Starcraft II update

First of all, Happy New Year!

It was a nice three weeks long holiday break and very few interesting things have happened in Starcraft II arena.

First one is availability of first Battle Report - shoutcast of deathmatch between Starcraft II game balance designers. The video is available here and it is just over 21 minute long. If you want to watch it off-line you can download it too. The match is between Protoss and Terran.

In the case you wonder, Protoss was the winner.

The match was played on this map

and you can also see high yield yellow mineral fields harvested during the battle.

Second news is for Protoss fans. You can cast your vote which model you want to see in the game. There are two designs and three options.

Option/Design 1

Option/Design 2

To cast your vote go here. My vote goes to option 3. It is great to see companies still care about customers (gamers) and value our opinions.
Option/Design 3 - have both availble in game and let the player choose.

Big Starcraft II media update

BlizzCon 2008 has finished and as expected lot of news and announcements were made. It happened a month ago but unfortunately I was too busy with work to write up a post. Finally, here it is.

 

Starcraft II Trilogy

Starcraft II will be shipped as trilogy instead of one big game. The reason for this decision is that if all story elements, cut scenes, interactive dialogue is bundled together it would be too big for a single product.  So, There will be 3 stand alone titles:

StarCraft 2 Terrans: Wings of Liberty

Protoss: Legacy of the Void

Zerg: Heart of the Swarm

 

In each of these we can expect from 26 to 30 missions. This and more was discussed in an interview with Bob Colayco.

Starcraft is one of the best RTS games and if you wonder how does Starcraft II feels in game play, check the article at Gamespot. In nutshell, here is a what's it is like:

it’s obvious the development team is keeping much of the old but also introducing new ways to convey aspects, including story and character development. Based on what we’ve seen so far, Starcraft II hits the nail right on the head and reboots the series like a well-timed Stim Pack release.

It's time to see some videos. First one is Zerg vs Terran.

 

 

 

If you want more have a look at these.

 

 

 

 

For everyone looking for high definition videos to download head to MegaGames.

If you want to believe rumors we may have a demo of Starcraft II early next year...

Little Big Planet - MacGyver moment

I have seen quite a few articles about Little Big Planet  (LBP) on the Internet. I didn't take time to read so I had no idea what this game is about.

Well, Little Big Planet is

Unique game combining an amazing platform adventure with a huge social community enabling consumers to play, create and share their gaming.

The world of LittleBigPlanet is unlike anything you have visited before: a

— handcrafted landscape made from

recognizable materials together with pure imagination! Instead of the pre-scripted gameplay normally seen in platform games,

LittleBigPlanet uses an advanced physics system which takes full advantage of the PLAYSTATION®3 systems power. Shapes, materials and objects all react exactly as you expect so balls roll, sledges slide and springs go boing.

So it is quite different and gives players a very nice playground. You can start small with decorations and get into more serious stuff later on. How serious? Depends on the ideas and free time.

I saw the video (see below) that simply amazed me. Beginning is quite simple and does not look very impressive. And then second half of the video is the revelation.

LittleBigPlanet 'Giant Calculator' gameplay

Not that it is a working calculator but it is a mechanical one! Upsilandre managed to get his/hers head around workings of mechanical calculator but also managed and organized over 1600 mechanical part, 610 magnetic switches, 500 wires and 430 pistons.

For me this is a definitely a MacGyver moment!

I wish this video is available in high definition... 

Diablo III new monster revealed - Dune Thresher

Diablo III seems to be doing just fine. It is quite far in development and according to some rumors it will be released before Starcraft 2. Apparently Diablo has a lot larger development team. Good news for Diablo fans, not so good for Starcraft.

Back to this beast. It hides in the sand and looks it is quite fast. It charges quickly to it's pray.

It is very sensitive to vibrations and sounds.

They'll jump right up onto these rocks and drag you down. An experienced hunter could survive an attack, but someone like you will be lunch if you keep stomping around here, making all that noise.

