Starcraft Ghost Off The Cube

Gamespot has the news that Blizzard's upcoming action/stealth title Starcraft: Ghost is officially no longer in production for the Gamecube. From the article: "Speaking to GameSpot, a Blizzard staffer confirmed that the game is now only being released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, meaning the previously announced GameCube edition has been canceled ... Unfortunately the GameCube has no online service and since so much work is going in to the online portion, it would be additional work to release only part of the intended game."

So the Revolution is NOW?

So that means it IS comming out for the Revolution.. Right??

This is an understandable move.

When Ghost was in early development the focus was on the single player experience. Now, with the information and playable versions released at Blizcon, it seems that the game is shaping up to have a considerable multiplayer portion. In light of this new focus, it makes sense to drop costly support for the Gamecube version.

If you look at the PS2 version of the game, I'm sure this already requires extensive extra work to the multiplayer portion as well. Its going to be a big difference between putting a game up on Xbox live, and creating a complete multiplayer service like you have to do with PS2 online games.

I wonder if the Ps2 version will contain features like matchmaking, buddy lists, and playlists. With Blizzards previous excellent multiplayer track record on battlenet, it seems unlikely they would expect anything less from developers taken under there wing. Could such extensive online support be the killer-app for the PS2 Ethernet adapter?

Re:This is an understandable move.

And how many games make use of it? How many consumers are likely to own one? How does the market penetration compare to X-Box Live and the PS2's online services?

While it's technically wrong to say that the Cube has no online services, in any serious business decision, you cannot include the Cube's network adaptor as a factor. It's sold far too few and it's not going to start selling them now, so late in the cycle.

Blizzard's decision makes perfect sense and I doubt most people outside of slashdot games will even notice.

Re:This is an understandable move.

There is far more consoles that do not have online than there are that do. It makes perfect sense to sell more games to more users to make more money. If the game was any good they would come out with a robust single player to sell to the majority of console users. This shows their lack of confidence in the game over all and in the single player mode.

The single player mode is not good enough to sell the game to enough Gamecube owners to make it profitable for that platform. That says much about the game for any console owner.

OH NOES!

Considering when it was announced [slashdot.org] years ago, you have to wonder a bit. Does this matter? It's like saying that Duke Nukem Forever won't come out on the GameCube -- it's sure as shit not coming out on anything else, either!

After 3 years, it's not going to live up to expectations anyways. The edge of gameplay is further out, and whatever monetary hit they took developing a game in 2002 and 2003 is 100% wasted money. Some of the code and art may transfer, but the gameplay and graphics standard have been raised in the meantime. Anything over 18 months is wasted money in game development.

PS2 has no online service either

So why are they dropping it just for the GameCube? By their logic they should be dropping the PS2 version also since all it has is an internet adapter. X-Box is the only console with an online service.

So...

Taking into consideration all the delays that we've been put through.... it's not coming out for any system. I mean, come on! It was supposed to be out summer '04

Wake up people!

I think we've all seen enough press releases to read between the lines on this one. Either: (1) Someone figured out it wouldn't sell that well on GC, or (2) Blizzard had some falling-out with Nintendo about something.

Either way, I guarantee it has nothing to do with online multiplayer. *Every* console game is sold on the strength of the single-player experience. Only PC games (BF2, CS) can be sold as primariliy multiplayer. Sure, Halo grew into a MP juggernaut, but everyone played the SP first.

Why PS2 and not GC? well... look at the numbers and the fanbase.

What really ticks me off is that these companies try to spin *everything* and think we believe all their crap. Note to PR departments (especially Blizzard's): WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU.

Wait a minute, only M$ has a service.

I smell BS here. Both the PS2 AND the GQ use a online adapter, there is no service other than the maker themselves supporting a service. So if they do go through with the PS2 version, it means Blizzard pulled bullshit out of their ass to justify not completing a game like they where supposed to and to just rush it out because they changed it last minute. If they dont release a GQ OR a PS2 version, it means Blizzard is yet another in the long line of gamemakers who sell out to Microsoft for the money.

Either way this looks really really bad for a company that prided its self for working for the gamers because they are either selling out, or they are lying.

Coming out too late anyway?

