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Analysts bullish on Starcraft II sales
ThomasN7
87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
Megahit once again and I get my copy tomorrow! Sweet!
Link: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6271382.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B2
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Comments
I'm gonna get my own copy soon. I hope I won't be disappointed... I've been hearing some negative things about Starcraft II lately.
Doubt there are many negative things to say gameplay wise, but the issue is a whole lot different when it comes to service they offer. Negativity seems to surround a lot of the following issues (since beta btw):
1. No offline playability.
2. No LAN.
3. Must re-validate copy multiple times.
4. No Cross-realm playability - you have to buy another box to play with your friends living in different continents.
5. No chat rooms.
6. Must pay for "premium" maps and stuff.
7. No tournament or Clan support.
8. Unable to name custom games.
9. Steep price for 1/3rd of the game.
10. DRM in general. Legit customers get fucked as these games get cracked anyway and as many want to play offline they will be forced to use third-party options with possibility of invalidating their owned copy of the game.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
First I've seen of this... and I'm playing SC2 now.
1) You can play in guest mode off-line. All aspects of teh game is available exept multiplayer. (You CAN multiplay against AI though in guest mode.)
3) You log into your account of you want your acheavements bound to your b.net account, but thats hardly supriceing.
10) The DRM on this is non intrusive. My son is playing in guest mode on his laptop while I play on my laptop in b.net mode. I would actually say that the DRM on this i one of the weakest and most familly friendly ones I have seen in years on an AAA title.
Like I said, negativity seems to surround those issues (if you check many customer reviews around the web). I am not playing the game myself due to no cross-realm support, but probably will if they implement it.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
Its funny because I've seen how DRM works and how its programmed into games. Depending on the Algorithm used for DRM, a game can either be slowed down by 2 - 8% or as much by 50%. Remember, a 50% slowdown means that one needs double the hardware to run the software if DRM did not exist.
I do not care much on sales or copies sold for many reasons. So many gamers exist now in 2010 compared to the amount in 2000 by a very large factor. What will be worth noting is if the people who bought the game would be able to play in their regions decently after a few years devoted to the game without feeling the population falling short. By players...I mean good players and not the 80 - 90% of the population that in RTS games are beginners.
I don't like the idea of paying for new maps, unless of course there is a full expansion released. I remember how big Modern Warfare II is, but as soon as they started Charging for Map Packs, a lot of players stopped playing and went back to Modern Warfare I. The reception is in multiple parts for Starcraft I
1) Can Starcraft II prove to be as sustaining and magical as Starcraft I in a saturated, but mainstreamed gaming world? When starcraft was released it was one of the games that defined RTS games, but now the game is released in a time many games saturate it all. Only time can tell how good it will be.
2) Can Starcraft II hold up in its development cycle of adding in new content, enough to improve the game with time?
3) Finally, can Blizzard control the typical attitude of players? The greatest complaint any RTS gamer has is being close to victory and having the losing player simply logout with no penalty. Even if a new rule were to give the player who leaves a loss, it means that all anyone has to do to reach max ranking is to visit another's server, and running a DoSA against the other player, rack up wins. RTS games are a genre where for over a Decade the issue of how to run and justify a ladder has been at the center of multiplayer RTS gaming.
One of the reasons I am behind a hardware IDS along with an Industrial Strength Firewall, with DoSA protection running on multiple connections (and some games being played on Linux) is due to the attitude gamers had at doing anything to win, even if it means trying underhanded methods through modification, DoSA or other nasty things.