Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.
We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at http://www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.
Edit: Note, I want to say that I dont think Blizzard has officially announced it and Yahoo is absolutely terrible when it comes to facts. Its almost a 100% certainty that the game wont come out until 2010, but I would wait to hear it from Blizzard, not Yahoo.
Oh well this could also mean that korean bw pro gaming lives a little bit longer and that maybe I'll be a C lvl bw player before SC2 comes out. Both would be nice ^^
On August 06 2009 05:33 7mk wrote: Oh well this could also mean that korean bw pro gaming lives a little bit longer and that maybe I'll be a C lvl bw player before SC2 comes out. Both would be nice ^^
yes becouse korean bw progaming will die as soon as sc2 comes out, unbalanced and untested at pro level game vs perfectly balanced legendary game with set leagues, pro teams and all the stuff behind it.
On August 06 2009 05:33 7mk wrote: Oh well this could also mean that korean bw pro gaming lives a little bit longer and that maybe I'll be a C lvl bw player before SC2 comes out. Both would be nice ^^
yes becouse korean bw progaming will die as soon as sc2 comes out, unbalanced and untested at pro level game vs perfectly balanced legendary game with set leagues, pro teams and all the stuff behind it.
Eventually it will die. StarCraft 2 will forth fill it's destiny.
On August 06 2009 05:33 7mk wrote: Oh well this could also mean that korean bw pro gaming lives a little bit longer and that maybe I'll be a C lvl bw player before SC2 comes out. Both would be nice ^^
yes becouse korean bw progaming will die as soon as sc2 comes out, unbalanced and untested at pro level game vs perfectly balanced legendary game with set leagues, pro teams and all the stuff behind it.
Eventually it will die. StarCraft 2 will forth fill it's destiny.
eventually yeah, but people act like it will disappear at the very second sc2 comes out:/
eventually yeah, but people act like it will disappear at the very second sc2 comes out:/
Well it probably will. I'm guessing they will finish whatever leagues they're playing and then basically replace SC1 with SC2.
Btw anyone know if Blizzard has previously released games other than around christmas and summer? I'm crossing fingers for early spring or something like that.
On August 06 2009 05:36 Clow wrote: I wonder if the beta will be out before 2010.
No need for that now. Target is "first half of 2010," which implies the latest release date should be June 2010. A 4-6 month beta could start in January or February.
Lower your expectations to meet those dates now, while there's still time to save your sanity You can be pleasantly surprised if it starts earlier.
they release it on the 11th (right?) birthday of Starcraft.
the beta of course ^^
edit: reaction to above poster, LAN is build in as we speak, for blizzcon etc.. It won't take any time if they want it to be final, but i doubt it will be in the final game, as you know why it's removed. (Chinese piracy)
If that is the case, I will be able to finish university, period. :D I don't feel too bad about the further delay, patience is a virtue and I have learned how to deal with having to wait for things I really really want.
On August 06 2009 05:27 lew wrote: Sad... They announced the game way too early..
The very funny thing is when they announced starcraft2 Blizzard said it was much farther along in its development cycle then their previous games when they were announced.
On August 06 2009 05:27 lew wrote: Sad... They announced the game way too early..
The very funny thing is when they announced starcraft2 Blizzard said it was much farther along in its development cycle then their previous games when they were announced.
SC2 is done... Battle.net is not....
They have so much idea's about Battle.net, Battle.net 1.0 is such an awesome program. And still running online. Can you even image what Battle.net 2.0 can do?
On August 06 2009 05:27 lew wrote: Sad... They announced the game way too early..
The very funny thing is when they announced starcraft2 Blizzard said it was much farther along in its development cycle then their previous games when they were announced.
SC2 is done... Battle.net is not....
They have so much idea's about Battle.net, Battle.net 1.0 is such an awesome program. And still running online. Can you even image what Battle.net 2.0 can do?
THIS WILL BE AWESOME!
bye steam ^^
It better friggin toast my bread in the morning, walk my dog and do my laundry FFS =[
Well, take however long you want blizzard, as long as it becomes the 2nd most balanced game ever (behind SC:BW of course) ^_^ Who knows, maybe even most balanced, if that's possible.
On August 06 2009 05:27 lew wrote: Sad... They announced the game way too early..
The very funny thing is when they announced starcraft2 Blizzard said it was much farther along in its development cycle then their previous games when they were announced.
They also said the game could take up to 3.5 years from the announcement to the release.
This is unlucky for me, but only in the fact that I've become less and less enthusiastic about the game as time has dragged on, and I suspect I ever shall.
Maybe Diablo 3 is done before Starcraft 2, oh wait both depending on B.net 2.0, so simultaneously released? That would be sick, I'll instantly buy both of them anyway. If any developer deserves my money, Bliizard it is.
Well we already have many winning features announced such as episodic content for maximum cashola, no LAN to keep control over all multiplayer communities AND maximum cashola, online only features for single player, so who knows by 2010 maybe they'll add some extra DRM to make the awesomeness complete. Pay to watch online replays? I dunno sounds pretty good to me.
On August 06 2009 06:14 whyohwhy wrote: Well we already have many winning features announced such as episodic content for maximum cashola, no LAN to keep control over all multiplayer communities AND maximum cashola, online only features for single player, so who knows by 2010 maybe they'll add some extra DRM to make the awesomeness complete. Pay to watch online replays? I dunno sounds pretty good to me.
Bnet 2.0 better be goddamn awesome if they're pushing the release-date ahead because of it. If they can't add replays online 'til release, the delay will be completely unfounded in my eyes. >;(
This is RIDICULOUS! I realize Blizzard places emphasis on quality over the length of development but this policy of “when it’s finished” REALLY needs to change….By being released in 2010 that will push the game into its SEVENTH year of development, and TWELVE years after the original. If that doesn’t qualify for vaporware I don’t know what does.
Whoever is in charge of this project really needs to get their butt kicked and Blizzard definitely needs to hire more people….I remember reading somewhere that they only have about a dozen or so programmers working on this game, for a company that is supposed to be THE premier developer for PC titles that is pathetic.
The delay was inevitable, so I'm not surprised by it at all. In fact, what does surprise me is how many people actually believed Blizzard when they said 2009.
The only thing that worries me is that we might not get the beta this summer. Battle.Net seems to be the major roadblock at the moment, and it's rather worrying that it's still causing them problems.
Lol why? If they hadn't had this whole China problem (that's what makes the most sense to me anyway, in terms of explaining these delays) they probably would have started the beta around the end of june.
I mean, EVERYTHING pointed to the beta being released around then (invites to press and players for one), then suddenly nothing happens.
2009 was a realistic goal if it wasn't for these unforseen problems IMO.
On August 06 2009 06:14 whyohwhy wrote: Well we already have many winning features announced such as episodic content for maximum cashola, no LAN to keep control over all multiplayer communities AND maximum cashola, online only features for single player, so who knows by 2010 maybe they'll add some extra DRM to make the awesomeness complete. Pay to watch online replays? I dunno sounds pretty good to me.
Also, how tragically unexpected.
DRM isn't bad if you actually buy it, seriously.
DRM is only bad if you actually buy it, since if you don't buy it you'll have a nice crack to bypass it lol -_-
This is lame, I was hoping to be playing freshly released SC2 during my uni break, but now it appears it'll launch at the worst time in my life (during lead-up to my most important uni exams in the whole course)
Dam, I was so hyped up after hearing "we hope to have beta begin this summer" and "we hope to have the game out by the end of the year". Still looking forward to playing the game, but maaaaan the wait is keeeling me.
This was hardly a surprise seeing as both Dustin and Chris stated that B.net 2.0 ideas and work was "kinda up in the air, although we wish it weren´t" back in like april or early may..
They have been working on this so long. Whatever it is, it is giving them trouble. They aren´t gods, there just ordinary people working 24/7 trying to get the damn thing to run and release it. Respect that and we all get along fine. Go do whatever it is you do in your totally average everyday situation and suddently it´s SC2 time .P
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble. They want it to be perfect, and I´m quite sure it will be. They never EVER let me down before.. so why start now? Doesn´t seem like it.. now does it..
Lol why? If they hadn't had this whole China problem (that's what makes the most sense to me anyway, in terms of explaining these delays) they probably would have started the beta around the end of june.
I mean, EVERYTHING pointed to the beta being released around then (invites to press and players for one), then suddenly nothing happens.
2009 was a realistic goal if it wasn't for these unforseen problems IMO.
I dont think China is the problem, afterall the beta will be in America first.
They invited people, they announced a 2009 release, and then cancelled their Battle.net press event because bnet is "up in the air" and everything stopped. Bnet is the issue here.
It is obvious that starcraft and battle.net are completely different departments within blizzard. Whatever happened it sounds like browder was blind-sided by these battle.net problems at the last minute. Maybe it is unstable or dies under load testing like what happened to stardock when they released their demigod game. Maybe it is just really really far behind or had a bad project manager. Maybe some third party they've contracted with dropped the ball.
My question is whether the starcraft 2 team will continue working on the game or be shifted to other projects in the meantime? Maybe they could start heavily tweaking it, changing some units and tech around while they are waiting so that they can make the most of it.
Well, I can't say I didn't expect this. Did anyone else get the feeling from reading the blue post that beta could still be quite far off, like past Blizzcon or even Summer altogether? I dunno.. that's just what it sounded like to me.
They were way too ambitious with releasing beta for this game and made the announcement way too early imo.
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
On August 06 2009 06:29 rytas wrote: Wasn't too suprised by a delay with the non-existant beta and all, but 1.5 years? maaan the new b.net gotta be the worst mess ever atm.
I agree. There are no full 5 months left in 2009. With the beta start not having been announced to date no one should have expected SC2 to be released this year, I know I have been pretty sure about it coming out in 2010 instead of 2009 for quite a few weeks.
On August 06 2009 06:14 whyohwhy wrote: Well we already have many winning features announced such as episodic content for maximum cashola, no LAN to keep control over all multiplayer communities AND maximum cashola, online only features for single player, so who knows by 2010 maybe they'll add some extra DRM to make the awesomeness complete. Pay to watch online replays? I dunno sounds pretty good to me.
Also, how tragically unexpected.
DRM isn't bad if you actually buy it, seriously.
what the fuck. maybe you should read up on what kind of horrible DRM implementations are out there, this is such an incredibly stupid statement -.-
do you guys really think a company like Blizzard would REALLY have trouble with Bnet 2.0? They've been working on it almost 7 years now and have SO much money/resources/employees
It's more likely this was an Activision decision and not a Blizzard decision so that SC2 doesn't coincide with COD MW2
On August 06 2009 07:25 lwstupidus wrote: do you guys really think a company like Blizzard would REALLY have trouble with Bnet 2.0? They've been working on it almost 7 years now and have SO much money/resources/employees
Yes, I do truly believe that Bnet 2.0 is holding them back. Blizzard handles their own decisions, and they are not dictated by Activision. This is just typical Blizzard behavior.
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
Regardless whether they stopped for WoW or not is irrelevant...WoW took just over 4 years to develop, and that was a massive game and a totally new genre for Blizzard....this is a sequel to a known franchise in what is supposed to be Blizzard's bread and butter genre (RTS). Even if you take away that year of lost development you are still looking at a 6 year development time.
