Items tagged with Starcraft
Ladies and gentlemen, StarCraft won the Internet on Tuesday, and perhaps for the entire week. Or more precisely, the social media person who is responsible for StarCraft's Twitter account won the Internet, with a series of savage tweets mocking the microtransaction madness surrounding Star Wars Battlefront II and the response by publisher Electronic Arts when the proverbial poo hit the fan. First, a little backstory. EA drew ire from gamers when it decided an obscenely high amount of "credits" to unlock premium characters, such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Initially, the price was set at 60,000 credits. As constructed, it would take the average gamer around 40 hours of gameplay to earn...
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StarCraft fans now have a free to play version of the popular Blizzard game StarCraft II. Blizzard announced that StarCraft II would go free-to-play back during BlizzCon and as of yesterday that game has debuted at no cost. If you want to get in on the free gaming action, this is how you do it. You need a compatible computer running either Windows or Mac OS. You will need a Battle.net account. If you have one you are golden, otherwise you need to create one here. You can sign up using your Facebook account. Hit up the Battle.net Shop and look for the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty landing page. On that landing page, click Play for Free, and after the redirect look for StarCraft II and choose...
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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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Can you recall what you were doing in 1998, or even what PC you owned back then? For me, it was a system purchased from Sears with a Pentium MMX processor clocked at 200MHz inside. I had not gotten into the StarCraft craze like so many others, though the joke is on them—having waited nearly two decades, I can now legally grab a copy of StarCraft for free, along with the Brood War expansion. Image Source: Flickr (Daniel Garrido) Blizzard just released StarCraft and the Brood War expansion at no cost to anyone who cares to download one or both. What's the catch? There really is not much of one—Blizzard is working on a remastered version with updated 4K graphics and audio, and when that releases,...
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Attention original StarCraft fans! Blizzard just announced that StarCraft Remastered will be available this summer in 4K. This release will also include the award-winning expansion, StarCraft: Brood War. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime remarked, “StarCraft is a pure distillation of Blizzard’s DNA—its story, its balance, and all the little details reflect our long-running commitment to epic entertainment, and it’s been a staple in competitive gaming and e-sports for almost 20 years”. Before and After According to Blizzard, it has, “kept everything you love about StarCraft, but upgraded everything else.” This remastered edition will incorporate a "full graphical overhaul" with "widescreen UHD support...
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Blizzard has released a powerful new suite of tools for Starcraft 2 modders and developers that fundamentally change the nature of what's possible in the popular RTS game. Now, players can use the same architectural and graphics design toolsets that Blizzard has used internally to build new units, tilesets, and models. Furthermore, these tools are now available even with the Starcraft 2: Starter Edition kit. Players can grab them here. Critically, artists will now be able to incorporate images and effects designed in programs like 3ds Max, Photoshop, or other high-end particle systems. “These tools are going to be a big upgrade for people,” Womack said in a video update. “This...
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When video games hit the mainstream news, it’s usually just more fuel for the tired “Do games increase violence?” debate. But a new study focuses on games from an entirely different angle: how action games affect “cognitive flexibility.” The finding suggest that certain action games – like Blizzard's StarCraft – might actually help players improve their cognitive capabilities in the real world. If you haven’t printed out this article yet so you can show your spouse, get on it. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. Image credit: Blizzard Researchers Brian D. Glass, W. Todd Maddox, and Bradley C. Love published their findings in an article on the online...
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When Blizzard announced that they were splitting Starcraft II into three titles, Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, the general reaction from fans was controversial. The fear was that Blizzard would pad out the contents of each game with busywork missions and red-herring plot devices, while charging full price for each. The company later clarified that the second campaigns would be priced like expansion packs. Heart of the Swarm is the first chance we've had to see if Blizzard's expansion strategy would result in the same quality of game play. Wings of Liberty (WoL) launched at $59, while Heart of the Storm (HotS) is $39. That $39 buys you 20 main missions and 7 "Evolutionary"...
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When Blizzard announced that they were splitting Starcraft II into three titles, Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, the general reaction from fans was controversial. The fear was that Blizzard would pad out the contents of each game with busywork missions and red-herring plot devices, while charging full price for each. The company later clarified that the second campaigns would be priced like expansion packs. Heart of the Swarm is the first chance we've had to see if Blizzard's expansion strategy would result in the same quality of game play. Wings of Liberty (WoL) launched at $59, while Heart of the Storm (HotS) is $39. That $39 buys you 20 main missions and 7 "Evolutionary"...
