Starcraft II

[occulus]

www.starcraft2.com/

[sheridan]

;D So there is NO such thing has having enough money!

When is the game coming out?
At this point, it's too early to provide an initial estimate on the release date. As with all Blizzard games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible.


I am convinced that this will be Blizzards new MMO project to supercede World of Warcraft. I've been saying it for a long time, and reading through the FAQ section, reading between the lines, and looking at the new 3-D engine being used is almost proof positive for me.
www.starcraft2.com/faq.xml


Will there also be an expansion, and if so, what features will it contain?
Our focus has been and will continue to be on developing and refining the core StarCraft II experience, so we haven't really had much time to consider what types of things we would include with an expansion for the game if we were to do one.

....
....
.... Yah right.

[noVus]

Is that even an MMO though? Seems they are announcing it as a SPG with online play. Screenshots seem to support that.

Jeffrey Anderson just had a very interesting interview, in which he proceeded to go on a bit of a rant. His stance, basically was: How in the name of god can you take that much money in, and NOT have some sort of plan for expansion? How can you not release constant new content every couple of months for your paying subscribers?

* * *

Brendon: I know having spoken to a few other publishers and developers there are a few companies who have their MMOs future planned out where they know, "At this point we're going to release an expansion, by this point we'll be working on the sequel, etc." so I was curious, do you guys have something internally where you have a rough guideline with where you want the game to end up or maybe peak, or are you just going along with it and seeing how long you can keep it going?

Jeff: Which one, for Lord of the Rings?

Yeah.

Okay, I'm not going to be judgmental about other people's plans, but I don't think you ever launch a game and begin talking about when it's going to go away. Let me use that as a segue for my next personal issue.

(Laughs) Go right ahead.

(Laughs) Sorry. I also get asked the other question which is "Tell us what the end-game of Lord of the Rings Online is." And I do, right? I tell them you want raids, we got raids. You want pvp, we got pvp. You want collectible armor sets for high end content great, we got that too. You want housing, we're putting that in.

So we got...you want endgame, we got endgame. But my problem with the question, is that why the heck are you asking me about the endgame for an online product? I've been working on Asheron's Call for nearly a decade now, and we've put out 80 updates for the product. It's a constant opportunity to provide episodic content for our players. I don't subscribe to the approach which is, "Hey you know what, we'll put out a game, two years later we'll throw out an expansion pack, and by the way we've just announced we're going to do a new RTS game or whatever it is that we're going to do, so all we'll do in the meantime is pocket your money." We believe that it's almost an obligation of its own to be putting constant content out for the product.

These players are looking for updates to the game because that's what they're subscribing for. Why do you want to go through the same quests for the same race for four or five years? Our approach is -- you know what, I don't understand what the other company's model is where they feel like they can just pocket people's money and be okay with that and not give a lot back to the community, but we're about giving back to the players. They're the people who are looking for and paying for new stuff. The notion of -- and this is just a personal pet peeve -- of going "You know Blizzard's endgame..." Well, what are you talking about? Why is there an end game for an online product? I wish someone could explain that one to me.

I'd love to go on a panel with one of them or something and have that explained, you know what exactly their plan means.

For us, we're totally focused. D&D [Online] today -- whether it's your thing or not your thing Brendon (laughs)--is 60% larger than when we launched it a year ago. Asheron's Call is hugely larger than when we launched it. And you look at what we're doing right now, just the update we're putting out for Evendim is six million square meters of space, or about 1/10 the size of the existing product. Between the Summer Solstice we're putting out, the huge monster play update we're putting out at the end of the summer, the housing and new region we're putting out in October -- it's just, you know, huge. I think...I think that's how it should be in this business. I don't understand why people feel like it's okay to sit back and play other products, you know, and not get updates. Regular significant updates from the publishers.

I think that was the way it used to be, and if other publishers want to just sit back and collect the annuity -- and that's how they refer to their players, as annuities. We don't get annuities, we get players, right?

Well, anyway, that's my pet peeve (laughs).

[Resonance]

Preach it brotha!

[sheridan]

No, 'Starcraft II' is NOT an MMO . . . . YET !!

I think you misread my post, or I wasn't clear about my intentions, but either way I am firmly convinced that Blizzard will make the 'Starcraft' environment their NEXT MMO concept. They have built in a new 3-D game engine, and already have it ready for their 'Battlenet' multiplayer network . . . from there it's not much of a stretch to see it expanded into a full MMO like what they did with 'Warcraft'.

On a side note . . . I don't think his comments will slide by the Blizzard folks unnoticed. ;D

This could be the start of a new kid on the block (Turbine) calling out the playground bully (Blizzard) scenario, a war to be waged for the hearts and minds of the MMO community in the online media and magazine print forums.

[occulus]

Its not a freaking mmo and if it becomes one I promise that I will blow Blizzards main offfices up!!!!

Am I the only one that likes the game called Starcraft? Hell just delete my thread if you guys hate it that much.

[sheridan]

Who said anything about hating 'Starcraft'?

'Starcraft' was one of my favorite PC games of all time, and I'll definitely be buying and playing the new version 'Starcraft II'.

My point is that with 'World of Warcraft' becoming stale, losing millions of subscribers in an alarmingly short period of time, and Blizzard looking to remain at the top of the MMO market, the new features for 'Starcraft II' look suspiciously like a precursor to what will undoubtedly be their next post-WoW MMO . . . 'World of Starcraft'

Disliking Blizzard for their business practices has nothing to do with being excited about a new Starcraft game, or the possibilities of that game being developed into an MMO. Jesus, paranoid much?

[Resonance]

Me gots da Star Crap once...bery painful...need steetches afterwards...


Me eets lots of fibers now...so Star Crap not issue...


If you likes da Star Craps den dat ur ting I guess...

Me tries to avoid dem at all cost...no more steetches for Batboy...

[palenen]

I hear about Starcraft 2 awhile ago as a RTS, so I didn't think twice about it. I played it, Broodwars too. And moved on. Heard the rumor awhile back that Diablo was their next mmo which I think was bigger than Starcraft.

[sheridan]

Ian said the same thing the other night in TS as well. I never was much of a Diablo fan, so I can't speculate as to its potential as an MMO. Looking at Blizzard's immediate future though, they have definitely positioned themselves as an MMO powerhouse with options to dominate should they move forward with the likes of Diablo and Starcraft in MMO clothing.

[noVus]

But it's not an MMO is it?









: runs away laughing maniacly :

[jimli]

admin said:

But it's not an MMO is it?


Not as of yet.

I think that is what is being pointed out, is that Blizzard may be making moves to make it one.










: runs away laughing maniacly :

[palenen]

Well, the people who are playing WoW, will likely be the ones who will play StarcraftMMO if they do it. So no loss there. Diablo on the other hand, will likely pull everyone else. I myself included. I stuck around for Diablo and DiabloII and expansion for the longest time.