Have you been wondering what Undead Labs' Class3 zombie survival game will look like? Then feast your eyes on the above screenshot! If you prefer video, check out the "motion screenshot" illustrating the day and night cycle of this in-game location.

Undead Labs released the screenshot and video to coincide with the announcement that Xbox LIVE Arcade's Class3 will be powered by CryENGINE 3. The game will be followed by the zombie-filled Class4 MMO.

A couple weeks ago, Undead Labs asked its fans to add their location to an "Outbreak Map" in an attempt to prove that many of us would be holed up in small towns if a zombie invasion ever occurred. The map has been posted, and it looks like like their prediction holds some weight.

So why go through all the trouble of creating this map? To show that the setting of Class3, their upcoming zombie survival game that will pave the way for an MMO, should be a small town. In fact, the game's setting is based on Benton City, Washington, a town with a population of only 2,624 in 2000.

"That shit could happen here." That's the point of this map, and the point of Undead Labs' games. My small town is up on that map. Add your location and help the team plan for the apocalypse!

If the zombie apocalypse hit each of our hometowns tomorrow, what would the world look like? That's the question Undead Labs is attempting to answer with their latest experiment. They're attempting to create an "outbreak map" to visualize where we'd all be holed up when the invasion begins, and they need your help. Just enter your city, state, and country in this Google form and they'll share the results next week.

As Undead Labs points out, its upcoming Class3 game for Xbox LIVE Arcade will feature smaller towns. It will be interesting to see how many players live in similar small towns as opposed to large cities.

Undead Labs has taken the time to answers questions from fans that stemmed from a recent article discussing the world of Class3, their upcoming zombie survival game for Xbox LIVE Arcade that will be followed by the Class4 MMO. While the Q&A doesn't provide many concrete answers, it's an interesting look at their take on the genre.

For example, you'll be able to use a vehicle to increase your storage capacity, but they include the disadvantages of "sound, visibility, fuel and maintenance." There won't be weather or seasons in Class3, but they'll play a factor in the Class4 MMO. There will be water in the game, and you will be able to swim. Diseases will be among the many hazards you'll face.

If you're at all interested in Undead Labs' zombie franchise, this Q&A is worth a look.

Undead Labs is the company that is currently working on a zombie franchise of console games, including a two-player game for Xbox LIVE Arcade and an MMO. As fans wait with bated breath for more details, the team has released a behind the scenes video called "A Day in the Lab".

Watch the full video below for a sneak peak at some of the game's concept art, a view of what Undead Labs looks like, and a view of what designers are working on to bring the games to life.

A Day In The Lab from Undead Labs on Vimeo.

Undead Labs recently posted a dev blog entry that outlines how the team is designing firearms for its upcoming zombie-filled franchise of games, which includes an MMO. As a follow-up, the team answered some questions on the topic that were posted by fans. Here are the highlights from the Q&A:

• "We’re definitely looking at a variety of other ranged options like bows and crossbows."
• "In our world, sound will play a big role in combat — if a zombie can hear you, they’ll be coming for you."
• "We’re really excited about letting you customize firearms by swapping components and adding new ones (scopes, for example)."
• "You’ll be able to choose to carry more stuff, including extra ammo, but you’ll want to consider the weight, fatigue, and noise consequences."
• "There will be a variety of melee weapons. Melee combat is a very important part of the game."

Check out the entire Q&A for more details on firearms in the two-player "Class3" game and the following "Class4" MMO.

Undead Labs announced last month that it's kicking off it's zombie-filled franchise with a two-player game codenamed "Class3" for XBox LIVE Arcade, followed by the "Class4" MMO. Considering survival is going to play a big part in the games, what will be your weapon of choice? A new dev blog entry outlines how the team designs firearms, which it turns out is a highly in-depth discussion. Here's what they talk about in meetings:

• Player expectations: "What do players expect from the weapons they’re using?"
• Play styles: "In the end, it is our job to give you enough choices to let you play the game how you want to."
• Believability: "Our intent isn’t to make things as realistic as possible. In fact, in many cases, making something realistic can actually make it LESS fun."
• Balance: "That means not only discussing how effective the weapons are against zombies, but also how effective they are relative to each other."
• Progression: "Should some guns suck, useful only until you find something superior? How much better should one rifle be than another? In what ways can they vary?"

So what's your weapon of choice against zombies? Pistols? Sniper rifle? Submachine gun? Personally, I'm always a fan of using shotguns against a horde of undead.

Industry veteran Jeff Strain formed Undead Labs in November 2009 to develop a zombie MMO for consoles. After a little over a year, the studio has announced that its inaugural open world title will be a zombie-survival game published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox LIVE Arcade. This two-player game, which is codenamed "Class3," will actually kick off a zombie-filled franchise and pave the way for the future MMO.

Confused yet? Undead Labs describes their plans in more detail in a Q&A that was published to coincide with the announcement:

" ‘Class3′ is the codename for the ambitious zombie-survival open world game currently under development at Undead Labs for release as an Xbox LIVE Arcade title. ‘Class4′ is the codename for the subsequent zombie-survival online world game that we will develop by building on the Class3 platform. In other words, Class3 runs on your Xbox 360 and supports 1-2 players via Xbox LIVE or on the same screen, while Class4 will provide a much larger server-hosted world for thousands of simultaneous players."

Keep reading after the jump for more details.

The Undead Labs site just received a couple of updates, and both serve to introduce Jess Brunelle as the producer of the team's upcoming console-based zombie MMO. Founder Jeff Strain kicks things off by saying that Brunelle is the perfect producer to "lead us toward the light dark" and mentions that he actually tried to hire her back in 2007.

Brunelle then gets the chance to introduce herself and explain what drew her to Undead Labs. She started her career in video games at SCEA, where she worked on games like Twisted Metal: Black and God of War. Most recently, Brunelle was the lead producer for Snowblind Studios' upcoming The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

Brunelle says that she was instantly intrigued at the thought of making a zombie-survival MMO for console, but she cringed at the large team size that is associated with MMO development. Once she discovered that the philsophy at Undead Labs is to maintain "a small, tight-knit, high caliber team," she knew she had to join the group.

As 2010 winds to a close and we prepare for 2011, the ZAM news team decided to take a look back at this year's highs and lows, as well as share what we're excited to see in 2011. Our team has changed a bit recently, so we wanted to take the time to properly introduce ourselves and talk about about our favorite topic: gaming.

Over the next few pages, you'll get to meet Editor-in-Chief Darryl "Togikagi" Gangloff (yours truly), Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom, Reporter Kayla "Reiyami" Smith and Staff Writer Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland. Keep reading after the jump for my personal thoughts on 2010 and then flip through the pages to hear from the rest of the team.

We'd love to know what you thought about 2010. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below, or contact us at news@zam.com. You can also find our individual contact information on the staff list page.