[Megathread] Infestation: Survivor Stories (The War Z)

[Jomaty]

Steam was selling it for like 24 hours, I checked a few hours on it and they pulled it. The game is still there, but it's not for sale anymore. From all that I've been hearing, the game was nowhere near ready to be released and so many people complained about wasting money on an unfinished game so Steam removed the purchase button. This game seems very interesting to me, but Steam has it in the Indie category so it may not be as good as I was thinking it would have been

[Arrowstormen]

Wonder why nobody makes a AAA zombie survival game, they only have to beat a mod and an indie game that isn't put together all too impressively. People clearly have interest in buying such a game, seeing as how War Z was the most sold games for the 24 hours it was up on Steam (no matter how many copies that actually is.)

[Samoflange]

Wonder why nobody makes a AAA zombie survival game, they only have to beat a mod and an indie game that isn't put together all too impressively. People clearly have interest in buying such a game, seeing as how War Z was the most sold games for the 24 hours it was up on Steam (no matter how many copies that actually is.)

There are just plenty of inherent design problems in creating a zombie survival game that deter a lot of developers (and investors) from taking that risk in an already unstable MMO market.

The good news is that there are some in developments in the works that I'm keeping my eyes on because they seem to hold some promise. Aside from The Dead Linger, there's Undead Lab's State of Decay (AKA Class 3) which is single player I believe, but they have stated long ago that they will use feedback from that game to create the MMO version dubbed 'Class 4'. This game has been in vaporware for a VERY long time, it's great to actually see some progress now. From the small clip they've released for State of Decay, it seems promising. You can check it out at http://undeadlabs.com/. There's more interviews posted on the forum that talk about the design of the game.

There's also the possibility that Techland (maker of Dead Island) is creating an open world MMO since they registered a trademark for the name 'Dead World'. I liked Dead Island overall and I think if they can add complexity and depth to the game, it could make for a great MMO.

[Deleted]

Thank the lord this was only 10 bucks. I'll just keep it in my steam library so I can laugh from time to time.

[Dezerte]

I don't believe this video has been posted yet:

[philefluxx]

Wonder why nobody makes a AAA zombie survival game, they only have to beat a mod and an indie game that isn't put together all too impressively. People clearly have interest in buying such a game, seeing as how War Z was the most sold games for the 24 hours it was up on Steam (no matter how many copies that actually is.)

As Goosie said, its a high risk genre. The thing is, outside of surviving the undead and finding food and supplies what other content is there? Not everyone enjoys player created/driven content and it would be close to impossible to write content fast enough to keep everyone interested.

No, Zombie Apoc survival is a niche genre for sure.

But with the upcoming film World War Z starring Brad Pitt, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few pop up to ride the coat tales of the movies fame. By then we should also see the DayZ SA out and possibly even the Dead Lingor which regardless of its current state, will show promise as its being built from the ground up.

[SirRobin]

Oh yeah, its definitely "niche." Nor am I convinced there is a lot of pressure here. Thanks to WarZ, the bar has been set about as low as it can go. I think we can safely say that being first, or now second, to launch is no longer the big "thing" here. The next zombie sandbox to launch is going to be greeted with a lot more scrutiny. So all the more reason to take your time with it.

[Deleted]

people keep mentioning the copy pasted TOS from LOL but that wasnt the most shocking thing, while on steam they postsed up a new TOS which in bold at the top stated if they accepted it people would no longer be entitled to a refund, that is the most shocking or all. The former is laziness, the latter is outright illegal. I doubt steam will ever allow it back onto their store. Also look at it on metacritic :P

This has turned out better than i could have imagine in terms of it crashing and burning. The only depressing thing about this whole situation is simply that rocket has questioned his own game as a result of it. I hope for one he stays true and continues with his work, someone has to save this industry after its integrity has been shattered so badly. Also it has just shown the sheer level of stupidity of the general gaming populace. Next time people need to open their eyes.

[Remilia]

people keep mentioning the copy pasted TOS from LOL but that wasnt the most shocking thing, while on steam they postsed up a new TOS which in bold at the top stated if they accepted it people would no longer be entitled to a refund, that is the most shocking or all. The former is laziness, the latter is outright illegal. I doubt steam will ever allow it back onto their store. Also look at it on metacritic :P

This has turned out better than i could have imagine in terms of it crashing and burning. The only depressing thing about this whole situation is simply that rocket has questioned his own game as a result of it. I hope for one he stays true and continues with his work, someone has to save this industry after its integrity has been shattered so badly. Also it has just shown the sheer level of stupidity of the general gaming populace. Next time people need to open their eyes.

The latter isn't outright illegal. In fact look at most EULA.
However remember that your local law will always trump EULA / TOS.

[Deleted]

The latter isn't outright illegal. In fact look at most EULA.
However remember that your local law will always trump EULA / TOS.

to outright deny refund in any form is illegal in A LOT of places and therefore effectively nulls their TOS. Of course if it is a case of someone simply not liking the game that is a different matter, but for example for them to refuse a refund due them them selling the game off the back of false advertising is illegal. Granted though you are right, local law will always trump EULA / TOS. There are very few game TOS which will outright deny you a refund in any situation because quite simply they are not allowed to as selling a faulty or misadvertised product automatically puts you in the right and you are by law allowed a refund, so therefore it is illegal.

most EULA do NOT have a overarching no refund clause as it would breach local laws, as you stated.

