StarCraft II "In the Final Stretch"

[John Funk]

StarCraft II "In the Final Stretch"

In a short Q&A posted on fan site StarCraftWire.net [http://www.starcraftwire.net/blog/comments/cavez-were-in-the-final-stretch/], StarCraft II Lead Developer Dustin Browder encouraged fans to "hang in there," because they were "in the final stretch."

First it was the announcement that in the next few months [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88767]. Now, Dustin Browder's remarks might well be hinting that the sequel to Blizzard's legendary RTS is perhaps closer than we think.

There are also some other interesting pieces of information in Browder's responses. In response to the claim that the version playable at BlizzCon felt "almost done," he agrees, but says that the things holding the game back at the moment are the single-player campaign and changes made to the company's Battle.net service - both of which are "under heavy construction."

Browder also acknowledges that even their internal target date might be overly optimistic, which is the reason they haven't gone public with it yet:

[blockquote]Let's be realistic. Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time. Putting those out there would be pretty close to lying to the fans. We are not going to do that. We want to be able to give good info, not info that we know is suspect. We'll give target dates when we think it is very likely that we will hit them.[/blockquote]

On the positive side of things, Browder's admission that they might not hit their target dates could help assuage concerns that Blizzard's recently announced "one-release-per-year" policy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89409-Blizzard-Commits-To-One-Frontline-Release-Per-Year] could be reflecting a shift away from the company's famous "it'll be done when it's done" mentality.

Mmmm... StarCraft II...

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[Merlark]

I'm not sure if i'm happy about it, it really depends if they plan on releasing the game as three episode installments or not. I know most including myself will just play it for the multi-player but its the Principal of the thing.

if we pay full price for the same game 3 times for different campaigns where does it end? just another excuse to charge us more money and get away with not calling the additions 'expansions' is a cheap move.

PC gamers seemed to be plagued with getting incomplete games.

 

[Slycne]

I'm not sure if i'm happy about it, it really depends if they plan on releasing the game as three episode installments or not. I know most including myself will just play it for the multi-player but its the Principal of the thing.

if we pay full price for the same game 3 times for different campaigns where does it end? just another excuse to charge us more money and get away with not calling the additions 'expansions' is a cheap move.

PC gamers seemed to be plagued with getting incomplete games.

Well the 3 games is happening, that's been confirmed several times. I personally don't see what the problem is. If Blizzard releases 3 games with each game having a full games worth of content, I'll won't mind throwing down for each one. I certainly by more then one game a year.

 

[Lunar Shadow]

Is it just me or does the Prtoss have a bit of a Lovecraftian feel too it @_@

 

[John Funk]

Still no perma-set date on the Beta. Hahahahaha. This game is never coming out.

Dude. The game was only announced back in 2007. It hasn't even been two years yet. This is hardly Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[John Funk]

Well I'll admit Nukem has a head start, but in that less-than-two-years time, I've seen the release date pushed back four times, and then utterly abolished, replaced with a BETA release, which is again being pushed back. Then there's how they cut the game into three sub-games and scattered them across the calendar like pieces of the Triforce...

No, you haven't.

They have never talked about a release date. Their philosophy from day one has been "it'll be out whenever it's done." Nor have they ever said anything concrete about Beta dates, other than "there will be a beta. Sometime. When we're ready for it." I'm not sure where you read about this mythical release date, because they've never given one

 

[Clemenstation]

I can't wait to continue my adventures of not playing Starcraft!

Seriously though. This game (franchise?) is the hardcore of hardcore. I watched a professional game in South Korea and these girls beside me brought signs covered in pictures of their favourite guy... along with space marines. When he lost they started crying.

PC rooms over there are full of people working on their micromanagement, or memorizing build orders, and all kinds of madness. That kind of fanaticism is a little off-putting for Casual Clemenstation.

 

[Schaaka]

I am willing to wait for the release of Startcraft2 I am so sick and tired to games being pushed out too soon and the game is either incomplete or you need to wait a few months to download patches that fixes core game issues.

Its my assumption (some may argue) that Blizzard would rather make a quality game instead of making lots of money on a half-assed game.

 

[hearty0]

I am willing to wait for the release of Startcraft2 I am so sick and tired to games being pushed out too soon and the game is either incomplete or you need to wait a few months to download patches that fixes core game issues.

Its my assumption (some may argue) that Blizzard would rather make a quality game instead of making lots of money on a half-assed game.

Actually they've canceled games for not living up to their expectations. One was a warcraft point click adventure that IMO looked very half-assed, and the second was starcraft: ghost(actually it was indefinitely postponed so this might come back) which I haven't seen to much of but looked EPIC! Unless their stardards have fallen in the last 4-5 years then starcraft 2 will become the new best RTS ever.

 

[AceDiamond]

Shouldn't they really be saying "the first third of Starcraft II is almost here?" (actually maybe that should be the first half since you get 3/4 of the game out of the campaign and the last 1/4 out of the multiplayer, but math is a tricky thing.)

 

[John Funk]

www.futureshop.ca

They list release dates, and are pretty damned accurate about it too. Futureshop doesn't just pull release dates out their rear, the distributors supply them with a release date. Starcraft II was listed, with dates, and was pushed back four times, then went unlisted, and now is back on (with a newly added *Price and release date have not yet been finalized and are subject to change without notice" blurb), with May 31/09 as the date for the Terran release.

So yeah. Release dates have been given, and missed, and given, and missed...

Retailers often make up release dates solely for the purpose of having the game in the system, and I wouldn't be surprised if FutureShop did it as well. A definite release date for SC2 would be a huge announcement, and you can bet your britches that Blizzard wouldn't just slip it out there via a retail chain.

Go ahead. Find me any official announcements by Blizzard of a fixed SC2 release date. Until then, I'm 99% certain that FutureShop was, indeed, pulling a date out of their ass for the sake of having the game in the system.

 

[RebelRising]

Is it just me or does the Prtoss have a bit of a Lovecraftian feel too it @_@

That particular picture, yeah. I guess you could say that.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Stretch is right!