Starcraft 2 News and Interviews

The occurence of Starcraft 2 news is like a beautiful rainbow that only appears when the right conditions come together. Ok maybe not, but it is still pretty hard to come by, so when we do get a glimpse of new footage or a line on some new info about the latest build of the game it is pretty exciting, and this is one of those times.

There have been a couple new multiplayer gameplay movies and developer interviews that have hit the web lately as well as some hands on journalist accounts of the multiplayer as it stands right now and I wanted to bring all the new info I could find into one convenient source for all the Starcraft fans out there so here we go.

Battle.net

Starcraft 2 is going to be a huge game, and as such there will be a wide variety of players that are going to be playing it, whether they be casual players picking it up for the first time, fans of the series that have been waiting patiently, and the die hard and eSports fans out there that are going to putting their life blood into this game when it finally ships, and the developers are going to have the unenviable task of trying to cater to everyone.

One of the ways that they will be doing this is by introducing a matchmaking system that will match players based on skill level, similar to XBOX Live. You will no longer have to worry about getting matched with some guy (or girl) from Korea that literally has the game plugged into their brain with a 1000 APM’s leading you to getting your ass handed to you, or be matched with grandma who decided to put her WoW account on hold for ten minutes so she could try out the game. If they can get this system up and running the way that it should be, it will be a huge step forward for making the SC2 experience a much easier transition for those who suck, but still like the game (i.e. Me).

In the same vein as the aforementioned news, there is also talk of creating leagues based around casual, hardcore and eSport players for the purposes of multiplayer gaming. These leagues will not only separate play styles and preferences but will also have different attributes in game. The casual league for example will use simpler maps that will be designed against anti-rush tactics and slower game speeds in order to get people used to the game.

But they aren’t through yet, Blizzard will also be incorporating new stat tracking and spectator modes that will allow players to analyze how they play, see the mistakes they make and improve their performance. Spectators will be able to see a match from players perspectives, which will be interesting but maybe a little disorienting when you switch to a pro gamer perspective while they move around the map at lightning speed. You will be able to track how efficient they are in combat, how many resources they’ve mined, used, and how many went unused on the map. There will be a ton of overlays you can place on the screen to monitor each players performance. These features are a no brainer considering the popularity of eSports overseas, and the posibility of it taking off in North America.

All the news is not happy however. Starcraft 2 will not support LAN play. You will need to be connected to Battle.net if you want your RTS fix. Apparently this is a measure that is being implemented to curb piracy, along the same lines as Valve’s Steam service. This type of announcement would seem counter-intuitive to the legacy of the Starcraft name, as its popularity sprung out of the multiplayer greatness and the ability to get together with friends and play the game while yo mamma jokes, pizza and beer flew through the air without a care…mon frere…But hopefully there will be some kind of workaround for this in the future.

One final note about the online is that the game will support up to 8 players per game and 4 players spectating for a total of 12 “players”.

Gameplay

These features will directly affect the way that you play the game and have been taken from various sources including gametrailers.com, ign.com and 1up.com so I assume they are legit for now. Who knows what will change and what will stay the same, but as the final release gets closer, I’d think that the number of changes will continue to fall until we get a finalized feature set.

One of the best pieces of news I gathered from the video interview with Chris Sigaty was that there will be unlimited unit selection in the new game as well as multi building selection. I always thought this was a no brainer for the game and I’m glad to actually see it make it into the final build.

Each race is going to have powerups that will either boost their economy or army in some way and a few of those have been outlined more specifically. The Terrans for example will have the trusty Radar Sweep, but in addition they may instead call in a Mule which will increase the rate at which they gather minerals. The zerg Queen can either repair buildings or boost larvae production to increase your population and the Protoss Obelisk can use the Proton Charge ability to increase the rate that probes collect resources.

In terms of units, there are a couple notable additions to the Terran arsenal which include a new fast moving buggy unit with an attached flamethrower called the Hellion. It’s essentially a Vulture and Firebat mashed together. There is also a Medivac Dropship which will heal infantry units while it transports them, Medic + Dropship = Medivac Dropship.

The Banelings, or suicidal little zergling mutations are now less effective against buildings as well, which in my opinion is a great move because in most of  the footage I’ve seen of them, they basically rape whatever they target in large numbers. The Hellion also seems to be an effective counter against the Banelings in the new footage, so keep note of that.

