Items tagged with Battle.net
Destiny 2 recently arrived on the PC, following its successful console launch on September 6 of this year. The original installment in the franchise was a console-exclusive title, despite petitions and pleading from PC gamers to port the title over to Windows. That makes Destiny 2 the first time PC gamers get to use their inner-Guardian to shoot, Sparrow-ride, and loot their way through Bungie’s open-word, action-RPG franchise. In Destiny 2, you are a “Guardian”, a mortal being who has been granted incredible abilities after receiving the Traveler’s Light. Choosing from three distinct class types, your task is to restore and protect Earth’s last safe city from hordes of alien races. To do...
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If you haven't been paying attention to the StarCraft world lately, it may be easy to think that StarCraft II - the game that came out seven years ago - may be winding down. Of course, we'd have to ridicule you for having such thoughts, because this is Blizzard we're talking about, and its games have some true staying power. There's also the fact that Blizzard has since released three full-fledged expansion packs, with the final one, Nova Covert Ops (split into three mini packs), wrapping things up last November. Blizzard now feels that the time is right to make the game free-to-play. So if you've ever been craving some RTS action lately, this easily answers the question of which game...
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It is said that hindsight is 20/20, and with the benefit of being able to look back, Blizzard realized that its plan to transition away from the Battle.net brand of its online gaming service was a mistake. Of course, the online community is also great at pointing out mistakes. As Blizzard quickly learned, there is too much history behind the Battle.net name to toss it aside, and so it has decided to bring it back. "Battle.net is the central nervous system for Blizzard games and the connective tissue that has brought Blizzard players together since 1996. The technology was never going away, but after giving the branding change further consideration and also hearing your feedback, we’re in agreement...
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It's the end of an era. In a new post made on the World of Warcraft website, Blizzard announced that the Battle.net name is being pushed aside. From now on, the company will begin transitioning its front-facing services to ones that begin with the name "Blizzard", such as Blizzard Voice and Blizzard Streaming, which have already been revealed. When launched twenty years ago, Battle.net was setup to become an integral service for all forthcoming Blizzard titles. It was in effect the portal that allowed people to play their favorite Blizzard titles together, with the original Diablo becoming the first to make use of it on November 30, 1996. The biggest reasons for Blizzard's decision? One is the...
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Lizard Squad has been on a DDoS attack rampage for the past couple of weeks with Sony’s PlayStation Network, Blizzard’s Battle.net, League of Legends, and NCSoft all succumbing to its attacks with Twitch being its latest target. However, it appears that Lizard Squad’s activities may be curtailed if reports are true. The FBI has been hunting down the person, or persons, responsible not only for the DDoS attack but the grounding of a plane when the group tweeted a false bomb threat as well. The group came into the spotlight by claiming responsibility on its Twitter account and announcing its targets. Lizard Squad’s activities also attracted the attention of a group called...
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If there's one price nobody can argue with, it's "free!" Not freemium or free with in-game purchases available, just straight-up free, no strings attached. Such is what you'll pay for a trio of classic titles Blizzard has decided to make available to the public. These are truly classic games that deserve a fist-bump if you played them when they first came out. Joining Blackthorne, a 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) title that Blizzard made available for free on Battle.net last November, are The Lost Vikings and Rock N' Roll Racing. Starting with the former, The Lost Vikings was originally released in 1992, also for the SNES and a bunch of other platforms, including the PC via DOS...
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When Blizzard launched Diablo III, one of the game's most controversial features was the inclusion of a real money and standard auction house. This was an optional component of the game that allowed players to purchase items and equipment for real money. It ran concurrently with the game's traditional auction system and no one was required to use it. Gold could be bought and sold on the RMAH -- if you wanted items that were available on the "regular" auction house, you could buy gold with them on the RMAH, transfer it to your character, and then use it to purchase equipment. The entire system was billed as an experiment in funding and game design -- an experiment Blizzard has decided to end....
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Blizzard has been hit with a lawsuit over its $6.50 Battle.net Authenticator keychains that it sells online. According to the lawsuit, Blizzard makes millions of dollars by "deceptively and unfairly" charging customers for an after-sale security product, essentially shifting responsibility from the publisher to the consumer to protect their accounts from hackers. Even then, it doesn't always work, the lawsuit claims. "Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members' Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach ('hack') at the hands of unknown parties ('hackers'), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net's security and acquired...
