Update:DayZ standalone has finally launched.
Original article: Recently we reported on DayZ's standalone making an appearance on the Steam database app. The update to the entry showed that the game is prepping for Early Access and that the game will arrive sometime soon on Steam. Well, Dean “Rocket” Hall has chimed in on the pesky internet media picking up on the news.
Speaking with Joystiq, Hall stated that...
"Amazing how quickly the internet picks up on things isn't it," ... "All I can say is that progress has been very good, we're a mix of nervous and excited. And as I'd stated on my twitter when I announced my break from social media/updates, we are on the final lap. Part of the final process involves the actual administration of the release, which is actually surprisingly complex and time-consuming."
Many submitters of mods to Steam's Workshop also mention how “time-consuming” and cumbersome the process can be. I've never bothered using the Workshop to submit anything or to look into the process of submitting a game to Steam, so we'll just have to take Dean's word for it being complex (along with the word of those who submit stuff to the Workshop).
On the bright side, it's refreshing getting some bit of news about DayZ. The game has gone dark in the media circles and we haven't heard anything about the project since September, where Rocket let loose a video to showcase the handcuff mechanics and other bits of information regarding item degradation and scavenging.
While a lot of gamers have claimed that they're done and over with for all things DayZ and that they've moved on to bigger and better games, the reality is that only scamming, scheming, low quality titles have come out in between the time of the original DayZ mod and the upcoming standalone. How well did WarZ turn out? Oh right, they changed the name and tried erasing their Metacritic score because they failed at scamming people the first time around. How about Day One: Garry's Incident? Oh right, they tried committing commercial suicide by pulling a Microsoft-foot-shooting move.
Despite a lot of competitors coming on to the scene to offer alternatives to the highly captivating real-world style survival mechanics of DayZ, none of the other competitors have been able to properly capture the feeling of immersion and tension that's found in DayZ.
While Dean is playing it coy about a solid release date for the standalone of one of the most highly anticipated games of the fall – or rather, one of the most highly anticipated games of the year – we can probably expect to see the standalone of DayZ arrive on the Steam store sometime before 2013 is out. The only downside is that gamers will have to bide time between the new home consoles and the open-world zombie survival title.
