SOE Live 2014: H1Z1 teases air drops

What's inside of the box? That's what Sony Online Entertainment asks in the new H1Z1 video which teases air drops for the upcoming post-apocalyptic zombie-survival MMO.

The video shows a mysterious plane flying overhead dropping a crate of supplies in the middle of the field as three characters race to get to it first. Of course, when they get there it becomes a fight for the supplies, Hunger Games-style. The purpose of Air Drops is not to actually give players some help — SOE is not Haymitch after all. Rather, it's designed to encourage players to interact, as they fight over these supplies which can be weapons, supplies, or other useful tools. Think of SOE and these Air Drops as Plutarch Heavensbee or Seneca Crane, Head Gamemakers forcing you into a specific area to battle to the death.

At this point, it's unclear exactly where the air drops are coming from, but as it was explained to us it could have something to do with the lore of H1Z1.

"There's a lot of story still left to tell. The nature of being in early access, we can kind of us player stories once they get into the game. We can write anything we really want to," explained game designer Adam Clegg.

"There's two different kinds of lore too. There's lore in the game that you see around your area, and then there's lore that you don't see. Like maybe there's a military base way over here that we haven't talked about. And that's why there's air drops," he said. It's possible as the game develops that these unseen areas — like a military base — could become part of the game that you play.