By Quintin Smith on July 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm.
In what journalists are calling a “Dick Move”, Blizzard has announced that there will be no reviews of StarCraft 2 before lunch. Would-be reviewers are going to have to wait until after everybody in the office has had lunch before posting their review of the hotly anticipated RTS.
Wait, hang on. Sorry, I misread my RSS feed. Blizzard has announced there will be no StarCraft 2 reviews before launch. Before the game’s launch, on Tuesday, when the BattleNet servers go live. According to Eurogamer Blizzard was “unable to offer an official comment at the time of writing”, though they gather that it’s to do with Blizzard not wanting anybody to play the game without the full suite of BattleNet features. What did you have for lunch today, readers?
A sandwich. At least they’re not trying the APB way…
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Green eggs and ham. I feel sick.
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@Elyas
‘a’pply a blessed unicorn horn, you’ll feel better.
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Reheated pizza.
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I had a ham, cheese, tomato and mayonnaise sandwich from the deli in town. You know, the new one opposite where Smith’s used to be. Next to the butchers, yeah, that one. Yes, they do do sandwiches, they’re on your right just as you walk in. Next to the cakes, yeah. It was delicious.
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Well, this isn’t really surprising, given the state of the servers at the end of the beta. They really do need that one week to get things up and running properly at launch.
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What were the servers like at the end of the beta? I haven’t played in months.
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Quinns, can you stay on topic please?
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I blame the steam influx for these off-topic comments. Also, for everything.
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D:
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Dunno what this chap is talking about. Servers were just fine for me a day before the beta closed.
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There have never been any problems with the servers ever.
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Last patch broke things a bit. No custom maps, the game randomly failing to authenticate when launching maps from the editor, number of remaining placement matches going into the negatives. Things were perfectly fine previously, though.
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There was a fair bit of wobbliness in the front end all the way through beta. But… it’s a beta, and they did keep moving the interface around and adding features – so fair enough.
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“There have never been any problems with the servers ever.”
You clearly don’t remember Patch 13 weekend.
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I think you clearly missed the name of the poster :)
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Ham and cheese baguette and 3 pints of Guinness.
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You win at lunch.
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Mmm! You sure do.
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Three! That’s excessive! Unless, of course, you’re actually in Ireland. I had a cheap pizza and no Guinness whatsoever, but if that counts I can still feel the effects of last night’s pints. And since we’re on the topic, if you’re looking for a good rock bar in Dublin, Bruxelles is what I recommend. Unless you have to work the next day. Ow.
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Bruxelles do a good pint of guinness too.
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Absolutely. One of the best. But yesterday was Beamish day. Felt like something spicier.
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THREE pints? I just love guinness, actually it’s my favourite kind of stout. But after three pints I’d feel doozy. And how do you hold that much liquid?
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you don’t, that teh trick
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Nothing yet. I woke up at 11 am and had a Tomato-Mozarella-Baguette for breakfast.
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They don’t want to get mostly negative reviews. That’s reasonable.
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That’s the usual reason to forbid reviews or not sending review copies before launch.
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if this game boots up it’s getting 10s.
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@ Saiko Kila
Yes, clearly that is what they are afraid of…
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haven’t had any yet.
*feels hungry*
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I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday. I blame the heat wave.
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Is weird. Maybe have something to hide… what is weird again, because lot of people have already played the game with the betas, so any bad info I can imagine, is already public.
The release day will be (of course) horrible, servers will crash, with too much demands.
Maybe journalist can get some training in spiritist, and start posting news about the past, and doing interviews to dead celebrities. What is the point of journalist, wen you are the last ones to party?
Is basically, a dick move, maybe to sell a few more box, but nothing important anyway, maybe even will sell a bit less box.
Do SC2 have unlockables?
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Not all that surprising, either you have preordered it ages ago, or you don’t care. Same way MW2 and WoW expansions didn’t really need reviews. I can see the reviews already: Still the same old starcraft, single player is pretty, missed opportunity for innovation, punishing multiplayer, polished to mirror shine, etc. 8-9/10. I don’t care, it’s the best RTS out there and that’s all need to know.