Starcraft II - Terran gameplay short video

Gametrailers.com have a short trailer of Terran base under attack from Protoss (Colossus). It is only one minute long but it shows a level of details in game and pace of the game, not created for a demo purpose. There are some audio commentaries from observers (as usual everybody think they knows what to do better than the guy playing the game).

 

 

You can also notice he had some trouble with resources. It would be nice to have some longer footage.

 

Somehow I missed another video, this time it is an interview with Frank Pearce, VP of product development. It does not reveal any new information but summarizes Blizzard's vision and the goals for the game. As expected they are not announcing release date.

 

Starcraft II gameplay videos and info

Gametrailers has a new gameplay video showing Zerg base and Terran rushing in. Unfortunately, Zerg is destroyed very quickly but it does show the details of Zerg and Terran units.

Here is the video

There are few details I would like to mention. Pay attention to units and building names and you will notice some changes. This is an opportunity to check out the unit animations (or at least the current ones). One of new units is a Spine Crawler as replacement for Sunken Colony.

Just after the mid point of the movie there is Creep Tumor which I don't know what is doing yet.

In addition to this video there is a post on Kotaku describing their experience with Starcraft II playing as Zerg.

The most interesting points from their perspective are

• Zerg units may be hard to distinguish from background
• Zerglings felt as underpowered unit
• Spine Crawlers can be relocated on creep as needed
• Queen and Corruptor are available early in game
• Hydralisks cost more and are available later in game

And their final comment:

After finally getting our mitts on the Zerg, we're more excited than ever about StarCraft II. We simply can't wait to annoy you via Battle.net with our crushing waves of Zerglings.

Here is another video (too short), this time of Protoss and building of the base. I like the Pylon animation and warping of the Gateway.

Just for an eye candy here is another video - crystal harvesting (Terran) and Protoss attacking Zerg's base.

That's it for now. I hope more videos will be released now when Leipzig Games Convention 08 has finished.

Stop the press! I just found another gameplay video. Have fun watching.

Mar Sara, another planet in StarCraft II universe

Another planet is added to the  StarCraft II universe - Mar Sara. This planet is second inhabitable planet in Sara system. It was always is the shadow of the more prosperous Chau Sara. In addition to that it was the first planet where Confederation fought Zerg.

Fighting was done by local militia forces who were later arrested for the same reason. Arcturus Mengsk, leader of rebel group Sons of Korhal solved the injustice by freeing the prisoners.

Arcturus obtained and revealed information about Confederation knowing about Zerg arrival and the sacrifice of Mar Sara in order to test a secret weapon that incited the Zerg invasion.

 

 

To make things better Executor Tassadar of Protoss incinerated the planet, just as he did with Chau Sara.

Bombarding of the planet has changed the minerals on the planet so they are unique. (maybe we'll see yellow crystals here...) 

 

Terrans are now returning to Mar Sara and establishing several outposts. There are some reports of Zerg sightings...

 

Some statistics about the planet:

• Population: 80 000 Terran, Zerg - unknown
• Allegiance: Kel-Morian
• Diameter/Gravity: 9265 km, 1.09 standard
• Axial tilt/Climate: 13.5º, ±34ºC, very low humidity
• Geography/Major settlements: 18 small dust seas, 28 upland regions, 12 major settlements, 86 mining outposts, 12 refineries
• Moons: Pyramus, Thisby (gray, medium size, over 2000 km diameter)
• Dominant terrain form: Wasteland/mountain/desert
• Dominant life form: Human - Kel-Morian Combine/Terran Dominion
• Indigenous life form: None/Zerg infestation (minor)
• Imports: Mining equipment, personnel, food, water
• Exports: Refined minerals, unrefined ore, vespene gas, terrazine gas, scrap salvage

 

From the description Mar Sara will be rich in minerals and gas so resources should not be the problem. Here are the screenshots for this incinerated desert planet.