PreGameLobby

D_Litch · 04-26-2007, 10:15 AM

Quote:

According to a post at Thisisgame.com, Blizzard will announce the sequel for StarCraft in the home land of StarCraft: South Korea. The World Wide Invitational (WWI) is a Blizzard event where top gamers are invited to play Blizzard's games, and that's where the announcement is claimed to be.

Blizzard's strategy for announcing new games have traditionally been by surprising the crowd at one of the major game events. According to Thisisgame, over 100 international media partners have been invited to the World Wide Invitational, and to the possible announcement of a sequel.

Here's the English version, freely translated, of the original source at Thisisgame.com:

Quote:

Starcraft 2 will be announced to the public on May 19th at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitation (WWI).

On April 25th, according to the game company Blizzard Korea Entertainment, it is confirmed that they will announce Starcraft 2 demonstrating it with both videos and images. Furthermore, the developers of Starcraft 2 will be there, and have time to answer the questions.

Starcraft 2 is being developed in 3D and there will be new race and some specific changes to remaining races. Details of only minor parts will be released at WWI.

Blizzard invited more than a hundred of broadcasting teams from around the world for this announcement. Prior to this very secret moment on May 19th, they will not release any information.

However, from the people who previously worked with Blizzard, there is trusted word about this information. A person who recently retired from Blizzard said there is development of Starcraft 2 and there will be an announcement.

The chairman of Blizzard Korea said “we cannot answer anything about Starcraft 2, we will have a new game on 19th so please come and find out”. He refused to answer if new game is Starcraft 2.

The shout caster “Um Jae Kyung” said “I expect it to be very balanced but have concerns regarding E-Sports, but I doubt there will be changes about E-sports in regards to Starcraft I. However, there will be most likely be another league for Starcraft II and e-sports will be much bigger. Since I’m one of the gamers, I’m very excited about this”.

The 3rd WWI will be on May 19th ~ 20th in Seoul, and it seems there will be a lot taking place.

No smoke without a fire

Whether or not these claims are true will be difficult to confirm because of the nature of the source (anonymous leak). Over the years there have been much said about the sequel - Blizzard has repeatedly mentioned that they have always been interested in "revisiting the StarCraft world". However, only recently has there been an increasing number of leaks regarding Starcraft 2, all hinting that it is indeed coming out soon. Here's the recent history:

# December 2006: An 'Unannounced project' was what Chris Sigaty, Lead Producer of WarCraft 3 (and its expansion), said he was working with when GosuGamers met up with Blizzard in our recent interview called » When Blizzard started talking. He would not comment further on what project it was.
# 8th January 2007, GosuGamers » reported about a claim that StarCraft 2 would be announced early 2007. That source also leaked a lot of other unconfirmed information to the gaming community, much which have turned out to be true.
# Only days later, 16th January 2007, at the launch of the Burning Crusade, » a Blizzard representative made further, and this time public, hints about StarCraft II.
# 9th April 2007, sources at FighterForum (» translated at TeamLiquid) claimed that information about a new race and 3D graphics being included in StarCraft 2 had leaked from the company and that a beta would be out by the end of 2008. It only contained claims for a new "Kerrigan" race and that the original units of StarCraft would be included in the sequel, but with a modification.

This. Is. Awesome!

Peench · 04-26-2007, 10:28 AM

Yeah, it would be awesome if they finish and release the fraking game. Unlike the Starcraft:Ghost game for the Xbox.

D_Litch · 04-26-2007, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peench

Yeah, it would be awesome if they finish and release the fraking game. Unlike the Starcraft:Ghost game for the Xbox.

I had totally forgotten about that game. Wasn't it in development for like 5 years before they pulled the plug?

Peench · 04-26-2007, 10:38 AM

Yeah, it was in development forever. I played a version of it at an E3 a couple/few years ago and it looked fun. It wasn't polished, but it looked fun. Given their timetable I questioned why they were releasing it for the OG Xbox, but they were pretty confident. Then it was delayed so I thought they were redoing it for the 360.. but instead they killed it.

grife · 04-26-2007, 10:40 AM

I have alot of respect for Blizzard for pulling the plug on some of thier obvious turds, like the warcraft adventure game (that story based one about the orc) and ghost. it could have been good but if they didnt do it right it could have damaged them

Jon Liu · 04-26-2007, 03:11 PM

Yeah, Blizzard is a company that I respect completely. They have the guts, like grife said, to pull the plug on something that isn't quite that good.

Honestly, Ghost could have been pretty decent, but that's not what Blizzard goes for.

If you think about their track record, they will only shoot for #1. Not #5 or #10. They aim high and if they don't even think they meet those standards, they've proven they will scrap the idea entirely!

Anyway, WOO HOO!!!!!! Starcraft 2!!!!!

Peench · 04-26-2007, 05:40 PM

I dunno. Games can still be fun if they are not number 1. And what makes a number one title? Look at games like psychonauts - was it number 1? Hardly. Was it still fun as hell for those who played it? Totally.

I can respect them for trying to aim high, but its also lame that they wouldn't put out a title that was mostly finished anyway. I guess if it really sucked that bad and would have been a letdown for everyone who bought it, then maybe. But that being said, release it anyway and just lower the price. Recoup some of the development costs or something. I would have played it.

Jon Liu · 04-26-2007, 08:07 PM

True. We'll never know the real reasons for their decision to scrap Ghosts. I would've played it, too. To date, I've not missed owning a single Blizzard game... so I wouldn't have skipped it even if it WAS a piece of poo.

Gordon · 04-26-2007, 09:34 PM

Well so long as Starcraft DS follows it... I will be happy.

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