ZombiU Message Board older than one year ago

- write down messages on the walls and on the floor of the environment
- those messages are sent to a server
- all the community have access to those messages on their maps
- server will identify friends first to deliver their messages
- when you turn on your Wii U, you will receive the messages in the match you are entering
- there is a filter on this
- felt Killer Freaks didn't really show players the innovation of the GamePad
- moved to a slower-paced game to better demonstrate the idea
- once you're bitten you die
- survival mode has save points and you have to find them
- if you die in survival mode, you have to start all over again
- surprises in the game that will make you react really fast
- some of the moments are going to be extreme for some people
- there's a 'strong scene in the fifth mission'
- had a dev meeting and everyone wrote down how they would survive
- main characters in the game are based off the data that came from those sessions

- expect to die a lot
- traverse London’s sewer network up into the Tower of London’s hidden catacombs
- cricket bat is unbreakable
- start off with that weapon
- flashlight that runs down quickly
- also takes a long time to recharge
- cricket bat will only down a zombie in about six heavy hits
– gunfire attracts the horde to your location
- draw out zombies one by one using flares
- lay mines as well
- immobilized when accessing your backpack
- drag your favorite items to the hot bar
- organise loot gathered from corpses
- safehouses are respawn zones that play have crafting benches and lockers
- if you die, you lose everything
- you'll come back as a new character with a flashlight, cricket bat and a pistol with 6 shots
- as said before, your previous self will be carrying your items
- former self isn't marked on map
- when wading through water, your survivor lifts their backpack overhead
- this leaves you unable to attack
- communicate with other players through spray-painting icons
- there is a ‘stairs’ icon and a ‘thumbs down’ icon, among many others
- if you die, your former self becomes a zombie that may crop up in friends' games as well

A portion of a Konsolifin interview with Ubisoft's Gabrielle Shrager...

K: What can you tell about Miiverse features? When you die or become a zombie in the online game, does your zombie character appear in your friend’s games?

GS: Our online app offers a ton of sweeet features for you and your Nintendo friends to feel a little less alone in the merciless world of ZombiU (although it is not directly linked to the Miiverse). When playing online, players will receive alerts onscreen in real-time that tell you when your friends’ survivors have been Infected and where they are likely to be roaming if you want to go and mercy-kill them and loot their gear. Plus you can follow stats about your own former Infected survivor characters, like how many of your friends have encounter, killed or been Infected by them. Also, you’ll find leaderboards to compare your Survivors’ Scores against your friends and see who the most successful survivors are.

K: What kind of multiplayer modes are there in ZombiU?

GS: ZombiU offers a local Asymmetric Multiplayer mode rather than online modes. So you can play with your friends using the Wii U GamePad and the Pro Controller in your couch. What is the multiplayer mode about: The ‘King of Zombies’ has organized his own sadistic London games to entertain his bloodthirsty subjects… Play as King Boris on the WiiU tablet, crazed boss of a violent gang and self-proclaimed ‘King of the Zombies’, and beat all survivors…one by one! Or play as a Survivor and attempt to outwit the King of Zombies and his brain-dead 'gladiators'!

With SURVIVORS VS KING OF ZOMBIES, ZombiU features one-on-one competitive multiplayer modes, which tasks one player with controlling zombie hordes (Infected Units) using the Wii U GamePad, while the other player fights to survive in FPS view with either Wii controllers or the new Pro Controller. The multiplayer features 3 exhilirating game modes including assault, deathmatch and survival modes.

SURVIVORS VS KING OF ZOMBIES, is full-fledged multiplayer experience, with deep gameplay that will provide many hours of fun. The Wii U allowed us to create an exhilarating experience that can be shared by a hardcore gamer and a more casual player-friend or family member, without the latter becoming completely outmatched. Unlike the campaign, which offers a solo Survival Horror FPS experience, the ‘King of Zombies’ player uses the Wii U GamePad at a more relaxed pace. The gameplay is more about overall strategy than any gamer reflexes honed over years…so it’s more immediately accessible. Our multiplayer modes are also a bridge for new players to get into the game before they acquire the courage to face the Infected hordes alone, while offering a more traditional first-person shooter experience using the Wii U Pro Game Controller or Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Even survival-horror fans will love blowing off some steam with a little running and gunning!

