Tag Archives: starcraft 2

In an attempt to further integrate its entire fan community into the Battle.net service, Blizzard today introduced BattleTags. BattleTags are an official name for a player account so that players don’t have to post under multiple names across multiple games. The BattleTag will be used to identify the player on Blizzard services like forums. More »

You need to be shortfied. Do it after the break.

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During a StarCraft II panel at BlizzCon, game director Dustin Browder, balance designer David Kim, and senior designer Josh Menke discussed some of the new units included in the expansion, as well as changes being implemented to existing units, and revealed which units would be retired from service.

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Major League Gaming has released its viewership numbers the Orlando, Florida event and for the fourth consecutive time in a row, the viewer record has been shattered.

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There’s a large batch of shorts for you below the break. Some of it PAX Prime related, some of it not. Read it anyway. Don’t make me have to punish you.

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A collection of dainty amuse-bouche dishes to warm you up to the meat of the news.

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Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce has said Battle.net’s StarCraft II marketplace is still coming to the service, but there is no specific date at the moment for when it will launch.

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Blizzard designer Dustin Browder has said StarCraft II’s final form was drastically confined by the need to make it eSports-friendly, but that it was “worth it”.

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If the idea of parting with cash to watch a video feed from this year’s Blizzcon doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, all is not lost.

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Blizzard has released its schedule of event for BlizzCon 2010, giving times for the panels along with the subject covered in each.

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Blizzard has said it’s to develop mods internally for StarCraft II, in order to offer “polished gameplay experiences” for fans.

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Shareholders are apparently a bit worried that Activision Blizzard may face some financial obstacles by the end of the year, what with shares in the company falling 14 percent in the past month.

The main concern, reports MarketWatch, is ActiBlizz’s current release schedule, shifting Singularity into 2010, and the growing assumption that StarCraft 2 may miss it’s release date.

“The beta testing for StarCraft 2 hasn’t started yet,” said analyst Jess Lubert of Brean Murray.”If it starts in August and takes 5-6 months, then launching the game this year is next to impossible.”

Some analysts have moved the game out of the ActiBlizz estimates for the year, some citing the potential delay of the RTS along with Singularity being moved and the possibility of Guitar Hero: Van Halen being pushed back as well.

China holding back a full release of World of Warcraft while Blizzard gets the server situation worked out between NetEase and The9 has also been taken into account by investors and analysts.

ActiBlizz has scheduled its Q2 earnings call for August 5, but a StarCraft 2 date is not expected to be announced – however, some analysts feel that Modern Warfare 2 will swoop in and save the day, with some estimating that it will sell up to 8.5 million units, and surpass 10 million units lifetime.

“Even without StarCraft, I think Activision should be able to get to their current guidance for the year. But without StarCraft, getting an upside to that number might be challenging,” Lubert contniued.

“I just think investors need that certainty of when it will ship, and it will remove this overhang.”

More through the link.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has predicted that Activision will delay the release of Starcraft 2 into 2010 instead of shipping it in October 2009.

Bhatia expects the game to sell around three million copies with a 2010 release being a positive thing for the company, despite the missing the holiday shopping season.

Activision had no comment regarding a Stracraft date, however, it was announced yesterday that Singularity would be pushed into 2010 to make way for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

More over on TeamLiquid.

Consider this a public service announcement of sorts, because, well, we like to keep you informed.

Therefore, if you missed out on purchasing tickets last week to BlizzCon, today is your last chance lest you purchase them for an exhorberant amount off of eBay.

The sale begins at 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST and can be purchased here for $125.00 each.

BlizzCon 2009 will take place August 21 and 22 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles.

Blizzard is now accepting StarCraft II beta sign-ups.

“The StarCraft II beta-test period is coming in the months ahead! If you’d like a chance to participate, now’s the time to let us know,” reads the World of Warcraft website.

Sign in on your Battle.net profile page, submit your current system specs, and opt-in.

Beta testing will being in North America first.

Blizzard has confirmed on the official Battle.net forums that a StarCraft II Collector’s Edition is in the works, complete with a Behind the Scenes DVD similar to ones released for World of Wacraft.

Blizzard’s RTS community manager Kevin Yu wrote that the developers are looking to the community to come up with some traditional Q&A queries on the product.

We are looking to gather some good questions aimed specifically at the developers of StarCraft II about their experience in developing the game. Fun questions are a plus. Submit your questions to this thread and there is a chance they may be selected to be added in a special video interview with the developers. Feel free to shoot out questions to all parts of the team: Production, Design, Art, Programming, QA, etc.

Please avoid specific gameplay type questions or other questions better suited for our traditional Q&A batches.

Game is expected sometime this year.

Thanks, INCGamers

Blizzard has handed out three new Starcraft 2 screens, this time showing off proper UI.

All three were posted on the revamped Battle.net’s forums.

We have them below. Go nuts.

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Title says it all, really.

Blizzard COO Paul Sams just said the StarCraft II beta will take place in “the coming months.”

“The beta will be played on a basic version of our new Battle.net architecture, which will give us the opportunity to test the game and the service in a live environment. Over time, we’ll be adding features to deliver a second-generation Battle.net experience.”

Also, more World of Warcraft content is expected for the year, with test realms and updates still using actual players.

Mention was also made of “unannounced MMO” which is still in the “no comment” area.

The news came as part of Activision’s fourth quarter earnings call.

Good stuff there.