DayZ stand-alone game under way

The DayZ mod for Arma II is striking out on its own, with development on a stand-alone version of the game announced this morning. Work on the zombie apocalyptic online shooter will be led by Dean "Rocket" Hall, the mod's original creator, and will be developed by Bohemia Interactive, the studio behind the Arma series.

Hall said the new game will follow the "Minecraft development model" on the game's official Tumblr, with rapidly iterated alpha versions available at a significant discount before the game's final launch. Work on the mod will proceed parallel to the game, and it will continue to receive updates and exist on its own website.

To learn more about the survival shooter, which recently surpassed its millionth player in four months of existence, check out GameSpot Australia's video diary series.