StarCraft 2 announcement on the 19th of May

[Samwise]

Is there any chance SC2 will be as good as SC1?  I believe that when you get balance that fantastically right over the long term (where the factions have nonidentical base abilities) it is mostly luck.  Lightning can't strike twice- even a small advantage by one faction will be strategized to hell and the game will become trivial.

Blizzard was really good about releasing patches regularly to keep the game balance good.  Every now and then a really unbalanced strategy would surface, or it would become clear that a given unit was nearly useless, and it'd get a small nerf or buff as appropriate.

[Trippy]

Is there any chance SC2 will be as good as SC1?  I believe that when you get balance that fantastically right over the long term (where the factions have nonidentical base abilities) it is mostly luck.  Lightning can't strike twice- even a small advantage by one faction will be strategized to hell and the game will become trivial.

Blizzard was really good about releasing patches regularly to keep the game balance good.  Every now and then a really unbalanced strategy would surface, or it would become clear that a given unit was nearly useless, and it'd get a small nerf or buff as appropriate.

Exactly. It's basically Kaizen applied to gameplay through regular patching.

[Nonentity]

Alert!

http://www.diablo3.com/cmps_index.php?page=game-coming

Basically, take this with a grain of salt, but Crecente contacted Blizzard about a new Starcraft, and this is the response they got:

We do intend to announce a new product at the Worldwide Invitational next month in Korea, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and interest in getting an advance look at what that will be, but players will have to wait until May 19th to find out more. Also, we have a very strong connection with the characters and settings of StarCraft, and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don't have anything new to announce in that regard at present.

Hm. Diablo 3?

[schild]

There's a fair chance I'd turn this into a Diablo 3 fansite if it turned out to be that.

[Nonentity]

There's a fair chance I'd turn this into a Diablo 3 fansite if it turned out to be that.

I'll start gathering the animated GIFs of the rotating skulls, explosions, and Diablo sprites.

[Triforcer]

I didn't picture Schild as a Diablo type gamer, for some reason.  It seems too...popular and grindy. 

[schild]

Loot, you son of a bitch, loot.

[NiX]

I thought we all knew that Schild was a loot whore and that Diablo 2 was his lover. Thrice times.

[Wolf]

StarCraft MMO blasts into orbit
Blizzard's new sci-fi MMO is set to rock the world later this month, CVG has learned

The long-rumoured new instalment of Blizzard's massive StarCraft series is set to be unveiled later this month - and it's another massively-multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft, CVG can reveal.

Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea - the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series' rabid fandom.

The unveiling of the new instalment has previously been rumoured for the South Korea event, though we now know that the title is in fact an online spin-off and not a new RTS game as previously assumed.

Of course this is massive news for both Vivendi and the MMO world; Blizzard's other online offering World of Warcraft has topped 6 million subscribers and is arguably the biggest game around today.

The question is, is there room for both World of Warcraft and a StarCraft MMO? The later will have to be a very different type of online game to convince gamers to subscribe to both of Blizzard's pair.

We will of course let you know as soon as soon as Blizzard officially confirms the game on May 19.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=163207

I guess we can move the topic now :P

[Trippy]

Double dup.

Edit for linky:

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=9875.msg297870#msg297870

[Triforcer]

Any chance at all this is an MMOFPS? Please? 

[Morfiend]

Warcraft....




 in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

[NiX]

Warcraft....




 in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

I know people have said that many times before, but I laughed. Taking bets on a release date and the MMO market going nuts.. AGAIN!

[Triforcer]

a_dark_templar_00 says "You Humans have ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!"

[Riggswolfe]

I'd actually be tempted to play universe of Starcraft or whatever they call it. Especially if they make it a three way battle in some way, and remove the end game cockblocks like hours of raiding.

[Paelos]

If it is actually Starcraft MMOG, they had better make it a hell of a lot different than WoW. It would be monumentally stupid to cannibalize your multi-million player game by releasing something similar in, what would be considered by many gamers, a more popular setting.

I will be hoping for a retooling of Planetscape in the Starcraft setting. This would get me playing both games for sure.

[Trippy]

Blizzard is doing a countdown on their Web site now. "Day 1" is currently up:

www.blizzard.com

No teasers or hints about what it might be yet.