I have no doubt that the game will be successful, but Blizzard really needs to get its act together....a company known for long game delays is somehow getting WORSE not better.
Can't say I'm surprised. I think deep down we all knew this was going to happen. Of course this changes their original statement of "one major title a year" slightly, which was a foolish thing to say anyway.
Lol why? If they hadn't had this whole China problem (that's what makes the most sense to me anyway, in terms of explaining these delays) they probably would have started the beta around the end of june.
I mean, EVERYTHING pointed to the beta being released around then (invites to press and players for one), then suddenly nothing happens.
2009 was a realistic goal if it wasn't for these unforseen problems IMO.
I dont think China is the problem, afterall the beta will be in America first.
They invited people, they announced a 2009 release, and then cancelled their Battle.net press event because bnet is "up in the air" and everything stopped. Bnet is the issue here.
I'm saying China is the reason Bnet 2.0 has been delayed. Chinese WoW servers have been down for like 2 months at this point, and I read they sent a tech team down there... IE maybe it's consuming their resources.
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
Regardless whether they stopped for WoW or not is irrelevant...WoW took just over 4 years to develop, and that was a massive game and a totally new genre for Blizzard....this is a sequel to a known franchise in what is supposed to be Blizzard's bread and butter genre (RTS). Even if you take away that year of lost development you are still looking at a 6 year development time.
I have no doubt that the game will be successful, but Blizzard really needs to get its act together....a company known for long game delays is somehow getting WORSE not better.
How is it not relevant? Having to put your entire development on hold because an MMO grew to unexpected proportions is definitely relevant. NOBODY expected WoW to grow as big as it did, so in my eyes it's excusable that it's been taking this long.
Well that's not too surprising. The beta has been delayed time and time again, so the game will be too. But hey, you have to remember Stracraft 1's production as well. Years worth of patches occurred to get the balancing correct (150 spawning pools ftw.) This extra time means the game will come out as if the patches were added onto the actual product.
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
Regardless whether they stopped for WoW or not is irrelevant...WoW took just over 4 years to develop, and that was a massive game and a totally new genre for Blizzard....this is a sequel to a known franchise in what is supposed to be Blizzard's bread and butter genre (RTS). Even if you take away that year of lost development you are still looking at a 6 year development time.
I have no doubt that the game will be successful, but Blizzard really needs to get its act together....a company known for long game delays is somehow getting WORSE not better.
How is it not relevant? Having to put your entire development on hold because an MMO grew to unexpected proportions is definitely relevant. NOBODY expected WoW to grow as big as it did, so in my eyes it's excusable that it's been taking this long.
Umm it's not relevant in the sense that even if you remove the delay caused by WoW you are still looking at a 6 year development time; which as I pointed out, is 50% longer to develop than WoW was. That's how it isn't relevant; because it's still inexcusable either way.
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
Regardless whether they stopped for WoW or not is irrelevant...WoW took just over 4 years to develop, and that was a massive game and a totally new genre for Blizzard....this is a sequel to a known franchise in what is supposed to be Blizzard's bread and butter genre (RTS). Even if you take away that year of lost development you are still looking at a 6 year development time.
I have no doubt that the game will be successful, but Blizzard really needs to get its act together....a company known for long game delays is somehow getting WORSE not better.
How is it not relevant? Having to put your entire development on hold because an MMO grew to unexpected proportions is definitely relevant. NOBODY expected WoW to grow as big as it did, so in my eyes it's excusable that it's been taking this long.
Umm it's not relevant in the sense that even if you remove the delay caused by WoW you are still looking at a 6 year development time; which as I pointed out, is 50% longer to develop than WoW was. That's how it isn't relevant.
If you remove the delay caused by WoW, then the game would probably be out by now. That's the point I'm making. It's taken 6 years BECAUSE they got side-tracked by other games. If they were full on the game 100% of the time, it'd probably be out.
Oh well I least I think I found one positive thing about this situation... Since I'm waiting for SC2 to build my new desktop, the new generation of video cards will be out by then, and not at launch price.
I wake up early in the morning and the first thing I saw is this news. Seriously, 2010? I,m already too old for games by the time SC2 : Wing Of Liberty is out.
wait wings of liberty is the first campaign in sc2? what are they all called? This is fuckin stupid. It means that beta wont be ready for like 2-3 more months at least. FUCK YUOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Besides... all the hate towards the game development taking so long is not justified. The game ITSELF is finished.. beta state.. and has been for quite some time now.. it is only BNET 2.0 that is givign trouuuuble.
So you think taking seven years to develop a game that's not a new IP is reasonable? The life cycle of most operating systems is even less than that...
oh and "it's only BNET 2.0 that is giving trouble" misses the point....it has still taken 6 years for them to get to the point where they are working on B.NET 2.0......here's a genius idea: Come up with a new revolutionizing way of paying the game that will be INTEGRAL to it's success, call it battle.net 2.0 and then wait until the rest of the game is done before even starting work on it...GENIUS!
I honestly don't consider six years to be a valid number for SC2's dev cycle. As stated by Blizzard, they had to halt SC2 development because WoW turned out to be so big. The actual game itself is more or less being made at the same cycle as any other Blizzard game.
Regardless whether they stopped for WoW or not is irrelevant...WoW took just over 4 years to develop, and that was a massive game and a totally new genre for Blizzard....this is a sequel to a known franchise in what is supposed to be Blizzard's bread and butter genre (RTS). Even if you take away that year of lost development you are still looking at a 6 year development time.
I have no doubt that the game will be successful, but Blizzard really needs to get its act together....a company known for long game delays is somehow getting WORSE not better.
How is it not relevant? Having to put your entire development on hold because an MMO grew to unexpected proportions is definitely relevant. NOBODY expected WoW to grow as big as it did, so in my eyes it's excusable that it's been taking this long.
Umm it's not relevant in the sense that even if you remove the delay caused by WoW you are still looking at a 6 year development time; which as I pointed out, is 50% longer to develop than WoW was. That's how it isn't relevant.
If you remove the delay caused by WoW, then the game would probably be out by now. That's the point I'm making. It's taken 6 years BECAUSE they got side-tracked by other games. If they were full on the game 100% of the time, it'd probably be out.
Allow me to teach you some simple math. The game will be in its SEVENTH game of development when it is released next year. Blizzard admits that it was delayed by 1 year because of WoW; so if only 1 year of the delay is related to WoW, the other SIX are completely unrelated to it. 7-1 = 6. And SIX years of development is still long; longer than WoW or any other game they have developed thus far.
On August 06 2009 07:42 theron[wdt] wrote: goddamn horseshit, this shit always happens. and in the meantime, a shitload of WoW stuff will be released.
WoW is their money maker now... not that I really understand why anymore.
The entire game collapsed after Wrath came out, I no longer understand the draw it has to the masses.
That's a hardcore raider's perspective only. I understand where you're coming from as I was/am exactly the same (top 30 world guild, played from release up until about 2 months into Wrath and quit), however it has appeal to the masses because that is clearly where they now focus.
/yawn i might not live to see the release hopefully i'll be in my 60s by the time it comes out so i can atleast get some play time in before i can't see the screen anymore.
Wow are you serious? Back in 2007 there were dudes who said it might be launched in 2010 and I was like pffft yea right Blizzard is slow as fuck but not that slow, I mean come on, the game looks hella cool already.
On August 06 2009 09:58 Z-BosoN wrote: Wow are you serious? Back in 2007 there were dudes who said it might be launched in 2010 and I was like pffft yea right Blizzard is slow as fuck but not that slow, I mean come on, the game looks hella cool already.
I was wrong.
That's the key to predicting Blizzard release dates.
1. Pick a date absurdly far into the future. 2. Add a year to it.
They gotta perfect their anti-piracy measures, give 'em some time. If they released beta now, people would hack it and we'd be playing lan games with it.
Also, BROOD WAR PROS REJOICE! Your job security has been extended.
Mike Morhaime never sounded particularly confident about the 2009 goal to begin with :s I don't know how anyone is surprised.
And in regards to complaints about their development time, everything I've read points to bnet 2.0 development as the cause. We're talking about the simultaneous release of the sequel to the best RTS ever and a massive new multiplayer infrastructure that will handle multiple IPs. It's understandable that this takes longer than a standard Blizzard game.
Anyone wants to go to blizzcon with me? I simply need a partner so we can put a bluetooth USB device in one of blizzard's starcraft 2 stations and then backup its whole HDD to my cellphone!
optimal release date would be right as summer (from school, not physical summer) starts in 2010. With my first year of college under my belt, I'd say a full summer of SC2 would be an awesome and well-deserved treat.
It's not impossible for this to happen, too. The beta could drop at any time and the release should be 5-6 months after Beta starts... by my guess.
My main request would be to have SC2 be released when it is as perfectly balanced as possible (and the remaining unknown imbalances need to be patchable), and that battlenet 2.0 will be fully functional and polished and not some buggy lag-fest.
I could wait as far as winter 2010 before I start to just get freaking angry.
Suggestion for Blizzard: Release Nada versus Moon, and other Korean matches, to cut off the Nerd Rage before it can build up, and to give the fans (i.e. me) something to discuss and watch until Blizzcon.
"With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year."
which will be ready early next year
..... ... Please, dear sweet merciful god, tell me they aren't actually saying they won't be starting beta until EARLY NEXT YEAR? I.. don't know what to say. SURELY they have to launch beta before that time?
You're misreading it FA. It's only saying the release date is in 2010, not the beta itself.
One interesting thing I noticed though is that they seem to put Bnet ahead of Starcraft 2. It seems like they consider Bnet to be a product in of itself, and they are timing SC2 to be released with it instead of just worrying about SC2. It must be pretty big to be holding things back so much.
On August 06 2009 12:22 Shade692003 wrote: Naw I think you are reading into it too much FA, keyword being ''launch'' which, to me, excludes the closed beta.
Phew.
I missed the "launch" part somehow.
On August 06 2009 12:31 Shade692003 wrote: According to Kotaku, the Bnet2 will be similar to Xbox Live in terms of quality and functionality.
Is this good?
I've never used an X-box (srsly). I know Games For Windows Live is a PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT tho. I mean, it could at least include a god damned chat lobby -__- (only used it for the DoW2 beta, it had some features that were nice, but the lack of a chatlobby made me want to punch someone).
i dont rly think its the game or bnet thats holding them down. i speculate they dont have enough money to launch the game now because of the economy, or they're giving kespa a chance with bw.
With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year.
with any luck, "ready early next year" could translate to an April or May release, and from the way they're talking it seems like SC2 and BNet2.0 will be released simultaneously. My guess is that beta testers will not be using the full BNet2.0.
On August 06 2009 12:22 Shade692003 wrote: Naw I think you are reading into it too much FA, keyword being ''launch'' which, to me, excludes the closed beta.
On August 06 2009 12:31 Shade692003 wrote: According to Kotaku, the Bnet2 will be similar to Xbox Live in terms of quality and functionality.
Is this good?
I've never used an X-box (srsly). I know Games For Windows Live is a PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT tho. I mean, it could at least include a god damned chat lobby -__- (only used it for the DoW2 beta, it had some features that were nice, but the lack of a chatlobby made me want to punch someone).
