Warcraft III Gone Gold 740
0x00 writes "Shacknews seems to be the first to report that Warcraft III has gone gold. The press release is here. Blizzard have announced that the game will be available July 3rd around the world - just in time for my mid-year University break (great timing!)." Update: 06/13 15:16 GMT by M : Please consider the fact that Blizzard is suing people who write software to interoperate with theirs when deciding whether you want to purchase this game.
Why not to buy... (Score:2, Interesting)
Honestly though the only computer I have powerful enough to run it has never had Windows installed on it. My laptop has no hope of being able to play games (without branding the HP logo on my legs.) That in combination with confusing legal moves, I have mixed emotions about it.
Sorry Blizzard (Score:1, Interesting)
I just don't like to be spied on.
why not give the money to the EFF instead (Score:5, Interesting)
Head to http://www.eff.org and give them the money, then send a letter to Blizzard telling them about it, and why.
Go MacSlash (Score:1, Interesting)
=Brian
OWCH, $60+ (Score:5, Interesting)
And I haven't liked an RTS since Total Annihilation, mostly because it's the only one which got the interface right and had units which are reasonably intelligent in responding to the enemy without user intervention.
Rich and powerful? (Score:3, Interesting)
They are owned by a larger company, a french company I believe. Blizzard does make a few of the most popular games, but that doesn't mean they are the most successful.
Id is sucessful because of the work of one man, Carmack. Without him there would be no Doom and thus no Id. (Don't want to knock the artists, but they needed his engine) Quake was the first game where he didn't do all the work on the engine. So there is a large personal investment in the projects that Id does, while Blizzard is run by managers and lawyers. I'm sure that the programmers that worked at Blizzard would love to see bnetd succeed. Unlike at Id, the programmers can't speak their minds.
While Id is one of the few successful gaming companies to realease the code to their old engines, Blizzard is still selling Diablo 1 in stores. Without an engine available for mass use.
Blizzard is more hard core about protecting their property.
BTW, a few thousand geeks boy-cotting this game won't do anything to the sales, they are expecting the mothers of the world to pick this up for their little johnny or jane to play. Blizzard games sell millions of copies.
Re:Please consider the fact... (Score:2, Interesting)
well... (Score:2, Interesting)
Collectors Edition Base Prices:
67.91 buy.com
74.95 amazon.com
74.99 compusa.com
74.99 ebgames.com
74.99 gamestop.com
79.99 chipsbits.com
79.99 worstbuy (aka bestbuy.com)
Regular Edition Base Prices:
47.95 chipsbits.com
52.88 buy.com
59.95 amazon.com
59.95 staples.com
59.99 ebgames.com
59.99 gamestop.com
59.99 worstbuy (aka bestbuy.com)
Indeed, I was a real high seas pirate (Score:3, Interesting)
To get serial for a moment, complaining about the new meaning of "piracy" is about as useful as complaining of "hacker" being abused by the press. Words mean what people want them to mean (c.f. Humpty Dumpty), meanings change over time and by region, and it does no good to get snippety about it.
Honest Question for Michael (Score:3, Interesting)
Michael, what would the harm have been in posting this as a comment?
It's not a technical correction, additional information, etc. -- things that are logical as updates.
-Bill
Common misunderstanding. (Score:3, Interesting)
Things are not "worth" what you put into them. That is a well established economical fact. If you put 1 million into a software project, the results will not be "worth" 1 million. The real "worth" of all the stuff in the box is how much people are ready to pay for it. If Blizzard can't find custumers who are ready to pay more than 10$ for the package, the the package is only worth 10 dollars.
Some questions about the "evil" of Blizzard (Score:2, Interesting)
1. Could BNetD have even technically included CD key-checking and otherwise verifying that the users had legit copies?
2. If the answer to #1 is "yes," did the BNetD developer(s) actively take steps to make those checks that WOULDN'T potentially allow for cracks that would bypass those checks on BNetD servers (by exposing how the key checks are made)?
3. People here are talking about how it's Blizzard's fault for this happening, since they hadn't encrypted their Battle.net code in such a way as to make it impossible to reverse-engineer (or to do so legally). Is this not hypocrisy for open-source fans (presumably) to demand a company to close off their code yet further, in order to prevent open-source people from accessing their code without permission?
Honestly - with #3 it's like a thief suing the victims of his robbery for not making the house secure enough. If you want Blizzard to open-source parts of their code, then say as much. Don't accuse them of being hostile to the community and then promptly suggest that the solution is to shut off access to the community. Either ask for greater access, or admit that Blizzard isn't really being hostile (or as hostile as you thought)!
Re:Please consider the fact... (Score:2, Interesting)
And I'm NOT blindly jumping on the stupid "Boycott Blizzard" bandwagon, because I'm not an idiot. Programmers deserve to get compensated for their efforts when other people use their software.
It's not a damn thing like interoperating with AIM or any of the other lame rationalizations I've seen. Interoperating with AIM does not rob AOL of revenue, since AIM is free. Interoperating with AIM doesn't enable or ENCOURAGE piracy.
From all I've seen, from reading EVERY post on this thread, the sole purpose that bnetd is being used for is to run pirated games. Prove me wrong. Show me the percentage breakdown of people using bnetd that are using legitimately purchased versions of Blizzard products, please.
You can mod me down all you want for disagreeing with you, but this isn't a troll, this is my honest reaction and opinion. I do not support piracy in any way, and I think Blizzard is well within their rights here to protect their property.
I certainly won't be boycotting them. I also have zero intention of using bnetd, and have no idea why I'd want to. I've never had any "horrible" experience on Battle.Net (sure, it's down once or twice, but big deal, I'll play single player until it's up again, it's not like it's life-or-death!)