Quote:May 18, 2007 - Editor's note: I'm writing this from a wireless connection on Blizzard' WWI show floor. Their opening ceremony is set to start any minute now. As the ceremony continues there'll be fragmented updates below. Expect more details throughout the presentation unless this wireless connection screws up. Also, expect typos. All timestamps are local time in Seoul, South Korea.

3:00 - FMV sequence in a spaceship - looks Terran - zooming in on a metal door - door opening - reveals a guy with a cigar in chains - prisoner - door shuts behind him - there's so much bass the room is shaking - guy steps into some kind of metallic devicce - legs are strapped in - guy rising toward ceiling - Korean text on screen got people very excited - another part of the machine is dropping metal arms on him - machine whirring - applying armor to his torso - extremly detailed visuals here - now guy is strapping on gloves - armor is molding together - seems like a Terran marine - rockets turn on - zerg now onscreen - Marine delivers a line - StarCraft 2 officially announced.

3:05 - Morheim says everyone eager to see actual game - going to show actual gameplay - bringing up SC2 lead designer. Dustin Browder.

3:07 - Showing gameplay footage - Looks like protoss ships - floating over asteroid/ base structure - entering protoss ase - similar looking buildings - vespene gas still in the game - character pane shows up on right side - some protoss guy - shifts to terran bases floating on rockets over same type of territory - sill collecting crystals as resources - marines load out. Dustin is actually playing the game - nothing in the game is final.

3:09 - controlling protoss zealots - still has psi blades and personal shield - new charge ability that let him quickly close range on enemies. Siege tanks shown - still the same type of behavior where they can lock down - take out zealots really quickly - new protoss unit - called immortals - have special shield that only activates upon being powerfully attacked - siege tanks could barely do any damage to them.

3:10 - Terran reapers - can hop across unever terrain with jump packs - two types of small pistols that don't activate immortals. Protoss now have the ability to create shields whereever they want. Protoss can now warp in units from manufacturing facilities anything within pylon range. New protoss unit - stalker - can teleport - quadripedal thing - can keep blinking forward - seems to be a shot cooldown on the ability. Zerg start coming in, giant worms pop out of ground unleasing zerglings. Protoss can use phase fields and teleporting abilities to create an army anywhere on the battlefield, according to Blizzard.

3:14 - Protoss colossus - huge unit that can blast out dual lasers and use long legs to traverse differences in terrain height - in the demo two of them obliterate about fifty or so zerglings.

3:15 - Zerglings can mutate into suicidal bomb things thar roll across the ground - very powerful explosions. Colossus using new IK system to move across differences in terraing height. Colossus extremley weak against air strike - New unit for protoss - Pheonix - can overcharge guns for multiple projectile blast - but after blast the ship is rendered inert for a short period.

3:16 - showing space platform environment, land mass floating over planets / nebulae. Showing phoenix units failing to destroy terran battle cruisers - new protoss unit - Warprey - flying unit that does increased damage the longer it hits a target with it's continuous blue laser.

3:18 - warprey also very effective against structures - very vulnerable to small unit fire - shws warpreys getting wiped out by terran marines. Physics system lets debris from warpreys roll down a ramp. Showing one more unit - warped in in a serious of cubes - giant floating base - called a protoss mothership - can only have 1 at a time - cost big resources - special abilities include timebomb that slows all enemy missiles inside - shows terran missle launcher shooting in projectiles that stop in the field before they reach the ship - when field ends missiles drop the ground - planet cracker attack - giant lasers stream from ship to ground - ship can be moved around while planet cracker laser is active - the ship looks like a metallic, triangular sand dollar - mothership can create a black hole anywhere it wannts to - creates distortion that actually sucks ships in and destroys them - in the demo the black hole destroyed four terran battle cruisers in about ten seconds.

3:23 - now showing terran and protoss fight - marines and zealots clashing on the ground - mothership and battle crusers in the air - framerate seems relatively stable as more units stream in - hard to tell - about 100 units on screen right now - a few of the new protoss units just came in - nuclear launch detected warning - every unit on screen destroyed - three nukes were launched at once - then zergs rush in and spell "GG" while turning into suicidal bombs.

3:26 - Showing another video of "things to come." concept art for SC2 - zerg landscapes - ruined terran structures - freen filds - SC2 looks, at least visually, strikingly similar to SC1 - both in unit and map designs. Now showing a giant rush of zerglings - probably over 100 of them, swarming with no slowdown - mroe character art - finishes with the StarCraft II logo.

Quote:I am SO glad this isn't an MMO.

Quote:Actually could you do an RTS MMO? Like, expanding territory and battling with large armies in a persistant world?

Quote:All this time I thought they were announcing Lost Vikings 3...

Quote:As is standard for Blizzard ever since Warcraft, it's going to be PC only.

