We as a society are obsessed with inevitable destruction of our way of life. We wonder if the recent spate of 'survival' titles, which toss humanity back to the stone-age and let us vie for resources and power, are not merely games, but warnings.
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Arguably, the most popular of these titles is DayZ, once known as 'the only reason anybody purchased ARMA 2'. The post-apocalyptic zombie game is slowly working its way to a full release, and is currently in alpha testing on Steam. A rather robust community of youtubers and storytellers have developed around the game, and many such personalities will be on hand at next week's PAX South event in San Antonio, Texas.
From Friday, January 23 to Sunday, January 25, attendees should head over to the Astro Gaming booth from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. where they can share their own adventures at the end of the human race with the game's lead producer Brian Hicks and several of the most popular DayZ content creators, such as Mr Blackout, KDWolf, JamJar, Echoics, GoldGloveTV, 2MGoverCsquared, Smak, Calindel, Soma, and Sacriel.
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But on the subject of our culture's fascination with the end of the world, as if setting us all back to zero actually puts us on equal footing, there will also be a panel titled Post Apocalyptic Gaming & Its Draw", with Hicks, Brian Fargo from inXile entertainment (Wasteland), Jeff Strain from Undead Labs, and Jimmy Whisenhunt from Sony Online Entertainment will be on hand to discuss an age without society. The panel will take place on Saturday, January 24 at 10 a.m, and will be followed by another Hicks Twitch interview "The future of Steam Workshop, modding, and events for DayZ". The interview will take place from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
DayZ is currently available from Steam for $34.99. It is a rough build, so at times, your information may just disappear. But it's still a fascinating look into yourself: what do you do when you have no societal constraints holding you in? And, of course, zombies. Just tons and tons of zombies.