Edit: currently

[Shrike]

I could give a shit about Star Craft. But draenei + Sin War = gimme.

Guess we'll know for sure in a another week...

/jaded

[raydeen]

Blizzard is doing a countdown on their Web site now. "Day 1" is current up:

www.blizzard.com

No teasers or hints about what it might be yet.

It's like an advent calendar for raving drooling fanbois. The only question is, who will be robot baby Jesus?

[MrHat]

I hope they announce:

1. Diablo Online
2. Starcraft 2

And be responsible for hundreds of deaths.

[Fabricated]

Watch it be Ghost.

[schild]

I hope it ends up on the Wii.

[Fabricated]

I hope it ends up on the Wii.

Yeah, and I bet you'll have to shake the Wiimote to attack like you do in every other game made for the thing.

Why do people like the Wii again?

[Azazel]

They enjoy the taste of Schild's salty tears.

[schild]

I hope it ends up on the Wii.

Yeah, and I bet you'll have to shake the Wiimote to attack like you do in every other game made for the thing.

Why do people like the Wii again?

It's innovative? It's changing the face of gaming? They can afford it?

[Azazel]

So anyway, Starcraft. How confirmable is the MMO-ness at this stage?

We have enough Wii threads.

[Wolf]

Not at all. Unless Schild has inside super sikrit infoz.

[Velorath]

So would nobody actually like to see Blizzard create a new IP?  I mean the last new IP they released IIRC was Starcraft in '98 and even that was just kind of an offshoot of Warcraft.

[Wolf]

I want Starcraft. I don't care about a new IP. I just want sweet, sweet starcraft  :-D

edit: http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/8431/star1py6.jpg - this is supposedly from the korean site of blizzard. No idea if it's fake.

[eldaec]

So would nobody actually like to see Blizzard create a new IP?  I mean the last new IP they released IIRC was Starcraft in '98 and even that was just kind of an offshoot of Warcraft.

New IP isn't exactly Blizzard's 'thing'.

 - You've got generic demonic fanatsy (diablo)
 - Outright Warhammer fantasy ripoff.
 - Outright Warhammer 40k ripoff.

Why would you want people who are quite good at making games, but clearly lack imagination, to waste time making up another shoddy backstory universe?

[stray]

Diablo's pretty original. Plenty of post-Diablo games have turned that setting into something generic maybe, but I'm having a hard time thinking of things in the pre-Diablo era that were like that.

Starcraft (the setting, not the game) is not nearly the ripoff of 40k that WC is of Warhammer Fantasy. There aren't any Orks or Eldar, and there's nothing like the Zerg and Protoss in Warhammer.

Not to say they weren't inspired by WH though.

[Trippy]

Diablo's pretty original. Plenty of post-Diablo games have turned that setting into something generic maybe, but I'm having a hard time thinking of things in the pre-Diablo era that were like that.

Starcraft (the setting, not the game) is not nearly the ripoff of 40k that WC is of Warhammer Fantasy. There aren't any Orks or Eldar, and there's nothing like the Zerg and Protoss in Warhammer.

Not to say they weren't inspired by WH though.

Zerg = Tyranids
Protoss = Eldar (ancient technologically advanced race)

[Murgos]

Diablo's pretty original. Plenty of post-Diablo games have turned that setting into something generic maybe, but I'm having a hard time thinking of things in the pre-Diablo era that were like that.

You are kidding right?  Diablo 1 had no story at all.  Town, dungeon, kill.  That was the sum total of it's world.  Diablo II went a little further but not by weaving a coherent story line.  It's just went with more of the first, more towns, more dungeons, more killing.

[Ironwood]

The original Diablo was awesome only because it came at exactly the right time with some stunning gameplay/graphics/sound and, above all, replayability.

It was the polished Nethack that people had been waiting for.

[stray]

Storyline isn't all that, I agree (and yeah, D2 is an improvement as well. Not just in storyline, but in classes and powers etc). I'm just talking about the general setting and character types. The whole Catholicism and Archangels meets D&D schtick.

I mean, I'm sure that's been done before, but I can't think of any particular thing that stands out so much that I'd call Diablo's take on it "unoriginal".


Setting aside, Diablo is at least original for moving along the ARPG genre.