Worlds of Starcrack, er Starcraft?

[SirFozzie]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=163207

The long-rumoured new instalment of Blizzard's massive StarCraft series is set to be unveiled later this month - and it's another massively-multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft, CVG learns.

Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea - the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series' rabid fandom.

The unveiling of the new instalment has previously been rumoured for the South Korea event, though we now know that the title is in fact an online spin-off and not a new RTS game as previously assumed.

Of course this is massive news for both Vivendi and the MMO world; Blizzard's other online offering World of Warcraft has topped 6 million subscribers and is arguably the biggest game around today.

The question is, is there room for both World of Warcraft and a StarCraft MMO? The later will have to be a very different type of online game to convince gamers to subscribe to both of Blizzard's pair.

We will of course let you know as soon as soon as Blizzard officially confirms the game on May 19.

[Schmidty]

I love WOW, but this is an unbelievably shitty idea. I hope the game dies a horrid death.

[MikeVic]

I don't know, at least among my friends, Starcraft was more popular than Warcraft.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I don't know, at least among my friend, Starcraft was more popular than Warcraft.

+1

Must be a Canadian thing.

[mauchow]

I never played StarCraft. One 'crack' game was enough back in the day. Warcraft, I loved. To each his own, I guess.

[bulletsponge]

call me when Diablo III comes out

[Richard Weed]

Starcraft was da bomb, yo. Zerg rushes rule.

[sabotai]

[Schmidty]

My point is that there are waaaay too many mmorpgs out already, and we have a few that are extremely good (WOW, EQ2, LOTR), so all a game like this is going to accomplish is take away from those other games, thereby lessening the entire genre.

Why not make another SC game instead? That would have been much better.

Ah well, it's all about money.

[Calis]

Hmm, well if they did something different with it that could be pretty cool. If anyone remembers Savage which did a First Person RTS type of thing, something along those lines on a massive scale could be neat. I'd really like to see some sort of mesh between the two genres.

Don't see it happening though, sucker will have millions of subscribers if they just put Warcraft in space, and Blizzard isn't known for being real big risk takers.

[flere-imsaho]

I'd expect something more along the lines of EVE.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

My point is that there are waaaay too many mmorpgs out already, and we have a few that are extremely good (WOW, EQ2, LOTR), so all a game like this is going to accomplish is take away from those other games, thereby lessening the entire genre.

Why not make another SC game instead? That would have been much better.

Ah well, it's all about money.

What he said.

I'd love to see Starcraft 2 as the original was one of the best designed games ever. I just can't see why Blizzard would do this and could see the money in it- they know they have a hugely dedicated following but putting out 2 MMORPGs doesn't make any sense. Why cannibalize the audience from your one cash cow to hopefully buy into a second? This just doesn't pass the sniff test, but who knows, dumber business decisions have happened.

SI

[sabotai]

After becoming bored with WoW, and having EQ2 and LOTR not connect with me, I'm looking forward to something new. I'm hoping it's the upcoming Warhammer MMORPG, but if that doesn't do it, maybe this one will. I'm looking forward to it.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

What he said.

I'd love to see Starcraft 2 as the original was one of the best designed games ever. I just can't see why Blizzard would do this and could see the money in it- they know they have a hugely dedicated following but putting out 2 MMORPGs doesn't make any sense. Why cannibalize the audience from your one cash cow to hopefully buy into a second? This just doesn't pass the sniff test, but who knows, dumber business decisions have happened.

SI

Well, they may make it suitably different enough (more like EVE Online as has been mentioned) so that they figure they can get people in WOW interested in WOS (or whatever). They'd probably end up with a ton of subscribers anyway for the new WOS.

[Blade6119]

One RTS = 49.00...on MMORPG = 49.00 + like 20 bucks a months...its simple math, MMORPGs make soo much more money its silly.

[Tyrith]

It depends. Blizzard can either make a jillion dollars by shoving out a WoW clone, or three jillion dollars by pushing the envelope and opening up some new design space for themselves when it comes to MMOs. Sci-fi gives them a LOT of new options to keep it simple but take it away from a Diablo/WoW clone. I'm also another guy that likes SC more than WC, so I'm fairly excited about this.

[Peregrine]

I'm all for any new MMORPG that doesn't use a fantasy theme. I'm really enjoying playing EQ2, but I want some different options.

[Karlifornia]

What about Dateline:To Catch A Predator: MMORPG


Like, you can choose to be a predator, or a hidden camera sting television show host......alright I have nowhere else to go with this.

I'll leave now, never to return!