No idea, never touched Xbox Live either. I do know you can chat via voice-ip across games, and the PSN can't do that. (But PC already has Ventrilo).
"With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year."
..... ... Please, dear sweet merciful god, tell me they aren't actually saying they won't be starting beta until EARLY NEXT YEAR? I.. don't know what to say. SURELY they have to launch beta before that time?
But how do you launch it without bnet 2.0 -_-;;
Ready != Ready for beta
Ready = Ready for release.
If it was ready at the beta they'd just release it
On August 06 2009 06:27 zx82 wrote: This is RIDICULOUS! I realize Blizzard places emphasis on quality over the length of development but this policy of “when it’s finished” REALLY needs to change….By being released in 2010 that will push the game into its SEVENTH year of development, and TWELVE years after the original. If that doesn’t qualify for vaporware I don’t know what does.
Whoever is in charge of this project really needs to get their butt kicked and Blizzard definitely needs to hire more people….I remember reading somewhere that they only have about a dozen or so programmers working on this game, for a company that is supposed to be THE premier developer for PC titles that is pathetic.
Does the saying "too many cooks spoil the soup" apply here or not?
On August 06 2009 12:22 Shade692003 wrote: Naw I think you are reading into it too much FA, keyword being ''launch'' which, to me, excludes the closed beta.
Phew.
I missed the "launch" part somehow.
On August 06 2009 12:31 Shade692003 wrote: According to Kotaku, the Bnet2 will be similar to Xbox Live in terms of quality and functionality.
Is this good?
I've never used an X-box (srsly). I know Games For Windows Live is a PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT tho. I mean, it could at least include a god damned chat lobby -__- (only used it for the DoW2 beta, it had some features that were nice, but the lack of a chatlobby made me want to punch someone).
No idea, never touched Xbox Live either. I do know you can chat via voice-ip across games, and the PSN can't do that. (But PC already has Ventrilo).
The PSN can do that, has been able to for quite some time.
I like how in the good ol' days we used to get some type of target in mind, ya know, like summer 2009. Then the day came when they simply said "...in the future.." that's when I just broke down and cried.
Oh and Blizzard's incompetency at designing a system for online play after everything else was more or less ready to go to delay things is completely pathetic, sorry but their hype machine is failing, you can't hype something for 2-3 years.
On August 06 2009 13:55 Alizee- wrote: I like how in the good ol' days we used to get some type of target in mind, ya know, like summer 2009. Then the day came when they simply said "...in the future.." that's when I just broke down and cried.
Oh and Blizzard's incompetency at designing a system for online play after everything else was more or less ready to go to delay things is completely pathetic, sorry but their hype machine is failing, you can't hype something for 2-3 years.
I honestly don't understand this "the hype is dying" threat that everyone keeps trying to loom over Blizzard's head. Do you guys honestly believe that a BLIZZARD game is gonna lose hype? Haven't you seen the "Beta or Ban?" thread which exploded in excitement in mere minutes? The hype ain't never gonna die.
I don't trust that they will release it in the first half of 2010. Won't believe the game's come out until I'm destroying some terran computer scum using pure baneling/lurk.
On August 06 2009 10:39 Pyrrhuloxia wrote: They gotta perfect their anti-piracy measures, give 'em some time. If they released beta now, people would hack it and we'd be playing lan games with it.
Im 100% sure its that, and It makes me pissed, they really think the best way to make piracy free bnet is to prevent the hackers from having acess to it ? what happened to constructive feedback =(
It's actually funny that Battle Net is taking longer to develop than SC2, either that or Blizzard is so incompetent they forgot about Battle Net 2 for 4-5 + years.
I also find it hilarious people think there has never been a good/great game released with a 5 year and under development cycle. Are you fucking shitting me?
I doesn't really surprise me and it surely doesn't affect me that much. The good thing is that we're going to have atleast 1-2 more SL seasons until it comes out, which is great.
im not surprised at all by this news but this does make me more exited i mean if they released the game this year i would of been really disapointed the game does not look finished to me they got the art pretty nice ( except for the lurker) but shit abilities like Spawn Infested terran will hopefully be gone by then and on the bright side it gives us time to upgrade our computures if we you have not already so i applaud Blizzard for this Decsicion make SC2 just as good as the first one IMO
On August 06 2009 14:58 On_Slaught wrote: Sigh. If the reason is B.net 2, then this means Diablo 3 will be delayed also. Fuck.
Well, it means we get more Brood War e-sports then.
Bnet 2 will definitely be done before diablo 3 beta is expected. Bnet 2.0 delaying sc2 does not at all mean that it will be the culprit for the delay of d3. That being said I am sure diablo 3 won't be out until at least the end of 2011.
On August 06 2009 14:44 Aegraen wrote: It's actually funny that Battle Net is taking longer to develop than SC2, either that or Blizzard is so incompetent they forgot about Battle Net 2 for 4-5 + years. .
I think you hit the nail right on the head...from all the Q&A Sessions, Blizzcasts and media sessions it appears Blizzard has only recently (as in this year) started coding B.Net2, as most of the features they want to include with it were not ready to be shown during the fansite press conference last month. And you're right I think it is blind fanboyism. If this B.Net 2 is a separate component and such an integral part of the game I don't know why they didn't start working on it since Day 1...from my understanding they have a separate dedicated team working on it anyways.
Also, I don't buy the argument that we're going to get a "better" game because of the delay...it's not like Blizzard is adding features, they're simply scrambling to deliver the features they promised because it's just NOT finished at this point.
Whatever the problem with B.net 2.0 is, it seems to be a tricky little thing. As I stated previously, these programmers aint the friggin gods of the universe. They get into hairy situations and problems that nobody would have thought of.. why? because that´s life... unexpected things happen from time to time.. and until you find a way to deal with it.. your stuck that way... is that so hard to fathom?
Arguably, Blizzard should have pinned down and gone to work on B.net earlier, or they simply felt rather confident about what was gonna happen that they didn´t foresee future problems.
It is quite clear that some of you have absolutely no idea how gamedevelopment and mechanics work in a company like Blizzard. I honestly don´t understand why all this hate must be put on Blizzard for delaying the game and make it better.. or at least implement the cool features that they promised in the friggin first place.. Most companies would probaly just say "AWWWW FCK it" and release it... without really having the new cool stuff... because it was too "hard".
This is where Blizzard shines, because it never comprises its integrity with its work, or caves in to pressure to release an unfinished product due to hardships in the development cycle.
This aint the friggin end of the world... If your genuinely pissed off about these news... well then maybe you should consider going out more.. or finding other pleasures in life other than a computer game, revolving around your day... Just a thought...
There are apparently a lot of people here who don't know the true development style for games in the modern age. As games get more complex, time increases naturally. Blizzard never said it was set in stone and most people knew right away from their lack of beta in early summer, meant beta wouldn't be out till mid-fall. Just the way quarters and cycles work.
Blizzard is its own developer and publisher now as well which means they no longer have pressure from Vivendi to release an early game (cough WC3)
This is now officially taking too long. They waited 9 years to announce the sequel, why could they not have just waited a bit longer! I hate waiting years for a release after it's announcement. I have never been concerned the Blizzard wouldn't produce a quality game, but now I am genuinely angry at being made to wait three bleeding years after the reveal!!!
With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year.
If I am not mistaken, this basically confirms that Beta won't start until early next year. As we all know, Battlenet needs to be ready in order for the beta to begin. Since it wont' be ready until early next year, there is no way that beta will start in 2009. On top of that, we know that beta is estimated to last around 4-6 months. This would fit their timeline of their quoted first half of 2010 which would take us to around June.
I really hope that isn't really what it meant or my reading skill is severely lacking. Because if it isn't, then we are seeing a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE DELAY!!!
This is what Blizzard does and always have done. Lets hope the game only will be delayed by a year and not three years like with Warcraft3.
on a side note its obivous the BattleNet 2.0 that is causing the delay. When listening to Dustin Browder the game itself has been good enough for Beta for quite a while.
If I am not mistaken, this basically confirms that Beta won't start until early next year. As we all know, Battlenet needs to be ready in order for the beta to begin. Since it wont' be ready until early next year, there is no way that beta will start in 2009.
I doubt we'll get the full package of Bnet 2.0 during the beta. I imagine there'll be alot of features unavailable and will be released when the full game go live. They just need to get up enough to be able to handle the minimum required for people to beta test SC2 really.
I wish they had never announced that they are working on SC2. This is so damn long to wait for the release. The first infos about the game are more than 1 year old?
Ok so maybe Diablo 3 might be released before SC2? Very stupid, thx Blizzard.
On August 06 2009 17:43 TurboMaN wrote: I wish they had never announced that they are working on SC2. This is so damn long to wait for the release. The first infos about the game are more than 1 year old?
Ok so maybe Diablo 3 might be released before SC2? Very stupid, thx Blizzard.
Contrary to that, announcing SC2 way before they release it is a sure way of getting the public to criticise and correct their work. Would you have liked it if Ultralisks v2.0 were released with 4000 hitpoints and 20 armor? I think not. SC2 was announced around 2007. It is worth the wait.
On August 06 2009 17:43 TurboMaN wrote: I wish they had never announced that they are working on SC2. This is so damn long to wait for the release. The first infos about the game are more than 1 year old?
Ok so maybe Diablo 3 might be released before SC2? Very stupid, thx Blizzard.
The delay is caused because of Bnet2.0 and not the game itself, in worse case scenario SC2 and D3 be released at the same time.
They will never release SC2 and D3 at the same time. Many ppl think that the delay of SC2 is because of Activions Management which doesn't want to let MW2 compete with SC2 because more ppl will buy both games if they are released in different months.
I'm sure the Blizzard development team would have finished a stable B.net 2.0. It's all about the CEO decisions.
On August 06 2009 17:48 sArite_nite wrote: Diablo 3 is not as hyped as SC2, Blizzard's MMOs are generally less popular than its RTS games.
Diablo 2 was not MMO and I doubt D3 will be. Also D2 was as popular as SC among my friends maybe even more.
Perhaps. But if you look at the trends, Blizzard's main moneymaker has been WoW because of the subscription.
Looking at success differently, WC3 and SC have made it much further than WoW in terms of popularity. (I played WoW and it got steadily easier and easier. So I left.)
WC3 is boring because of DotA (and also popular because of it) and SC is still the best.
I do not see D3 becoming as popular as SC2 unless SC2 turns out to be a blowjob after all the delays and Battle Reports. Diablo does have a very loyal fanbase though. I'll probably play both games. And I don't see how SC2 will sway DotA gamers over, DotA gamers stereotypically suck at RTS and at life (at least in my country they do).
On August 06 2009 16:22 MasterFischer wrote: Whatever the problem with B.net 2.0 is, it seems to be a tricky little thing. As I stated previously, these programmers aint the friggin gods of the universe. They get into hairy situations and problems that nobody would have thought of.. why? because that´s life... unexpected things happen from time to time.. and until you find a way to deal with it.. your stuck that way... is that so hard to fathom?
Arguably, Blizzard should have pinned down and gone to work on B.net earlier, or they simply felt rather confident about what was gonna happen that they didn´t foresee future problems.
