Blizzard's new splash page has set the internet on fire. With the developer's Worldwide Invitational set to begin this Saturday in Paris, we've got about three more days to speculate wildly as hundreds of "top secret inside sources that are 110% reliable" feed us tips about the big news.
The top two rumors seem to be Diablo3 and a Wrath of the Lich King release date, but we think anything's possible -- if you recall, last year's big announcement was Starcraft II. (Our money is on a Wii-exclusive Blackthorne FPS.) Tell us, what do you think is Blizzard's ice-shattering announcement?
Many froth-mouthed fans of Blizzard's intergalactic real-time strategy masterpiece Starcraft have anxiously been awaiting word on when the next installment of the series would land in their anticipatory laps. Blizz has been characteristically tight-lipped about the title's launch window, though we were recently informed that an online SKU search for Starcraft II on Best Buy, Circuit City, and Gamestop's web sites reveal the same supposed release date of December 3, 2008. With no confirmation from Blizzard, it's far from official -- though we imagine this won't stop dedicated zerglings from dropping by the office tomorrow, and requesting off the last month of the year.
An entry into Blizzard's "I Heart Starcraft" contest, celebrating the game's 10-year anniversary. View more entries here (via The Starfeed). Check out the highlights for today:
Blizzard has launched a new online store, selling games (both digital and off the grid), books, collectibles, limited apparel and more. The store is now also offering titles for digital download -- right now only Starcraft and Warcraft III (as well as their respective expansion packs) are available, but according to this handy F.A.Q., more will be made available later.
As noted by WoW Insider, registering for the store enters you into a lottery to partake in an upcoming beta such as Wrath of the Lich King, Starcraft II or the as-of-yet unannounced (but we dream so very much) Rock and Roll Racing MMO.
We know better than to upset StarCraft's Queen of Blades, the femme fatale Sarah Kerrigan, so we brought delicious and moist cake to apologize for celebrating the game's 10th birthday a day late. Blizzard posted a little note yesterday that on March 31, 1998, it gave birth to a little RTS called StarCraft ... and Korea would never be the same again.
Blizzard states that StarCraft has sold 9.5 million copies since release and admits a considerable amount of those sales occurred in South Korea, where the game continues to "enjoy unprecedented levels of popularity." Back in '98, StarCraft was revolutionary for introducing three distinct races, solid multiplayer supported by Blizzard's Battle.net and a variety of other things we pretty much now take for granted. StarCraft II is expected whenever Blizzard gets around to releasing it -- yup, that's the best way to put it.
Rob Pardo, Senior Vice President of Game Design, spoke earlier today on Blizzard's approach to multiplayer game design. Pardo shared what the iconic company has learned over the years of releasing titles like WoW, Starcraft, and Warcraft regarding game balance, PvP and UI design, player psychology and more. Head over to WoW Insider to check out the full transcript from the talk and the Q&A session plus a gallery of all the slides (and Pardo's handsome mug).
When a list of canceled Blizzard titles emerged at this year's DICE, MTV's Stephen Totilo noticed one game conspicuously absent: Starcraft Ghost, which we probably all assumed was dead. But Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce told MTV "It never was technically canceled. It's just a focus thing for us right now." ... Umm, confirmed?
Yes, we've heard rumblings about a Ghost rebirth before, but so far absolutely nothing has come of it. That leaves us with one question: If a game almost assuredly isn't coming out in your lifetime, isn't it pretty much canceled anyway?
The nation of Korea let out a collective "GG!" today as Blizzard released a new patch for both the original Starcraft and its expansion, Brood War. Starcraft has been on the shelves for a little over nine years now, surviving countless leaps in technology to remain one of the most popular strategy titles available. This patch doesn't fiddle with the intricate balance achieved by nearly a decade of competitive play, but it does iron out few of the last remaining bugs before Starcraft II arrives.
Made stability improvements to replay saving code.
Fixed a bug where the map download progress was not shown.
Pressing alt-f4 while in Starcraft and logged into a league now logs you out of the league.
Updated some of the localization for the league page.
Fixed an exploit that allowed nukes to fall anywhere on the map.
Well, BlizzCon is officially over, and folks will have to wait another year to experience it again. Hopefully by this time next year, however, both StarCraft 2 and the WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King will be on store shelves, or in your hands. Until then we'll be waiting for the dribbles to trickle out of Blizzard with more information.
