Unlike the original series, where each game had three 8-10 mission campaigns, one for each race, each game in the StarCraft II trilogy will have only one 26-30 mission campaign centered around a single race.
The Terrans will be the focus of the first campaign, followed up by Zerg and Protoss races in the expansions.
The first game in the trilogy will have all races available to play during the skirmish and multiplayer modes.
Blizzard plans to release its upcoming RTS sequel StarCraft II as a trilogy of games, each focusing on one of the franchise's playable races. The company made the surprising announcement during its BlizzCon event in Anaheim, California.
The first of the three releases will focus on game's Terran faction, and will be subtitled Terrans: Wings of Liberty.
The second and third, which executive VP of game design Rob Pardo likened to expansion packs, will be respectively entitled Zerg: Heart of the Swarm and Protoss: Legacy of the Void.
An overarching storyline will spread across the titles.
In an interview with Joystiq , Mr. Pardo was asked how long of a gap there would be between releases, to which he responded: “So, you know with any luck, it would be like a year for each successive one, but that’s going to be a target date, that’s not a promise.”
With Starcraft II currently set for release sometime in 2009, a successive release would mean the campaign wouldn’t finish until 2011.
As I understood it: Three campaigns, all seperate, all $50... so you're looking at $150 for everything that should be included in 1 $50 copy of Starcraft 2, imo.
Also, gonna start charging for Battle.net... for those that love Diablo 3.
We're definitely not looking at turning Diablo into a subscription based game. It's clearly not an MMO, so it's not appropriate to do a business model like that. The way we approach all of our games now, is we come up with what we think is a great game, and then we wrap the appropriate business model around it. If that's just a box price, then that's that.
With Battle.Net we're definitely looking at possible different features that we might be able to do for additional money. We're not talking about Hellgate or anything like that. We're not going to tack things on.
I think World of Warcraft is a great example to look at. We charge people if they want to switch servers or if they want name changes, things that aren't core to the game experience, they're really just optional things that some people want. It takes us some development work to do it, so it makes sense to charge for it. We would never do something like say to get the full game experience, you'll have to pay extra.
coming up in the months ahead will be the StarCraft II beta test. The beta will be played on a basic version of our new Battle.net architecture, which will give us the opportunity to test the game and the service in a live environment. Over time, we will be adding features to deliver a second generation Battle.net experience.
We know that the demand for StarCraft II is very high. The original StarCraft has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and the sequel has been named on several most-anticipated lists. We are aiming to release StarCraft II as soon as possible, but as with all previous Blizzard games; we won’t ship it until we feel it is ready.
Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.
We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at http://www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.
While the standard edition of the game will be priced at $59.99 the Collector's Edition, available only in retail stores, will set you back a whopping $99.99.
And what do you get for that extra $40? You get a 2GB flash drive that looks like the dog tags of StarCraft's main human character Jim Raynor that contains the original StarCraft game and its expansion Brood War. You also get a 172 page StarCraft II art book, a behind-the-scenes DVD with documentaries, the game's cinematics with commentary and more, the game's soundtrack with extra bonus music tracks, and a copy of issue 0 of the StarCraft comic book. You also get a way to download exclusive stuff from Battle.net like special portraits for your player profile, decals to customize your in-game units and a special version of the Thor unit.
And if you happen to be a World of Warcraft player, you might want to pony up for the StarCraft II Collector's Edition. It also comes with a mini Thor in-game pet for Blizzard's hit MMO. Sadly Blizzard is still not announcing a release date for the game.
All other European versions will be without a monthly fee.
For the Russian version the monthly fee also only applies after the free months that come with the box are over and are only for the online version of the game. They can then purchase online game time or upgrade to a full EU access, that will grant them the same access as all other European players have without further monthly fees.
In an interview with Joystiq , Mr. Pardo was asked how long of a gap there would be between releases, to which he responded: “So, you know with any luck, it would be like a year for each successive one, but that’s going to be a target date, that’s not a promise.”
With Starcraft II currently set for release sometime in 2009, a successive release would mean the campaign wouldn’t finish until 2011.
Fuck Blizzard. Fuck them in their stupid ass. After this whole Diablo 3 debacle, I'm done. I'll shit on their graves before I give them any more of my money.