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Blizzard announced yesterday that its popular Battle.net service has been compromised. The company's investigation is ongoing, but Blizzard has released some early details on what's been taken and what the theft means for its users. First off, the company doesn't believe any credit card information, Paypal addresses, or similar data was seized. No billing addresses or real names have been accessed, either. What was taken includes: Email addresses for non-Chinese Battle.net users Personal security questions and answers Information related to Mobile and dial-in Authenticators Cryptographically hashed passwords Those last two items are worrisome, and Blizzard's Mike Morhaime addresses it directly,...
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Diablo III isn't just a game -- it's a sequel, a social service, and a financial experiment all wrapped up in one. We've discussed the game's structure and balance in our extensive preview as well as its security problems earlier this week. The third part of the game -- the Real (Money) Auction House, or RAH -- won't debut until May 29 at the earliest and therefore won't be covered here. Diablo III will likely go down as one of the most polarizing games of 2012. What follows is a detailed examination of the game's best attributes and a frank discussion of its failures. Diablo III: Graphics, Gameplay, and Design: Act II's Caldeum, Jewel of the East D3's gameplay is great. It retains all...
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This is one of those little tidbits that breaks like a tactical nuke, not because it's a major policy change, but because the company in question has just revealed an astonishing degree of stupidity and is blissfully ignorant of it. In the wake of massive hacks, Blizzard released a statement reassuring world+dog that it takes our account security very seriously. That's why Battle.net passwords are all case insensitive! Wait, what? Yup! Check this out. These screenshots brought to you buy Vasadan, official Blizzard Quality Assurance staff. The original thread is here, but we wouldn't expect it to be there very long. The only thing better than a BS defense of an indefensible security policy is...
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Diablo 3 players don't need any more bad news. The game is already staggering from a debut marred by enormous lag spikes, dropped games, and auction house errors. Now, widespread allegations of hacking are taking further chunks out of Blizzard's hide. This time though, there's an added twist: A significant number of those hacked claimed to be using Blizzard Authenticators. This has led to counterclaims that the victims must be lying, as well as a great deal of confused discussion over whether or not such a thing is even possible. To that end, there's something all of you need to understand up front. The Authenticator that Blizzard sells is not guaranteed proof against having your account hacked......
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Diablo 3 players don't need any more bad news. The game is already staggering from a debut marred by enormous lag spikes, dropped games, and auction house errors. Now, widespread allegations of hacking are taking further chunks out of Blizzard's hide. This time though, there's an added twist: A significant number of those hacked claimed to be using Blizzard Authenticators. This has led to counterclaims that the victims must be lying, as well as a great deal of confused discussion over whether or not such a thing is even possible. To that end, there's something all of you need to understand up front. The Authenticator that Blizzard sells is not guaranteed proof against having your account hacked....
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It's been over 12 years since Starcraft launched, and expectations for the sequel have been quite high*. Well, the highly anticipated sequel, Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, is here and we've taken the time to play through the campaign, test various difficulty levels, and tackle both human and the computer's AI in multiplayer. The single-player experience in SC2 is quite a bit different than the multiplayer game; we'll examine the two separately... Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Reviewed...
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It's been over 12 years since Starcraft launched, and expectations for the sequel have been quite high*. Well, the highly anticipated sequel, Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, is here and we've taken the time to play through the campaign, test various difficulty levels, and tackle both human and the computer's AI in multiplayer. The single-player experience in SC2 is quite a bit different than the multiplayer game; we'll examine the two separately. First, a note on DRM. Starcraft 2 uses a DRM system similar to Steamworks—an online connection is required when installing the game for the first time, but the game can be played offline at any point thereafter.If it's unable to find an Internet...
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Gamers who've been salivating at the chance to slaughter zerglings (or each other) like it's 1998 are going to have to wait a little longer. Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the first Starcraft 2 campaign—the Terran-centric Wings of Liberty will not be ready by the end of 2009. The culprit, according to company PR, is Battle.net. The company's release is quoted below."...it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize...
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