It is quite clear that some of you have absolutely no idea how gamedevelopment and mechanics work in a company like Blizzard. I honestly don´t understand why all this hate must be put on Blizzard for delaying the game and make it better.. or at least implement the cool features that they promised in the friggin first place.. Most companies would probaly just say "AWWWW FCK it" and release it... without really having the new cool stuff... because it was too "hard".
This is where Blizzard shines, because it never comprises its integrity with its work, or caves in to pressure to release an unfinished product due to hardships in the development cycle.
This aint the friggin end of the world... If your genuinely pissed off about these news... well then maybe you should consider going out more.. or finding other pleasures in life other than a computer game, revolving around your day... Just a thought...
Or it has to do that the game will have been in development for 7 years by the time it gets released. I could name things MUCH harder than developing a game that happened in less than 7 years, lets see for example the Atomic Bomb.
On August 06 2009 16:52 Railz wrote: There are apparently a lot of people here who don't know the true development style for games in the modern age. As games get more complex, time increases naturally. Blizzard never said it was set in stone and most people knew right away from their lack of beta in early summer, meant beta wouldn't be out till mid-fall. Just the way quarters and cycles work.
Blizzard is its own developer and publisher now as well which means they no longer have pressure from Vivendi to release an early game (cough WC3)
I don't understand this. Yes, games are more complex today than previous, however the tools used to develop are much easier than previously. Following this logic, and pattern, games coming out in 2030 will taken on average 11+ years to develop, imagine 2100!
Face it, SC2 is a RTS. FF14 which is a MMO and being released Q2ish next year by Square-Enix will have been in development for 4-5 years. They just announced it in June at E3. That is how you conduct business. You don't announce a game that is more than a year off. Blizzard screwed the pooch.
On August 06 2009 17:48 sArite_nite wrote: Diablo 3 is not as hyped as SC2, Blizzard's MMOs are generally less popular than its RTS games.
Diablo 2 was not MMO and I doubt D3 will be. Also D2 was as popular as SC among my friends maybe even more.
Perhaps. But if you look at the trends, Blizzard's main moneymaker has been WoW because of the subscription.
Looking at success differently, WC3 and SC have made it much further than WoW in terms of popularity. (I played WoW and it got steadily easier and easier. So I left.)
WC3 is boring because of DotA (and also popular because of it) and SC is still the best.
I do not see D3 becoming as popular as SC2 unless SC2 turns out to be a blowjob after all the delays and Battle Reports. Diablo does have a very loyal fanbase though. I'll probably play both games. And I don't see how SC2 will sway DotA gamers over, DotA gamers stereotypically suck at RTS and at life (at least in my country they do).
Dota may be boring for you but it's not for others. I actually like games which are easy and that I can play at e decent level without being a progamer. I have played dota and I liked it but that didn't stop me from deleting it because I don't like addictive games.
Wow is also addictive because of the monthly fee. You pay for a month so why not play 16 hours a day to make better use of your money? No thanks, there is no game that I would pay monthly to play and I doubt there will ever be.
what makes me angry is that I don't need bnet 2.0, give me 1.0 with better latency because all those things which will be better in bnet 2.0 will cost money. in some interview they said that things like ability to create custom tournaments etc will cost money etc.
On August 06 2009 18:26 despite wrote: Dota may be boring for you but it's not for others. I actually like games which are easy and that I can play at e decent level without being a progamer. I have played dota and I liked it but that didn't stop me from deleting it because I don't like addictive games.
Wow is also addictive because of the monthly fee. You pay for a month so why not play 16 hours a day to make better use of your money? No thanks, there is no game that I would pay monthly to play and I doubt there will ever be.
I used to love DotA, been playing ever since version 5.2x I think. I still love playing Techies. Yes, I was addicted to WoW, but then it became mindless and a lack of funds made me stop anyway.
DotA simply got too complicated yet mindless. You do the same things every game, expect the same things every game (early leavers are a staple), expect the same bad manners, expect the customary noob comments when you lose.
Starcraft is so much more exciting, the community by far bigger and more well-mannered
And they don't call you a noob even though you lost (admittedly I lose because I always try to nuke after they cheese me)
I'm a low D player, but I get kicks out of playing Starcraft. I don't get kicks out of controlling a single unit that has 4 skills, one of which may be based on a randomly generated number. I get kicks out of making bold statements with my nukes, because I like to. With DotA and BM team members you don't get that kind of feeling.
I have seen a lot of post claiming that more delay is good because the final product will be better, but let me remind you that more delay doesn't equal to a more quality product.
(and get ready when they announce campaign will have to be played online, and the other money-cow features).
Great things take time to make. My brother has more luck with sc2. Every once in a wile he asks me when the game is coming and replies with an ok. I check news every day...
It seems that Blizzard is trying to be, as they said, 'quite ambitious' to say the least haha. It's beginning to look like they're trying to create an entire community online. That is to say; it appears they want you to be talking to your 'online buddies' no matter what game your playing (or obviously if your not playing a game at all). And with the previously stated voip support as well it doesn't surprise me that they underestimated how long it'll take to make...
That and i'm guessing that whole 'no lan' affair has probably delayed it a bit. Perhaps they ARE in fact [now] trying to make a system like Steam (i.e. content delivery also..)?
All this really has all the markings of Blizzard treating the 'game' and 'Bnet 2' as separate products... and have been caught with their pants down finding out they have one in beta stage... and the other no where close...
On August 06 2009 19:42 C3nsuRED_cz wrote: They have to finish it in early 2010, so we have at least 1 and half your to play it (since world ends in 2012)
ffs i wish you people would just stop vomiting this garbage everywhere and this is what you made your 3rd post?! /rage ontopic: Although I am quite unhappy at this news I guess I can see where Blizz is coming from. And I have to agree with most people here, this does give us that bit longer with bw and I can climb the iccup ladder for a bit longer :D
whine all you want, blizzard will take their time making the game the best they can. And when its out you will be happy they delayed it and you will think the game is awsome...
I hear a lot of talk that blizzard intentionally announced their game prematurely. (To be honest we were clamoring for SC2 pretty loudly before it was announced anyways). Well for you younglings, it was a Korean who hinted that SC2 would be released. Perhaps a news reporter or something. A few weeks to a month later Dustin Browder showed us ten or so units ending with three ghosts getting consumed by lings and then morphing into banelings. It was not at first an intentional announcement. If they're supposed to take 3-4 years to make games, and we caught them in their first year, then so be it.
I just read it on Gametrailers T_T think most people expected this, still it's the first half of 2010 so max a year and it's not like SC is going anywhere in the meantime....Im glad I don't want it to die yet :o
JUMP JUMP JUMP for joy! Looks so damn good, can't wait.
who cares.... SC2 was delayed! and that means no beta till 2010!
Perhaps because as Square-Enix is an immensely popular gaming company and knowing that people do play more than one game, thought I'd share a bit of good news on an otherwise bad day. Unless of course, everyone here only plays one game, in that case I am truely sorry.
On August 06 2009 21:04 obesechicken13 wrote: I hear a lot of talk that blizzard intentionally announced their game prematurely. (To be honest we were clamoring for SC2 pretty loudly before it was announced anyways). Well for you younglings, it was a Korean who hinted that SC2 would be released. Perhaps a news reporter or something. A few weeks to a month later Dustin Browder showed us ten or so units ending with three ghosts getting consumed by lings and then morphing into banelings. It was not at first an intentional announcement. If they're supposed to take 3-4 years to make games, and we caught them in their first year, then so be it.
They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
As i said before Im not shocked really, this happens every time they release a new game. Games needs perfection and i think blizzard wants SC2 to be perfect when releasing.
On August 06 2009 21:04 obesechicken13 wrote: I hear a lot of talk that blizzard intentionally announced their game prematurely. (To be honest we were clamoring for SC2 pretty loudly before it was announced anyways). Well for you younglings, it was a Korean who hinted that SC2 would be released. Perhaps a news reporter or something. A few weeks to a month later Dustin Browder showed us ten or so units ending with three ghosts getting consumed by lings and then morphing into banelings. It was not at first an intentional announcement. If they're supposed to take 3-4 years to make games, and we caught them in their first year, then so be it.
They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
On August 06 2009 23:50 ggfobster wrote: They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
It's not the bnet 2.0 it's Activisions selling policy.
On August 06 2009 23:50 ggfobster wrote: They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
It's not the bnet 2.0 it's Activisions selling policy.
No, it is Bnet 2.0, and it is pretty clear that they weren't happy with the current version, so they are delaying it to make sure that it delivers.
On August 06 2009 23:50 ggfobster wrote: They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
It's not the bnet 2.0 it's Activisions selling policy.
WoW:WOTLK was released the same week than COD5... Activision policy is to have one game per IP/year and Blizzard release nothing in 2009...
On August 06 2009 23:50 ggfobster wrote: They started making SC2 in 2003, right after WC3 expansion came out, minus one year that the team went over to WoW, they've been making this game for 5 years, by the time it's out 6 years of development will have gone into the game. And, they are just now ironing down battle.net? Shoddy planning imo.
It's not the bnet 2.0 it's Activisions selling policy.
WoW:WOTLK was released the same week than COD5... Activision policy is to have one game per IP/year and Blizzard release nothing in 2009...
tbh blizzard really doesnt need to release any new games.. they have WoW.. so any new games they make wil be like pocket cash comapared to what WoW or any decent MMO brings in =\
On August 07 2009 02:37 MiniRoman wrote: Lol THE DEVELOPMENT OF BATTLE.NET IS ABSOLUTLY CRITICAL FOR SC2. While we make b.net2.0 sickasfuck we will continue to polish SC2.
~_~! Battle.net better be able to suck my dick with this kinda hype or I will be disappointed.
Thats the thing really, its gonna be able to suck your life!
I think they understood a real great game needs a perfect mean to convey it. Thats what battle.net2.0 is gonna be.
I'm kind of sad that its delayed but at the sametime ill be pretty happy to see all the features of the new bnet. My feelings is its gonna be the best thing since peanut butter and jelly!
I don't know why they're delaying the end of Starcraft as we know it. They're well on the way of killing every thing they built this far. Between getting rid of LAN play, and changing most of the units. They're making the Titanic of video games. Spending all this time, money and hype just to have most of the fans not like what they're doing. They should have just remade the first one with better graphics and fixed battle.net from hackers. MAYBE take out one or two of the less used units for some new ones. I hope the reason for the delay is that they're adding LAN play and the ability to watch the replays from any where like now. Plus the pro-leagues is how this game got to making the money it did. They're killing it with greed. What's next, online playing fees? Or are they just going make you buy each unit with real money (changing the definition of macro). I would hope that Starcraft 2 is going to be great. I would hope that it is going to be epic, but from my experience it won't. All the time put into game just raises hype. People tend to think the more time you put into things the better it should be. Its been like 11 years, this thing should be Godly.
On August 07 2009 02:37 MiniRoman wrote: Lol THE DEVELOPMENT OF BATTLE.NET IS ABSOLUTLY CRITICAL FOR SC2. While we make b.net2.0 sickasfuck we will continue to polish SC2.
~_~! Battle.net better be able to suck my dick with this kinda hype or I will be disappointed.
There won't be any LAN play without authenticating to Battle.net first. Deal with it.
The issue wasn't just hype, nor was it a misquote. "We don't currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft 2, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft 2 and future Blizzard Entertainment games," Blizzard told Ars when we asked about the problem directly.
