie game this year where that behaviour was all down to you and other real people rather than a fictional cast of characters. It's for that reason that many people feel DayZ isn't just one of the best zombies games, but the best outright.

DayZ standalone may slip from 2012 "if needed"

Things change, like humans into zombies.

Things change; DayZ could slip to next year, Dean Hall has warned fans.

Early DayZ standalone screenshots

Of fascinating building interiors!

New DayZ standalone screenshots of building interiors

ZOMBG.

Behold work in progress DayZ standalone screenshots of buildings and their interiors. They're of a random town and show basic textures and initial lighting passes.

VideoWatch Dean Hall's DayZ Standalone session from the Eurogamer Expo

Video recovered from down the back of YouTube's sofa.

One of the most popular developer sessions at this year's Eurogamer Expo was Dean Hall's presentation and lengthy audience Q&A about the new standalone version of DayZ. Those of you who attended or watched it live on YouTube told us it was among your favourites.

DayZ standalone release this year, says Dean Hall

And gives his opinion on lookalike War Z.

The alpha build of DayZ standalone will be released before the end of the year, probably in December.

Get ArmA 3 devs home: Bohemia Interactive wants your help

Hopes ArmA, DayZ fans will answer the call.

ArmA 3 developer Bohemia Interactive has asked for your help freeing two members of staff arrested on espionage charges for allegedly photographing Greek military installations.

Bohemia "would be stupid" not to bring DayZ to consoles

Producer cites Minecraft's XBLA success, hints at digital release.

It's no secret that cult ArmA 2 mod DayZ will be getting a standalone PC release, courtesy of publisher Bohemia Interactive. The big question now is, will the game also come to consoles?

Impressive fake DayZ, Sleeping Dogs, BioShock, Secret World, Lollipop Chainsaw movie trailers

Spliced montages we recommend watching.

DayZ has been the break out phenomenon of PC gaming this year. What would it look like adapted as a film? Renowned YouTube fake movie trailer maker Bloodrunsclear has had a stab at finding out.

His fake DayZ movie trailer uses sound bites from the horrific Miami face-eating incident; Peter Gabriel's version of My Body is a Cage; and clips from numerous zombie films (and other genres) to create a rousing montage - a look at what could be.

DayZ creator Dean Hall tweeted a link to the video this morning.

War Z gameplay footage: the DayZ comparisons continue

Video flesh from PAX.

Just how similar is MMO The War Z gameplay to DayZ? That's the most pertinent question surrounding The War Z at the moment.

A new gameplay video, fresh out of PAX, shines a bit of light on the topic.

I asked our DayZ Video Diary author James Hills what he thought after watching the video, and he told me the two games were "very similar". The War Z zombies looked to be better animated and more detailed, he added, and the loot system looked easier to use.

Rocket propelled.

With the show now less than a month away, we're thrilled to reveal that Dean "Rocket" Hall, the lead developer on the immensely successful ArmA II: Combined Ops modification DayZ, will present an extended developer session at this year's Eurogamer Expo.

FeatureDayZ's Dean Hall: Rocket Man Rising

DayZ's creator on the mod's past, present and standalone future.

For over a million people, Dean 'Rocket' Hall, creator of ArmA 2 mod DayZ, is responsible for some of the most emotive stories to come from a game in 2012. But he'd be hard pressed to recount how any of those stories have played out or how their inevitable, often gut-wrenching, ends came to be written.

Bohemia feared the reaction to a standalone DayZ game

"They might feel it was not fair because they had to pay money for something that was initially free if they owned Arma 2."

Developer Bohemia Interactive dallied on signing Dean Hall - creator of wildly popular ArmA 2 zombie mod DayZ - on board to make a standalone game because it "feared how they [players] may react."

VideoDay Z Video Diary, Day 5: The Best Laid Plans

In which James is tempted off course by a helicopter wreck.

Make a plan - and stick to it. That was Day Z creator Dean Hall's advice to struggling zombie apocalypse survivor James Hills - Eurogamer TV's video editor - in Day 3 of his video diary of life in the game. And it's a plan that turned the panic and disaster of days 1 and 2 into the heroic survivalism of day 4.

VideoDay Z Video Diary, Day 4: First Blood

In which James is defeated by a hay bale, sees an unlikely bus stop, and takes his first shot in anger.

Is it confidence, or hubris? Day 4 of our Day Z video diary finds Eurogamer TV's cameraman and editor James Hills in high spirits after the successful raids of Day 3. Armed with tips from creator Dean Hall, the panicky and frightened refugee of episodes 1 and 2 is now a wary survivor with a game plan.

Standalone DayZ confirmed

Dean "Rocket" Hall hails "fairy-tale outcome".