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Chocolate spread sandwiches.
wait wat. Its only the best if you like rushing tactics, if not it won’t be.
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@Skinlo: There are novice variants of the maps that make rushes impossible.
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As does knowing how to play
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No “missed opportunity for innovation” here.
The kind of “innovation” that most RTS devs are doing right now would kill the game.
Changing the fundamental basics of the game would be a missed opportunity to make a solid sequel to the most popular RTS ever.
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The innovation is the fact you’re so busy at any given point in time after the first ten seconds you never actually get to look at the game which is quite pretty but it really doesn’t matter if you’re so busy herding Drones to mine new things that you don’t get to look at the pretty graphics so you might as well turn those off and because the learning curve is so steep you need a climbing kit to learn how to play better than an angry Zergling swarm you might as well turn the game off and save yourself some time.
Still, the custom maps should be fun. Were before, anyways.
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Oh no, a game forces you to stay constantly involved in whats going on. The insanity. The horror.
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Right, totally miss my point for a smarmy remark.
It’s hard to get into, and harder to care enough to get good at. Which makes it a bit like Defense of the Ancients for Warcraft 3 in the way that it was inaccessible enough to not be worth it. You have to be doing twenty different things at any sort of time which might be fine for you but if I’m going to have tactics I want TACTICS not micromanaging every single battle I have so I can forget about my one Ghost with his EMP, or my one Strider thing that I am currently too busy to tell to flank.
Making a game hard to play isn’t good game design! Hard to master is completely acceptable but if the only people I have the slightest chance of doing well against are other people who also never really play RTSes then is it my fault that I’m dumb or the game’s fault for being so damn complicated?
Also, the game is really pretty but I never have any time to look at it if I want to win. The constant micromanagement is already enough but god help you if you stop to look at the shiny things because losing ten seconds of not building another marine is disastrous. Sure I can hotkey things again, that’s another thing to remember to do. And what about people completely new to these types of games?
But since you ignored my earlier point with mocking schoolyard laughter I’m going to assume you’re going to do more of the same except while calling me exotic names like a “berk” so I don’t know why I even bothered.
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@DJ Phantoon: Your problem doesn’t seem to be that the game is hard to get into, but that you don’t even understand what the game is. Constant micromanagement of units isn’t a concern at lower skill levels. Time and attention is indeed a limited resource you have to manage, but that’s why the game is a real-time strategy game. Wanting to just enjoy looking at the scenery is missing the point of not only this game, but competitive games in general. Players completely new to the game wouldn’t even be playing 1v1 matches, co-op games against the AI and 2v2 are more likely choices.
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[...] is it my fault that I’m dumb?
I blame the parents and the school system.
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To get back on topic, I’m actually holding out till the reviews come out before I decide completely.
Oh and I have to agree with Phantoon. I was in the beta and I really noticed how they made it more, not less finicky. Which is why I’m waiting for the reviews to come out. There are ways to design RTSs that doesn’t involve having to twitch through the game at breakneck pace.
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Jerk Chicken And Rice.
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Chicken and rice is fine but there’s no need to call him a jerk just for asking!
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I haven’t even had any lunch.
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I’ve never had lunch.
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head and shoulders, toothpaste, and sh*t… biiiiig pieces of sh*t…
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Wait, how can Blizzard do this? How can they stop people from writing up their opinions of the game?
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They’re not. However, it’s hard to review a game you can’t play yet, which is where trying to review it before the release date becomes difficult if whatever development company/publisher involved isn’t distributing review copies.
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you can write you reviews but the reviewer might have signed a non disclosure agreement (meaning they have to wait until Blizzard says so) or in the other case they risk Act-Blizz blacklisting them and not inviting their sites/magazines into the advanced show/release party/e3 lookalike for their next game
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The activation servers are not up yet, the game doesn’t launch. Fairly simple.
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I cobbled together an end-of-the-week meal, consisting of whatever’s left over between two slices of bread. This week, marmalade and peanut butter. Mmmm!
