If you are, then on May 19th Blizzard will announce Starcraft II. Right now they are doing their typical hype-building site countdown; this time (as you’ll see if you visit their site) they have been counting all week through their titles from Warcraft & Warcraft II to presently Diablo II. The original Starcraft was yesterday’s, with the tagged on release date of 1998 which I have oft stressed is a f&#k-long time ago. Like Indiana Jones finding the game in his next movie old.
I was immediately intrigued by the sequence starting off with the relation between the first Warcraft and its sequel, to me insinuating an approaching second of a series, and as we’re all quite aware there is already a g-d second Diablo game. All of this pent up emotion led me to consult with my wife as to the next logical step for the company.
Many people (idiots) are arguing that a Starcraft MMO game is definitely what they’re announcing, because the company has made so much bank on World of Warcraft that they’re now hooked like a Substance-D user on the genre. What we decided, however, is that Blizzard is still making a ton of money off of WoW and they’re currently working on more content for the first expansion to the game. The typical MMO has way more then one expansion, and with 8 million users to alienate before they really have to worry, the company definitely doesn’t want to shatter and scatter their MMO fan-base this quickly.
Others (also idiots) are demanding a new game in the Diablo series. These people are dangerous, probably infected with several VD’s, brain-dead, and should be taken to your local murder-shack and slain as quickly as possible. If you’re lazy, just kick them in the face. To provide some solid argument, the simple fact that Blizz has put up a countdown TIMELINE shows that they’re thinking about the order in which they release games. WC3 came out 7 years after its predecessor, Diablo 2 was a paltry 4 years after the first, and here we sit just shy of 10 years post Starcraft. Why? WHY?!
The rest of the people, if they aren’t blind with rage-filled hope that it is Starcraft 2 and that it is in some form of strategical martial warfare that isn’t turn-based (RTS), are seriously in doubt that the company will want to go back to the tried and true format of their making. My unfounded thought is that the people at Blizzard really want to get back to creating a good old RTS, and making it the best damn RTS ever. The first two Warcraft games had only two, very similar races. Starcraft introduced the three-race balance-through-variety concept, while WC3 took it even further with four races. If they continue that trend the next step is five races, three of which we already know and two that can do nothing but knock our socks off. I postulate (suggest?) a race of robots or mechanical creatures, possibly created by the Terrans and now they have a plan. My long-time dream has been for them to include in some form as a playable race the very creators of the Protoss and the Zerg, but I fear that the Xel’Naga might be a bit too day dreamy for reality. I don’t even care if the game has Space Orks in it…
In conclusion, I don’t think Blizzard quite realizes how many lives are at stake with this on-coming announcement. How can they? If they knew, Starcraft 2 would probably already be in my computer and I’d be hax0ring some bitches with my l33t flying-zergling rush. That’s right, in this game (fantasy) they f-ing FLY!
I’m pretty sure that Blizzard has said specifically that they’re not announcing a new MMO. The rumor mill also says that a probable fourth race for Starcraft 2 is the Kerrigan-hybrid race which has split from Zerg proper (and perhaps would contain your flying zerglings.) That might also suggest the fifth race would be Protoss/Zerg hybrid? That might be Zerg overload.
If the big announcement is not SC2, my guesses are:
-Completely new franchise
OR
-Starcarft vs. Warcraft. The crossover no one asked for!
And on the Diablo front: I’m sure it’s been said before, but “WoW IS diablo 3.” They already have that user base covered. It is high time for another RTS, but am I the only one still wondering why Ghost never came to be?
Stay awhile and listen! God, I can hear the exact voice for that in my head.
Ghost was being produced by Blizzard, but a company called Nihilistic was doing most of the actual work on the game. It was probably about 60-70% complete when Blizzard decided it wasn’t living up to their expectations and pulled it from Nihilistic and decided to go in-house. After a few months, it became clear to them that their first generation X-Box game was behind the curve with the 360 out and the PS3/Wii on the way, so Blizzard decided to stop the game. It may come back someday for current consoles, I’d say it’s more possible then Warcraft: Adventures! All-in-all, Blizz made the right decision, the game would have been behind the trends and not nearly up to their standards of quality.
A very saddening (but unfounded/proven) statement I found on the SC-Ghost wiki: “Reports indicate that most of the people responsible for the development of the original StarCraft have left the company”
Who is excited? I’m excited!
Don’t know about them not going MMO on us. I agree it doesn’t make sense, but if they are announcing it as ‘coming up’, they could launch it a year away. I don’t know, it just seems weird to release an RTS these days. I know SC has fanatical support in Korea and hell, we’ve all pumped hours into it here, but would i buy a sequal now? I don’t think i would…
Could always be a new IP. I mean this is Blizzard we’re talking about, and even a new IP would still carry the “legendary” brand recognition of the blizzard name. I do hear ya Gavin, as I’m always looking for new stories more than sequels. But then, I almost NEVER buy games on opening day (cept for Unreal Tourney, Mod or Die)
As I explained in the post, even TWO or THREE years from now they are still going to be bleeding WoW players strongly for their money. They know how to run a business, and create games based on the market, I assume – and so I feel confident that I’m correct on this issue at least.
A new IP is a possibility that I actually forgot to address in my post, and it’s certainly up there in the chances of it happening. What I think though is that as far as a production cost goes, they already have so much set up for the Starcraft franchise, universe, and IP as a whole that they can accomplish more with a sequel. Also, I’m disturbed by your singling out of new stories as not a part of sequels. Why can’t a sequel tell new stories, or even do something completely new, while still building upon what existed beforehand?
I seriously hope it’s not a sequel related in any way to StarCraft. The first one got old real quick, and when I beat Bartoneus by infesting his command center and making infested terrans, I retired undefeated.
Sadly though it will probably be related to StarCraft. Maybe less people will play WoW then and I’ll have more of the farming spots to myself.