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Welcome to the StarCraftZone news archive. Here you can browse all archived news that has been published on our website.
Category: Other
Blizzcon 2008 Update 2: Starcraft 2 Trilogy!
starcraftzone.com - October 10, 2008
Pardo has announced that Starcraft 2 has been announced to be a trilogy! Each campaign will be separated into an individual game, with the order of release being: Terran, Zerg, Protoss. In his announcement, Pardo stated that:
The second and third games] will be like expansion packs, but we really want them to feel like standalone products
Prices and release dates have yet to be announced, but there are probably going to be many questions and debates about Blizzard's actions. Here is a brief Q&A for those who want some unofficial opinions and answers (Note that plans may change any minute and that these answers are not official):
Q: What are the names of the three separate trilogies?
A: Terran: Wings of Liberty, Zerg: Heart of the Swarm, Protoss: Legacy of the Void
Q: Will Multiplayer be affected?
A: Multiplayer will not be affected by this change and all three classes will be available with the first release - Wings of Liberty. Any further information about what discs will be included in which game and how multiplayer will be installed is not available as of now.
Q: Will release dates be affected?
A: While this is an opinion, with only one campaign to focus on, Blizzard will definitely have less on their hands to worry about. The release of the first game should be sooner than before. Blizzard is pushing the game onto the gamer as it finishes, instead of waiting until all campaigns have been completed.
Q: How long is the campaign?
A: Each campaign will be roughly 30 scenarios long (with plenty of cinematics).
Please post additional questions in the forum so we may update this FAQ with updated information.
Blizzcon 2008 Update 1
starcraftzone.com - October 10, 2008
Blizzcon 2008 has begun and Blizzard CEO, Mike Morhaime, has given his opening speech to an enormous crowd of fans. In the speech he outlined the history of the Blizzcon conventions, beginning with the first one in 2005. Morhaime proclaimed that while the Blizzcon 2005 was able to sell out in three weeks, Blizzcon 2008 was sold out in 15 minutes.
After a brief reminder that all of Blizzard games - Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft, and Warcraft - would be playable at the event, and a flashback of the Worldwide Invitational in Paris this year, Morhaime announced that there would be tournaments for the Warcraft mod DotA and Starcraft 2. Afterwards, he reiterated World of Warcraft: Wrath of the King's release date of November 13 and proceeded to announce the new Diablo 3 class, the Wizard. A few notes:
- The Wizard has many magical spells at her disposal.
- Classical spells include the Blizzard, Electrocute, and Magical Bolts
- The Wizard has an interesting Time Warp spell that slows movement in a specified area.
- New "runes" added to Diablo 3 gameplay which allows modification of classe's abilities.
Morhaime released Diablo 3's latest cinematic trailer and a clip showing off the new Wizard. Finally, Morhaime provided some information about the Starcraft 2 beta - which Starcraft 2 is not in yet - and the contents of the Blizzcon goodie bag.
New information will be released constantly, so stay tuned!
Released Movies:
BlizzCon '08 and Battle.net
Irvine, CA - October 10, 2008
Well, we're back from vacation and ready to get the ball rolling again. It's about that time of year again. You know, the one where we find out all the cool new things Blizzard has been up to latley? That's right folks, BlizzCon '08 is among us.
The event is taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center from Friday, October 10 to Saturday, Oct. 11. StarCraftZone will be bringing you the latest and greatest from the BlizzCon floor with live updates as the weekend progresses. So stay tuned for what has yet to be revealed!
On a side note, Blizzard has recently upgraded the Battle.net website with some great new forum software.
We've just brought our brand-new Battle.net forums online. The new forums bring a host of new features and stability, as well as helpful tools for us to better moderate and organize posts. They're available right now -- to access them, visit: http://forums.battle.net.
The forum login requirements remain the same. In order to post you will need an account created by a Battle.net supported game and a CD-key.
If you're still looking for some posts or information from the old forums, we've left them up at the original address (http://www.battle.net/forums.shtml). The old forums aren't open for posting, but if you'd like to copy a thread or back up some information, they'll remain available until Monday, October 13.
The benefits of implementing these new forums are numerous, and we hope you're as excited as we are to see this step toward the continued growth and support of our Battle.net community.
BlizzCast Episode 5 Released
blizzard.com - August 28, 2008
Episode Five of blizzard's official podcast has arrived and although it doesn't cover anything related to StarCraft 2, we get to delve into the world of Diablo 3's development with Jay Wilson, Diablo 3's Lead Designer.
Bashiok: So, everybody's back from WWI now, have been for a while. Where is the development team focused right now? What is everybody working on?
Jay Wilson: Well the team's pretty big so we've got them split up on different things. Most of the art team is actually working on the second act of the game, because a lot of the team is really production focused now and we're generating content for the most part a lot of the tech and underlying engine is really solid. Most of the design team is still on Act 1 because we're refining and improving the quests and flow and some of the big game systems that we haven't really announced yet. We kind of dove back into content production fairly quickly.
Bashiok: You mentioned that art has moved on to Act 2 but design is on Act 1, or kind of spread around. How much of the development time is actually charging through to new acts, and how much is actually going back and retouching old acts?
Jay Wilson: We spend, we initially kind of work in a linear fashion, we've started at the beginning of the game and gone to the end and there's a lot of different ways you can do it but since so many of our systems are progression oriented it's easier to start at the beginning.
NetEase.com licences Blizzard Games!
venturebeat.com - August 14, 2008
NetEase.com, an online multiplayer hosting service, has been licensed to host the entire Blizzard battle.net game series, including older games like Warcraft III and future games like Starcraft 2. NetEase.com and Blizzard Entertainment will work together to form the Shanghai EaseNet Network Technology, a joint operation by both companies to provide support for online multiplayer games in China.