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Hurrah for Quinns’ triumphant return.
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Three chocolate chip buns.
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Fideua, Valencia style (which in most parts of Spain means paella but with thick short noodles instead of rice) which was actually quite tasty, and some lamb chop. And iced coffee.
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I’m jealous, I’ve not had a decent fideuá since I left to live in Holland, too long ago.
I miss mum’s food…
Anyway, back to business and serious matters:
Roast Chicken, green beans and an apple
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Three bean and tomato soup with a bit of extra spice plus a bagel.
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Here’s my review. Starcraft 2 is no where near as fun as Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.
As for lunch I’ll have a ham sandwich.
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@ Dave
I’m jealous of your Guinness drinking. I’m still at work but there is a pub dangerously close by.
An Italian Pizza Wrap from Pret followed by a Cadbury’s Wispa.
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Cheese and Tomato Panini. It was delicious.
Anyway, I can’t see this whole review embargo thing harming the game. Anyone waiting for the reviews probably isn’t the kind of Diehard Fan Blizzard is targeting.
Personally, as someone who never played the original game, I watched the recent Story/Recap trailer and felt nothing. Starcraft 2 isn’t being made for me in the same way that the World of Warcraft expansions aren’t made for me as a non WOW player.
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Eating prawn cocktail crisps RIGHT NOW
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I’m not the slightest bit interested in this or Diablo 3. I honestly don’t know why, because I should be. Games have become so convoluted (sign up for this and that, enter codes for stuff, blah fucking blah), that I’m more interested in seeing what dickery they have come up with this time. Not Blizzard specifially, mind you, but the industry in general.
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No food. Just regrets.
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;)
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That you didn’t buy any food?
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Salad.
Way too hot and humid here for anything substantial. Maybe in the evening.
Also, screw you for luring me into this comment thread by mentioning food in the tags. I don’t care for Sc2..
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Rabbit stew
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Stew: The collective noun for ‘Rabbits’
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Not much, yet, considering it’s 9:00 AM where I live.
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I haven’t even had breakfast yet :(
/goes looking for nom
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It’s just piracy measures, guys. Game will be cracked 4 hours after a working copy is played by a human being – they just want the original to be available in stores before the cracked version. I support.
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Macaroni and scrambled egg, followed by a side order of gut problems.
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Homemade blackcurrant and apple pie (my mums blackcurrants) with hot custard. Mmmmmmmmmm
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It’s 8 minutes to o’ seven hundred here, and I’ve yet to have breakfast much less lunch.
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Horse steak and fries + a glass of wine and a beer at the company restaurant.
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Let me guess – you’re in France?
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Close enough, Belgium!
let me tell you a little something about myself. My father was a relentlessly self-improving Boulanger owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink, he would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Some times he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy, the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical, summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we’d make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds, pretty standard really. At the age of 12 I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum, it’s breathtaking, I suggest you try it.
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Oats porridge, tomato, hard coiled egg, pickle and tea.
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How do you coil an egg?
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Give it a couple of hours.
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Very carefully.
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Cornbeef hash and beer.
It was nice, but it was nothing compared to st-ohfuckit.
Is it shit then, what’s the deal?
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Is anyone taking orders? And could I see the wine list?
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Spicy chicken pasta from Asda, a banana, Real McCoys (salt and vinegar) and a twix.
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WTF are you talking about RPS? Its only 8 AM where I am at! You guys are silly.
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We are from the future
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Sausage, Egg and Bacon was for what i had for my lunch oh and a coffee
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The servers were fine at the end of beta
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My guess is it is because they care deeply about the story they are telling in single player, and they want to limit the chances of spoilers.
After all, the MP is well understood by now.
I essentially agree with them on this decision. If SC2 gets less than a 9.5 I will be amazed, so it’s not a question of will the game be good, but rather can we preserve its surprises as long as possible.
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so you are convinced a game that nobody has played will get 9.5?
That really is the ultimate goal of large games publishers hype departments.
