Starcraft 2

[Pip]

3 very short HD videos: Taken with camera.
It does show some interesting things, I like the unit portraits, even though they're slightly cutoff.

Gametrailers.com - Starcraft II - GC 2008: Crystals Gameplay (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - Starcraft II - GC 2008: Zerg Get Rushed Gameplay HD (Cam)

Gametrailers.com - Starcraft II - GC 2008: Protoss Prologue Gameplay HD (Cam)

The (presumably) terran adjutant portrait in "Protoss prologue" is creepy....cool but creepy.

[Comco]

Looking very nice. Most looking forward to the continuation of the story.

Anyone know if that is music from the new game? Was kind of Starcrafty...

[Pip]

^Kinda hope the music is from ingame, it has a nice action beat for the later gameplay.

4 new videos on gametrailers showing some pretty cool gameplay along with an interview -
Starcraft II - PAX 2008: Troublesome Gameplay (Cam) Pt. 1 HD

Starcraft II - PAX 2008: Troublesome Gameplay (Cam) Pt. 2 HD

Starcraft II - PAX 2008: Troublesome Gameplay (Cam) Pt. 3 HD

Starcraft II - GC 2008: Leipzig Interview

[chrono]

Blizzcon 08: StarCraft II Split Into Three Games
Blizzard drops bombshell and says real-time strategy sequel is now a trilogy. We talk to Blizzard's Rob Pardo for answers.
by Eduardo Vasconcellos and Jason Ocampo

October 10, 2008 - ANAHEIM--Blizzard dropped a bombshell at the 2008 Blizzcon today by announcing that StarCraft II, the highly-awaited sequel to the smash hit 1998 real-time strategy game, StarCraft, has been split into three. The company said that StarCraft II now consists of three different stand-alone titles--one for each faction campaign. The first of the StarCraft II trilogy will be StarCraft II Terrans: Wings of Liberty. The second will be StarCraft II Zerg: Heart of the Swarm, with the third and final installment of the main trilogy being StarCraft II Protoss: Legacy of the Void.

The rest is here:
IGN Advertisement

BS explanation from the Lead Producer:
BlizzCon 2008: StarCraft II Lead Producer On The Split Single Player Campaign

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That's right folks! 3 separate title releases!! $150 USD plz!

I hereby predict that StarCraft 2 will be the most hacked game 3 years running, because frankly people simply will not pay for 3 titles of the same game! Especially when many players already know that the original had all 3 campaigns within a single title. And with the way game design has been for the last 10 years I fully expect plenty of pretty (and useless) cut-scenes, extremely linear & uncreative stages (depending on the players own creativity to make them interesting), and a large upscaling of outright designer stupidity (doublecross, triplecross, heresy, surprise plot twist, BS plot armor, & etc).

However with this week's near total collapse of the world economy there is no way in hell that this will stay the way it is. That married with the wide spread cries of "WTF Blizzard!", "I'm NOT paying for 3 separate games!", "I'll steal it before I buy campaigns 2 & 3!" from gamers... Their timing could not have been worse!

[Comco]

Originally Posted by chrono

However with this week's near total collapse of the world economy there is no way in hell that this will stay the way it is.

So you feel that Blizzard won't sell as many games because we are quite possibly going into a global recession? By that logic, no one would have bought Beatles albums either...

Some fairly impressive conclusions being drawn there. The first is that they will charge full price for each game. They haven't actually said if that is the case yet...Also, they are not, according to what I have read, used this as an excuse to deliver less content (ie - single player missions), but more.

Below excerpt from Games.on.net live blog from BlizzCon. (Read bottom to top)

9:14am : ...and if you thought you were missing out, each game will feature approx 26-30 missions if the player goes through and does everything available.

9:13am : Mission-wise
- more branching missions (including Easter Egg missions)
- the ending is set, but the middle has branches.

9:13am : So - the new story content:
More sets
More characters
More props (like the ingame jukebox)

9:12am : What does this mean?
Nothing changes for multiplayer or skirmish mode. All three races are fully implemented from the get go.
Each campaign will feel like an epic story - not a cliffhanger into the next one. They will each have separate arcs that have a clear start, middle, end - and you will feel like you've really finished *something* at the end of each game.
More content than we'd previously planned - many more Movies, Missions, etc.

Being that the story was what really made Starcraft memorable for me in the first place, and Blizzard's demonstrated talent in this area, I for one am looking forward to the opportunity to see more depth in the single player.

And if you don't care about the singleplayer then nothing to worry about...Buy the first game and ignore the very existence of the other two.

[chrono]

Originally Posted by Comco

So you feel that Blizzard won't sell as many games because we are quite possibly going into a global recession? By that logic, no one would have bought Beatles albums either...

The World economy is not "possibly going into". It already has slide into the early phase of it this week as there has been a combine drop in ALL stock markets of close to 50% with a combine paper loss well over 4.8 Trillion dollars. And just so you know there was no American recession during the Beatles era. In fact the economy was on the rebound and spending was increasing during the 60's. I don't know how the British & European economy were though... But enough talk about economy's.

Some fairly impressive conclusions being drawn there. The first is that they will charge full price for each game. They haven't actually said if that is the case yet...Also, they are not, according to what I have read, used this as an excuse to deliver less content (ie - single player missions), but more.

They indeed haven't said a wit about pricing (they would be extremely smart not to at this earlier stage), but as the saying goes "Expect the worst and you may not be disappointed!". Besides Blizzard's pricing hasn't always been the most consumer friendly and it's fairly clear that they plan on milking the franchise for all it's worth. Especially since they have not been really attempted to kill rumors of a SC MMORG that have been floating around and are releasing 3 games instead of 1.

As for the concept of "More equals Better!" people would be wise to remember that the first SC had trouble with missions not being "copy/paste". SC2 will have the same issue just multiplied. "More characters" (understandable, but hardly a 'feature', "a Jukebox", "Easter Egg missions"... talk about 'filler'!

Being that the story was what really made Starcraft memorable for me in the first place, and Blizzard's demonstrated talent in this area, I for one am looking forward to the opportunity to see more depth in the single player.

And if you don't care about the singleplayer then nothing to worry about...Buy the first game and ignore the very existence of the other two.

For SC the story, and it's humor, was what MADE SC well SC! But what also it was the different viewpoints within a single overview was what made the story what it was. So people will be expecting only 1/3rd of the total SC2 story per game unless Blizzard directly points out that it's not and is completely self contained. Which they most definitely have not done, as of yet. But if it's merely the same game with different races and similar story/ending then it'll be stolen more than most games because the players will want the 'full SC game' and not this separate BS that Blizzard plans to float.

Turning SC2 into a Mass Effect clone is stupid. A little interesting, but still stupid.

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Oh and all of the 3 games bit aside...

4 races and only 3 campaigns??? Waaaa????

[Viper]

Bah, I'll gladly buy all three

[Tovette]

I'm in it for the FMVs I'll just get the cheats and blow through the missions. I'm not much of an RTS fan. Blizzard FMVs freaking rule.

[Pip]

I've been watching some of these on youtube earlier this week.
("Kerrigan reveal" was a bit brighter on youtube, and despite the low quality, you could actually see more details)

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Kerrigan Reveal (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Trilogy Announcement (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Trilogy Details (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Bar Reunion Cinematic (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Bar Scene Part 1 (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Bar Scene Part 2 (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Bridge Scene Part 1 (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Bridge Scene Part 2 (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Kerrigan Storyboards (Cam) HD

Gametrailers.com - StarCraft II - BlizzCon 2008: Return of the Zerg Cinematic (Cam) HD