Character Names
This section is reserved for character names of people on the forums.
More regions if necessary, though I assume that most players here are on Europe or North America.
This game is solid, easily one of the most worthwhile investments for any PC gamer, and definitely lives up to the hype. I strongly recommend it.
Original Thread
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the long awaited sequel to the original StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War. In development since 2004, the game is being built from the ground up on a totally new game engine (assumingly going to be shared with Diablo III). Blizzard claims it will be the number one competitive real-time strategy of all time, and if not then it will likely be second only to the original. The release date has been confirmed for July 27th, 2010.
StarCraft has a legacy in video game industry to have the highest-stake professional gaming league in the world, with some contracts being over half a million in pay in South Korea. While most professional play is in Korea, where there are hundreds of PC bangs (what some call Cyber Cafes in the west) specifically for the game and entire television broadcasts dedicated to airing games, there are leagues and tournaments all around the world, and some even air in the United States and United Kingdom on live television.
The success can be attributed to the game's unique sense of balance; at the time of its release, most RTS's only had two playable races that were mostly identical in research and development composition. StarCraft radically changed the RTS genre by introducing three wildly different races, the human Terran, the alien Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss, each with their own buildings, units, and styles of play. Brood War further expanded upon the concept, and since the second expansion patch or so the game has not needed a true "balance patch" for over half a decade - and yet, the strategies players have used in competitive play have changed dramatically over the years.
StarCraft II does well not to impede on the original concept of the game and fits the role of a sequel well; some of the original mechanics have been removed due to the tightness of the new engine, however the tactical control mostly remains the same. Some much-needed changes exist, such as being able to select more than 12 units at a time, and various changes to the formula originally found in WarCraft III, but for the most part the game stays true in competitiveness to the original despite not having the same development team.
The beta has been running for a few solid months now, and they have been introducing new features and changes almost weekly; recently, the map editor was released partially and gave beta testers an insight on how the game engine works. In the new Galaxy scripting language, there are literally thousands of actions, functions and events that can be used, and more can be defined just as a regular programming language. The possibilities are endless; anything from persistent character storage for RPGs spanning multiple maps on Battle.net, to Tetris with supply depots, or entirely new RTS games. Literally every part of the game data can be changed.
The game runs on a form of Digital Rights Management akin to that of Steam or some MMORPGs (undoubtedly inspired by WoW). In order to play the game, you must register a Battle.net 2.0 account and attach your product code to it, permanently. This will allow you to log in to the game and play the single player or multi player components. Once you've logged in once, you can continue to play the single player component offline - this includes the campaign, skirmish versus A.I. and the new Challenge maps.
Battle.net 2.0 introduces a new paradigm to the casual competitive market. When you first begin playing the multi player, you will have to complete a number of placement matches in the game mode of your choice; after completing them, you will be placed in a division of one of five different leagues: Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each division consists of 100 players (subject to change), and allows a person to remain competitive with players of their own skill level on a small-scale ladder. This has been tested and proven to work well in the beta, even without much tweaking, although Blizzard is still toying with the numbers and the ability to jump between leagues should your success or fail rate exceed a threshold.
[lawl photobucket sucks and I wish I had made a backup of this image before putting it in the thread. just imagine there was a Zealot standing in a third-person view with an action bar here.]
Battle.net in WarCraft III was extremely popular for custom maps. It was the birthplace of popular games such as Defense of the Ancients, whose developers went on to make Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Demigod, and other games of the same genre. The new version of Battle.net makes the distribution of these custom maps much easier, allowing anyone to publish their custom maps straight to Battle.net to be listed as a playable map in the Create and Join Custom Game menus. No longer do you have to search for a party of the game you want to play; now, you simply choose the map and the game mode and Battle.net will put you in a party of players automatically. Maps will be publishable in either private or public forms, allowing you to test multiplayer ones with your friends before releasing them to the world. This also expands itself to mods.
The single player campaign of Wings of Liberty follows the story of Jim Raynor and his private military on the battlecruiser Hyperion. The Queen of Blades, or Sarah Kerrigan - Raynor's former love interest - holds the key to the survival of all three races in the Koprulu sector, despite the long-held hatred for the Zerg race as a whole. The Protoss Dark Templar Zeratul brings the tidings to him early in the game, detailing that the Xel'Naga - the race responsible for the creation of the experimental races, the Protoss and the Zerg - might return to destroy their failed creations and stop the cyclic nature of the Xel'Naga's race breeding. However, the clans of Protoss, the single-minded Zerg and the separated Terrans are still at each others' throats over the events of the Brood Wars. The campaign will consist of 29 full missions, a small unlockable Protoss campaign, and a huge array of upgrades not available in the multiplayer component - plus five difficulties, achievements, and more lore than any Blizzard game before. Easily the biggest campaign in Blizzard's history.
All in all, StarCraft II is looking to be the biggest $60 RTS package ever made. Two expansions are planned for the life span of the game, chronologically telling the stories of the Zerg and the Protoss respectively, which will also introduce new units and mechanics to the multiplayer meta game and new materials for custom maps. They will likely retail at $40 each at their launches.
Blizzard has announced that new Battle.net 2.0 features will be introduced throughout the lifespan of StarCraft II and, in the future, Diablo III, much as they have been in the original Battle.net. The original services for StarCraft, Diablo, Diablo II, and WarCraft III will continue to be actively supported.
http://starcraft2.com/
http://battle.net/
This section is reserved for character names of people on the forums.
