This is from the 2006 quarterfinals – to be honest, I’ve never tried countering a 4 drone rush with drones but since it doesn’t look it works, I’m not terribly disappointed.
In the latest BlizzCast (#6), Bashiok goes through a bag of questions from Starcraft fans. One of the more interesting one concerns the role of the anti-armor units in Starcraft 2.
Bashiok: Cool. The next question comes from gamer-source.com. With the all the anti-armored units like the marauder and the hydralisk – is this meant to counter the end game units? And also what role do you think end game units will play on the battlefield?
Dustin Browder: I’m not really sure what an end game unit is, I guess it would be like a battlecruiser or a carrier or a thor or ultralisk, I guess it’s what we’re talking about here. But the hydralisk has always been anti-armor, even in the original Starcraft had a strong anti-armor role.
The marauder of course gives the Terrans some additional anti-armor capability from the barracks which we felt was very important since we moved the ghost back so far allowing the ghost to fulfill more of a core role on the battlefield for the Terrans. We didn’t think that the ghost made a lot of sense as fundamentally anti-armor with his sniper rifle. If he’s going to be anti biological and sort of taking head shots and taking out individual targets then we really needed the Terrans to have some way to deal with stalkers and immortals and to a lesser extent siege tanks and roaches. So that’s really what the marauder is pointed at, the marauder is pointed more at stalkers and roaches and you’ll see marauders used in that role. They also can tear apart a colossus or thor which is an added advantage for the Terrans from the barracks again.
If you think the billions that Blizzard makes on the back of World of Warcraft have made them less greedy, think again.
They have just announced (at Blizzcon 2008) that Starcraft 2 will not be a single game but in fact a TRILOGY. There will be three separate campaigns: the Terrain will come out first, followed by Zerg and Protoss.
Tell you what – I never cared for single player. I want a game that will allow me to choose a race and fight human opponents. It looks like I’ll have to buy three games – each will probably be around $40, so that’s over $100!
For a long time, Blizzard have stated that the new version of Battle.net will premiere with Starcraft 2.
So when they say the new version will probably be ready by Christmas 2008, you’d think it might be Starcraft 2 release date too. At the same time, there have been definitive statements from Blizzard that Starcraft 2 will not come out in 2008.
So the consensus on forums is that Battle.net 2.0 will come out in December – together with a Starcraft 2 beta. As to the game release – that’ll probably happen in early 2009.
Update: A recent rumor (started by an anonymous Blizzard employee!) added oil to the fire by claiming that Diablo 3 release date has been moved before Starcraft 2. Now, that’s obviously bullshit as Starcraft is clearly the more “finished” game of two. Two races are already playable – and played at Blizzcon.
This is the panel discussion regarding Stracraft 2 gameplay at the WWI in Paris (where Diablo 3 was announced). The video is a bit long but worth it!
There’s still nothing on Starcraft’s release date though – I hope it’s early 2009!
Here’s a Zerg gameplay video… There should be zerglings as well as the new Banelings!
Blizzard’s Executive VP – Rob Pardo – has confirmed officially what we feared: Starcraft’s release date is not on the calendar for 2008!
Rob said that the release date has been set for 2009 because the development is still not over. So forget even about beta. He said they’re done with about 1/3 of the single player campaign and that they’re focusing on the story and the cinematics now.
Blizzard has started a podcast (audio only for now). You can get the audio and/or you can read the transcript.
In this podcast (a.k.a. Blizzcast), they have two interviews. The first is with Samwise Didier, Blizzard’s Art Director and concept artist who has worked on both Starcraft and Warcraft.
The second interview is with WOW’s lead designer for World of Warcraft, Jeff Kaplan. He’s talking about the changes in WoW patch 2.4.
Starcraft2.com has come out with a Terran gameplay video. The whole thing is about 600MB but it’s worth it because it’s HD (1280×720). You can download it here.
Here’s a low-res version to keep you occupied while you wait:
When I did a review of the Protoss Mothership in May, I did it based on the first gameplay video as well as the narration.
Now, Starcraft2.com has a dedicated page for the Protoss Mothership. You’ll be able to see video clips of all three mothership abilities in action: Cloak Field, Time Bomb, and Planet Cracker.
Starcraft 2 comments