IGN got to play SC2 before Blizzcon has happened, but due to the fact that it was the same build from WWI and no changes were available to report, they instead interviewed the senior vice president of product development Frank Pearce. In the interview Mr. Pierce suggested that they do consider the single-player portion of StarCraft II to be the most challenging aspect of creating this game. They also indicated that the beta was some distance off. Article: "Blizzard does, however, consider the single-player portion of StarCraft II to be the most challenging aspect of creating this game. The multiplayer balance, says Pearce, will happen if enough time is spent tweaking it, whereas the single-player features new elements. "We're trying to tell that story in a way we haven't done it before and incorporating branching missions that we haven't offered to the player." Another challenge has been figuring out exactly what to do with battle.net and how to tie StarCraft II into that, which Pearce wasn't willing to expand upon." "We still have to expand our internal alpha to include the rest of the organization, iterate on that feedback, and then we have to evaluate what kind of beta we need, whether we need one at all. There's a pretty high level of certainty that we're going to need a beta and then we have to decide if we want to do a host beta or a closed beta or both. So, months." Read the article here. Source: IGN.com
Extremely disappointed. Months away? From the looks of it, the game probably might not hit the stores until 2010. If history repeats, Sc2 beta will probably last just as long as Wc3 beta. and that could lead all the way to 2010 if beta is months away from today. Not only that, they don't even give us any new screenshot updates (namely the Stalkers and Nomads that were announced at the latest Q&A). I'm starving for any sort of new info and I really want to see some of the new and updated models that Blizzard kept talking about. Yes, I know all this delay would be for the good of the game but at least show us something with your progress. Why the heck did Blizzard show the WWI build? Didn't Blizzard say that they constantly update SC2 and has it change once a week including the unit models? Why not show that to the audience? Yes, I know that what you show us will probably not be in the final build (heck probably next update), but at least keep us fans interested about the game. Why in the world did Blizzard decide to release an outdated 2 month build to the audience when instead, they could release a newer build with new unit models for us fans to talk about? All Blizzard is doing right now is letting us fans lose interest in the game and have nothing to talk about until BlizzCon. Sorry for all this rant, but I'm just extremely frustrated by the lack of info especially at an event that I was expecting to have a new build with some sort of new screenshots that shows the new unit models.
Bah, Not even a link to the front page article. ==== I too am wholey unimpressed. it seems the flow of information, REAL information, has slown to a trickle.
I stopped reading the moment I heard they showed the WWI version. I already figured it would be a few months before beta, so that wasnt anything new to me, and the WWI version is so outdated at this point, why even bother showing it? Hopefully Blizzcon will give us plenty to talk about and multiple screenshots to keep our nerd imaginations happy for a few weeks
aww... i guess thats blizz for you, they release it if they release it ill make a sequel of sc2f to entertain you while you wait
I would like to counteract this article despite it's Blizzard source and say that I expect the beta after BlizzCon. It doesn't make any sense not to.
I do agree with you guys. Blizzard hasn't really shown much of anything lately, and it's getting me restless. Although October is technically months away.... In any case, I'm still guessing a release around April '09.
I see where you guys are coming from but I still think Blizzard has been really open with us. Perhaps it's just that there's no information to share? They might feel that any further changes can wait until the beta and have moved onto more pressing matters like the single player.
Blizzard is has definitely been really open with us. I'm just greedy . Haha - in any case, I'm sure that come BlizzCon we'll see a lot of new stuff, especially if information is released at its current rate until then.
I expect they will probably work on the campaign during beta after they have the units sorted out. This doesn't really come as a surprise to me. I've suspected since the game was announced that it would be released sometime mid 09
I hope you are right Jon. (Well, you always seem to be right. LOL) But that doesn't mean Blizzard should release a 2 month old build to us. At least show us the newest one. Heck, Karune recently even mentioned the updated unit models. Why not show that to us in the newest build? They can leave all the balance changes in the beta because to be honest, I think the game as of now looks very polished. Everything else like the number changes and some minor unit mechanic changes + unit overhaul can be changed during beta. Maybe I'm just too greedy LOL. But yea, I really want to see some of the new kickass unit models. Blizzard really impressed me with the overhauled Terran models. I want to see the overhauled Protoss + Zerg. Heck I just want to see the new Stalkers because that's what Karune mentioned recently.
First off: The guy's last name is "Pearce" =P So you might want to update the graphics.. Blizzard showed the WWI build as it was polished in the stuff they did. They'd have to polish a bunch of current testing to make it as good for a gameshow as the WWI one. The same reason they showed the WWI build in the first place, I happen to know they had a new build that was 1-2 days newer even as we were at WWI... I agree with Joneagle, I think the beta will start sometime not too long after BlizzCon. I think he said that mainly to keep the IGN dudes at bay... Point is, that it IS "months" away with October. Another thing is saying these things in different ways, as telling a fansite "It's ready when it's ready" can be fun, but people like IGN gets insulted and give bad feedback to their readers if they do it to them. If you notice, they are not as consequent with the wording to more important sites, they get the same answer, but in more words... I think I belong in PR =) I always despised PR, but after getting to know Julia Gastaldi, Ben Schröder and Guy Cunis, and see what they actually do, I think that's exactly what I want to do further down the line... I'm mroe than happy writing content such as this, I mean it's awesome, but doing PR work is probably really nice... Ofc, I hear they are underpaid and over worked, but I'm that already, so, what's the difference =P
LOL my bad on the name. I Googled it and I remembered his name being Pierce from WWI. I swear it was printed somewhere... But yeah, big mistake there. I'll fix it. But I agree here with Leord (scary). They're just puffing smoke at IGN.
I don't think it's completely out of the question for an 09 release. If the beta does well, it could finish Q1 09, go gold in Q2, released in time for the end of Q3 or possible holiday release.