I found it funny when looking the /. original posting of Blizzard's annoucement and the post of Blizzards FAQ about the game. Taken from that FAQ:

"We expect to ship StarCraft: Ghost in late 2003."

lol. Yes blizzard has added a lot and changed a lot, but by the time this game is ready to ship to PS2 and XBox it's going to be playing on a system that's already replaced by the next gen systems. I know this is Blizzard's first attempt at a video game system, but I think they are going to learn a lot of lessons about how you can't take a long to get a video game out as you can for PC game. Either that, or Blizzard needs to 1) not announce the stupid thing so early (marketing can be a developers nightmare), or 2) they need to be making the Starcraft: Ghost version for PS3 and XBox 360 right NOW instead of still trying to release something for the current systems (although I still want them to release this for PS2!)

Oh well..

At times like this im glad i still have my copy of Starcraft 64. Take that Xbox owners!

what a waste

3 years ago it was a toss up on getting a game system. Metriod Prime looked cool but that wasnt enough for me to get a console, figured hey Ghost is coming out too. Bought a GC and have been waiting since, sigh.....oh and NERF SHAMANS!

It's official!!

...Ghost is the new Duke Nukem Forever!

More Like HL2

The new starcraft ghost is more like hl2. Hl2 was supposed to be released years ago, but they continued to delay the game to keep up with the newer games coimg out. Like the final delay that they made, to compete with Doom 3. Instead of dropping the game from just gamecube, they should drop it from all the current consoles and release it for xbox 360 and ps3, where as there will still be the online multiplayer.

PC

However, they still lack a reasonable explanation why they aren't releasing it for the PC.

The reason can't be technical, as everyone knows the Xbox IS a (crippled) PC.

So, let's see here...

...Ghost was announced in 2001 as being developed by Nihilistic Software. Then it changed hands from Nihilistic to Swingin' Ape Studios. Nihilistic had completed 85% of the engine and 40% of level design, but Ape scrapped most of this (according to an interview earlier this year) in favour of a new engine(?) and entirely different story. Now they've changed it to a PS2 and XBox-title only, and four years after production began, they're shifting the focus from single-player to multi-player. I'm taking bets that the game is going to merge productions with Duke Nukem Forever, and the resulting unholy union will only be playable on the Infinium Labs Phantom.

Gamecube online

I remember hearing a while back that Sega was offering its software to developers wanting to take Gamecube games online. I'm not aware that anyone took them up on that offer.

In any case, designing a non-MMORPG console game solely around the online experience seems rather narrow-sighted. Sure online console gaming is growing, but it's not the way most people play.

I suppose the bright side is that now I'll have one less game to not have time to play.

not a big deal

I was excited when I first heard about SC: Ghost and even more excited when I heard that Swinging Ape studio took over development, since I loved Metal Arms. But to be honest, I had completely forgotten about this game. Is it possible that this is some strange means to garner some buzz before it's released?

Bodes ill for the game

I personally find myself agreeing with Nintendorks' take [nintendorks.com] on it:

Apparently a big part of StarCraft: Ghost is a subpar online mode where everyone stealths around while trying to capture a base or some crap. That certainly sounds more exciting than the single player story mode full of StarCraft lore that we've been waiting 3 years for.

Seriously, if there's going to be so much of a focus on online gameplay that they don't think releasing the game for the GCN makes sense, it sounds like Ghost will become yet another online game with little more than chicks dressed in tight/revealing outfits going for it, just like half the games released in the past 3 years or so. Been there, done that.

I was looking for a new game to expand the StarCraft universe, but if all it's going to give me is "ZOMG! It's a Zergling! Shiney!" I have other games to spend money on.

well fuck you too, blizzard

no text.

Re:BS on a stick

Yeah, it is bullshit. The real reason is it wouldn't sell well enough on the Gamecube (it's not dead, it's just pining for the Fjords![1]), especially if it's an online focused game (what with Nintendo's great online support).

[1] OK, so it's not that quite bad, Nintendo do have enough money from their portable cash cows to keep on propping it up with new software if you've got a system, but very few third party developers (at least western ones) seem to think it's worthwile nowadays. A solid 3rd place in the west isn't a good place to be, even if they can claim 2nd place worldwide due to the Xbox's complete failure in Japan.

Re:WHO CARES.

Seriously who the hell cares? That's like making an article titled: "Super Mario not coming out for Xbox 360!!!!"

yeah, just like that.

except Super Mario was never announced or even rumoured for Xbox 360, of course.