Starcraft - Ghost Delayed Until 2004

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the announcement on the official Blizzard website that "..we have decided to extend our StarCraft: Ghost development schedule." The tactical-action game being developed by Nihilistic for all 3 major consoles will now come out in 2004, and the official site at Blizzard has more details, including a number of new E3 previews.

Blizzard delaying a game? Not possible.

[cgenman]

See sarcastic subject line.

I admire Blizzard's dedication to making games highly polished and playable before release. But never, ever expect them to hit a ship date, even if it is next week.

I've always thought they should write their release date in an automatically self-incrementing javascript. It would save them some trouble, so that they could spend more time focusing on finishing.

Re:Blizzard delaying a game? Not possible.

[prichardson]

I'd just like to point out that blizzard probably has very little to do with the making of the game. If you check their website it's being "codeveloped" by another company. Blizzard probably just sold them their name and franchise rights. Also, I've never known blizzard to even think about an FPS and I don't know why they'd start now.

This doesn't mean that SC G won't be a very fun and polished game; I would imagine Blizzard would run it through the same quality controls they do with all their games, but

Re:Blizzard delaying a game? Not possible.

[Swift(void)]

Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] says it best =)

Surprise surprise...

[Frac]

When was the last time Blizzard actually hit a ship date they initially promised?

Unless they promise "when it's done - but definitely before Duke Nukem Forever".

THEN I'll believe it.

Beginning of the fall of Blizzard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Starcraft Ghost's producer left a little while back [gamespot.com] to go work on another game: Goblin Commander [goblincommander.com].

You've got to wonder what else is going on behind the scenes. Who else has also left Blizzard? And why would they do that?

Blizzards choice

[suineg]

This may not be a surprised but you have to admit that when they do release games most likely they are well made. I commend them for taking their time. They are taking a very popular RTS and making it an FPS this is not something to screw up and something they should take their time doing.

Yeppers

[Andurin]

You know, I agree. Blizzard makes great games, but they're never ready on time. You would think by now they would overestimate the date they give for release when coming up with a new game. Or a patch for that matter...

Re:Yeppers

[swisener]

The problem is Hofstadter's Law:
It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account.

--Steven

Is it just me...

[der_joachim]

... or is Blizzard past its prime? These days, all they seem to do is make sequels to popular games in the 1995-1997 era (Starcraft, Warcraft, even Diablo). Release dates are notoriously postponed (WC3, SC-G). Granted, some games are still popular, even three years after their release dates (Diablo II).

Don't get me wrong: most Blizzard Games I played were very good. Occasionally, I still play Diablo II (although it looks like shit on 1024x768). I just wonder how long Blizzard can go on building upon previous succeses.

der Joachim

Re:Is it just me...

[startled]

"These days, all they seem to do is make sequels to popular games in the 1995-1997 era (Starcraft, Warcraft, even Diablo)."

They haven't announced a sequel to Starcraft, though I wouldn't be surprised if they were working on Starcraft 2.

Using a franchise to help with your backstory and get some extra sales isn't the same as making sequels. It can often be richer than a brand new universe, if done correctly. (It can also be worse, of course.)

Now they're doing World of Warcraft, which is a totally new gen

What about...

[bluemeep]

...Warcraft Adventures? I've been waiting for YEARS on that one.

...

Cancelled? What do you mean cancelled? I don't believe you! No, no, I'm not listening! La-la-LAAAA, got my hands over my ears can't hear you LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!

More power to them!

[raiderx]

I am a bit of a Blizzard fan-boy, but as far as I can remember, they have never released any game that was unpolished or in any way less than very good. Most that they release I would say fall into excellent territory. I wish more game companies would take this kind of "we just want to make sure this game is worth your time and money" attitude rather than releasing, oh, for instance, a crappy Matrix game based on concurrent release with the movie.

sure, they take a while...

[Rashan]

but you're pretty much garenteed a top-notch game. Blizzard is the only company who's games I will buy simply because they're made by that company. I don't have to know anything about the game before hand, I know it'll be good.