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.

StarCraft 2 Battle Report 2

I just realized we never posted the second of the Starcraft 2 Battle Reports, but better late than never! This one’s Terran VS. Zerg.

StarCraft 2 'Battle Report 2' clip

You can watch the first Terran VS. Protoss Battle Report here.

Duke Nukem Forever Footage

A good homey of mine forwarded this footage to me. There are some untextured renders/animations, as well as their in-game counterparts. As far as we know, 3D Realms is sticking to their “when-it’s-finished” development schedule. Let’s just hope the hardware doesn’t pass them by, because so far, this game is bringing back some “all out of gum” memories, and setting some very high expectations.

Competitive TF2 Highlights Reel

Having recently inducted Amrit into the TF2 camp, I thought I’d share a recent find with all you Red and Blu souljahs out there. The following is a top 10 TF2 Plays video courtesy of the folks of Push Gaming. These are highlights of top notch players from the competitive world of gaming. Let’s have a look-see.

Watch more videos of TF2

HellGate has Frozen Over!!

If you’ve got absolutely nothing to do this holiday season, might I suggest staying indoors and curling up with a good demon?

With Flagship Studios hitting an iceberg and sinking, it’s no surprise that Hellgate London is also going under. The decision was made some time ago, and it was announced that the Hellgate London servers will be open until January 31st, 2009. So fans of the game can actually get their final fix, and say good bye to all cheery and bright-eyed monsters of this MMO. Even if you’re not part of the Hellgate player base, you can still log on for free until the server closure date, and shoot and kill stuff…

Unless you have Wrath of the Lich King, in which case, enjoy your awesome game.

Work Time Fun: Nanowars

A friend from Canadian Hardcore introduced me to an awesome little flash game, Nanowars.

It’s actually quite hard to explain how Nanowars works. In a nutshell, you start a level with control of an handful of balls. Use your imagination, they’re molecules, or planets, or blood cells. With each second, each planet’s attack power increases by one, and you’re able to fire single or focused attacks on neutral or opposing planets to capture them and place them within your control.

The goal is always the same, eliminate your opponents planets before he/she/it can eliminate yours. The controls are incredibly simple, but timing and strategy are where the skill is found.

If you live in the 21st century, and own a computer with a flash-enabled browser, a keyboard, and mouse, and work is starting to get in the way of your gaming life, Nanowars is an awesome escape. Did I mention the game also sports multiplayer?

Try the Beta here.

Left 4 Dead Outbreak Achievement?

There’s been a lot of chatter about the Outbreak Achievement in Valve’s latest success Left 4 Dead (Thanks again Valve, you’re super.) The achievement is very vague in its conditions, and has spawned some debate over its meaning.

The Outbreak achievement’s description reads as follows:
Catch a rare strain of infection, then pass it on to someone else.

This is very ambiguous in its interpretation, while every other achievement appears to have a very straightforward requirement. It’s been speculated that the achievement occurs when a survivor makes contact with another player while covered in Boomer bile. Others say all developers start with the rare infection and “tag” it to other players as they play throughout the community.

I think we all respect Valve here. We recognize them as smart and playful developers. People who like playing and making games. So for them to just fuddle around with a single achievement’s definition is simply out of character for them. I’d guess that a handful of players started with the infection in their Left 4 Dead games, and are passing the “infection” to other players on their steam lists. I think it’d be very interesting to see Valve post up some stats on how quickly we were all infected. I think it’d also be very cool to see who didn’t get the achievement. In other words, who didn’t become infected, and are ultimately, the infection survivors.

If you’re reading this, what are your thoughts on this whole Outbreak thing? What do you suspect it could be?

Left 4 Dead Footage

Sorry bout the crappy quality of this youtube video, this was the first one that I’ve ever uploaded.

I took this one off of a demo session I was playing recently (as I was pre-loading the full game actually) and thought it might be fun to post it and see if you guys had any thoughts.

The video showcases a badass Tank zombie, Hunter and Smoker. The difficulty is set to normal on this run so when I get bitch slapped across the train platform I don’t die instantly like I would on expert. You also get some of the audio of my teammates who shout out common place stuff in the game such as “Oh shit they’re behind us!” etc.

Heres a better one:

I will be posting footage of the full game soon and maybe a tandem review with everyone’s favorite Jon: Jon Chan.

IGN REALLY loves Call of Duty World at War!!

Now, I haven’t really given Call of Duty World at War a fair chance just yet. I’ve briefly played the intro, but that’s about all I can say about the game at this point, so I’m definitely not in any position to dispute the score awarded to the latest CoD game by IGN.

Amrit was already questioning the 9.2 awarded to CoDWaW (pronounced … well, cod-waw.), so I went to IGN.com to check it out myself. This is what I was greeted with:

No biggie, didn’t phase me at all. Then I continued to the main page, and was punched in the face by this:

Where the fuck do I click!? I don’t know if that’s a god damn advertisement, feature piece, or if Activision just smashed a dump truck full of money through the wall of an IGN boardroom and yelled “Eat dick and love it mothafaggaaaaaaaz!!!!” and the Fox/IGN folks went down on their knees and said “MmMmm it tastes rape-a-licious!” But I digress.

At least the review page didn’t wasn’t plastered with CodWaW banners. THAT would have been tacky.

I’m not debating whether or not the game is any good, or worthy of the 9.2. I am making note however, that a game’s review becomes highly suspect when you realize the advertising dollars going to a particular source of unbiased information. Just something to think about.

Left 4 Dead Demo Glitch?

In an otherwise stellar and super fun experience, there often emerges those most dastardly of tricksy creatures known as glitches. Don’t say the word too loudly or you might become sterile. The Left 4 Dead demo that me and Jon are currently enjoying is not immune to such wiley little vagabonds as seen in these images:

Kinda gives the game an 80’s look, which is a plus in my book. Hopefully they nip this in the bud before lunch, i mean launch.

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