DayZ weekly update: bear trap controversy, hacker attacks, and boar vaulting

Want to play DayZ, but have no idea where to start? Check out our DayZ installation guide and join the PC Gamer UK official DayZ server .

“I just moved everything to Prague,” says DayZ creator Dean 'Rocket' Hall on the mod's official forums . “The 1.7.2 update has been ongoing, inbetween the drama that occurs when you're trying to move in a country which you don't speak the language.” So, that explains the delay. Rocket is obviously moving to Arma 2 creator Bohemia Interactive's HQ, who are based in the Czech capital. In his absence – and because of the delayed update – the forums have exploded with misguided anger and flaming.

Latest game updates

There haven't been any patches or hotfixes since our last weekly update . Expect the next version of the game, 1.7.2 , to be a significant upgrade.

Rocket had this to say: “1.7.2 has some really fundamental changes in the way it is constructed, mainly geared towards performance and security. As such, this really needs to be tested very thoroughly even before it is released to everyone here [on the DayZ forums]. I'm digesting as much as I can from the thread about what people want to see in it, but 1.7.2 will probably mainly focus on the architecture."

In the community

It was revealed that bear traps will be added in the next patch. “It would be funny to lay them down in sniper hotspots.” says DayZ forum user Paniohitus. “Barbed wire in buildings wasn't bad enough? Now we have god damn BEAR TRAPS?” says Gutbuster, who is less impressed with the new feature. “In theory, cool. A new item to enrich gameplay! In reality, bear traps all over the good loot buildings.” Says ArrThePirate. In response, Rocket says: “Where's your sense of adventure?”

DayZ forum user Kurozael asked Rocket whether he could make the zombies slower. “Fancy slowing down the animations of the zeds a bit? They're so fast that it appears jittery. Also making them run directly at you in a straight line instead of zig-zagging would be cool.” Rocket responds: “This will be happening, possibly along with infected running inside buildings. This all needs huge amounts of testing and I'm reluctant to fuck it up, given the current build is pretty stable.”

On July 2, the DayZ central servers – where character data is stored – went down. “Experiencing a sustained network issue with our central sever that appears to be a major DdoS attack,” it said on the official DayZ development Twitter feed . “Most users will not be able to connect.” In a thread on Reddit , rumours were flying that the attack was by a Russian clan in response to a recent speight of perma-banning. “You gotta laugh,” says Redditor _K0kane_. “Hackers buy the game, buy the hack tools, FAIL at the game, FAIL at the hacking, get banned, then pay more for a botnet to DDoS the servers."

The week's best videos

A DayZ themed cover of Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues' by GriefingGamersTV

A new way to pass the time in DayZ by Alixbox1723

The fabled trampoline zombie, spotted by ThePhaseZero

An atmospheric fan trailer by icemotoboy

Andy Kelly

If it’s set in space, Andy will probably write about it. He loves sci-fi, adventure games, taking screenshots, Twin Peaks, weird sims, Alien: Isolation, and anything with a good story.

Latest in FPS
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Neighbors Suburban Warfare screenshot a child aims a slingshot at a man from across a cul-de-sac.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Destiny 2: Season of Plunder promo image.
'We made one big mistake': Destiny 2 developer reveals how a small team dedicated to player retention led to a 20 hour server outage and character rollback
Bears in Space
I downloaded this bear-obsessed comedy FPS to kill time before Doom: The Dark Ages and discovered the most underrated shooter on Steam
Latest in Features
Ghoul in sunglasses
I'm convinced being a ghoul in Fallout 76 is the best way to vibe in West Virginia, thanks to these powerful perk cards and my new true love: Radiation
Steel Hunters hands-on
Steel Hunters is like a more tactical Titanfall, but as an extraction shooter it's undermined by boring loot
A close-up photo of an Nvidia RTX 4070, with its heatsink removed, showing the AD104 GPU die and the surrounding Micron GDDR6X VRAM chips
With Nvidia Ace taking up 1 GB of VRAM in Inzoi, Team Green will need to up its memory game if AI NPCs take off in PC gaming
While Waiting
While Waiting is a game all about chugging through life's most mundane tasks with a heaping side order of whimsy
Phyre
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 first hands-on: A gory, undead power fantasy that I'm desperate to play again
A snakewoman holding a sickle
Magic: The Gathering's Tarkir: Dragonstorm set isn't just about dragons