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Home StarCraft updates

Starcraft 2 trilogy announced, Starcraft fans change pants simultaneously
8:34 PM on 10.10.2008, Brad Nicholson 62 comments

Starcraft 2 trilogy announced, Starcraft fans change pants simultaneously photo
     StarCraft

Today at BlizzCon, Blizzard dropped the proverbial bombshell. The highly anticipated RTS Starcraft 2 will be split into three distinct stand-alone titles, each featuring a different race in order to keep the “epic” scale of Starcraft 2’s storyline intact. It’s a trilogy, except the middle to this one won’t suck as bad as The Matrix: Reloaded did.

The first title to hit stands is called Terran: Wings of Liberty. Following that will be Zerg: Heart of Swarm, and Protoss: Legend of the Void. Details on pricing, dates, and inclusion of multiplayer are unknown at this time. What is known is that each title will feature 26-30 single-player missions without a cliffhanger in sight.

If handled appropriately, I can see how this might be pretty hip. I only hope that all three of these titles don’t hit within months of each other. We'll keep our ears to the ground for more information as BlizzCon unfolds. In the meanwhile, are you happy with this announcement Starcraft fans?

[via 1UP]


Next page: More Blizzard stories




MrSadistic's Avatar
MrSadistic at 10/10/2008 20:38
LAME
Aertyr's Avatar
Aertyr at 10/10/2008 20:39
If this is handled well it will be kick ass. But it really does seem like a cashowhore move to me.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 10/10/2008 20:51
I'm with Aertyr. If the games on their own are big enough to justify the price, then it shouldn't really be an issue. And as long as you can play as all three races in multiplayer after only buying one of them, then really, people need to shut up.
SilverDragon1979's Avatar
SilverDragon1979 at 10/10/2008 20:54
It all depends on all Blizzard handles the pricing, and how large each single player campaign is. If each campaign is around 10-20 hours a piece they can probably get away with charging $20-$30 a game, but anymore then that and people will probably be very angry.

In either case people will buy this game, it's as simple as that. It's Starcraft for the love of God. They could charge $100 and people would buy it.
MotoRobo's Avatar
MotoRobo at 10/10/2008 20:55
This set up's more like when a musician releases two cds at once because he has so much good music or won't cut out crappy b-sides than when a shitty product like Advent Rising, Van Helsing, or Too Human is made on the presumption a trilogy triples sales. W/all the cash they've/'re getting from WoW I believe Blizzard can develop and release 3 games worth of content simultaneously. Earlier interviews implied the gameplay would vary in each races campaign: Zerg's being different from the Terran's Mass Effect UI and upgrades+units bought between and carried over missions. I'm most interested in the Zerg but am sure to check out the other campaigns. If their release is staggered (like Hypnotize/Mesmerize) I'm sure the later two will be tweaked for balance from the original build.
MotoRobo's Avatar
MotoRobo at 10/10/2008 20:55
Maybe no expansions this iteration. This set up's more like when a musician releases two cds at once because he has so much good music or won't cut out crappy b-sides than when a shitty product like Advent Rising, Van Helsing, or Too Human is made on the presumption a trilogy triples sales. W/all the cash they've/'re getting from WoW I believe Blizzard can develop and release 3 games worth of content simultaneously. Earlier interviews implied the gameplay would vary in each races campaign: Zerg's being different from the Terran's Mass Effect UI and upgrades+units bought between and carried over missions. I'm most interested in the Zerg but am sure to check out the other campaigns. If their release is staggered (like Hypnotize/Mesmerize) I'm sure the later two will be tweaked for balance from the original build.
killias2's Avatar
killias2 at 10/10/2008 20:56
"It all depends on all Blizzard handles the pricing, and how large each single player campaign is. If each campaign is around 10-20 hours a piece they can probably get away with charging $20-$30 a game, but anymore then that and people will probably be very angry. "

QFT

If I feel the single-player for one release is equivalent to the single-player for SC Vanilla, I won't feel cheated. Otherwise.. I might get angry with Blizzard for the first time. Ever.
lowercaseluke's Avatar
lowercaseluke at 10/10/2008 21:06
I'm sure each game will be a great title, worthy of the Starcraft name and will stand up in it's own right.

Why are you laughing?
sicPOS's Avatar
sicPOS at 10/10/2008 21:14
It doesn't bother me at all. The more Starcraft I get the better. This just means we will be getting games that are more fleshed out. Hopefully this will make the release come a bit sooner.

but paying for the game 3 times does suck
Fantus's Avatar
Fantus at 10/10/2008 21:20
It's bullshit. Plain and simple.
monosylabik's Avatar
monosylabik at 10/10/2008 21:23
I won't be paying full price for something that should just be one cohesive package...I want to play as the protoss now not later.
killias2's Avatar
killias2 at 10/10/2008 21:26
"It's bullshit. Plain and simple."

"I won't be paying full price for something that should just be one cohesive package...I want to play as the protoss now not later."

