I’m not all that great at RTS games, but I have a lot of fun playing them anyway. Max, on the other hand, is insane at the genre. He destroys people 6 vs. 1 on Battle.Net is StarCraft and dominates in Halo Wars. I bet this video makes him go from six to midnight.
I remember the good ‘ol PC gaming days when StarCraft was the shit. If you were a PC gamer and didn’t play StarCraft you were uncool. Period. Didn’t matter if you had the most expensive rig, didn’t matter if your dad was Bill Gates; StarCraft was the game everyone was playing in the 90’s – it was one of the few RTS games to be taken to competitive arenas.
Now, back in those days those visuals were breathtaking to us. I mean, Jesus, it was the pinnacle of graphics at one point. Now, we look back and glance at the thing and it looks like the NES. Still plays like a fucking champion in the RTS genre, but looks like the offspring of doo-doo (to me at least). Years later, after constant begging and petition signings, StarCraft followers got what they longed for so long – a sequel. And with that sequel came an evolution in visuals.
Blizzard has shown off some of the updates its made to the graphical prowess of StarCraft II, which looks way more detailed. If you thought the game looked good before, get ready to have your eyes ejaculate. The amount of detail and gloss that’s been put on these character models are sick. Sick, I say!
Hit the jump for more
In a recent article, the name StarCraft: Ghost popped up on our journalistic radar screen by trying to be registered as an e-sport brand in China.
The Chinese State Administration of Industry & Commerce (SAIC) has rejected an application by Blizzard Entertainment to register StarCraft: Ghost as an e-sports brand, claiming the registration’s meaning of of “astrology” and “Ghost” stands in contrast to “socialist morality” and would promote “feudal superstition”, as reported by StarcraftWire.net member Kuangtu.
Blizzard made an appeal to the Beijing Municipal First Intermediate People’s Court against the decision, pointing out that the registration is for Game News, E-sports and other projects trademarked for the company’s Battle.net online game service platform and claiming that these services are definitely not set up in order to “disseminate feudal superstition or engaging in superstitious, illegal activities.”
They further argued that “StarCraft: Ghost” is only a computer game name, which has nothing to do with superstition, and will not produce “adverse effects”. The Company already have 9 types of merchandise registrations for the name. The Trademark written out as “STARCRAFT: GHOST” translates to StarCraft: Ghost, and is a name completely lacking any relation to feudal superstition.
Pretty interesting that even names in China are subject to review for possibly promoting “superstition.” What would they think of other titles like Diablo? I also find it interesting that an IP that was all but dead is now in the midst of being registered as a possible e-sport. Plus, why choose to register in China and not Korea? Could this mean that there is still some hope of this title seeing the light of day? Perhaps a re-design is in the future of this title. I would not mind seeing Ghost migrate to a FPS style game with leaderboards and a possible league-style play. What do you think?
[via StarCraftWire]
Are you a fan of Starcraft? How about of Valentines Day? Well Blizzard decided to mix the two and make three loving cards for each race involved in Starcraft II, the Terrans, the Protoss and the Zerg. The Terran heart is inspired by human technology, the Zerg is two aliens in the shape of a heart and the Protoss is a blue energy shaped heart. You can get them at full size for wallpapers here and even grab some ringtones.
Which is your favorite? I choose the Toss, the Zerg one kind of freaks me out.
Hit the jump for the other two.
Not figuratively, but literally, Starcraft has become a full fledged course at UC Berkeley. It is a Pass/Fail course worth 2 credits, which is pretty impressive for a university to incorporate a video game into their curriculum. Although this sounds like a cake walk class with every slacker student looking to get some credits while playing video games, the course is actually pretty intense and involves analyzing different matches and strategies, while going over replays for flaws in play and decision making.
I can’t help, but smile and almost be proud when I read things like this, because it just shows how much video games have achieved and how they have developed into serious thought invoking material.
Units: 2 units, Pass/No Pass, CCNs TBA in class or by email
Time and Place:
Thursdays 7-9pm at Haas C230
Lab/Discussion (Optional): 12pm – 5pm 1st floor of Moffitt LibraryCourse Description:
UC Berkeley students with an interest in real-time strategy games and the competitive gaming landscape are encouraged to participate in this class.
This course will go in-depth in the theory of how war is conducted within the confines of the game Starcraft. There will be lecture on various aspects of the game, from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles are conducted. Calculus and Differential Equations are highly recommended for full understanding of the course. Furthermore, the class will take the theoretical into the practical world by analyzing games and replays to reinforce decision-making skills and advanced Starcraft theory.
Blizzard has decided to start posting Battle Reports for Starcraft II. In this first one, you’ll get to see some of the developers playing Protoss vs. Terran. I know some of you out there (Max) will cream your pants for this. This is still an early Alpha version of the game, but it’s a great way to see what’s coming. I think I might have to fire up Brood War and play some online matches after watching this.
South Park takes on hard hitting up to date issues and makes them funny, but it looks like Call of Duty 5 has popped up on their radar screen and the kids of South Park are killing the Japanese and bringing the funny. I like how one of the kids complains about the Flak Jacket perk and the girl tells him that it isn’t a cheat if you rank up.
This brings back so many memories of playing Diablo, Counter Strike and Starcraft during my computer labs in college, you could look down the back aisles and see absolutely no one working on C++ but instead gaming away. Good memories.
At Blizzcon, we got to see more of Starcraft II and from all accounts, it is good stuff. Beta keys have been handed out already so expect news of a private Beta coming soon.
As I watched this clip, all of the sounds of the game just threw me right back to the original Starcraft, which is a good thing. Listening to the Firebats yells “Need a light?” while taking on the Zerglings and the sounds of the Zerg rushing around all bring back to my mind hours of untold games.
Starcraft II is looking almost done at this stage with some balancing probably needing to take place for online games, but the product is looking close to completion already. This is way ahead of normal Blizzard schedules, so maybe we will see this game soon?
Thats right looks like everyone’s very much anticipated RTS, Starcraft II, is being announced as a trilogy! The game will be broken into three separate campaigns for each race and will be named the following:
Wings of Liberty – Terrans
Heart of the Swarm – Zerg
Legacy of the Void – Protoss
So it looks like if you really want to enjoy the entire scope of Starcraft II you need to purchase three games instead of one. Each will be a stand alone single player game that will have special meta games for each specific race.
The reasoning behind the trilogy aspect according to the Blizzard producers is in order to get more from each single player campaign and not have to skimp on the options, but what does it mean to us as gamers? If you only enjoy playing one of the races then you are in luck but if your like me and like to experiment with the different strategies of all three races it means you will need to purchase three games. So Starcraft II now will cost you $150?!
How do you feel about the trilogy?
Sorry Diablo fans I know there was some rumors flying around the internet about the possibility of Diablo III being rushed out and coming out before Starcraft II, but these have been unconfirmed as of right now. Starcraft II will launch first and Diablo III will follow, which means that Diablo fans will have to wait a while. All of the development team at Blizzard working on Starcraft II remain in place and have not been shifted over to speed up the timelines on Diablo III, just wishful thinking by some hardcore fans.
Diii.net denies the chance of any such rumours to be true, stating known information about StarCraft II being a long way ahead in the development cycle over Diablo III. They also state the fact that Battle.net 2.0 will launch with the RTS game, making a DIII preemptive release unlikely as the Battle.net upgrade is said to be out before the action RPG game.
[Via Incgamers]
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