Re: Hi Resolution StarCraft 2 scans from PC gamer

Quick! Flame him for calling us trolls!
jk I didn't power you down but have a power-up my charred friend owerup:

man it's so annoying I have a perfect picture of the marine and nukes but there's just that crappy line down the middle and the text

dangit

 

Thanks for uploading!!!! ;D

 

Does this mean the game is now officially in alpha?

The article mentions alpha multiple times.  It seems that PC gamer was able to get its hands on more exclusive info for this article that's unreleased else where, so I am inclined to not just simply overlook them mentioning alpha.

 

I thought they said or implied that it was in Alpha during the original announcement.

"Alpha

The alpha version of a product still awaits full testing of all its functionality and is not feature complete, but satisfies all the software requirements. As the first major stage in the release lifecycle, it is named after alpha, the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Alpha level software can be considered approximately 35% complete, and typically includes temporary material and multiple product-breaking issues.

The alpha build of the software is the build delivered to the software testers, that is persons different from the programmers, but usually internal to the organization or community that develops the software. In a rush to market, more and more companies are engaging external customers or value-chain partners in their alpha testing phase. This allows more extensive usability testing during the alpha phase.

In the first phase of testing, developers generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black box or grey box techniques, by another dedicated testing team, sometimes concurrently. Moving to black box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release." - Wikipedia article on software development cycle.

 

I ask because else where, Blizzard said they are not even at internal alpha yet.

 

actually on one of the pages of the Games for Windows one it says they are in pre-alpha. or not in alpha yet.

 

i just really have a feeling they are not telling the whole truth to what stage they are at...

 

Which means they are probably well into alpha.

 

Any news of whether they'll want to recruit test players?

 

I think they are just using pro players to do that. Which means it should be pretty balanced right out of the gate.

 

That might not be true, unless blizzard want to abandon originality and have established building and unit routs to go right out of production. I have always had a problem with the limited race versus race matchups that are done by Warcraft 3 pros. New methods are rarely coming up and it usually comes down to micromanagement instead of originality. Having normal players test it is giving the average player a chance to come up with fun ways to play that do not necessarily carve out worn paths to victory.

 

I believe that the beta is most important in the final testing of this epic masterpiece. "Blizzard consulted with top competitive SC and WCIII players from Korea for the balance and design process." according to PC Gamer. It is the balance between the three races that is key to this game and without it being near-perfect, SC2 will not surpass it's successful predecessor.

 

I don't know if those are your words or that of PC Gamer.  In any case, it is an arrogant statement that isn't saying much in the first place.

No one knows enough at this point to make any comments of that nature, not even Blizzard.  No one can look at the history of gaming and see into the infinite future to say what perfect is, or even what near-perfect is.  You can only describe perfection by relativity.

Things will turn out how they turn out.  Close to perfection or not, whether SC2 surpasses its predecessor has nothing to do with it.  Whether SC2 will beat out SC1 is anyone's guess.  But how I see it, it'll just be the "rightful heir."

 

You're right. Things will turn out how they turn out, and I agree that SC2 will be a rightful heir. It is all subjective and speculative as to what someone thinks will make SC2 awesome. As for the statement, I feel that I meant for it to sound more opinionated rather than arrogant, I apologize for your confusion. Nevertheless, I hope it turns out to be as great as it sounds thus far.

 

Hmm... I kinda assumed that was PC Gamer talking, that's why I went hostile.

Sorry about that, no hard feelings.

 

im so glad that they kept reavers. They are sooo bad a$$!!! Always in Toss vs Zerg in Lt gota have 1 reaver near ramp when they try to run up there "hydras "

 

Yea I always enjoyed rushing with zealots against the Zerg or counter rushing and then techign up to reavers while they tried to recover
Protoss v Zerg was always my best match up

 

1? I put like 2 reavers just hanging around. Then they walk up the ramp and the reavers fire and the scarabs go "surprise" and explode.

 

It's all good Remy, don't sweat it. As for the reavers, it may be a little late to say this, but thank god they kept them. Toss wouldn't be the same without them...

 

Well they'd give the toss another siege unit but it probably wouldn't be nearly as cool