I tend to agree with both of you.. but I'm willing to give this a shot. With branching missions, bonus missions, new singleplayer game elements, and 30-some main missions.., one campaign just might be equivalent in game-time as all of vanilla SC. However, if the content is really weak, or if the prices of the latter two games is too expensive.. count me out.

I never thought I could say count me out about Starcraft 2.
bluexy's Avatar
bluexy at 10/10/2008 21:28
I like hamburgers.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 10/10/2008 21:36
My love for Blizzard, clashing with my hatred for this...

OH THE HUMANITY
yaisuah's Avatar
yaisuah at 10/10/2008 21:36
What's strange is everyones complaining about this, yet no one seems to remember that THQ did the EXACT same thing with W40k and its expansions. Blizzard just thinks they can get away with the same thing.
sicPOS's Avatar
sicPOS at 10/10/2008 21:37
People are to quick to bitch. The 3 games (2 of which will be expansions) are just different sides of the story. You will have multiplayer from the start and can play as any race you want. The split just gets the game to us faster. If they kept it as a single game we either wouldn't see it for 5-6 years or they would've cut a ton from the campaigns.

I, for one, am glad they did this.
Rusty Ghia's Avatar
Rusty Ghia at 10/10/2008 21:44
Awesome, you mean that we get to pay $150 for one complete game?

Fuck that shit.

If I get this, I'll wait for the inevitable Starcraft 2 Battlechest and get the full game for less than the price of one. Sure, it won't be out for a few years, but I'm a patient lad.
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 10/10/2008 21:46
My only beef with this is: what will the price point be? Will each segment in the trilogy be a full-retail game, or will it be a-la Half-Life 2 episode?
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 10/10/2008 21:48
LOL. I'm sure that each individual package will be fully functional as a stand-alone. I don't think they're trying to screw you, here. Buy, then judge.
Dusty Gozongas's Avatar
Dusty Gozongas at 10/10/2008 21:51
It was easier to swallow with warhammer 40k because most of us were never under the presumption that all of the races would have fleshed out campaigns, but blizzard already set that precedent for themselves with starcraft 1. And even if each campaign is as long as the original starcraft, what's wrong with releasing a single, really long and awesome game?
It sounds like theyve already completed a lot of the campaign content, but at some point during development, some wise guy was thinking aloud at a board meeting that they would totally make a titload more money if they cleverly split the meat of the game into three pieces.
Dusty Gozongas's Avatar
Dusty Gozongas at 10/10/2008 21:54
Jk on them being almost done with the campaign, I just read the other post about them only being a third of the way done with it. But seriously, they should just charge full price for the first game and release the rest as downloadable content with the stated intent of releasing the game sooner.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 10/10/2008 21:56
*waits for pricing*
Dan CiTi's Avatar
Dan CiTi at 10/10/2008 21:57
It still won't touch the epicness of Halo.
ThunderHeartXI's Avatar
ThunderHeartXI at 10/10/2008 21:57
It seems to me that Blizzard is suffering from a bit of Activision cash-whore fever here. World of Warcraft seems to have turned them into monsters. :(

But honestly? It's probably going to come out to $250 Canadian if the dollar keeps shitting itself. I love Blizzard, but I don't $250 love them.
cainball's Avatar
cainball at 10/10/2008 22:05
@ThuderheartXI
I "$250 love" your mum.
I hear you about the dollar- bloody Aussie dollar is all screwed up, and it's because of the American market.
Rucksack's Avatar
Rucksack at 10/10/2008 22:05
@ThunderheartXI

Dude I don't even $70 love them. If my game purchase doesn't net me the full package, then I'll simply buy a more complete game at full price.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar
ArrestedDeveloper at 10/10/2008 22:06
Come on Blizzard, why don't you take a page from Valve's book and make one mega product that is a huge value to your customers. This just seems like they want to charge more money and have more time to finish the game.
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 10/10/2008 22:29
Lame. I'm all for more singleplayer content, but this way each campaign will just drag on for ages? And are we supposed to buy all three games for the same multiplayer?

Why not split each of the campaigns in three and then release 3x terran/zerg/toss campaign discs if you absolutely must release 3 of them...
killias2's Avatar
killias2 at 10/10/2008 22:35
"Why not split each of the campaigns in three and then release 3x terran/zerg/toss campaign discs if you absolutely must release 3 of them...'

I think they're trying to deliver more coherent and unique packages for each campaign this time. I've heard rumors that the different campaigns will unfold differently. Trying to accomplish this while cutting each campaign up into pieces.. likely fail.
Also, I'm guessing they're further into the Terran campaign than the others.. by a large margin.

I'm not fantastically happy about this either, but I'm not entirely out of hope about this. This -COULD- be a decent thing
whormongr's Avatar
whormongr at 10/10/2008 22:52
@Professor Pew... wouldn't that make the three one game and 2 expansions- like they usually do
Furyfire's Avatar
Furyfire at 10/10/2008 22:59
You forgot to mention the price there - It's been officalized that the games will actually be around 60 bucks a piece.

