Rumour Mill: Blizzard To Announce World of StarCraft?

[Hammer]

There's been rumours floating around for a few years now about Blizzard making another StarCraft game - the company has even stoked these rumours by saying that they have not abandoned the franchise, despite canning an FPS sequel to the cult original.

Anyhoo, CVG has apparently found out that Blizz are about to announce World of StarCraft...

Originally Posted by CVG

The long-rumoured new instalment of Blizzard's massive StarCraft series is set to be unveiled later this month - and it's another massively-multiplayer online game in the style of World of Warcraft, CVG can reveal.

Well placed US sources have revealed to us that the StarCraft MMO will be unveiled at an upcoming Blizzard event on May 19 in South Korea - the epicentre of the sci-fi RTS series' rabid fandom.

The unveiling of the new instalment has previously been rumoured for the South Korea event, though we now know that the title is in fact an online spin-off and not a new RTS game as previously assumed.

Link

This could be very interesting, not least because it could end up taking a lot of players away from World of Warcraft, the ailing Star Wars Galaxies and the upcoming Star Trek Online.
There's also the question of how exactly they'll turn the Zerg hive-mind into either a playable character or an MMO enemy.

[PapaZeb]

I'd rather they did Starcraft 2, honestly.

[Potatojunkie]

Originally Posted by PapaZeb

I'd rather they did Starcraft 2, honestly.

^^

[PapaZeb]

That's been seconded. The entirety of Korea would like to third that motion...Motion passed.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by PapaZeb

I'd rather they did Starcraft 2 Diablo 3, honestly.

Fixed.

I'd also like to see a graphically updated version of WoW, but it'll be at least another two or three years before we see WoW2.

[Sublimation]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Fixed.

I'd also like to see a graphically updated version of WoW, but I'll be at least another two or three years before we see WoW2.

Agreed, bring Diablo 3!

[Potatojunkie]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Fixed.

So, uh, World of Warcraft, then? Besides, Angband should be enough for anyone.

[Addy]

World of Starcraft would be very interesting, although I also have the same problem as a couple of others in getting around how you make the hive minds playable characters. Warcraft's Hero system lends itself much easier to such a set up. Still but, I'd love to see it happen.

Starcraft 2 needs to happen as well though, I doubt we'll ever see another contender for "most overdue game" in all of history.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by Addy

World of Starcraft would be very interesting, although I also have the same problem as a couple of others in getting around how you make the hive minds playable characters. Warcraft's Hero system lends itself much easier to such a set up. Still but, I'd love to see it happen.

I was chatting about this with some of my WoW guildies today. Thoughts were that they'd either have the Zerg as a Mob infestation, much like Silithid, or with a similar back story to the Forsaken in WoW (ie under Kerrigan, the Zerg units break from the hive mind and develop individuality).

I'm hoping they don't make it too much like WoW though, which will be a bit problem - they have a formula which works well, and it would be too easy just to replicate that with different character models and settings.

Originally Posted by Addy

Starcraft 2 needs to happen as well though, I doubt we'll ever see another contender for "most overdue game" in all of history.

Duke Nukem Forever springs to mind. I think it's been in development hell since around the time StarCraft was released.

[PapaZeb]

Starcraft 2 needs to happen as well though, I doubt we'll ever see another contender for "most overdue game" in all of history.

3 words. Duke. Nukem. Forever.

[Addy]

Nah, Starcrafr more long awaited I say! It is after all the most popular game of all time (or one of them - not many games still get patches 10 years after release)

[PapaZeb]

Duke Nukem Forever was announced to be in development April 27, 1997

Starcraft 1 was released playable April 1st, 1998.

Seeing as how DNF is currently ten years in development (screenshots got released earlier this year, with a possible release for Christmas 2007 or Q2 2008) and StarCraft 2 hasn't even been officially announced - DNF wins "most overdue game"

[Addy]

Aye, but surely more people are interested in a Starcraft sequel than seeing DNF?

[PapaZeb]

Originally Posted by Addy

Nah, Starcrafr more long awaited I say! It is after all the most popular game of all time (or one of them - not many games still get patches 10 years after release)

Also - EverQuest 1.

Released the same quarter in 1999 as Starcraft and is still profitable to the developers - to the point where 8 years later, the devs are STILL churning out two expansions a year. While Sony rakes in $15/mo from their EQ1 players + a $30-$40 expansion every 6 months, Blizzard continues to PAY bandwidth costs for Starcraft's players.

Is it a nicer-feeling that an 8yr old game with a couple of patches (to fix bugs, exploits, and play balance - ie, they shipped an unfinished product and the company is being nice enough to fix it after the fact) and fan-generated content is still free to play and one of the largest free-to-play online games? Yes, it is.

Are there other games more successful than it? Hell yes.
Other games more overdue sequels? Hell yes.

Originally Posted by Addy

Aye, but surely more people are interested in a Starcraft sequel than seeing DNF?

That's not the way you phrased it up above...

[Addy]

Originally Posted by PapaZeb

That's not the way you phrased it up above...

That's pedantry, you knew I meant "over due" in the sense of considered to be so by the gaming community and not purely in chronological terms