Rocket: No DayZ standalone alpha release until at least June

The last update for creator Dean "Rocket" Hall's standalone DayZ dug a lengthy gameplay video out from underneath a pile of bean cans, motorcycle helmets, and a lot of zeds. There are enough goodies in the fledgling survival title for an alpha, but Rocket's holding it back for at least three more months to polish up client-server performance.

DayZ's alpha keys will go out in waves, Rocket explains, and players will be allowed to jump into the standalone's loot-ripe lands after his team tinkers some more with the client-server tech to handle larger connection numbers.

"We want to release the keys in chunks of what we have servers available," he says. "The idea is to very quickly try to release something out there, because that allows us to start capacity testing. We've got one final thing we're waiting for with the release date, which is the completion of our client-server architecture. It's basically making the game into an MMO, and pretty much the moment that's done, we'll release."

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?