Each unit type now has a unique death animation based on the weapon used on it, which isn’t really a big addition, but its the little things, the small details like this that help separate the just ok games from the AAA titles.

The Protoss Mothership seems to have a couple new abilities as well. From the footage shown, it looks as if the Mothership can teleport to any pylon location on the map which I’m sure is at the will of a timer of some kind, but its still pretty sweet for planning a surprise attack behind enemy lines. It also remains to be seen if the Mothership can warp in on the Phase Prism location (which is the mobile pylon unit) which may be a balance issue, we’ll have to wait and see I suppose. The Motherships black hole ability has also seen a bit of a tweak. Whereas it was an uber powerful super weapon that was totally unbalanced when we first saw it, now instead of totally destroying whatever it sucks in, it merely holds it in limbo for a short time. The units in the black hole dont seem to take any damage however, and the weapon can affect friendly as well as enemy units, so beware.

And lastly from the Gameplay standpoint, there will not be any upgrading or leveling up mechanic for units in multiplayer. Dustin Browder stated that such an element in their game would be, “totally against everything that we are doing” and that the game will reward your skill in being able to command your units effectively and intelligently and not just how long you’ve been playing it. This also means that there will be no hero elements in the game, vis a vis Warcraft 3. The ability to purchase upgrades for your units will of course be a core gameplay mecahnic, but each player will start out at the same level at the beginning of every match.

Pricing

While there are still no official press releases for the price of the game, Chris Sigaty has gone on record saying that they view Starcraft 2 in much the same way as Warcraft 3, where they will be releasing the full game initially as Wings of Liberty, and having the other two races be more like expansion packs. What this leads me to believe is that all three games will not come out at the same price, but will have more of a full game/expansion price structure. Although no specifics were given, this gives us an idea as to what we can expect, maybe $59.99 for the first game and $39.99 for the expansions? He also noted that they are not sure what additional multiplayer content they will be packaging with the expansions.

If they were to add two new units per expansion, that would mean four new units total for both. What this creates is a possible fracturing of the community between those that may have the expansion and those that dont. The expansion group may end up with an unfair advantage over the rest which would cause major balance issues in a game that prides itself on providing a level playing field for everyone, but only time will tell how this particular issue will be resolved.

And there you have it! All the news that’s fit to print about Starcraft 2. I hope you found it interesting and I’m looking forward to any new developments in the near future (please God I hope I get into the Beta!!)

The end.

Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Review

The Transformers brand had very humble beginnings as a toy line that inspired an 80’s classic cartoon whose primary focus was to sell toys. The glorious animated Transformers Movie upped the production values of the show tenfold and introduced some very grown up themes into the once children oriented show such as death and the pressure to live up to the one’s legendary predecessors.

If you were looking for some deep meaning or dramatic character development and plot lines from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The newest film in the Transformers live action franchise is a Michael Bay film to a degree that has not been seen in a millennia!! Well ok that might be overdoing it a little, but suffice it to say, Bay has created a movie that trumps any of his other films in terms of action, flags and T&A to date.

I went into this movie with expectations very low and a firm belief that I was going to come out hating what I was about to see. The result was quite the opposite however. I didn’t expect an Oscar contender and I didn’t get one. What I did get however was one of the most action-packed, over-the-top action movies based around giant transforming robots that I have ever seen. Now I know there aren’t a lot to choose from in that category, but credit given where credit is due, and Michael Bay has delivered the summer movie to end all summer movies.

Let me just say that while the Transformers seem a little too dependent on the American government in the movie, Optimus Prime himself seemed much more like the badass that I remembered from the television show. He even does the transforming leap into the air while firing at decepticons thing that he did in the original animated movie, an appreciated nod to the classic.

Ironically, the weakest aspect of the movie is the human one. The cast of characters, while having their moments and occasional chuckle worth one-liners fall completely flat for most of the movie, and they definitely are not helped by the script and story. While the basic premise seems ok in a sci-fi context (the evil fallen decepticon wants to blow up our sun to harvest its energy) there are far too many plot holes and inexplicable turns that lead the story into ludicrous territory. For example, Megatron is revived under in the ocean in one scene, and in the next scene, hes on freakin Jupiter, or robot heaven for lack of a better term (you’ll understand if you’ve seen it ;).