[stellvia]

It's funny seeing all the "10" User review scores on Metacritic. Nearly all of them are from first-reviewers ... they couldn't be more blatantly trying to astroturf.

[Edge-]

to outright deny refund in any form is illegal in A LOT of places and therefore effectively nulls their TOS, granted though you are right, local law will always trump EULA / TOS. There are very few game TOS which will outright deny you a refund in any situation because quite simply they are not allowed to.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/d3_eula.html

It's pretty common actually. Clauses that detail similar rules are found in major games everywhere.

[Deleted]

If blizzard mis-sold or misrepresented OR sold defective media they would issue a refund. Simply put to outright deny refund in ANY circumstances is in conflict with most if not all consumer protection laws.

" (c) refund your money when you present Blizzard with proof of purchase of the defective media. " admittedly only up to 90 days though

Having said that no refund policies tends to be more common that i though will hold my hands up there was somewhat wrong , but they almost always have a grace period/a clause which allowed you to claim a refund for faulty/mis-advertised product.

[Deleted]

I don't understand how did this come as surprise for people.. I mean Sergey Titov (Hammerpoint interactive previously known Stellar stone) is responsible to 2 of the worst computer games in history. He is like the Uwe Boll of gaming industry.

[Wilian]

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/legal/d3_eula.html

It's pretty common actually. Clauses that detail similar rules are found in major games everywhere.

It's common but it doesn't hold. I've gotten few refunds from Steam myself based on finnish laws even though at first they tried to go for the "It says this in EULA/TOS".

[Tekkommo]

I'm at a loss why they even released this game on Steam, it's still in beta, maybe alpha, with loads of improvement needed.

The pics they showed on steam, survivors against loads of zombies, I had to lol.

[Nirawen]

I'm at a loss why they even released this game on Steam

Money I guess .

[Edge-]

If blizzard mis-sold or misrepresented OR sold defective media they would issue a refund. Simply put to outright deny refund in ANY circumstances is in conflict with most if not all consumer protection laws.

" (c) refund your money when you present Blizzard with proof of purchase of the defective media. " admittedly only up to 90 days though

Having said that no refund policies tends to be more common that i though will hold my hands up there was somewhat wrong , but they almost always have a grace period/a clause which allowed you to claim a refund for faulty/mis-advertised product.

That's if you say, buy the physical copy of the game and the disk doesn't work.

The South Korean FTC (I think it was the FTC) had to force Blizz to give refunds for D3 players who purchased the game but were supremely disappointed in it and hadn't played it due to that. They even fined Blizz a token fee (like, 3k USD). Do you not remember how many people claimed that Blizz misrepresented D3?

It's the exact same clause, and it exists in pretty much every game. There's no real qualification needed beyond that.

[draykorinee]

Can finally write what I want now im back from my ban/holiday :P All I can say is Triggy may be a total arrogant dingbat but a lot (not all by any means) has come true, I for the second time have been absorbed in hype for a game only to be totaly destroyed by lies. GW2 and War Z are the only games Ive ever backed before release, ive never done beta's until these 2, they have destroyed my desire to financially back game development. War Z is a travesty of a release, I gave the game the benefit of the doubt, it was 'alpha' after all, now its not alpha but its still a turgid mess of a non-game. And fuck the horrid developers, wow, releasing a buggy, non-game on steam with lies and then blaming it on the players misinterpreting it is just a horrid way to treat gamers. Total biscuit cant review for shit but hes right, apologising for this game and its developers is completly wrong. Saying you like the game is fine, but standing up for the developers is not.
The worst handling of a game I have ever seen, if you check my post history I really tried to defend this game. No chance anymore.

[Waaldo]

Can finally write what I want now im back from my ban/holiday :P All I can say is Triggy may be a total arrogant dingbat but a lot (not all by any means) has come true, I for the second time have been absorbed in hype for a game only to be totaly destroyed by lies. GW2 and War Z are the only games Ive ever backed before release, ive never done beta's until these 2, they have destroyed my desire to financially back game development. War Z is a travesty of a release, I gave the game the benefit of the doubt, it was 'alpha' after all, now its not alpha but its still a turgid mess of a non-game. And fuck the horrid developers, wow, releasing a buggy, non-game on steam with lies and then blaming it on the players misinterpreting it is just a horrid way to treat gamers. Total biscuit cant review for shit but hes right, apologising for this game and its developers is completly wrong. Saying you like the game is fine, but standing up for the developers is not.
The worst handling of a game I have ever seen, if you check my post history I really tried to defend this game. No chance anymore.

I am also back with from my ban/holiday! *high five*
Finally a guy with sense in here^^ I keep getting shit on because I like the game, but I have said it many times that I don't like what the developers have done.
They are still working on the game, here are the patch notes from the last 2 days for anyone who is interested:

12/20
Early revive was removed
Revive time is set to 1 hour
Scoreboard was updated
After dying, you will get disconnected automatically in 60 seconds
Some more Christmas items were added. Try to find them in the Colorado
Zombies were optimized, should improve framerate in Campos, Boulder city
Fixed an issue with items sometimes falling through the ground
Fixed an issue when you were not able to pick up an item if it is partially inside the wall
Fixed an issue that using bandages on other player were not updating item's cool-down properly
Crosshair in 3rd person view was improved
Fixed an issue with grass on low frame rate

12/21
Fixed an issue with terrain having way to many polygons on medium quality (will improve frame rate)
Optimized shadow rendering on low quality
Fixed crash related to zombie optimization in previous patch