With all their games, Blizzard has simply used CD=Key to combat piracy. Other protections were not necessary as their game’s strength was the online play. If another player with same CD-Key logged on to Battle.net, they would automatically be disconnected. This protection was enough to discourage most piracy. With more integration built into the Battle.net 2.0, it looked like CD-key would be enough protection against widespread piracy.
This is not the case. Blizzard will implement DRM protection on their future games starting with StarCraft 2. VP of game design Rob Pardo confirmed it will have “low” level protection. A lot of the DRM have infuriated gamers who have purchased the game and have legal right to play it. Some extreme DRM have consistently interfered with normal gaming experience. But, Pardo has affirmed that it will not use heavy handed DRM methods. The game will require internet connection and connect to Battle.net 2.0 during the installation. After that, you will be able to play the game without further interference. This sounds like a fairly reasonable DRM protection scheme and shouldn’t bother players too much.
Razer has steadily built a solid reputation for their gaming grade PC peripherals including mouse, keyboard, and headphones. They have also released various World of Warcraft specific keyboards and mouse. Now, they are increasing their R&D and staff at their headquarters in Singapore in anticipation of massive growth in gaming sector.
Interesting tidbit from their press release was their intention to develop StarCraft 2 specific peripherals akin to World of Warcraft peripherals. The game will feature integrated functions to go along with the mouse or keyboard. This will be especially helpful in a game like StarCraft or StarCraft 2 where you need fast response time in macro management. While they have not nailed down the specific functions of the peripherals, you can expect it to have some significant advantage as Blizzard and Razer have good working relationship in making peripherals for Blizzard games.
Greg Cannessa, the creator of Xbox Live Arcade has stated that Battle.net 2.0 will be feature rich service that builds on various other platforms. In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Canessa explained the difference you can expect from Battle.net 2.0.
"That system (Xbox Live), as brilliant as it was, was a platform. And PlayStation Network and Steam, they're also very platform-based," Canessa explained. "The set of online game services we provided over there, whether it was GamerScore or TrueSkill matchmaking or achievements or any of those systems, had to be build with the fact that they were a platform in mind. Call of Duty and Lego Star Wars and Bejeweled all had to sit on that platform."
"We just scratched the surface with Xbox Live of what you could do with achievements," he continued. "Wow, you can earn achievements. Great. But what if you customize those achievements really deeply and build really compelling meta-game scenarios around unlockable rewards, or decals and avatars, and ladders and leagues for StarCraft II?"
"At Blizzard, we're not bound by that constraint. We have a small number of titles we can deeply integrate in and create these kick-ass custom around-the-game features and meta-game services for a small number of games. That is our key distinguisher, and that is something I'm super excited about." While more integration means better features, Canessa has not provided any real specifics about the integration of Battle.net 2.0 and StarCraft 2. We will have to sit and wait for StarCraft 2 to see the true potential of Battle.net 2.0.
In the StarCraft universe, there are only handful of characters that stand on their own. Kerrigan, Jim Raynor, and Zeratul are the main characters in StarCraft game. Out of the three, Kerrigan stands out as the most memorable due to her transformation from a Ghost to Zerg. For some reason, Blizzard has decided to replace the popular voice actor of Kerrigan, Glynnis Talken, with the even more popular Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica.
Tricia Helfer has been busy within the realm of science fiction and video games. She has already appeared in Command and Conquer game in person as well as voice work in Halo 3: ODST. There has been some rumor regarding Kerrigan’s voice over for the upcoming StarCraft 2. Tricia herself has confirmed the rumor and stated that she is little bit intimidated by the fan reaction at the 2009 BlizzCon.
To the dismay of many StarCraft fans, Blizzard has once again delayed the release of StarCraft to next year. Blizzard is well known for pushing back the release date for their games. Almost every single release has been delayed once or twice before arriving at the retailers. However, the anticipation for the StarCraft 2 has been higher than any game released by Blizzard.