If I can make one major point clear for this review it is this: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is a flawed film in many ways that could probably have been done much better had it been given more time to be polished and the script overhauled, but as an experience in itself, I walked out of the theater feeling that my expectations had been fulfilled. I saw more action and fight scenes that were better choreographed than the last film. Optimus grew a pair and manned up like I knew he could and all the while there was some humor sprinkled in between. TRotF is the epitome of a brainless summer popcorn blockbuster and as long as you go into it knowing this, you will enjoy it.

***One final note however that I feel I must add to this review was that the overtly racist depctions of the small twin autobot that had bad grammar, “don’t read too good”, stumble around un-commically and were just plain offensive, and I’m not even black! With their gold plated buck teeth (you read that correctly) and their Jar Jar-esque rage inducing antics, these characters earn my newly created award for Worst Animated Racial Stereotype in a movie. I dont even remember their names and hopefully I’ll never learn them.***

Star Trek Movie Review

From top to bottom, this is not your older, nerdier brother’s Star Trek. This is Star Trek for the masses of people who may have never given it a chance in the past, and that includes people who thought that they were too cool to watch a Star Trek film, although with the growing appeal of nerd chic these days, that old and trusty axiom may be starting to disappear altogether.

JJ Abrams reboot (and it most definitely is a reboot) of the classic sci-fi series takes a savvy eye and a new perspective to the beloved source material and brings us an interpretation of Star Trek that is updated for today’s audience. Similar in ways to what Christopher Nolan did for the Batman franchise, Abrams takes us back to the early years of the Federation with an emphasis on down-to-earth realism with less space age magic machines and technical mumbo jumbo. The starships internal designs have an almost steamboat-like design with lots of metal piping and railings in the engineering sections and beaming technology is still in its infancy. The Enterprise itself looks stunning, like a retro Cadillac restored to its beautiful hayday, and the special effects are top notch as you would expect. The presentation in Star Trek has a shiny new coat of paint, but doesn’t seem flashy or over the top which in the hands of less talented directors could have been its downfall.

The movie itself is faced paced and sprinkled with genuinely funny humour, but the best part for me was the interaction between Spock and Kirk. Zachary Quinto steals the show with his portrayl of the conflicted Vulcan, giving us a glimpse of Spock as a young go getter bound by logic but still learning to deal with his human emotions, plus he gets kinda freaky naughty. I won’t explain that further, but you’ll know what I mean when you see it. Chris Pine (Kirk) and Quinto seems like polar opposites, and they are, but the dynamic that exists between them in this movie is exactly what I would have pictured as their early relationship: a rocky one, but one complimenting the other.

The only downside that I could find with Star Trek was the story itself. Time travel is usually a difficult and treacherous basis for any story as it provides the potential for plot holes and inconsistencies that may leave the audience shaking their heads a bit. I also thought that villain Nero was a little shallow even though the director went out of his way to give us his reasons for doing his dastardly deeds, he still felt like a one dimensional character. The new universe that Abrams creates is explained away as simply a different timeline or alternate reality, which I think would be a particularly nasty can of worms, but then again, it does seem to open the door for potentially great sequels. The only thing that disturbs me a little bit is the complete departure from cannon that this may take the series down.

Ultimately the good REALLY outweighs the bad with this movie, and I would say it is a contender for best blockbuster of the summer.

So thats what I thought of the movie. Let us know what you think below in the comments section.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Melee Combat Footage

Continuing with the trend of Batman related news on this site, I thought I’d share with you a trailer that I recently came across on IGN’s website showing off the shiny new combat system that will be a major part of the new game. They call it freeflow combat, and as the name implies, you can deftly maneuver Batman’s fists of fury and feet of, um fury, into the faces and appendages of several enemies at once in a beautiful ballet of pain. Poetic no?

Upon first glance, the system is somewhat reminiscent of the Assassin’s Creed system of combat, however when you look closer, the transitions between opponents seems a whole lot smoother. The other major difference will be the fact that you will be able to utilize some of Batman’s wonderful toys during close combat, with as the batarang, bat hook thing, a zip line that you can use to use to drop down on unsuspecting crazy’s as well as that explosive gel that we’ve seen in previous vids.

The combat system is going to be combo driven, with additional XP and damage given out when the player successfully completes a chained attack using various strikes. The player is rewarded for timing the strikes well and varying up their moves. But this is no button masher, no no. During the later stages, you will need to be able to string together combos in order to defeat some of the more difficult foes which will undoubtedly extend the playability of this game.