Yeah... I dont like it either.
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 10/10/2008 23:06
Well, they did it right with the Warcrafts so it can be done. Seriously, who wants to play 26-30 full levels as the Terrans? The flow between the campaigns has always been around 10 levels per race to keep things varied.

But yeah, it's still Starcraft. I guess it's gonna be 1 multiplayer purchase and a lot of internet bittorrent traffic for a lot of people eh?
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 10/10/2008 23:19
If it's substantial and enough to carry a full game, I could see enjoying a one-army campaign. However, seems like a bit of a cashgrab to me. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Also, I'm not certain I like the idea of them all having the same ending.

According to one of the devs, supposedly this move is to avoid amazingly long delays and get you the Terran campaign a lot earlier than you'd get all three at once.
Stonethigh's Avatar
Stonethigh at 10/10/2008 23:22
The debate in the comments has me torn on what to feel. If one of the sole reasons of splitting the game up this way is to actually release it before 2020 then I am for it.

If it has enough content to make it a worthwhile purchase as a stand alone game then I will take the proverbially shaft from Blizzard and fork out the money.
topcow's Avatar
topcow at 10/10/2008 23:37
Deep breaths everyone - read my post and feel better.

Quoted from above - "each title will feature 26-30 single-player missions. That's exactly the same amount as in the original Starcraft (it had 30).

Think of it like they're releasing Starcraft, then Brood War, then another expansion. This is episodic content done correctly.
CAVE's Avatar
CAVE at 10/11/2008 00:15
I don't like this. I hope they release at the same time, or really close together. Now we have to wait on 3 games to come out? meh...
Knives's Avatar
Knives at 10/11/2008 01:53
I won't whine until I know more details, I can see it going either way, but honestly I would buy them anyway, call me what you want, but yeah, I would buy 1/3 of a game for a full game price and like it.
10BobMarleys's Avatar
10BobMarleys at 10/11/2008 01:58
Fuck off, ActiBlizzard. You know that people will pay for a mere third of the game, so that's what you will sell them. Next person to talk about how Blizzard love their fans within my earshot gets punched in the ovaries.
Char Aznable's Avatar
Char Aznable at 10/11/2008 02:13
I'm kinda put off by having to pay so much, but whatever. I guess I'll wait for the Battle Chest, because my PC sucks ass at the moment anyway.

I trust Blizzard enough to put together a quality game (or games).
Tubatic's Avatar
Tubatic at 10/11/2008 02:44
I dunno, Isn't this something people should be happy about? I understand nobody actualyl likes to spend money on something they'll enjoy, but I gather what they're saying is that you're getting three Starcraft II titles, instead of just one.

Since this seems to be three distinct, continuous, full length experiences, I think its a pretty excellent move, if you're a Star Craft fan. I'd love it if Suda 51 stepped out and said "Well what we didn't tell you is that we've prepared a trilogy of No More Heroes titles, instead of the one sequel you figured you were getting. Go Nuts"
Mekanikles's Avatar
Mekanikles at 10/11/2008 05:21
Bullshit, I'll just pirate all of them then and buy the one I liked best for multiplayer.
thunderleg's Avatar
thunderleg at 10/11/2008 06:10
OMG PC GAMING IS DIYING!!

SHIT LIKE TIS IS KILING PC GAMING!

......

Am I kidding, or not?
jellydoodle's Avatar
jellydoodle at 10/11/2008 06:23
@mekanikles: you fail.
Zantetsuken's Avatar
Zantetsuken at 10/11/2008 07:10
If they are priced to reflect the content then I wont be as bothered, but then again I probably wasn't going to buy this.
ShadokatRegn's Avatar
ShadokatRegn at 10/11/2008 07:38
Good thing I'm patient, and will be able to wait long enough for them to bundle these games - that's about the time I'll have an up-to-date enough computer to play this.
Velt's Avatar
Velt at 10/11/2008 08:36
as long as the single player experience is there and the multiplayer too then they can have my money.
Cube's Avatar
Cube at 10/11/2008 09:29
News at a 11

Blizzard makes there own Pokemon .


NExt up starcraft red blue, ruby and sapphire.


and the new slogan.

"Starcraft the only PC game where the fans are dumb enough to buy it 3 times like a pokemon or a console game."
killias2's Avatar
killias2 at 10/11/2008 09:30
If they charge full price point... I won't buy them. Sorry. That's bullshit.

If they charge 30 bucks or so for the new campaigns... then I could see myself doing it.

To compare it to Brood War, Brood War was only 30-40 when it came out. Sure, you needed the original, but Brood War also provided new elements to multiplayer. Essentially, Brood War will be MORE VALUABLE to someone who owns Starcraft than Campaign 2 or 3 would be to someone who owned the Terran campaign.

Basically, RELEASE THEM AS EXPANSIONS, DON'T ACT LIKE THEY"RE FULL GAMES!
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