Quote:It seems from their FAQ that the races will be "even more different" from each other. Either they really are just doing an incremental update, or they just don't want to tip their hand. Blizzard can be almost Nintendo-like in their secrecy, that's for sure, and Rare-like in their time between games and delays.

I'm interested in what sort of additions they are planning for Battle.net. Considering how good the system was in WC3, it'll take some doing to add more. My guess is they'll be taking some pages from XBox Live's system and adding a lot that way. One thing they could do in that regard would require a patch for ALL their other online games that allows a shared friend list across all Blizzard's games and the ability to see exactly the status of all your friends, like "Playing Warcraft 3" and the ability to invite them to Starcraft 2 from there. Really the big missing component though? Live voice chat built into the experience.

Aside from the "shared interface features" Xbox Live basically DOMINATES in, they could take the time to completely rip off all those interface options in Halo 3's Beta.

There's also the matter of improving the game's interface even further from Warcraft 3. For example, in creating units, due to the sheer numbers I've seen in those pictures, instead of queing up just one at a time, toss a slider bar in there to just say "build exacltly this many" or maybe even a "built this unit until I say stop" option. I wanted this patched into WC3, but the use of the scroll wheel to scroll back and forth through "sub groups" in a selected group would be much appreciated for speed's sake.

Quote:Anyway, lazy you should pick up either Starcraft or Warcraft 3. I'd lean towards the latter as it's got pretty much everything in the online part done right, but maybe you'll want some background story. Blizzard's instruction manuals are traditionally only part instructions and mostly MASSIVE TOME OF STORYLINE.

Quote:remember this is a early build , War craft III change direction almost entirely a year after it was first announced.It had originally been conceived as some sort of MMORPG with armies and instead of one dude.

Quote:As for story, it's a matter of opinion. I personally still prefer WC3's storyline.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:DMiller, I myself started RTS with Dune 2. Worms eh? Yeah, I got a message from you about that. I'm not sure I want to buy the same game twice... The demo doesn't really seem to indicate much added above the PC version.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:I'm not seeing it. The mother ship is a round dome that's blue and gold. The temple is a giant pyramid.

Quote:So, when shall the people forge Operation CWAL 2?

Quote:Indeed, the epic tales of the raids on Blizzard HQ to free the game from their dark clutches. It even became a cheat code in the game. I think their emporer makes some radio show now.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Remember Starcraft 64? Horrible conversion of a great game, but it did have one (just one it turns out) extra level added to it.

http://www.sclegacy.com/maps/bonus.php

And some people have finally converted it, pixel for pixel, to a PC Starcraft map, in both 2 player and 1 player forms. Resurrection IV. I played a little of it and well, there's some interesting little story extras to be found in it.

By the way, yes, Blizzard's forums today are just this waterfall of idiocy with only the occassional actual good idea. Too bad those get flooded right off the page in minutes. The odds of someone who can actually make a decision seeing those few good posts seems small... Sad really...

On another topic, Blizzard needs to get in the game with Nintendo and get the two Lost Vikings games in the Virtual Console.

Quote:By the way, yes, Blizzard's forums today are just this waterfall of idiocy with only the occassional actual good idea. Too bad those get flooded right off the page in minutes. The odds of someone who can actually make a decision seeing those few good posts seems small... Sad really...

Quote:And some people have finally converted it, pixel for pixel, to a PC Starcraft map, in both 2 player and 1 player forms. Resurrection IV. I played a little of it and well, there's some interesting little story extras to be found in it.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:I didn't even say anything about "worker scouting".

What does chat have to do with it? They didn't say word one to each other, and why WOULD they? They are COMPETING.

Quote:They prepare and plan every step and maneuver . Until it becomes second nature.

Perhaps unlike a regular game they don't have to deal wsenseith the primitive "chat text system" for communication. They could verbally speak their plans in the same room.

Quote:I didn't even say anything about "worker scouting".

Dark Jaguar Wrote:What are you talking about? Your post above just seemed to be a direct response to my post and I was confused. No need to go off the deep end here.

alien space marine Wrote:They prepare and plan every step and maneuver . Until it becomes second nature.

Perhaps unlike a regular game they don't have to deal with the primitive "chat text system" for communication. They could verbally speak their plans in the same room.

As for worker scouting thats just a classic trick since the days of war craft II

Dark Jaguar Wrote:This came after a post where I only said that I was amazed at the level of depth those game masters are capable of. With no context provided, it seemed like you were actually responding to comments I made.

Rather than say "on an unrelated note" or something to indicate you aren't responding to me, you state it in a somewhat unusual manner, like you are responding to questions I asked or something. That's why I was confused.

Again, you are vastly overreacting to this. I didn't feel "insulted", I just thought you misunderstood me or thought I was asking some questions I didn't. You can see my confusion right?