Well, it's definitely true. Blizzard has killed LAN support in the upcoming StarCraft II, and here's the official word from Bob Colayco at Blizzard PR:
"We don't currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.
Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we're encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We're looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future."
So, let it hereby be noted that pirates killed the LAN party.
that means no LAN play. All the "authenticating" is not going to fix that. I bought my copy. Not to mention, I'm heavily against pirating games. Its a job to make them, so they should be paid for it.
On August 07 2009 04:03 Mass.crafT wrote: that means no LAN play. All the "authenticating" is not going to fix that. I bought my copy. Not to mention, I'm heavily against pirating games. Its a job to make them, so they should be paid for it.
thats exactly what i think and in my eyes everyone should think about it this way.
also i dont get what lanmodus is good for these days. you can play on lan using battle.net with a lanping, so the only thing is you must be connected to internet (that should be no problem) and you cant use programs like Garena, VSClient, Haofeng (and thats not bad if they improve the ping on bnet)
What makes me sad is that blizzard can hardly argue that they got all their prestige and money from a NO PIRACY attitude.
There are tons of people who played pirate versions of games before getting into the real deal, and altho that will still be possible from a SP pov, if BNET IS SO MUCH FREAKING AWESOME WOULDNT IT BE INSANE TO PLAY A PIRATE VERSION IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
WOW HAS PIRATE SERVERS NO ONE PLAYS IT BECAUSE THEY SUCK SO ARENT YOU CONFIDENT IN YOUR OWN SKILLS TO CREATE A DECENT ONLINE PLATFORM ?
Money rules everything gentlemen, its all about the % of stocks.
LAN is fun case all you need is the game and a computer to play it on. The computer can be old as hell too when (Starcraft). Just the $20 game and then play.
Many blamed piracy for this. At a time when the gaming industry was moving towards ever more and more intrusive DRM for PC games, Valve came out with a different approach, and proposed the idea that many pirates are underserved customers. They launched Steam, which has been wildly successful- and with no stupid DRM that harms your computer.
Blizzard is just copying Valve's move here. They want Battlenet 2.0 to be (ideally) a better version of Steam.
LAN just one thing. Don't act like there are not people complaining about lots of things there doing with Starcraft 2. Even the Koreans are worried that there going to screw all up. Like dude was saying "its all about the money" and theres no money in LAN. There no money in piracy ether. All I'am getting at is this, I hear people say "I can't wait for SC2, but..." Theres usually something people don't like. From my understanding people love Stacraft 1 and it wasn't perfect to start. Just get it out there, and fix it like they did the first one and listen to there fans. I personally don't play on BNET, to many hackers. So, I see why they are putting the time and effort into battle.net. But, if you take all the fun out of the game you lose the staying power thats kept starcraft going for 11 years. If they want LAN play give them LAN play, and just shot all the pirates in the face. There smart folks they could find a way to stop hacking and pirates without, getting rid of thing people like.
As many of you know, we have been working day and night to get Starcraft into your hands by this Christmas. This has included 30 hour shifts, sleeping on our office floors, and living on stale pizza. The progress on Starcraft has been phenomenal, and it is looking like all of our efforts are going to be well worth it. Unfortunately, it has become clear to us that in order to bring you the best game possible, we are not going to be able to release the game before the end of January.
In case you don't remember, the original 1996 debut of Starcraft looked something like this: http://www.blizzard.com/star/bigpix/oldsc.htm We just had a world premiere at the Wizards of the Coast Game Center and you can see how far it has come: http://www.blizzard.com/star/bigpix/scnow.htm The reaction of everyone there was very positive, but we don't want to release Starcraft until it becomes the classic that we know it can be. With this extra time we will be, among other things, refining the play balance of the game, and honing the computer AI.
We read our e-mail, we watch the forums and newsgroups, and we know that you want this game to come out NOW. We also want to get the game into your hands as soon as possible, but we want to make sure that Starcraft is everything you expect from Blizzard. Starcraft is a project that has been two years in the making. It would be an injustice to you and the development team to ship the game before it is truly ready.
Thank you for your continued support and interest in Starcraft. We are dedicated to creating the best games in the world for the world's best gamers.
The Starcraft Team
2009 delay announcement
"Thank you, Kristen and thank you for joining us this afternoon. July 9th marked our one-year anniversary as Activision Blizzard. As a combined company, we’ve delivered better-than-expected financial performance for the fourth consecutive quarter. We are in a very unique position in our industry. We have the breadth of product portfolio and resources to deliver our short-term commitments of earnings growth and margin expansion and the ability to shift products to future release dates to increase our long-term financial returns and to ensure our product quality objectives are met.
Today we are reaffirming our full-year non-GAAP EPS outlook and we expect to achieve record non-GAAP operating margins of 26%. We also expect to deliver these results despite a weaker-than-expected retail environment and a number of strategic decisions that will have an impact on our short-term revenue outlook but which will strengthen our competitive advantage for the long-term.
Our margins are the highest of any third-party publisher and we expect our growth initiatives will continue to provide long-term opportunities. Our 17-year track record of growth is evidence that our long-term focus is working and has created significant shareholder value.
Over the past few months, we’ve made a number of strategic decisions that reflect our commitment to product quality and the investments required to capture large new market opportunities. With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year.
A true online destination platform, Battlenet will become the foundation for connecting the tens of millions of members of the Blizzard community in a social gaming network across all Blizzard’s future games. This will begin with World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2.
To put Battlenet into context, it will be a service similar to Xbox Live and it will leverage the technologies, infrastructure, and expertise that Blizzard has developed over the last decade in multi-player play and social networking. And as Mike Morhaime will discuss later in the call, there is no better opportunity to launch this strategic initiative than through the launch of Starcraft 2.
The title is likely to be the most anticipated groundbreaking realtime strategy game of all time and the Battlenet platform is an investment in the future of gaming and an opportunity that we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on.
Today we have more people in more countries playing online games than any other company and we intend to continue our leadership position through franchises like Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2, as well as Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty franchise.
Another great area of opportunity for us is China. We continue to strengthen our position there with Blizzard Entertainment’s partnership with Netease, the premier China based videogame company. This is a long-term investment with a very capable and committed partner. Netease has already made significant investments in upgrading the technical infrastructure of the World of Warcraft service. In fact, from a quality of hardware and network perspective, China is our most advanced geography in technical capability. Mike will also give you more details about our progress in China later in the call.
This flexibility to make long-term investments without compromising near-term results puts us in an enviable position. We’re not preoccupied with dramatic restructurings, burdensome investments to develop online game making capabilities, or the significant risks and expenses associated with entering new geographies like China or Korea. This gives us an exceptionally deep advantage and is the basis for our industry-leading operating margins today and provides us the ability to expand operating margins in the future.
Our cultural focus on thrift is driving further cost reductions throughout our business and our incredibly strong balance sheet has enabled us to repurchase more than $650 million worth of shares since we began our repurchase program. Today we announced that our board of directors has authorized an additional $250 million to our buy-back program to $1.25 billion, further illustrating our long-term focus and commitment to providing superior returns to our shareholders.
I thought it would be useful to remind you of the five key advantages that will enable us to provide superior returns to our shareholders in the future.
First, our focus on a select number of proven franchises and genres, our strong marketing and sales programs, and our ability to find ways to broaden our franchises through innovative business models, new genres, and new markets. Our leading online capability and first mover advantage and access to fast-growing Asian markets, our industry-leading operational capability and the most talented group of employees by far in our sector. And finally, our exceptional balance sheet, which is the result of our continued focus on margin expansion, operational excellence, and rigorous cost control.
It has taken 18 years to create these competitive advantages but today we are better positioned than any of our competitors to capitalize on the long-term opportunities afforded by our industry and we will continue exploring new market opportunities and business models that should enable us to continue growing our operating margins and delivering long-term value to our shareholders as we have over the last 18 years."
amazing how quick ppl suddenly hate blizzard and everything, common...if there's one game company who actually delivers every bloddy time, it's blizzard (except Ghost i guess )
Many blamed piracy for this. At a time when the gaming industry was moving towards ever more and more intrusive DRM for PC games, Valve came out with a different approach, and proposed the idea that many pirates are underserved customers. They launched Steam, which has been wildly successful- and with no stupid DRM that harms your computer.
Blizzard is just copying Valve's move here. They want Battlenet 2.0 to be (ideally) a better version of Steam.
And Steam has no LAN.
Are you serious... I'm gonna take it you've not played on steam... or you wouldn't have just said that... Steam auth with the server, and then you play over lan... Where did you get the idea it was ever any different...?
On August 06 2009 05:33 7mk wrote: Oh well this could also mean that korean bw pro gaming lives a little bit longer and that maybe I'll be a C lvl bw player before SC2 comes out. Both would be nice ^^
im really starting to think that Pro broodwar will not be replaced by sc2 but will actually compete with one another for a good 1-2 years, maybe more if sc2 fails
While I knew it would be pushed back and I hate it no doubt, people need to realize the irony is that most game companies just throw games out asap (EA being a huge one). People tell them to take more time on their games but when a company takes more time to make it actually good (Blizzard) people get pist. There is no pleasing the fan base. Blizzard has it right even though its painful to wait there is nothing better then a polished, good game rather then a could have been good game but bugs ruined it to hell.
Many blamed piracy for this. At a time when the gaming industry was moving towards ever more and more intrusive DRM for PC games, Valve came out with a different approach, and proposed the idea that many pirates are underserved customers. They launched Steam, which has been wildly successful- and with no stupid DRM that harms your computer.
Blizzard is just copying Valve's move here. They want Battlenet 2.0 to be (ideally) a better version of Steam.
And Steam has no LAN.
Are you serious... I'm gonna take it you've not played on steam... or you wouldn't have just said that... Steam auth with the server, and then you play over lan... Where did you get the idea it was ever any different...?
TBH I've only played L4D over steam, and it has no LAN.
Many blamed piracy for this. At a time when the gaming industry was moving towards ever more and more intrusive DRM for PC games, Valve came out with a different approach, and proposed the idea that many pirates are underserved customers. They launched Steam, which has been wildly successful- and with no stupid DRM that harms your computer.
Blizzard is just copying Valve's move here. They want Battlenet 2.0 to be (ideally) a better version of Steam.
And Steam has no LAN.
Are you serious... I'm gonna take it you've not played on steam... or you wouldn't have just said that... Steam auth with the server, and then you play over lan... Where did you get the idea it was ever any different...?
TBH I've only played L4D over steam, and it has no LAN.
It does too have Lan me and my friends do it all the time...
No one really knows whats going on, apart from the people running the Project Bnet 2.0 and the project Starcraft 2. There is far more to it than just random quotes and phrases thrown out of peoples mouths these days.
I'm not surprised, angry or frustrated. I almost don't care, if beta comes this year I will be pleasantly surprised. I still enjoy playing SC1 and watching pro games, so that will sustain me for a long time still.
Also it would appear that it's not only SC2 that's being delayed till 2010, there are others as well.
On August 07 2009 07:21 blade55555 wrote: While I knew it would be pushed back and I hate it no doubt, people need to realize the irony is that most game companies just throw games out asap (EA being a huge one). People tell them to take more time on their games but when a company takes more time to make it actually good (Blizzard) people get pist. There is no pleasing the fan base. Blizzard has it right even though its painful to wait there is nothing better then a polished, good game rather then a could have been good game but bugs ruined it to hell.