But, all is not lost. They did send us out with a bang that included 30 minutes of fairly decent comedy with Jay Mohr, a performance by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain (the highlight of the night of which a brief video appears above), and a pretty sweet set from Video Games Live, including the Diablo theme being played on a 12-string guitar. That was the best moment of the night, and makes us wonder even more when there will be some sort of a Diablo sequel.
Check out the gallery below, which contains some new shots from the closing ceremonies. You can always head over after the break to listen to the complete audio of Jay's performance, the L70ETC set, and the Video Games Live goodness. In handy mp3 format for your listening pleasure. Also be sure to check out the exhaustive BlizzCon coverage from WoW Insider, who really brought down the house with their in-depth look at Lich King, and the event as a whole.
Hey look, it's Starcraft: Ghost from BlizzCon! (Image Credit) Err, BlizzCon 2005, that is. That was kind of a cruel (if not incredibly stupid) joke we played. While we are mocked 1,000 times over, check out the highlights for today:
During the recent BlizzCon, we sat down and got a ton of time with StarCraft 2, to the tune of roughly three hours or so. The upshot of it all? We were very impressed, and we had our asses handed to us, both in single and multiplayer modes.
Okay, first of all, before I get much further into this I have to say that by "we" I mean "me." I don't want to categorize the rest of the Joystiq staff as sucking at StarCraft 2, but I can pretty much definitely say that as far as this writer is concerned, I'm a complete noob.
Behold the glory of an epic Starcraft battle staged by folded paper. We've read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and we wonder if making a thousand Hydralisks counts toward wish fulfillment as well? We definitely hope it would count toward our wish of an origami based RTS that's for sure.
The photos in the gallery below were originally found on a Korean Yahoo groups website and since then have wandered across the internet for people's viewing pleasure. The pieces get much more detailed on closer inspection and are quite impressive. Now this is what we call "Folding@home."
Hey, BlizzCon isn't just about the wrath of a Lich King and the World of Warcraft -- let's get some StarCraft pron in here too. Blizzard has released new Starcraft II screens and there's plenty of stuff we're wondering and asking, "What's that?"
Hopefully some of our people at BlizzCon can get more details. Check out the new screens in the gallery below. We're definitely digging the new Terran Viking ... Starcraft meets Robotech.
We trekked across the Burning Steppes, hacked our way through Stranglethorn Vale, and even slinked through the Scarlet Monastery to get to BlizzCon 2007, and so far the trip has left us exhausted, bereft of gold, and low on HP. We've retired to The Lost Bar at Disneyland to catch up with the WoW Insider folks, who are plying us with alcohol and chicken tenders, trying to get Joystiq secrets from our primal mooncloth bags.
We'll be doling out more info over the next few days than you can shake Onyxia's tail at, so look for it here, or over on Joystiq's sibling (and Horde loving site) WoW Insider. In the meantime, check out the gallery below, and some totally awesome swag bag Murloc suit goodness after the break. If you couldn't make it to BlizzCon, you can buy a Murloc Suit on eBay for an indeterminate amount of dough, or go for the whole goody bag for even more.
If updates to the official Starcraft IIwebsite aren't coming fast enough, Swedish game magazine Super Play (via Battle.net and later confirmed by a Blizzard representative) managed to glean some new information about the Terran units.
As the representative said, "nothing you see here is final," and more information will be revealed in the coming months. What you do see, here, however, is an upgrade to the Terran headquarters that gives it a missile system, supply depots that can sink underground to allow passage over and a heavy aircraft that transforms into into a walking mech, among others. The scans are a bit grainy, but if you look closely at official screenshots you'll see a glimpse of few of these units.
Hands-on with Spore. All of it. With Will Wright feeding us commentary.
Everything you could ever want to know about Game & Watch. And a whole lot more.
In-game XMB? Trophies? We take a look at PS3's firmware 2.40
Diablo 3 announced! OMGWTF(hellfire)BBQ!
Highlights from Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational 2008!
Listen to the Joystiq Podcast (because your ears can't read)
Posts with tag Starcraft
If updates to the official Starcraft II website aren't coming fast enough, Swedish game magazine Super Play (via Battle.net and later confirmed by a Blizzard representative) managed to glean some new information about the Terran units.