More regions if necessary, though I assume that most players here are on Europe or North America.
This game is solid, easily one of the most worthwhile investments for any PC gamer, and definitely lives up to the hype. I strongly recommend it.
Original Thread
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the long awaited sequel to the original StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War. In development since 2004, the game is being built from the ground up on a totally new game engine (assumingly going to be shared with Diablo III). Blizzard claims it will be the number one competitive real-time strategy of all time, and if not then it will likely be second only to the original. The release date has been confirmed for July 27th, 2010.
StarCraft has a legacy in video game industry to have the highest-stake professional gaming league in the world, with some contracts being over half a million in pay in South Korea. While most professional play is in Korea, where there are hundreds of PC bangs (what some call Cyber Cafes in the west) specifically for the game and entire television broadcasts dedicated to airing games, there are leagues and tournaments all around the world, and some even air in the United States and United Kingdom on live television.
The success can be attributed to the game's unique sense of balance; at the time of its release, most RTS's only had two playable races that were mostly identical in research and development composition. StarCraft radically changed the RTS genre by introducing three wildly different races, the human Terran, the alien Zerg, and the enigmatic Protoss, each with their own buildings, units, and styles of play. Brood War further expanded upon the concept, and since the second expansion patch or so the game has not needed a true "balance patch" for over half a decade - and yet, the strategies players have used in competitive play have changed dramatically over the years.
StarCraft II does well not to impede on the original concept of the game and fits the role of a sequel well; some of the original mechanics have been removed due to the tightness of the new engine, however the tactical control mostly remains the same. Some much-needed changes exist, such as being able to select more than 12 units at a time, and various changes to the formula originally found in WarCraft III, but for the most part the game stays true in competitiveness to the original despite not having the same development team.
The beta has been running for a few solid months now, and they have been introducing new features and changes almost weekly; recently, the map editor was released partially and gave beta testers an insight on how the game engine works. In the new Galaxy scripting language, there are literally thousands of actions, functions and events that can be used, and more can be defined just as a regular programming language. The possibilities are endless; anything from persistent character storage for RPGs spanning multiple maps on Battle.net, to Tetris with supply depots, or entirely new RTS games. Literally every part of the game data can be changed.
The game runs on a form of Digital Rights Management akin to that of Steam or some MMORPGs (undoubtedly inspired by WoW). In order to play the game, you must register a Battle.net 2.0 account and attach your product code to it, permanently. This will allow you to log in to the game and play the single player or multi player components. Once you've logged in once, you can continue to play the single player component offline - this includes the campaign, skirmish versus A.I. and the new Challenge maps.
Battle.net 2.0 introduces a new paradigm to the casual competitive market. When you first begin playing the multi player, you will have to complete a number of placement matches in the game mode of your choice; after completing them, you will be placed in a division of one of five different leagues: Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each division consists of 100 players (subject to change), and allows a person to remain competitive with players of their own skill level on a small-scale ladder. This has been tested and proven to work well in the beta, even without much tweaking, although Blizzard is still toying with the numbers and the ability to jump between leagues should your success or fail rate exceed a threshold.
[lawl photobucket sucks and I wish I had made a backup of this image before putting it in the thread. just imagine there was a Zealot standing in a third-person view with an action bar here.]
Battle.net in WarCraft III was extremely popular for custom maps. It was the birthplace of popular games such as Defense of the Ancients, whose developers went on to make Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Demigod, and other games of the same genre. The new version of Battle.net makes the distribution of these custom maps much easier, allowing anyone to publish their custom maps straight to Battle.net to be listed as a playable map in the Create and Join Custom Game menus. No longer do you have to search for a party of the game you want to play; now, you simply choose the map and the game mode and Battle.net will put you in a party of players automatically. Maps will be publishable in either private or public forms, allowing you to test multiplayer ones with your friends before releasing them to the world. This also expands itself to mods.
The single player campaign of Wings of Liberty follows the story of Jim Raynor and his private military on the battlecruiser Hyperion. The Queen of Blades, or Sarah Kerrigan - Raynor's former love interest - holds the key to the survival of all three races in the Koprulu sector, despite the long-held hatred for the Zerg race as a whole. The Protoss Dark Templar Zeratul brings the tidings to him early in the game, detailing that the Xel'Naga - the race responsible for the creation of the experimental races, the Protoss and the Zerg - might return to destroy their failed creations and stop the cyclic nature of the Xel'Naga's race breeding. However, the clans of Protoss, the single-minded Zerg and the separated Terrans are still at each others' throats over the events of the Brood Wars. The campaign will consist of 29 full missions, a small unlockable Protoss campaign, and a huge array of upgrades not available in the multiplayer component - plus five difficulties, achievements, and more lore than any Blizzard game before. Easily the biggest campaign in Blizzard's history.
All in all, StarCraft II is looking to be the biggest $60 RTS package ever made. Two expansions are planned for the life span of the game, chronologically telling the stories of the Zerg and the Protoss respectively, which will also introduce new units and mechanics to the multiplayer meta game and new materials for custom maps. They will likely retail at $40 each at their launches.
Blizzard has announced that new Battle.net 2.0 features will be introduced throughout the lifespan of StarCraft II and, in the future, Diablo III, much as they have been in the original Battle.net. The original services for StarCraft, Diablo, Diablo II, and WarCraft III will continue to be actively supported.
http://starcraft2.com/
http://battle.net/
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