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I've recently beaten Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm (watch for the review, coming soon). The ending of the game has been discussed a fair bit, with the main question being whether or not Sarah Kerrigan -- the onetime Queen of Blades, absolute badass, and the focus of the campaign -- is treated poorly in the final moments. There's no way to discuss the events without spoilers, so I'll warn everybody now -- if you don't want to read about the game's conclusion, don't scroll down. Kerrigan at the beginning of the game The Swarm Endgame: Kerrigan, crushing pretty much everything Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm is the story of Kerrigan's mission to rebuild the Zerg Swarm, reclaim the power she...
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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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Diablo III's long-awaited launch date has finally been unveiled; gamers can expect copies of the game to go on sale May 15. The game is available for pre-purchase and, as we previously discussed, can be had for free if you're willing to sign up for a year of World of Warcraft. The game will launch internationally at 12:01 AM with copies available in the US, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. A Latin American / Russian launch will follow a few weeks later, on June 7th. The amount of translation work going into the game is truly impressive; D3 will be translated into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian, Portugese, French, German, European...
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Blizzard's Blizzcon has wrapped up, and we've gathered up the best of the goodies to discuss them with you. There were major unveils for all three Blizzard 'verse's (and a new game announced)—whether you're a WoW player, Starcraft fan, or anxious for Diablo III, there's updates and goodies to review. New Warcraft Expansion: Mists of Pandaria The Pandaran race began life as an April Fool's joke; Blizzard originally unveiled them as a 5th playable race for Warcraft III. The positive response from fans was tremendous—so much so that Chris Metzen, Warcraft's Lore Keeper, began to write them into the universe. Over the last nine years, Pandaran have occupied a fringe position in the Warcraft...
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Just the word "StarCraft" probably brings lots of memories to gamers of old. And now, gamers of the new. StarCraft II has taken the gaming community by storm this year, but what good is a great new title without great new accessories? You could argue that either way, but Razer has three new peripherals that are StarCraft through and through. There's an entire suite of peripherals designed specifically for the acclaimed real-time strategy game, and all three are up for pre-sale now. The entire line includes the Razer Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse, the Razer Marauder StarCraft II Gaming Keyboard and the Razer Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset, all of the Razer StarCraft II gaming peripherals...
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Covering the declarations of Bobby Kotick is a bit like monitoring the behavior of an active volcano. It's impossible to predict exact when he'll blow, but when he inevitably does, the event will blast molten stupid in every direction. The man's latest bright idea is to charge for cutscenes. This wouldn't affect in-game play, but would be an out-of-game option. Here's what Bobby envisions, in his own words. If we were to go to an audience and say ‘We have this great hour and a half of linear video that we'd like to make available to you at a $20 or $30 price point’ you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever,” he told an audience at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch...
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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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Earlier this week, Blizzard dropped a bombshell. Almost two weeks ago, Bliz introduced a feature it calls "RealID", which allows friends on two different WoW servers or playing two different Blizzard games to communicate. Then, last Tuesday, the company made an announcement. [I]n the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World...
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Starcraft is one of those games that will live forever as one of the great titles in history. Your kids and grandchildren will end up knowing about Starcraft, and now, they'll also know about Starcraft II. That title is one of the most highly anticipated ever, and in order to ride the bandwagon, Razer has decided to produce a number of new items themed around the upcoming game. Razer has shown their favor for Starcraft in the past, but today we're being presented with a first look at a handful of new input peripherals from the company that are all either Starcraft-themed or specifically designed to be used with Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. The Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse, Marauder Gaming...
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The game is on. Blizzard has begun private beta-testing of StarCraft II. Koreans are rejoicing right now (for those unaware, Korea is still ga-ga over StarCraft).StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment's 1998 hit game StarCraft, arguably one of the greatest games of all-time. Gamers worldwide (but not here) are receiving invitations to that (sob) private beta. Blizzard is seeking feedback on the multiplayer balance of StarCraft II, and also on the revamped Battle.net service, the online platform for StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and now StarCraft II.In Blizzard's press release announcing the (sob) private beta, Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment...
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With Blizzcon generating all sorts of buzz right now, SteelSeries has selected the perfect time to introduce its new Blizzard Entertainment co-branded gaming surface. The new mousepad, which was obviously designed specifically for gamers, is titled StarCraft QcK Limited Edition, and it's actually just one of a series of new surfaces with stunning artwork from the famed StarCraft universe.“StarCraft and its expansion have together sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, and we believe StarCraft II will prove equally influential and popular, making this a great opportunity to provide gamers with surfaces that help to improve performance and game play,” said Brian Stech, SteelSeries President...
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