Blizzard Hints At New StarCraft, Launches Burning Crusade

Game Developer Blizzard Entertainment's long-anticipated expansion to World of Warcraft has gone live. Initial impressions are ... not available, since all 8 million players are currently in the Outlands. I'll take that to mean the servers for the most part have not melted yet. At a Burning Crusade launch party, a Blizzard exec revealed we may see a new StarCraft game very soon. But today is all about WoW. If you're not playing, and want to live vicariously, check out WarCry's extensive preview of the expansion. You could read designer Jeff Kaplan's comments on new features at FiringSquad, or Shane Dibiri's talk of inspiration at Next Generation. One new expansion a year, eh? Some folks are already looking to the future, where we probably won't see WoW on consoles, but may see it with security dongles. 0.1% of the Earth's population can't all be wrong.

Finally..

[zyl0x]

..a new StarCraft game. It's been a while since I've seen anything that isn't WarCraft-related come out of that company. I know I'm not the only one that's eagerly awaiting more SC news.

'Security Dongles'

[Aladrin]

(Slashdot won't show me the reply links on replies now... So I'm starting a new post. Firefox2/Linux, btw.)

So, is this the first time in the history of dongles that the 'security' provided by the dongle is for the USER and not the company? -boggle-

I actually think this is a great idea, IF it's optional. Example:

You buy New-RPG. You install New-RPG and plug in the dongle. At that point, you have the option to create a username and password, or use the dongle as your authentication mechanism. Later, if you want to change, you simply insert the dongle and go to the config and change it. (Needed to enable AND disable, for obvious reasons.)

If (huge IF) I ever write an online game, I'm going to seriously consider this. I tend towards 'free' games, so I'd probably make it write the authentication to a USB drive.

Thoughts: Lost/broken USB drive? Any backup means I can think of is another backdoor for a 'hacker'. (I use that term loosely.)
Copied auth data? Use the hardware ID of the USB drive as part of the auth?
Hacked executable to send any auth data they wish? Troublesome.

At any rate, I'm astonished at the thought of a dongle actually protecting the user instead of the company.

Re:Finally..

[Atheose]

Starcraft is the one game that I still play a few times a month, even after it's been out this long. Considering I paid ~$80 for over 9 years of entertainment, I would say it's the greatest game I've ever bought.

Re:Sweet, sweet freedom!

[Nazlfrag]

Yep, they certainly can suck you in. I still play FFXI and others in small doses, though I kicked the habit for months first. I was taking these games FAR too seriously. Sucks all the fun out of it really, like alcohol addiction.

Re:Sweet, sweet freedom!

[Mr.Scamp]

And yet you have carefully stored the disks. Rather like an alcoholic saying he's sober because he moved the liquor into a back closet.

diablo 3 !

[polar red]

how much longer ????

Re:Sweet, sweet freedom!

[airhed13]

I wouldn't be too concerned about that. That's the spindle that has Master of Orion 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 4, and the original (unpatched) Black & White. It's my object lesson spindle, and I use it to remind myself of some of the difficult lessons that I've learned over the years.

I have crossed through

[spoonboy42]

I preordered my copy of the Burning Crusade, and showed up at the store at about 10:30 (I was the 5th person there). I spoke to the fine people of Taverncast [taverncast.com], chatted with other gamers about raid strategies, and shuffled around as we formed Alliance and Horde cliques (not really on that last one). After I got my copy at 12:01 (it payed to show up early. There were about ~200 people behind me in line) I rushed home and installed.

I must say, the process was amazingly smooth. I had no delay upgrading my account, and although the client required a patch out of the box, the patch files were already downloaded. Last weekend, my guild transferred over to the new Sisters of Elune server, and it's held up incredibly well. I played from midnight to 6 AM, and there were no crashes or lag spikes.

As for the content, my guildies and I ran through the dark portal and started questing around Hellfire peninsula. Immediately, we were greeted with the beautiful, surreal vista of Hellfire peninsula, where a massive battle is being waged between Alliance and Horde forces in uneasy truce against the Burning Legion (with hordes of demons and giant mechs called Fel Reavers). This conflict feels very dynamic and intense (partly because the front has just opened), but the scale of warfare on Hellfire peninsula really puts all the ongoing "battles" in Azeroth to shame. Within the first hour or two, you'll have the opportunity to sabotage the Legion war machine and fly an armored Gryphon (or I assume a Wyvern if you're Horde) on a bombing run (which is extremely fun). Obviously, I haven't had a chance to try out new raids or venture beyond Hellfire peninsula, but so far, Burning Crusade is gorgeous, massive, and intense. Good job, Blizzard!

WoW Stand-alone Hardware? Why not?

[neo]

Some folks are already looking to the future where we probably won't see WoW on consoles, but may see it with security dongles. 0.1% of the Earth's population can't all be wrong.

Why doesn't Blizzard just make their own hardware? The ultimate dongle is a single game console. Cheap enough to capture an entirely new market, and since it's really the per month payments they want they can cut the price. Plug in your ethernet and a USB keyboard/mouse/joystick and away you go.

I know Blizzard isn't a hardware company, but this seems like an obvious "Apple"-esc move.

A new Starcraft? Great, I guess...

[GodBlessTexas]

I guess that would be great if I were still interested. I got over Starcraft 6 years ago, and while I think it was the perfect RTS and had a very compelling story, I don't understand why they feel the need to come back to it now, after 10 years, for a sequel to a game with such a rabid following? I think it's impossible that it could be a better playing experience than the original or Brood War for multiplayer. Why is it that Blizzard can only seem to develop one game at a time when they certainly have the resources to do more? They have three solid gold game franchises, and two of them have languished for the better part of a decade: Starcraft for 9 years, and Diablo for 6. I can understand their commitment to quality, but it's not as if there aren't enough good developers, project managers, and producers out there to make a quality game.

Starcraft 2 - will it even matter?

[dbug78]

Let me start by saying that Starcraft 2 will undoubtedly be wildly popular and successful and that I'm not disputing that. My real question is whether it will be any good. A number of the developers of the original left to form ArenaNet [wikipedia.org] and made Guild Wars. Warcraft 3 completely lost the dynamics of Starcraft, instead becoming a contest of who-outnumbers-who. Is there anyone left at Blizzard who can make a worthy successor to Starcraft? I fear there isn't.