DayZ mod lead posts on devblog from Mount Everest

If you’re wondering why it’s taken so long to get the standalone version of Arma II’s DayZ mod out the door and into consumer hands, you need only check out the latest post on the devblog to be greeted with the smiling face of Dean “Rocket” Hall, covered in what is hopefully flour and not the result of planting himself face first in snow-covered llama poo.

Hall posted the latest update earlier this morning from the base of Mount Everest, explaining that the trek is a lifelong dream of his. The adventure was something he had been planning for a long while, and is planned to take two months to complete, and costing over $100,000. As of the blog post, he is currently 5400 meters from the ground and posting via a satellite connection.

That’s not to say that the game isn’t being worked on still, as the rest of the team has been hard at work getting an alpha build ready for public use. Hall says on the blog, “This is going to take as long as it needs to, we want to release our initial alpha under the architecture it needs to avoid hacking and security issues – this is the only remaining task stopping us from releasing the alpha. But while this task is being completed, we can continue with other activities.”

Hall has also been posting pictures of his Everest trek on his tumbler, as well as updates on his Twitter account, for those interested in keeping track of his progress. Rest assured that the standalone version of DayZ will be coming; it’s just gonna take a while longer.