No matter what, there are always people who whine like a little girl, it makes themself feel special.
Personally I don't mind the delay, it gives them time to work on features that they PROMISED, which is a good thing.
When it comes to development, you can only pick 2 out of 3, quality, timeliness and cheap. Since Blizzard is exist to make money, and they know the importance of quality, they would have to sacrifice speed.
For the idiot who pointed out how atom bomb was made faster than SC2, he should read about the manhattan project details. The amount of resources they put in it such as man power and money is enormous. They obviously sarcrifice the cost so they can end the war quickly.
Omg.... Maybe Im not cynical enough, I had no clue this was coming especially with all the "we're in the final stretch" crap. I mean I know that blizzard only releases perfect games, but the game is supposedly perfect its just bnet 2.0 thats slowing this down. Oh well, at least the original starcraft has some life left in it.
I'm not surprised that they pushed the date further, but overall, it's not a big deal for me as long as the good is good. If the game turns out to be on par of SC1, or better, then the wait was well worth it. Until then, I'll pick up Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and play that along with SC and CS 1.6 lol
On August 07 2009 06:11 SWOLE wrote: 1997 delay announcement: + Show Spoiler +
As many of you know, we have been working day and night to get Starcraft into your hands by this Christmas. This has included 30 hour shifts, sleeping on our office floors, and living on stale pizza. The progress on Starcraft has been phenomenal, and it is looking like all of our efforts are going to be well worth it. Unfortunately, it has become clear to us that in order to bring you the best game possible, we are not going to be able to release the game before the end of January.
In case you don't remember, the original 1996 debut of Starcraft looked something like this: http://www.blizzard.com/star/bigpix/oldsc.htm We just had a world premiere at the Wizards of the Coast Game Center and you can see how far it has come: http://www.blizzard.com/star/bigpix/scnow.htm The reaction of everyone there was very positive, but we don't want to release Starcraft until it becomes the classic that we know it can be. With this extra time we will be, among other things, refining the play balance of the game, and honing the computer AI.
We read our e-mail, we watch the forums and newsgroups, and we know that you want this game to come out NOW. We also want to get the game into your hands as soon as possible, but we want to make sure that Starcraft is everything you expect from Blizzard. Starcraft is a project that has been two years in the making. It would be an injustice to you and the development team to ship the game before it is truly ready.
Thank you for your continued support and interest in Starcraft. We are dedicated to creating the best games in the world for the world's best gamers.
"Thank you, Kristen and thank you for joining us this afternoon. July 9th marked our one-year anniversary as Activision Blizzard. As a combined company, we’ve delivered better-than-expected financial performance for the fourth consecutive quarter. We are in a very unique position in our industry. We have the breadth of product portfolio and resources to deliver our short-term commitments of earnings growth and margin expansion and the ability to shift products to future release dates to increase our long-term financial returns and to ensure our product quality objectives are met.
Today we are reaffirming our full-year non-GAAP EPS outlook and we expect to achieve record non-GAAP operating margins of 26%. We also expect to deliver these results despite a weaker-than-expected retail environment and a number of strategic decisions that will have an impact on our short-term revenue outlook but which will strengthen our competitive advantage for the long-term.
Our margins are the highest of any third-party publisher and we expect our growth initiatives will continue to provide long-term opportunities. Our 17-year track record of growth is evidence that our long-term focus is working and has created significant shareholder value.
Over the past few months, we’ve made a number of strategic decisions that reflect our commitment to product quality and the investments required to capture large new market opportunities. With this in mind, we are repositioning the release of Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft 2 into the first half of 2010 to coincide with the launch of our new Battlenet game service which will be ready early next year.
A true online destination platform, Battlenet will become the foundation for connecting the tens of millions of members of the Blizzard community in a social gaming network across all Blizzard’s future games. This will begin with World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2.
To put Battlenet into context, it will be a service similar to Xbox Live and it will leverage the technologies, infrastructure, and expertise that Blizzard has developed over the last decade in multi-player play and social networking. And as Mike Morhaime will discuss later in the call, there is no better opportunity to launch this strategic initiative than through the launch of Starcraft 2.
The title is likely to be the most anticipated groundbreaking realtime strategy game of all time and the Battlenet platform is an investment in the future of gaming and an opportunity that we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on.
Today we have more people in more countries playing online games than any other company and we intend to continue our leadership position through franchises like Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2, as well as Activision Publishing’s Call of Duty franchise.
Another great area of opportunity for us is China. We continue to strengthen our position there with Blizzard Entertainment’s partnership with Netease, the premier China based videogame company. This is a long-term investment with a very capable and committed partner. Netease has already made significant investments in upgrading the technical infrastructure of the World of Warcraft service. In fact, from a quality of hardware and network perspective, China is our most advanced geography in technical capability. Mike will also give you more details about our progress in China later in the call.
This flexibility to make long-term investments without compromising near-term results puts us in an enviable position. We’re not preoccupied with dramatic restructurings, burdensome investments to develop online game making capabilities, or the significant risks and expenses associated with entering new geographies like China or Korea. This gives us an exceptionally deep advantage and is the basis for our industry-leading operating margins today and provides us the ability to expand operating margins in the future.
Our cultural focus on thrift is driving further cost reductions throughout our business and our incredibly strong balance sheet has enabled us to repurchase more than $650 million worth of shares since we began our repurchase program. Today we announced that our board of directors has authorized an additional $250 million to our buy-back program to $1.25 billion, further illustrating our long-term focus and commitment to providing superior returns to our shareholders.
I thought it would be useful to remind you of the five key advantages that will enable us to provide superior returns to our shareholders in the future.
First, our focus on a select number of proven franchises and genres, our strong marketing and sales programs, and our ability to find ways to broaden our franchises through innovative business models, new genres, and new markets. Our leading online capability and first mover advantage and access to fast-growing Asian markets, our industry-leading operational capability and the most talented group of employees by far in our sector. And finally, our exceptional balance sheet, which is the result of our continued focus on margin expansion, operational excellence, and rigorous cost control.
It has taken 18 years to create these competitive advantages but today we are better positioned than any of our competitors to capitalize on the long-term opportunities afforded by our industry and we will continue exploring new market opportunities and business models that should enable us to continue growing our operating margins and delivering long-term value to our shareholders as we have over the last 18 years."
Well I can see your point. You want to show us how they made a masterpiece for 2 years with a month and a half delay and how they are going to fail with a game that has been developed for over 5 years and has been delayed for at least 1 year so far.
On August 07 2009 07:21 blade55555 wrote: While I knew it would be pushed back and I hate it no doubt, people need to realize the irony is that most game companies just throw games out asap (EA being a huge one). People tell them to take more time on their games but when a company takes more time to make it actually good (Blizzard) people get pist. There is no pleasing the fan base. Blizzard has it right even though its painful to wait there is nothing better then a polished, good game rather then a could have been good game but bugs ruined it to hell.
No matter what, there are always people who whine like a little girl, it makes themself feel special.
Personally I don't mind the delay, it gives them time to work on features that they PROMISED, which is a good thing.
When it comes to development, you can only pick 2 out of 3, quality, timeliness and cheap. Since Blizzard is exist to make money, and they know the importance of quality, they would have to sacrifice speed.
For the idiot who pointed out how atom bomb was made faster than SC2, he should read about the manhattan project details. The amount of resources they put in it such as man power and money is enormous. They obviously sarcrifice the cost so they can end the war quickly.
I guess you missed my other points in which there have been countless great games that were developed in under 5 years. SC2 is a RTS, arguably the easiest genre to create. It should never take a RTS game 6-7 years from inception to beta. Period.
Let's just show some examples here shall we. Square-Enix developed FFXIV (Their new MMO) in 4 years and will be releasing it mid next year. This puts it on about a 5 year dev timeline. You see, S-E didn't announce it until this E-3, a year before the planned and anticipated release. That is how you operate. Stringing people along for nearly 3 years after all ready being in development for 4 years just shows a lack of operational planning and a severe lack of time sensibilities.
Now, why on earth wasn't BNET2.0 started 3-4 years ago? You seriously can't tell me that Battle.Net takes as long or nearly as long as FFXIV. So, the only logical conclusion you come up with is that Blizzard is fucking inept and dilly dallied around for years and then decided oh fuck, we need to start working on BNET2.0. They screwed the damn pooch. I'm sick and tired of the fanboyism that runs rampant thats counter-intuitive to logic.
Here's a few nice little INGAME screenshot of FFXIV.
I saw this on a forum (slashdot) in reference to the lack of LAN play in SC2 and how it would affect tournaments. I thought you all might be interested:
"I talked to a guy who works at Blizzard, and he said that they were building some big Tournament feature into Battle.net, where the organizer would input the names of all the competitors, and the system would take care of the matchmaking and bracketing. Seemed kinda cool, but its not like there are other systems out there for running tournaments of all kinds, not to mention just regular pen & paper."
Since the beta is going to be completely multi-player and thus heavily dependent on bnet, does this mean that the beta won't be out till next year either?
I wouldn't be surprised that beta will be out next year simply because Blizzard did say that Battlenet 2.0 won't be ready until 2010.
I totally agree with Aegraen. I'm actually very surprised about the progress of Battlenet 2.0. They are still looking for a lead developer from the Blizzard job finds. I do agree with the people complaining about Blizzards progress. I mean seriously, Blizzard really screwed up their timetable and progress when they told us that Battlenet 2.0 was not ready and then afterwords, we found out they still don't have a lead developer.
People aren't angry at Blizzard delaying their games. Anyone that knows Blizzard should know that their games will always be delayed. SC2 been delayed till 2010 was expected and is actually not the reason that many people are ticked off. What people are angry at is that the game has been in development for 6 years and Battlenet 2.0's progress is extremely limited at the moment. Like Aegraen stated, they should have planned out Battlenet 2.0 3-4 years ago and not wait till the last second when beta is ready to begin that they started to find some errors/stuff that they want to add to Battlenet 2.0 that they decide to delay it again. Dustin Browder has clearly stated that he wants to get into BETA asap. But for some reasons due to terrible development planning, Battlenet 2.0 is way behind. Those kind of stuff should be sorted out while they are developing SC2, not at the last second. That's just bad bad progress planning. Add to the fact that they slap all these silly NDA's and you can clearly see why there are soo many angry fans.
On August 07 2009 18:32 Ych9 wrote: I wouldn't be surprised that beta will be out next year simply because Blizzard did say that Battlenet 2.0 won't be ready until 2010.
I totally agree with Aegraen. I'm actually very surprised about the progress of Battlenet 2.0. They are still looking for a lead developer from the Blizzard job finds. I do agree with the people complaining about Blizzards progress. I mean seriously, Blizzard really screwed up their timetable and progress when they told us that Battlenet 2.0 was not ready and then afterwords, we found out they still don't have a lead developer.