DayZ, the zombie survival modification sensation, will be released as a standalone game.

Creator Dean "Rocket" Hall confirmed the news on the DayZ dev blog. The game will be developed with Hall as project lead and ArmA maker Bohemia Interactive as publisher, following a Minecraft-style model for release.

"That's right, this is actually happening," Hall wrote.

Day Z hits over one million players

Zombie mod sure is infectious.

Zombie-themed Arma 2 mod Day Z has received over one million unique players, according to its official site.

VideoDay Z Video Diary, Day 3: I'm a Survivor! (feat. Dean Rocket Hall)

In which James follows survival tips from none other than Day Z creator Dean Hall - and attempts a raid.

How best to describe EGTV's James Hill's early attempts to acquit himself in the world of Day Z? Heroic? Probably not - bemused, frightened and at times a little clueless seem a little more apt (sorry James!)

VideoDay Z Video Diary, Day 2: The Lost Art of Running Away

In which James meets a cow, dreams of an island paradise and accidentally dooms a friendly player.

If you watched the first episode of our Day Z video diary, you'll know that Eurogamer TV's James Hills had a harrowing experience at the hands of another player on his first day as a clueless survivor of the zombie apocalypse.

VideoDay Z Video Diary, Day 1: Friend or Foe?

In which a clueless James stumbles into the zombie survival game and meets his first player. What happened next?

Day Z, the hot zombie survival mod for PC military sim Arma 2, is the end of the world as it really would be. You arrive in its post-apocalyptic wasteland with no tools or weapons, and - if it's your first go - no idea how to get them. You're lost. There's no mini-map or objective marker hovering helpfully in your vision. Other human beings might give you a helping hand, or they might shoot you for a tin of beans. Death is permanent.

ArmA 2 1.62 patch notes: improves DayZ stability

"A lot" of fixes to multiplayer.

Patch 1.62 has been rolled out for ArmA 2/DayZ, Bohemia has announced.

This will make "zombie hunts less prone to crashes and should improve server stability", Bohemia wrote, referencing DayZ - the booming hardcore zombie mod for ArmA 2.

The patch highlights are:

DayZ doppleganger The War Z announced

Dean Hall predicted it would happen.

DayZ creator Dean Hall predicted that the incredible popularity of his ArmA 2 persistent online zombie mod would mean that experience would become a standalone game, whether he built it or not.

He was right.

Introducing The War Z, a zombie survival MMO developed by Hammerpoint Interactive and published by Arktos Entertainment Group.

One way or another, it's going to happen, Hall tells Eurogamer.

What's holding developer Bohemia back - why hasn't a standalone version of DayZ been commissioned?

PC phenomenon DayZ hits 500,000 players milestone

That's how popular.

Zombie-infested ArmA 2 mod and gaming phenomenon DayZ has just smashed through the 500,000 player barrier.

VideoWatch Dean "Rocket" Hall's huge Rezzed Q&A for DayZ

On the standalone game, dogs and much more.

There were a few developer sessions at this year's inaugural Rezzed show that were so full we had to turn people away. One was Peter Molyneux, obviously (who did not disappoint - he swore, he used the word "sperms", it was generally amazing), and another was Randy Pitchford, who did a long demo of Borderlands 2 and spent ages answering questions from the audience.

VideoRezzed Sessions: Dean "Rocket" Hall talks DayZ

Huge and candid Q&A on the biggest PC game of 2012.

EGXJust how popular is DayZ?

Plus, German Shepherds are coming.

Just how popular is DayZ, the ArmA 2 modification that has set the game industry, and PC gaming, alight?

EGXDayZ designer Dean "Rocket" Hall to speak at Rezzed

Zombie survival sim also playable on show floor.

It's been called a lot of things already. Perhaps it's the best zombie game ever made. To others it's an increasingly rare Actual New Game. Playing it is nothing if not memorable. All this and DayZ is still in alpha.

DayZ hackers slapped with global bans

"You just bricked your copy of ArmA2 in multiplayer."

DayZ hackers have been slapped with global bans.

DayZ servers infected by botnet security breach

Developers mull legal action against rogue forum admin.

ArmA 2 zombie mod DayZ has suffered a security breach after one of the game's forum admins deliberately uploaded an infected .exe file to the game's servers.

The Future of DayZ

Creator Dean Hall on what's next for his extraordinary ArmA 2 mod.

It's a telling sign of just how stagnant the current console gen's Autumn years have got that one of the most exciting and talked-about games in the month's leading up to E3 2012 is a PC mod.

DayZ screenshots

FeatureDayZ: The Best Zombie Game Ever Made?

Welcome to the corpse run.

Two possibilities: Either you're excited about DayZ, or you haven't heard of it.