How do I eprsuade people that Gratuitous Space Battles 2 will get 9.5 or more, without letting anyone play it. This is a neat trick, to put it mildly…
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It’s not completely unreasonable to say, as the multiplayer beta has been around for months and lots of people have played it. The multiplayer is probably good enough on its own merit to earn at least an 8/10 or so.
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The multiplayer on Supreme Commander was good, the single was a bit shite though and it wasn’t a 95% minimum game.
The Cool-Aid, you are drinking it.
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Cliffski,
Pretty FMVs.
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@cliffski
Spend several decades making highly rated and successful games. It’s that simple. ;)
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@cliffski : spending monstrous amounts of money of cliched trailers that appeal to the lowest common denominator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E83GfWM-A
And no, i am not bitter . *sob*
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“How do I eprsuade people that Gratuitous Space Battles 2 will get 9.5 or more, without letting anyone play it.”
Precede it with an RTS that remains at the top of the genre for 10 years and becomes the national pastime of South Korea. Whilst you’re twiddling your thumbs waiting for that to run its course, develop the most successful video game of all time and have it stay at the top of the entire industry for 5 years straight.
Come back after that and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt with GSB 2.
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Not sure I need to reiterate what the others said, but since I respect your development I’ll answer your question in the same way.
Since 1995 Blizzard has made the following games:
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness 1995 fantasy real-time strategy game
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal 1996 expansion pack
Diablo 1997 Hack’N Slash
StarCraft 1998 science fiction real-time strategy game
StarCraft: Brood War 1998 expansion pack
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition 1999 fantasy real-time strategy game
Diablo II 2000 Hack’N Slash
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction 2001 expansion pack
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos 2002 fantasy real-time strategy game
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne 2003 expansion pack
World of Warcraft 2004 MMORPG set in the Warcraft universe.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade 2007 expansion pack
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 2008 expansion pack
Every single one of those games is either a critical lauded, beloved new entry to a genre, or an expansion pack to such a game. They have succeeded in what is arguably the most difficult business in gaming, the MMO. Their games are a national obsession in parts of the world. Their games are played and purchased in volume 12 years their release. Diablo essentially created the action-rpg genre, and has yet to be surpassed, despite not having a serious release in 9 years.
They take their time, and get it right. Surely, you can appreciate that. While I am a notorious anti-hype ranter, in blizzard’s case the only thing they have to do to generate hype is say “we are releasing a new game”.
An extensive track record of proven quality, longevity, and attention to detail earns you the expectation of your fans that you will release nothing but peerless superb games.
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Had some chinese food, spicy noodles with beef.
Good stuff.
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I can -kind of- understand the motive here. The battlenet feature has a much-touted matchmaking system that (I imagine) requires a critical mass of players to function well.
I imagine there are, of course, other motives in play in restricting reviews (!Hah! Conspiracies. Everywhere… & all that)
But surely there are loads of games reviewers out there? All gonna be playing the game quite a bit? And isn’t the beta fairly heavily populated?
If anyone’s happy to comment – in reviewing experience, are matchmaking features often rendered useless / unreviewable by low pre-launch player numbers?
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@cooper: Reviewers won’t have access to the full game until the game launches on the 27th, and the beta was multiplayer only, so any review made based on that would have to ignore the very promising (and very different from multiplayer) single player campaign, as well as other features like the challenge maps.
Starcraft may be famed by its multiplayer, but it also had an amazingly strong single player. Reviewing the game without reviewing single player wouldn’t only be very poor journalism, it would also be making the series a disservice.
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That’s a circular argument, though. Reviewers can’t review it until they get access, and who controls when they get access?
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I had a BLT but had no tomatoes so just a BL and it was technically my breakfast aswell as lunch.
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Lunkfast!
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Leftover gratin dauphinois made with gruyère.
mmm.
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The service here is terrible!
Just as well I have 5 loaves and a couple of fish here. I’ll try to make it go round everyone
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Chicken and Peri-Peri Sanvich.
Blizzard are just being prissy, they know it’s going to get rave reviews everywhere. Unless their development team have spent the last 3-4 years playing tiddlywinks of course.