[RendeR]

Perhaps we're missing the more obvious point: Blizzard sees the drop off in the WoW curve and is bringing Starcraft Online out to ride another gigantic cash curve as that one dies.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Tyrith

It depends. Blizzard can either make a jillion dollars by shoving out a WoW clone, or three jillion dollars by pushing the envelope and opening up some new design space for themselves when it comes to MMOs. Sci-fi gives them a LOT of new options to keep it simple but take it away from a Diablo/WoW clone. I'm also another guy that likes SC more than WC, so I'm fairly excited about this.

Exactly right... Sci-fi MMORPG can really be different than the glut on the market currently. If they try more than WOW in space, they'll do well... especially with the folks who are tired of the mideval fantasy RPGs.

[Coffee Warlord]

[flere-imsaho]

Exactly.

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Perhaps we're missing the more obvious point: Blizzard sees the drop off in the WoW curve and is bringing Starcraft Online out to ride another gigantic cash curve as that one dies.

I agree, I think WOW has started on its way down. The BC expansion has changed the game in allot of ways, but few of them seem positive. With all the people playing, it has the momentum to continue for a long, long, time, but I think the growth is slowing (or over) and as many are leaving as sign up. I kind of makes sense for Blizz to bring out a new game even if it is cannibalizing WOW. It would be better to get them all to play a shinny new game for another 3 years, then to see them switch to LOTR in 6 months.

[Coffee Warlord]

It's Blizzard. Even if they announce it next month, it'll be YEARS before it comes out.

[spleen1015]

After the 4 month addiction I went through with WoW, I'm sure I will give this a go.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RendeR

Perhaps we're missing the more obvious point: Blizzard sees the drop off in the WoW curve and is bringing Starcraft Online out to ride another gigantic cash curve as that one dies.

Exactly.

If a starcraft MMO is announced it will still be 1.5 years or so away (my guess is 2 years at least). By that time WoW and EQ2 will be well into their downward cycles and LOTRO will either be hitting its peak or sliding downards, depending on how much staying power it has.

The timing is perfect to keep the blizzard cash cow going strong.

[14ers]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Exactly right... Sci-fi MMORPG can really be different than the glut on the market currently. If they try more than WOW in space, they'll do well... especially with the folks who are tired of the mideval fantasy RPGs.

OR, the people who are not into the whole Fantasy LOTR thing to begin with.


A good outer space MMORPG would be a must by for me.

[SnowMan]

After SWG jumped the shark a few years back, I've been itching for a good SciFi MMO. I'd definitely be interested in this, even if it's just WoW in space. I must admit, tho, I do miss the crafting system and the player housing from SWG.

[WVUFAN]

Originally Posted by SnowMan

After SWG jumped the shark a few years back, I've been itching for a good SciFi MMO. I'd definitely be interested in this, even if it's just WoW in space. I must admit, tho, I do miss the crafting system and the player housing from SWG.

In terms of space MMO's, I'm looking forward to Star Trek Online.

[spleen1015]

Blizzard's new game is Starcraft 2.

No MMO, but another RTS Starcraft is still exciting. Blizzard says it has been in development since Warcraft III was finished. So, it is pretty far along. We are talking about Blizzard here, so it could be another year or more until we see it.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by SnowMan

After SWG jumped the shark a few years back, I've been itching for a good SciFi MMO. I'd definitely be interested in this, even if it's just WoW in space. I must admit, tho, I do miss the crafting system and the player housing from SWG.

This thread had me thinking about a Robert Coffey column from a few years back. SWG was the topic, and he was role playing a ... Well I've found the article, so I'll just post it here.

Hey, baby, are you having a good time? How’d you like to have a *great* time, daddy? /nuzzle Let me give you a private dance, baby, c’mon, baby, don’t you like what you see? *Giggle!* You’re naughty! /pet /kiss Yeah, that’s it, sugar, /lick you just sit down and let me do all the work, let me make you feel all good inside and out, daddy, all of this is just for you, baby, just for you…and don’t forget to slip a tip in my g-string when we’re done. Just a tip, you bad boy, *giggle* not your whole hand!
Yeah—I’m a whore. And, man alive, am I ever good at it. I probably have more credits than any other dancer in Star Wars Galaxies, so I’ve got that going for me. But I’ve paid a price. I feel so dirty a steel wool loofah couldn’t get all the ick off. And I’m tired, oh so very tired from servicing the endless stream of men, all those men and their ceaseless demands…
My life of online debauchery began innocently—and professionally—enough: I decided to try out the dancer profession just to see if the Galaxies designers had found a way to make such a dull-sounding class interesting to play. Almost immediately I discovered two things: No, they didn’t, and no, they didn’t. But these online games are all about making your own fun, right? So I decided to make my own fun by providing fun. Less than an hour into the game I was aggressively soliciting every male character that entered the cantina for “private dances.” And once I assured them that I was indeed a woman, a 23-year-old waitress at a Black Angus who used to work at a Hooters but had moved after a bad break-up with my boyfriend Mike, they started lining up and—presto!—the Moenia cantina became my own gentlemen’s club complete with horny smugglers rushing to withdraw more money for just one more dance.



