Can Blizzard Top StarCraft?

MSNBC is running an interview with Blizzard designer Rob Pardo discussing a number of facets of the upcoming StarCraft II. Informational tidbits include the fact that, unsurprisingly, the game won't be released this year, and some background on the game's long development cycle. "Penny Arcade figured it out! We keep games under code names and we teach developers to refer to games by their code name. And we're just really careful about talking about the game internally. We don't bring external folks through unannounced product areas. But I think even I'm surprised that we were able to keep it under wraps all the way to the end."

Re:Wouldn't the better question be...

[moderatorrater]

The number 2 seller for PC games in North America? [gamasutra.com] That starcraft isn't selling many new copies?

Re:No, they really can't

[brkello]

I'm playing through Starcraft again right now and I still enjoy it as much now as I did then. Unlike a lot of other games, Starcraft does have the staying power to actually still be considered a good game. Yeah, I agree, some games you can't go back to. But Starcraft you can and most the people I know have played through Starcraft many times over the years...not just 10 years ago.

Re:Can? Most likely. Will? We'll see.

[shoptroll]

Agreed. Blizzard and polish are two words that go together. Hell, after Starcraft they went back to Warcraft II and dealt with some long-standing dumb bugs (ie. they broke attack-move going from War1 to War2) added some nifty small things from SC and Bnet support and put the thing out as a budget title. They even started a weekly/monthly map download program but dropped it soon after they realized people weren't playing it as much as Starcraft.

They also kept Starcraft's "Map of the _____" program going strong for 3 years. Only slowing down the releases in the last year I think.

Or how about the fact that they've kept patching Diablo II and Starcraft since they were released? This includes overhauling the Diablo II skill system with 1.10 and adding nifty features to Starcraft such as replay support, TCP/IP (the game originally only had IPX) support, minimap pinging, etc. after they started working on Warcraft III and Starcraft II.

The only games they don't currently keep patching are Warcraft, War2/War2BNE, and Diablo. Most likely due to lack of interest and the fact they've probably done all they can with them.