But I’ve been a flappin my gums way too much. Check out this footage and weep with the possibility that you may finally get a Batman game worthy of the name.

Fight Night Round 4 Physics Gameplay

The entire engine has been redone from the bottom up with this latest iteration of the Fight Night series to bring to the player the most realistic interpretation of the sweet science ever seen on a console.

The major improvement has been the addition of physics based gameplay in place of the canned animations and limited use of physics in the previous games, allowing the player to get up close and personal with a true inside fighting mechanic. Similar to how Skate changed the way we think of skateboarding games, Fight Night Round 4 is going to literally change the game by introducing physics in the punching system, meaning that there will be glancing punches that will do less damage than a cleanly landed, well timed punch just like trying to land that perfect frontside 360 bs off a ledge.

But the physics don’t only help in the gameplay department as increased attention has been paid to the collision detection and knockout animations are done in real time and are different depending on how the fighter gets hit.

Check out the video below to get a truly eye opening example of how great this game is going to be.

Real Life Headcrab?

Came across this little gem while trolling the nets today and got a little weirded out. Little did I know, head crabs are real creatures that live in the depths of the sea, having adapted to a life without the need to take a host and disembowel hapless scientists and rebel fighters!

Resident Evil 5 DLC Worth the Money?

Resident Evil 5 has hit the shelves to unanimous acclaim from the industry’s critics and gaming journos but there is a blemish on this otherwise stellar release.

The DLC for the title has been given a price: $4.99 for the PS3 and XBOX 360. What you’ll get for your $5 is 2 modes. The first will allow 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 deathmatch and the other will see the player racking up as many points as possible by killing as many zombies in an allotted time.

Resident Evil 5 has some problems but overall I would say that its an engrossing and above all fun game that uses excellent presentation and cutting edge graphics and gameplay to pull the player into the game world.

However I can’t help but think that this “DLC” was just something that the developers yanked out at the last minute for the express purpose of selling it separately to increase their profits. Depending on the type of game, multiplayer should be included at no extra cost. Hijinx like this leave a sour taste in the mouth and tarnish an otherwise great game in the eyes of the gaming industry as a whole. Capcom could take a que from developers like Criterion and Valve who routinely put out quality content for them games at little to no cost. I understand that they are running a company and they have to make a profit to stay in business but that doesn’t mean that they have to gouge the very people that keep them afloat.

Let’s be honest here, $5 isn’t a lot of money, but what seems out of whack is the fact that this content is coming out very soon after the game is released leading us to believe it didn’t take them a lot of time outside of the development cycle to create, and that it’s only two modes, not a whole lot of replay value there. Plus the deathmatch mode seems like a tacked on afterthought. It fits into the game a like a round block in a square hole.

Editors Note 6:43 pm March 13 2009:

Capcom issued a press releasde today defending its DLC policy stating:

“Although Versus mode makes use of the assets that exist in the game, the functionality is not currently in the game and is above and beyond the initial scope of Resident Evil 5,” explained a company spokesperson to the website. “We have never included a Versus mode in Resident Evil before, and as well as the costs of development of the feature, there’s also additional bandwidth costs associated with it.”

What do you think? Should Capcom be charging for this content? Is the price that they charge a fair one? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Live Action Half Life 2 Movie

I just saw this on IGN. Its a short, almost professional movie based on the escape from City 17 level in the Half Life 2 series. The attention to detail is really impressive. The guns, sounds and costumes all look like they belong in the Half Life Universe and it looks like it was done by people that know what they’re doing behind a camera. It kind of reminds me of the short films done for the Halo movie that was supposed to get made but which never made it off the ground. Here is the short. It is the first in a series of episodes from the Purchase Brothers:

Dawn of War II Goes Gold, Release Date Inside

In a press release issued by THQ and Relic Entertainment today, the news that many a Warhammer fan has been waiting for is finally here: Dawn of War 2 is GOLD with the game set to hit store shelves on February 19th 2009.

Here is a short excerpt from the announcment:

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, developed by the award-winning Real-time strategy developer, Relic Entertainment, has reached the gold master stage of development and is now entering manufacturing. Set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers visceral combat, stunning visuals, and destructible environments throughout a non-linear single-player experience as well as a fully cooperative multiplayer campaign via Microsoft’s free Games for Windows - LIVE service. Developed exclusively for Windows PC and powered by an enhanced version of Relic’s proprietary Essence Engine 2.0.