At first my rates were modest, but the beauty of a player-created economy is that the players decide what they want to spend, and I was happily surprised to discover most players wanted to spend more than I was asking. Lots more. So I stopped asking—just reminding them gently for tips—and was soon raking in thousands of credits an hour. Within moments of logging on every night, regular customers would send me tells that they were catching shuttles from across the galaxy to come visit me. They’d arrive at the cantina and beeline to a back room where, with no prompting, they’d take off their pants, sit down, and start typing /lick over and over as I shook my Twi’lek moneymaker for them.
While the other entertainers in the cantina were desperately begging for tips, I was being plied with jewelry, free droids, and expensive clothing by regular suitors convinced I was a lonely busty steak-slinging co-ed and not a married father of two with Tourette’s syndrome and a Gary Gilmore haircut. Oh, they tried to win my heart, but I am a saucy carefree lass, chary of giving her heart to any pistoleer no matter how much he pays me for the privilege of stripping to his skivvies while I sit in his lap cooing “Oh, baby, that’s *so* nice” while he types /lick over and over and over again.
Now, after a month of squiddly-diddling every Mon Calamari with a few thousand credits to blow on virtual lapdancing, I think the time has come for me to hang up my gold bikini top and hot pants. Why? Well, for being able to use phrases like “my gold bikini top and hot pants” for starters. For the infinite brain-busting implications horrifically inherent and wrong on about every single conceivable plane of existence in the chilling inquiry “Ever suck a Tusken’s wang?” For that uncomfortable moment of clarity the other day at lunch when I caught myself in all seriousness lauding the generosity of “my two favorite boyfriends.” All that and a general ratcheting up of suspiciously misspelled dirty talk has inexorably led to the retirement of Paris Beldar, pleasure dancer supreme.
But don’t let my misgivings dissuade you from the very profitable life as a private dancer. Here’s a little tip, free of charge: If someone is reluctant to accept your solicitations, just start calling him “daddy” and he’ll cave. And if he’s a Wookiee, call him “Fuzzy-wuzzy bear” when you writhe on his digitized lap, and you’ll double your tips. Trust me.



Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.

Oh another thing the column was titled "Is that a Light Saber in your pocket.."
Sheer genius.

[sterlingice]

It looks very similar to SC1 but much prettier and with a lot more and varied units. I'll have to see more details before getting too much impressions. It's going to be nearly impossible to follow up one of the best games of all time.

SI

[MJ4H]

Im sure glad I have absolutely zero interest in RTS and MMORPGs. I would be swallowed up by these games. Im pretty sure they would ruin my lives. Luckily, the games themselves have never even remotely interested me. But, I know that I have exactly the obsessive personality that these games would eat alive.

[mckerney]

Awesome. I will stop playing Dota long enough to play through this when it comes out.

[Blade6119]

http://www.starcraft2.com/

[SnowMan]

Zerg rushing is back!

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Im sure glad I have absolutely zero interest in RTS and MMORPGs. I would be swallowed up by these games. Im pretty sure they would ruin my lives. Luckily, the games themselves have never even remotely interested me. But, I know that I have exactly the obsessive personality that these games would eat alive.

Tell me about it. I stopped playing WoW for about a month. Woke up Thursday and was dying to play. I've been playing about 6 hours a day since.

It is crack.

[Blade6119]

Tomorrow an actual gameplay video is released on the website..so that will be interesting

[saldana]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Tomorrow an actual gameplay video is released on the website..so that will be interesting

watched. video.


must. not. soil. pants.


cant. wait.

[flere-imsaho]

That good, eh?

[sterlingice]

I'm only seeing "Coming Soon" on the website. Is it on Gamespot or IGN or something?

SI

[ISiddiqui]

I think they have it other places. I saw one directly linked on another website. Looks pretty good, but I'm not one for RTS. Now, if it allowed you to pause and give orders (some RTS actually do allow that), maybe I'd check it out.

[sterlingice]

They call those Turn-Based Strat

SI

[Capital]

My interest has certainly wained for RTS and haven't played one since AOE2, maybe it's because I have gotten older - but only 35, but I will probably give this a try - at least a demo.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I think they have it other places. I saw one directly linked on another website. Looks pretty good, but I'm not one for RTS. Now, if it allowed you to pause and give orders (some RTS actually do allow that), maybe I'd check it out.

been awhile since i played it, but iirc, the first starcraft let you pause the game and issue all your orders while nothing was moving

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

They call those Turn-Based Strat

SI

You mean Real Time Strat . I doubt Starcraft has "turns".

[Danny]

Starcraft is one of my favorite games ever. I came in my pants several times watching the new gameplay video.