ATOMCROMS

La semana pasada varios medios de comunicación y fansites tuvieron la oportunidad de visitar la sede central de Blizzard en Irvine para asistir a un nuevo evento de prensa organizado por Blizzard. Una vez finalizado el NDA (non-disclosure agreement) que impedía publicar información hasta hoy lunes, ya están apareciendo las primeras novedades que allí se anunciaron.

De lo que he leído por las diferentes webs se puede extraer lo siguiente:

- Battle.net será gratuito pero se está estudiando añadir servicios de valor añadido que tendrán un pequeño coste.
- No se tiene previsto dar soporte para jugar en LAN.
- La asociación de Blizzard con GOM es un movimiento para introducirse en los e-Sports.
- El modo de observador está claramente orientado para los e-Sports, con estadísticas detalladas de la partida en juego.
- Las repeticiones contienen información completa sobre las estadísticas del juego.
- No habrá port para consolas.
- En el modo historia habrá unas 30 misiones, y cada expansión será tan grande como la campaña del juego original.
- Se ha eliminado el límite de selección de unidades.
- Ya se han publicado los árboles tecnológicos oficiales para las tres razas.
- Hay disponibles nuevos renders de unidades, capturas de pantalla y vídeos de juego.

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Q u o t e:
I think the reasons starcraft has lasted so long as a game and community are because:

1) Well designed and fun to play game.

2) Free battle.net - Having a place where gamers can come together and play the game 24/7 helps to foster a bolster and lively community.

3) Continued support for the game even after 11 years, they still patch it when it needs a patch.

4) Pro-Starcraft gaming. This is a big deal to serious starcraft players or to anyone that enjoys competition. These games are fun to watch and makes casual players want to play the game.

5) Lan support. - Lan parties are fun.

If you take away LAN support you will still have the 4 other pillars for a strong starcraft community. Plus if LAN support helps rid battle.net of hackers, cheaters and piracy because the network traffic is harder to decipher then all the better. That only strengthens the spirit of fair competition on battle.net.

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The first 4 pillars are ALL being made better.

1) Development time for StarCraft II have far exceeded the original StarCraft in both the standard of quality and duration, to ensure the highest in quality RTS experience we can possibly create.

2) Not only is it free to play online for people who purchase the game, Battle.net 2.0 is designed with the new generation of online community and eSports in mind.

3) As long as there are people playing our games, we will continue to support them, and we have continued with this tradition with our legacy titles like the original StarCraft.

4) StarCraft II was created with eSports as a cornerstone in design philosophy. StarCraft evolved into an eSport.

5) Map Editor will be better than any we have ever released.

and:

6) ??? - will have to wait and see :)

For me personally- I loved LAN parties, but the direction in which Battle.net is headed, I would always choose to play on Battle.net > 99% of the time and even if for whatever reason I did decide to lug my computer to a friend's house in this day of age (<1%),>

[ Post edited by Karune ]

Q u o t e:

That's his point. Even if you do lug your "beast" around, he is saying that battle.net will clearly have better abilities than regular LAN.

I for one have full faith in Blizzard, and though I do disagree with taking LAN out as a whole, I do feel that in the end whatever they provide as an alternative will not only suffice, but make things all the better.

Ye of little faith shall perish.

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As mentioned by Rob Pardo in interviews, piracy is a serious problem and often times tie in closely with LAN. At the end of the day, we want the best for the community and fans that support our games, and having chunk of the community pirate the game actually hurts the community.

1) Pirated servers splinter the community instead of consolidating all players who love to play the game. Battle.net will bring players together in skirmishes, ladder play, custom games, and allow everyone the opportunity to share a common experience.

2) More people on Battle.net means more even more resources devoted to evolving this online platform to cater to further community building and new ways to enjoy the game online. World of Warcraft is a great example of a game that has evolved beyond anyone's imagination since their Day 1 and will continue to do so to better the player experience for as long as players support the title. The original StarCraft is an even better example of how 11 years later, players still love and play this title, and we will continue to support and evolve it with patches.

We would not take out LAN if we did not feel we could offer players something better.

If I were to buy StarCraft II or any other title, I know the money I spent would be going to supporting that title. Personally, I would be upset that others were freeloading while others are legitimately supporting a title that has great potential and goals of making this title have 'long legs.'

If you like a song a lot, buy it, and that artist will only come out with more awesome songs for you. If you like a game, buy it, and we will promise to constantly work to make the player experience better at every corner we can.

Support the causes you believe in (This is applicable to all things, not just gaming).
Don't be a leech to society, innovation, and further awesome creations.