Relic looks to continue their pedigree with Dawn of War 2, taking the emphasis out of base building and grinding out an economy and putting the focus solely on fast-paced and bone crushing combat, similar to the approach they took in creating the much acclaimed Company of Heroes.

There are a couple neat stills that I want to post from the newest CGI trailer but in the mean time check out this relatively new trailer showing off some of the units that you’ll be using to wreak havoc in the game:

It looks like Starcraft 2 is going to have some stiff competition for best RTS of 2009 with this one. If you are looking for more info on the game check out the Official Dawn of War 2 website.

One last trailer showing off how truly epic this game is going to be:

And I just had to include this trailer in here just cause its so friggin sweet it could’ve been a piece of candy:

Movie Review: The Wackness

I don’t come across a lot of films that make me feel anything and when I do, its usually just basic gut reactions to cool explosions and special effects blockbusters that I forget about minutes after leaving the theatre. There are some movies that will reside in your mind for more than a couple hours, that you want to re-watch just to try to get back the feeling that you had while you were watching it and The Wackness is a movie that does just that.

The movie stars Josh Peck (you may or may not recognize him from his starring role in the Disney show Drake and Josh) as Luke Shapiro, an adolescent drug dealer in New York during the mid 90’s. Peck’s character is a real departure from his slapstick comedy role on television but he does an admirable job in his first theatrical starring role portraying a sexually frustrated teen during his last summer as a high school graduate before moving on to college. Co-starring alongside Peck is Sir Ben Kingsley as Dr. Jeffrey Squires, a pot smoking mid life crisis suffering therapist who wants to re-live his teen years through Shapiro and his daughter Stephanie played by Olivia Thrilby who you might remember from Juno as Juno’s best friend.

The movie is littered with references from the period (fancy that I can call it a period and not sound like a tool) whether it be a Forest Gump poster on the side of a bus, or pages in a newspaper covered with O.J. Simpson’s mug or the constant references to Rudy Juliani’s crusade on drugs and the homeless. I can count the number of times I’ve been to New York on one hand so I have no idea what to expect from the city beyond what I’ve seen in movies, read in books and played in video games, but what I can say is that the city I saw in the movie seemed really dirty and pretty at the same time. The city doesn’t know what it is, has different sides to its personality kind of like the main character. I won’t belabour the point that the city seemed like it had a smell, a touch and a feel to it that came across well and that I thought was worth mentioning.

Shapiro and Squires are a couple of losers that find each other through their common interest in the smoking of marijauana and also through Shapiro’s unrequited feelings towards Stephanie, Squires’ daughter, who he goes to school with but who doesn’t know that he exists. Stephanie is part of the cool crowd (aka the rich crowd) and Shapiro is on one of the lower rungs on the high school social ladder. The experiences that the writer/director Jonathan Levine weaves into the character are both timeless and culture spanning, making you instantly identify with Shapiro and the problems that he has to deal with. There are a couple of story lines woven throughout the film such as Shapiro’s turbulent home life with his parents, or Squires’ emotional distancing from his wife, but the important one and the one that hits home the most is Shapiro and Stephanie’s summertime romance. Shapiro is the everyman that you can’t help but root for, and his love affair with the girl of his dreams is a dream most guys can relate to.

Possibly the most important part of the movie is the music. What you get in The Wackness is a snippet of a Hip Hop symphony, a slice of the greatness that existed for that particular time in musical history. Some of the best Hip Hop artists of the time were releasing their best music, and the soundtrack is sprinkled with gems like Notorious B.I.G’s What, Faith Evan’s You Used to Love me, Craig Mack’s Flava in Your Ear, Nas’s The World is Your, A Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick It? and the list goes on and on, mixing it up a little bit with some Mott the Hoople and some reggae by the Pioneers. The soundtrack was so slick that I actually BOUGHT IT. I’ve never bought a movie soundtrack before, but I couldn’t help it this time. The music of the Wackness is like another character in and of itself, drawing you into the world of the movie and back in time like a symponic time machine.

So if you’re looking for a diamond in the rough, and you were born in the 80’s, and grew up in the 90’s, check out The Wackness, then tell someone else about it, you’ll be glad you did.

p.s. If anyone has suggestions for any other diamonds in the rough, please leave a comment bellow so that we can all check it out. And if you got mad love for the soundtrack click dis link to find a full tack list yo! The movie also has a fly ass website. It’s da bomb.

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