People aren't angry at Blizzard delaying their games. Anyone that knows Blizzard should know that their games will always be delayed. SC2 been delayed till 2010 was expected and is actually not the reason that many people are ticked off. What people are angry at is that the game has been in development for 6 years and Battlenet 2.0's progress is extremely limited at the moment. Like Aegraen stated, they should have planned out Battlenet 2.0 3-4 years ago and not wait till the last second when beta is ready to begin that they started to find some errors/stuff that they want to add to Battlenet 2.0 that they decide to delay it again. Dustin Browder has clearly stated that he wants to get into BETA asap. But for some reasons due to terrible development planning, Battlenet 2.0 is way behind. Those kind of stuff should be sorted out while they are developing SC2, not at the last second. That's just bad bad progress planning. Add to the fact that they slap all these silly NDA's and you can clearly see why there are soo many angry fans.
Looking for a lead does NOT = not having a lead. They might want someone new, they might want an additional lead. Don't make stupid assumptions.
That proves my point. Blizzard should have PLANNED this all along 3-4 years ago and not wait till the last second. Why are they looking for a new developer at this stage if what you said EximoSua was the case? This shouldn't have had happened till the very last second. See where I am getting here? And by all means, my assumptions is just as valid is your assumptions. None of us have valid proofs of what is going on behind the scenes of Battlenet 2.0. But from the sounds of it, I believe mine is actually a bit more valid then yours. Why? Dustin Browder has stated many times that he wants to get SC2 into Beta but Battlenet 2.0 is getting in the way. Dustin Browder and I believe, Chris Sigaty stated that they DON'T EVEN KNOW what is going to be in Battlenet 2.0 which is why I believe that Battlenet 2.0's development has started not too long ago. If Battlenet 2.0 has been in the planning progress since 3-4 years ago, I'm sure that the fundmentals of Battlenet 2.0 would have already been laid out. Dustin Browder + Chris Sigaty wouldn't have given us an answer like that. Knowing Blizzard, they would have said, "This is something that we are not ready to reveal yet." Again, I have no valid proofs for this. But reading into the lines of the Blizzard developers, you can't say that what I just claimed was impossible.
I'm not here ranting about Blizzard's delay or trying to start up a flame war with anyone. I'm just stating out the stuff and possibilities and most importantly, pointing out the 2 sides of this issue at the moment (Blizzard supporters and Ranters). I am by all means, not pissed off at the delay of Sc2. People should understand why many fans are pissed off (NDA's, bad progress planning for Battlenet 2.0). People that are backing up Blizzard should also understand that Blizzard isn't perfect. They make mistakes. When a company makes a mistake, we as customers, have the right to voice our opinions. Without us customers voicing our opinions and supporting them, Blizzard will be nothing. Blizzard ranters should also be patient and understand that Blizzard doesn't want this to happen. They want to get BETA STARTED ASAP. We should all be patient because knowing Blizzard, it will pay off. But in the end, when SC2 is released, everyone (Blizzard supporters and Blizzard ranters) will unite once again and everything will be forgotten. You can count me in as a Sc2 supporter .
On August 07 2009 19:37 Ych9 wrote: That proves my point. Blizzard should have PLANNED this all along 3-4 years ago and not wait till the last second. Why are they looking for a new developer at this stage if what you said EximoSua was the case? This shouldn't have had happened till the very last second. See where I am getting here? And by all means, my assumptions is just as valid is your assumptions. None of us have valid proofs of what is going on behind the scenes of Battlenet 2.0. But from the sounds of it, I believe mine is actually a bit more valid then yours. Why? Dustin Browder has stated many times that he wants to get SC2 into Beta but Battlenet 2.0 is getting in the way. Dustin Browder and I believe, Chris Sigaty stated that they DON'T EVEN KNOW what is going to be in Battlenet 2.0 which is why I believe that Battlenet 2.0's development has started not too long ago. If Battlenet 2.0 has been in the planning progress since 3-4 years ago, I'm sure that the fundmentals of Battlenet 2.0 would have already been laid out. Dustin Browder + Chris Sigaty wouldn't have given us an answer like that. Knowing Blizzard, they would have said, "This is something that we are not ready to reveal yet." Again, I have no valid proofs for this. But reading into the lines of the Blizzard developers, you can't say that what I just claimed was impossible.
I'm not here ranting about Blizzard's delay or trying to start up a flame war with anyone. I'm just stating out the stuff and possibilities and most importantly, pointing out the 2 sides of this issue at the moment (Blizzard supporters and Ranters). I am by all means, not pissed off at the delay of Sc2. People should understand why many fans are pissed off (NDA's, bad progress planning for Battlenet 2.0). People that are backing up Blizzard should also understand that Blizzard isn't perfect. They make mistakes. When a company makes a mistake, we as customers, have the right to voice our opinions. Without us customers voicing our opinions and supporting them, Blizzard will be nothing. Blizzard ranters should also be patient and understand that Blizzard doesn't want this to happen. They want to get BETA STARTED ASAP. We should all be patient because knowing Blizzard, it will pay off. But in the end, when SC2 is released, everyone (Blizzard supporters and Blizzard ranters) will unite once again and everything will be forgotten. You can count me in as a Sc2 supporter .
Hey if somebody wants to be a real big pal I'm look for all of release updates that Blizzard has given on SC2 in the passed year or so. I haven't really been following this too well but for some of you I bet that wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to find. Anyone help will be greatly appreciated.
At this point I wonder if they're working on protoss or zerg campaign right now while the B.Net team works on well... B.net 2.0. Would be good if the other two campaigns are released shortly after considering how long they seem to be taking on the B.net part. On the other hand it's pretty predictable of blizzard to delay another starcraft game -_-. Who knows how long this one will be delayed for? Wasn't ghost a completely finished game before they scrapped it?
I don't know about ghost but I don't think they are working on the other 2 yet. Isn't there a contract of 1 major release a year for blizzard? I was pretty sure anyway unless that has changed as blizzard wont' be releasing anything major this year. From what I was thinking was Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Starcraft zerg expansion, possible mmo, another starcraft protoss story, etc. Was what I am assuming happens.
It just seems that there is so much delay with the "Starcraft" franchise. I was kind of too young and uninterested in the other blizzard franchises (diablo, warcraft) but my interest in starcraft has never ceased to stop. And I waited for Ghost for years... i remember seeing the first pictures of what the buildings looked like and was so hyped... Then i heard about SC 2 I was literally jumping like crazy when i heard the news (The announcement trailer was SICK). Blech... I don't know just bummed lol.
On August 08 2009 20:36 meathook wrote: I lol'd. Good thing I stopped caring about SC2 after seeing marines with shields and now.. eh.. protoss can have recall or some shit at 2nd tier.
The Tier 2 "recall" as you put it, is actually one of the best additions to SC2 -.- (note: it's not actually recall, you should check it out).
On August 07 2009 16:37 Aegraen wrote: I guess you missed my other points in which there have been countless great games that were developed in under 5 years. SC2 is a RTS, arguably the easiest genre to create. It should never take a RTS game 6-7 years from inception to beta. Period.
Let's just show some examples here shall we. Square-Enix developed FFXIV (Their new MMO) in 4 years and will be releasing it mid next year. This puts it on about a 5 year dev timeline. You see, S-E didn't announce it until this E-3, a year before the planned and anticipated release. That is how you operate. Stringing people along for nearly 3 years after all ready being in development for 4 years just shows a lack of operational planning and a severe lack of time sensibilities.
Now, why on earth wasn't BNET2.0 started 3-4 years ago? You seriously can't tell me that Battle.Net takes as long or nearly as long as FFXIV. So, the only logical conclusion you come up with is that Blizzard is fucking inept and dilly dallied around for years and then decided oh fuck, we need to start working on BNET2.0. They screwed the damn pooch. I'm sick and tired of the fanboyism that runs rampant thats counter-intuitive to logic.
I disagree with the statement that I pointed out in bold up there. RTS are most certainly not the easiest of genres to create. Of course there is a matter of opinion when it comes into easiness, but RTS's have major issues that make them difficult to create and polish, most important of all would be BALANCE. One of the main reasons for SC2 to beta (and many other games to beta) is to balance out all the possible flaws.
If you ask me, puzzle games are the easiest to create. Of course there are exceptions (if you consider Portal to be a puzzle game, that could be one exception).
On August 09 2009 03:30 ProberoO wrote: Not surprised at all, at this point I'm not even excited for the game. =/
same here stupid blizzard takes so long on their games that it makes people hate them!
-Zabestrial
seriously, are you really that shocked? Blizzard does this every time. And i can understand them cause they want to go out with a blast, which means they want perfection and balance in the game.
I don't understand what they're doing that is going to take until mid 2010 to complete....10 months ago they were nearly in beta...If the development team is there, working hard, I don't see why this game couldn't be done by the end of 2009, or perhaps, early 2010.
What do they have to work on? Unit balance, the campaign, and b.net2.0. I'm assuming map development, cinematic, and just general interfaces and the graphics/physics of the game are all there; minor details like attack animations are all minuscule in the grand scheme of things. To delay a game by that much means some major reworking is being done.
if, after a long period of us waiting - with a BR every 3 months released and not info at all - they finally realease SC2 and after a week of playing we find out that the game ISNT BALANCED??
they better let SC2 be the perfect game otherwise i will just fuck blizzard and i will play the pirated version just to fuck around for they lack of respect to us.
On August 09 2009 09:22 fabiano wrote: if, after a long period of us waiting - with a BR every 3 months released and not info at all - they finally realease SC2 and after a week of playing we find out that the game ISNT BALANCED??
they better let SC2 be the perfect game otherwise i will just fuck blizzard and i will play the pirated version just to fuck around for they lack of respect to us.
Don't expect it to be balanced - don't care
I *think* the GAME is ready for beta, the delay is purely Bnet 2.0 I would say.
On August 09 2009 09:39 Captain Peabody wrote: Guys...seriously. This is Blizzard we're talking about. You are Blizzard fans. And you're going all nerd-ragey over a delay?
I mean, you'd think people would have gotten used to it by now...
On August 09 2009 09:22 fabiano wrote: if, after a long period of us waiting - with a BR every 3 months released and not info at all - they finally realease SC2 and after a week of playing we find out that the game ISNT BALANCED??
they better let SC2 be the perfect game otherwise i will just fuck blizzard and i will play the pirated version just to fuck around for they lack of respect to us.
lol? There is no way the games going to be balanced on release... No matter how long they work there will be imbalances.
On August 09 2009 09:39 Captain Peabody wrote: Guys...seriously. This is Blizzard we're talking about. You are Blizzard fans. And you're going all nerd-ragey over a delay?
I mean, you'd think people would have gotten used to it by now...
What?
I'm a starcraft fan.
I kinda hate blizzard after what they did to WoW to be quite honest.
On August 09 2009 09:39 Captain Peabody wrote: Guys...seriously. This is Blizzard we're talking about. You are Blizzard fans. And you're going all nerd-ragey over a delay?
I mean, you'd think people would have gotten used to it by now...
What?
I'm a starcraft fan.
I kinda hate blizzard after what they did to WoW to be quite honest.
What did they do to WoW? First of all it is their own game, second, it is the most successful game ever made.
lol at people who hope for better balance at release when the dev team themselves said they're basically at a standstill until beta. They can't do too much until large-scale testing begins, except make random guesses.
On August 09 2009 09:39 Captain Peabody wrote: Guys...seriously. This is Blizzard we're talking about. You are Blizzard fans. And you're going all nerd-ragey over a delay?