This has been somewhat frustrating for most Blizzard fans. Blizzard has not released any new game in last 5 years or so except for World of Warcraft expansion sets. Even the eagerly anticipated Diablo 3 is not due until next year or more. Usually, Blizzard has stuck to two year cycle for their new releases. This delay could be attributed to the wildly successful MMO, World of Warcraft. Even with the long release cycles, Blizzard has enjoyed great success with their releases. This has saved Blizzard from any financial difficulties faced by other developers that release a terrible game on a long release cycles. Even with the delay, Blizzard expects StarCraft 2 to do very well at retailers across the World.
While Blizzard has maintained that separate teams are working on separate games, it is clear that the cash cow World of Warcraft is garnering more attention than the other franchise games. Even so, the financial windfall from WOW should enable them to accelerate the development of StarCraft2. While nobody wants to see half finished game release followed by patch every 12 hours, it would be nice to see the game released earlier than expected.
Blizzard has stated that they will be selling premium maps in StarCraft 2. This is after they announced their plan to sell three separate campaigns instead of one game like StarCraft. If you were an avid StarCraft fan, you will most likely have played the custom maps with custom settings on Battlenet. Some of the games include Starship trooper, LOTR, or various other CTF custom maps.
Apparently, Blizzard will make their own maps with different type of games. The game editor will allow you to make FPS, RPG, and overhead arcade type shooter games. Blizzard showcased some of these maps this year’s BlizzCon. Blizzard displayed various playing modes. While RPG element is exciting, the FPS style would really generate a great interest. How would you like to play Ghost in FPS like Blizzard intended with their Ghost FPS game that’s been delayed indefinitely? It would really be something different in RPG game.
While this adds great replay value and longevity, it feels like Blizzard is trying to nickel and dime the gamers. The flexibility is impressive but they should really think about releasing some of these premium maps without charging too much.
It’s given that South Korea and United States will have their own servers for StarCraft 2. However, not much else set for other regions. Rob Pardo of Blizzard has said they are looking into adding an Australian server for the StarCraft 2. Blizzard has said that the gaming base in Australian is growing big enough to warrant a discussion on adding a dedicated server in the region.
Since StarCraft 2 will lack any LAN support, all of the online players have to go through Blizzard’s Battlenet. This means people outside of United States or South Korea will have to connect to one of the servers that are natively dedicated to that region. This is especially true for the Australian gamers who are literally on their own island.
In a recent interview with Wired, Paul Sams, Blizzard’s COO, stated StarCraft 2 will be a short session game. While he made the statement comparing the StarCrat 2 to WOW, it’s little troublesome to think that StarCraft 2 will be short. We know that it will arrive in three different phases with the first release, Wings of Liberty. Hopefully, the game will long enough and not too short as hinted by Paul Sams.
Vivendi SA, Blizzard’s parent company, is reporting a drop of 3 percent in net profit for the first half of the 2009. The overall profit dropped from 1.22 billion Euros to 1.19 billion Euros from last year. The economic downturn has hurt most entertainment companies including gaming companies. However, Vivendi weathered the economic downturn better than most entertainment companies.
The center piece of Vivendi Activision Blizzard has been the main contributor to the overall success of the Vivendi’s profitable run. String of successful games like Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and the cash cow World of Warcraft has contributed to better than expected outlook. However, the delay of StarCraft 2 has put some damper on the overall outlook. StarCraft 2, the sequel to the hugely popular StarCraft was expected to be released this year. However, Blizzard has delayed the release to the first half of next year in order to get the game at the satisfactory level.
In a recent interview, Blizzard has stated that Germany’s version of Diablo 3 will be cut to accommodate the Germany’s rating board. This will be applied to Australian market as well. The exact change from the US version is still under discussion. However, there will be less enemies and/or blood in the Germany and Australian versions.
Allen Dilling, the lead 3D artist for StarCraft 2 has stated that StarCraft 2 will also be modified similar to Diablo 3 in Germany. The color of blood will be modified as well as the enemy unit counts. The mechanical units will not have to face any change. This is all to accommodate USK, the Germany rating board to rate the game so that 12 year old gamers can purchase the game without any problem.
The gamers in other parts will not have to worry about censorship. We will be able to enjoy all the blood and gore present in the unblemished version of the game. I can already see the gamers in Australia and Germany ordering the United States version of the game over the regional releases.