I don't like the implication here that the game actually gives you a horrible zombie disease. Seems like that might hurt sales.

GamePad uses

- survival bag for food, ammunition, weapons
- will be used physically for weapons like the sniper rifle and crossbow
- sonar for seeing where zombies are
- scanner for food, other items, weapons, ammunition
- scan the infected to see if they are carrying anything
- game can be played without the scanner
- scanner can get upgrades
- eventually scan for serum, which comes from a gland that zombies have
- extract serum with syringe
- hacking device that reveals stuff and breaks stuff such as CCTV cameras
- do this to update your mini-map on the GamePad screen with more info
- mini-game that [involves] lock picking
- move your finger on the lock to pick the lock
- return to safehouse and use workbench to upgrade weapons
- player skills: hit certain goals to upgrade your character's skills
- lift planks with GamePad to barricade doors

Why do people insist on climbing into air ducts without first checking their zombie scanner? It's for your own safety!

- Inside Buckingham, you're looking for the "Royal Doctor"
- he is researching a cure to the Zombie virus
- this location is after 7-8 missions
- messages left by other players will include content from both friends and players in general
- the community can rate the message to let players know if it's worthwhile or not
- total staff includes 90 in Montpellier, plus a team of 30 in Romania doing the multiplayer maps
- when some key codes are scanned, they are added to the mini-map so you don't have to remember
- three slots on the GamePad are for quick item access
- use these slots for your most-used backpack items
- Zombies are attracted to sound and light
- One of the NPCs, the "prepper" who was the guiding voice in the E3 demo, has a wife "Sondra", from whom he is separated
- Prepper's approach is to barricade survivors within the safehouse, whereas his wife belongs to an organization that looks to have survivors flee the city
- 2/3 NPCs which will influence how the game scenario evolves
- crossbow is more efficient for outside levels and long distance shots
- when you die, the character you take on next is randomly generated
- there will be 4 or 5 types of special zombies
- on-screen messaging system lets you know what your friends or your friend's zombie are doing
- you can also learn what your zombi (former player) is doing to others
- there will be some form of leaderboards to keep track of these interactions

Huge thanks to Dearodie for translating these details!

Oh. Dude. Your face.

- black light scanner lets you use GamePad to scan your surroundings
- TV will show your character in third person, GamePad goes first person
- scanner lets you find hidden items and messages scrawled on walls
- features an upgrade system for your abilities and weaponry
- if you die, you can recover some (not all) of the items off your dead body
- headshots do not always kill
- some zombies spit
- some zombies are wearing riot gear
- manage equipment on the GamePad
- leave messages for other survivors

There are plenty of reasons to visit Germany, but for gamers looking to sample some stuff still in development, Ubisoft is making a strong claim for Primary Reason. The publisher is throwing everything at Gamescom this year, an event that saw 275,000 attendees in 2011.

Assassin's Creed 3 and its PS Vita spinoff, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, will both be on hand at Ubisoft's booth. They'll be joined by Far Cry 3, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Online and Shootmania. Ubisoft is also going to truck out all of its Wii U games: Zombi U, Rayman Legends, Rabbids Land, Sports Connection and Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2013. And if you decide to skip that last game, don't sweat it - you'll get all the exercise you need running around the Koelnmesse.

Yeah, I think... I think you take, uh, Las Palmas. Take Las Palmas to Colorado. Take Colorado down to Pico. And that's how you GET TO ZOMBIE SCHOOL!

British dentistry really isn't what it used to be.

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