I mean, you'd think people would have gotten used to it by now...
Since we hit July I felt like Homer on The Simpsons chasing the flying pig yelling, "It's still good! It's still good!" But instead I kept saying to myself, "It'll still be 2009! It'll still be 2009!"
yes it's frustrating that they're delaying yet AGAIN. but how many of you people bitching and calling blizzard names can come up with a game of your own of this magnitude? until you actually have the ability and have done it, nobody really has any right except for the developers themselves to criticize because the reality is, you're no better than them. they work their asses off to yes, make a profit, but also to make sure that every bit of profit they earn is not grudged by the consumer at the sacrifice maybe of time. they're people too, not gods. they eat, shit, drink (water at least), think, and make mistakes but theyve done work that the majority of the human race, likely including you (and me), isn't capable of. that's why they're on the dev team, and the fact that they're still working is a testament to the difficulty of their job. so stop bashing on them and have patience, even if it has been 10 years
PS Anybody know the whereabouts of operation CWAL?
You know what they say, ignorance is bliss. I remember back to a time when I didn't pay much attention to the details of a game in development. I'd walk into a store and go "oh hey, Warcraft 3 is out!" There wasn't any anxiety over how much longer beta was going to take, or how the developers were taking their sweet time perfecting the game. I miss those days of ignorance. Nowadays I'm visiting websites several times a day to see if there is any progress in an anticipated game *cough*starcraft2*cough*.
Everyone should've seen this coming. Blizzard wanted the beta (which was supposed to drop sometime this summer) to run for at least a few months, and it isn't even out yet. There's only 4 months left from now till the end of the year, so the chances of a late 2009 release we're marginally slim. Had they released the beta early June/July, then an '09 release would've been possible.
On August 11 2009 09:57 tym2eat wrote: yes it's frustrating that they're delaying yet AGAIN. but how many of you people bitching and calling blizzard names can come up with a game of your own of this magnitude? until you actually have the ability and have done it, nobody really has any right except for the developers themselves to criticize because the reality is, you're no better than them.
Yeah you are right. Because I, personally, cannot create a game of this magnitude as Blizzard, a billion dollar corporation with hundreds of employees and offices around the world, I should not criticize.
Makes perfect sense to me -_-
Blizzard invites the criticism by revealing so much of the development so early. While on the one hand it is nice to "feel involved" in the process, on the other it means the company can't drag it out forever.
I want the best game possible, and don't care about the date, but to say no one can criticize is foolish.
On August 12 2009 09:58 DeCoup wrote: When does summer end over there again? Is is 22nd of Sept or so? (Thats a guess ). I'm still expecting a summer beta.
On August 09 2009 09:39 Captain Peabody wrote: Guys...seriously. This is Blizzard we're talking about. You are Blizzard fans. And you're going all nerd-ragey over a delay?
I mean, you'd think people would have gotten used to it by now...
What?
I'm a starcraft fan.
I kinda hate blizzard after what they did to WoW to be quite honest.
What did they do to WoW? First of all it is their own game, second, it is the most successful game ever made.
yeah.. what DID they do to wow? i played it from launch right until wotlk pre-patch, then i dropped out, did that expansion really suck or something? :O
Jesus christ you people are pathetic, nerd-raging over a game. Keep in mind Blizzard produces some of the highest quality, most polished games, when it is delivered, it'll be much better than most of the stuff that goes gold while it should be in beta.
But honestly, for some of you to get so hot and bothered over a video game being delayed, how much do you have going on in your lives? It's just a video game...you'll have a whole bunch of your life to waste on it when it comes out.
I will do everything for a Blizzard game. Take your time Blizzard and deliver us the best you could offer. btw, my new PC now official delayed untill 2010 :D
I strongly prefer Starcraft 2 to be delayed if the game itself is more balance and better to play. Although its disppointing to hear it pushed back again to 2010, i can easily wait. Quality > Timeliness in this case
On August 13 2009 01:08 WhoaOMFG wrote: Jesus christ you people are pathetic, nerd-raging over a game. Keep in mind Blizzard produces some of the highest quality, most polished games, when it is delivered, it'll be much better than most of the stuff that goes gold while it should be in beta.
But honestly, for some of you to get so hot and bothered over a video game being delayed, how much do you have going on in your lives? It's just a video game...you'll have a whole bunch of your life to waste on it when it comes out.
On August 07 2009 10:06 rAize wrote: No one really knows whats going on, apart from the people running the Project Bnet 2.0 and the project Starcraft 2. There is far more to it than just random quotes and phrases thrown out of peoples mouths these days.
doesn't the NDA lift august 17th? we should get a countdown for that also blizzcon in 5 days.. need a 2nd countdown I'll assume frozenarbiter is going to sticky a thread and post everything from blizzcon in there
Guys that make the game in Blizzard obviously prevail over marketing department haha. A few other than Blizzard dare to do it, not only in computer game industry. Good to see it this time again.
Two years is quite a long time to wait. At my stage in life things have sort of plateaued, and I can wait a bit longer. But if I think back to when I was 16, the idea of waiting till I was 18 or 19, would be unthinkable. I imagine there will be a lot of people who will have been excited, initially, for the game, and have outgrown that excitement entirely by the time the game actually gets released. Yes, I'm talking about casual gamers here, but the whole situation strikes me as very weird, that a game will have a very different set of customers to the ones it was pitched at.
I think what is most frustrating is the way blizzard tempt us with their battle reports and leaked gameplay. They whet our appetite with promise of a sumptious cheesecake cooked by the verIy finest chefs, but tell us it is not ready; the raspberry layer still needs to be applied. Instead we are left with the same block of mouldy cheese that we have had in our fridges for some time. Albeit a tasty cheese it has become tedious, and we yearn for the sweetness of our cheesecakes. Basically blizzard need to stop showing us glimpses of what looks like a finished SC2. become quiet until such a time when the game is truly ready to be released. And then hype the game. The only thing that really scares me is the possibility of our dessert being served but to our horror we find that the chefs have made an awful mistake and mixed the recipe for jellied eel with the recipe for the cheesecake, and we have to return to the mouldy block of cheese in our fridges.
Simply i want SC2!!!! and cheesecake
Also i wish they had just released a grahically revamped broodwar to keep us happy till sc2, less complainers that way.
I don't really care when the game gets released, they can take all the time they want perfecting it for all I care. I know i'll get to play it when its ready
But I really want the beta out there so I can watch peoples vids whenever I want instead of waiting for press releases and BRs all the time... it gets a bit frustrating.
The fact that the beta has not come out yet is probably more of a annoyance than the actual game being delayed.
Also, I think that one good thing that came from this, is that we have more time to watch our favourite players and leagues before a lot is changed with SC2.
On August 07 2009 01:12 MasterFischer wrote: Don´t forget that in 2005 or 2006...
they redid the entire sc2 engine from scratch,,,
basically all the work from 2003-2005 was well... delayed...
so its not accurate to say its 6 years development... there has been many hiccups
Time spent working on SC2 before they redid the engine was still, wait for it, time spent working on SC2. Just because they threw away the results of that time doesn't mean that time never happened. They worked on SC2 for a while, didn't like where it was going and started over, and worked on SC2 some more. 6 years is a lot more accurate than 3-4.
You'd be right to say Blizzard spent 2-3 years on SC2's current codebase though. But the jettisoned original codebase has to be taken into account when talking about how long it's taking them to bring out SC2.
On August 19 2009 11:31 PeskyProbe wrote: I think what is most frustrating is the way blizzard tempt us with their battle reports and leaked gameplay. They whet our appetite with promise of a sumptious cheesecake cooked by the verIy finest chefs, but tell us it is not ready; the raspberry layer still needs to be applied. Instead we are left with the same block of mouldy cheese that we have had in our fridges for some time. Albeit a tasty cheese it has become tedious, and we yearn for the sweetness of our cheesecakes. Basically blizzard need to stop showing us glimpses of what looks like a finished SC2. become quiet until such a time when the game is truly ready to be released. And then hype the game. The only thing that really scares me is the possibility of our dessert being served but to our horror we find that the chefs have made an awful mistake and mixed the recipe for jellied eel with the recipe for the cheesecake, and we have to return to the mouldy block of cheese in our fridges.
Simply i want SC2!!!! and cheesecake
Also i wish they had just released a grahically revamped broodwar to keep us happy till sc2, less complainers that way.
So what? We waited like 10 years for this game to come out. Doesn't matter to me it it comes out a bit later. As long as they remove the imbalances i tested out at the WoW regionals in Cologne, the game will be perfect.
With all those great features blizzard will be providing us, 6 more months wont be that long so just do some more SC:BW until then.
On August 30 2009 11:01 ZCfos~DangerBoy wrote: So what? We waited like 10 years for this game to come out. Doesn't matter to me it it comes out a bit later. As long as they remove the imbalances i tested out at the WoW regionals in Cologne, the game will be perfect.
With all those great features blizzard will be providing us, 6 more months wont be that long so just do some more SC:BW until then.
Patience will be rewarded
It is impossible to find any imbalance with the sparse sample numbers Blizzard has at their discretion. Sure, the obvious imbalances may get fixed, but we all know those don't account for the greatest % of imbalances in a game. Only with a large sample size can you get close to identifying an imbalance.
/sigh
As long as a person is working and making something, there will never be perfection, as humans ourselves are imperfect. So, no, waiting even longer does not equate to a better product. Seriously, this fallacy needs to be abruptly stopped. Most of the best games of all-time (subjective as that is), weren't worked on for nearly 7 years, let alone 4-5 years.
On August 30 2009 18:16 ShaperofDreams wrote: The delay has nothing to do with balance is has to do with legal + battlenet2.0 + business.
Did anyone actually expect SC2 this year?
Betas coming out October-December or next year and the game is coming out anytime from May-December.
This isnt true at all
I talked with blizz sc2 devs at blizzcon and they assured me they were using this time to extensively improve sc2 in general. They explained that they were very happy bnet 2 delayed them as now they have more time to improve sc2 before beta.
On August 30 2009 18:16 ShaperofDreams wrote: The delay has nothing to do with balance is has to do with legal + battlenet2.0 + business.
Did anyone actually expect SC2 this year?
Betas coming out October-December or next year and the game is coming out anytime from May-December.
This isnt true at all
I talked with blizz sc2 devs at blizzcon and they assured me they were using this time to extensively improve sc2 in general. They explained that they were very happy bnet 2 delayed them as now they have more time to improve sc2 before beta.
Translation: Fuck yeah! We get to play SC2 more instead of working, fuck those losers who think SC2 is actually going to come out!
Perfection is a state that, maybe, can never be reached. However i really dont like the trend of game studios bringing out bugged games half a year before completion. Mostly its only because funds are running out and publishers want to see results sooner, rather than later. The Total War series is a nice example for that. As are games like Stalker or Gothic.
Lately im not even bothering buying a game right when it comes out. Might be different with SC2 since Blizzard seems to actually be bringing out a finished product.
About the imbalances: Early Terran vs Zerg was completely unfavored for the zerg. Zerg werent able to break down a terran wall and the terran could just harass with reaper and follow up with vikings then expand and m&m&m. Tides seemed to be completely turned compared to BW, since the zerg needed to be very cautios in the early game. Mind you, this version is now up to 5 months old though.
EPT
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