H1Z1 Confirmed as Post-Apocalyptic MMO

Polygon is reporting that the big announcement for SOE's H1Z1 is that it is a post-apocalyptic MMO. The news site somehow saw advanced information from the L33T Lounge show where Smedley is set to reveal the first information about H1Z1. 

"H1Z1 is an MMO that allows players to take on the role of an apocalypse survivor who is in a world that is filled with zombies," Smedley told Game talk Live. "A world! Not just a little tiny server."

As he watched Smedley play H1Z1, podcast co-host Todd Roy noted that it's "scary." According to Smedley, there's a purpose behind that.

"That's the point," Smedley said. "When you see a zombie coming up to you with nothing out but a highway flare. But here is something your gonna be able to do that you can't do in these other games: Light things on fire. We are in the middle of putting that in so you are gonna be able to burn down trees, burn down stuff, and that's gonna be a lot of fun. The idea is that these players [are] building these forts and all of the sudden these other guys coming in lighting it on fire and waiting till they come out of the fortress ... is awesome."

A day and night cycle will also affect H1Z1, whose name brings to mind the real-life H1N1 swine flu virus.

"Oh God yeah," Smedley said when asked about day and night, "but in this game it matters a lot more than in others because it gets really dark at night and you need to have a torch and you will be ganked by other players, zombies. So we [have] vehicles in here. We can actually have aircraft if we want. Our goal is to build out this entire massive massive world that is this apocalypse of the United States."

Read more at the link above. 

The live chat is supposed to be going on as of this writing, but the L33T Lounge Live site is timing out.