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- salami sandwich
- chicken/ chive/ ruccola sandwich
- roast beef sandwich
- sausage/ curry sandwich
Some orange juice
Dee ff-ing licious.
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A delicious salmon, potato and pea frittata from the local delicatessen. It was extremely awesome.
As are these apple crisps I am snacking upon.
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four ears of raw sweet corn from my parents’ field — in a plastic bag
( i did not eat the bag )
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did you give thanks to he who walks behind the rows?
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Tuna free dolphin salad.
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I like when they leave the dolphin in.
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SOTS taught me to hate dolphins. Fuckin space dolphins
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@TheHumanBlur
We knew you were Suul’ka.
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- Pasta with “sugo all’arrabbiata”
- A tomatoe, along with a bit of tomatoe
- Some slice of mortadella
- A piece of watermelon
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err… I mean, – Tomatoe along with a bit of onion :P
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I’m going to guess: Sicilia o Napoli
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Good thinking, but in truth I live in northern Italy!
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Silly Brits eating lunch at 6 am. Today I shall have no lunch as I just ate a rather large breakfast. I may take a nap in my car, though.
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Damn you guys, i’m gonna have to go and make an omelette now
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Battered haddock, chips and mushy peas. I am now stuffed to the point of immobility, and very sleepy.
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Two bocatas de tortilla de patata and a San Miguel beer.
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Con cebolla o sin cebolla?
Damn, I miss home…
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that’s two montaditos or you were really really hungry.
BTW, Tortilla de patata isn’t hard to do. It just asks for patience. Where are/were you from, Joe?
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What varied gastronomic finery us RPS folk eat!
However I’m not sure what it says about me that this is the first RPS comment thread I’ve followed and read in full for some time…
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It’s oddly charming, isn’t it? I should do this every Friday.
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chili, mmmm let the gasses flow
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So, why aren’t people complaining about this more? I remember when APB did almost the same thing there was tons of nerd raging going on.
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Didn’t APB want to delay the reviews until a week after the release or so?
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“Didn’t APB want to delay the reviews until a week after the release or so?”
Do you really think that we are going to see many Starcraft 2 reviews on release day? The reviewers haven’t finished the singleplayer campaign yet so it will easily take at least a week before we see any good SC2 reviews.
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Bruchetta
The difference is that for APB the entire game had been avaliable in beta form for a very long time (and there were no changes from late beta to retail).
For SC2 there have been a long multiplayer beta and if thats all the game was then im sure people could review it based on that. But there is also a single player portion and with Blizzards new Battle.net I can understand why they are reluctant to allow people on before its ready.
I am quite sure that this is not about them being scared about bad reviews (as with APB), but rather about other factors.
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I don’t think any Starcraft 2 reviews are going to make a dent on anyone’s buying decision at this time. Seriously, you’re going to get it at or near launch, or you’re going to wait a while to monitor the nerd rage. I don’t actually think any reviews of Starcraft 2 are needed. It’s not like anyone is breathlessly waiting consumer advice about it.
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The issue with APB was that they were (initially) trying to say you couldn’t release a review even *after* it was on shelves. The issue wasn’t that there wouldn’t be reviews available, the issue was that they appeared to be under the impression that they somehow had the power or influence to enforce that decision.
I’ll be waiting for a review, but I can see why Blizz would make this decision. I don’t think they stand to gain much from even great reviews – because that’s what most people expect anyway – but they could lose out on the off-chance that there are a few not-so-great reviews.
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@ TenjouUtena
“I don’t think any Starcraft 2 reviews are going to make a dent on anyone’s buying decision at this time.”
Actually I never bought the original Starcraft after PC Gamer UK gave it 80% or so. I did enjoy Warcraft II before it. In all honesty, I am not a gigantic fan of RTS games so it was probably more than than the review that ultimately led to me not buying the game. Anyway, I walked around for a year or more believing the game was a disappointment because of that review. Good old pre-internet days.
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This is a real kick to the nuts for those of us that brunch!
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Grilled cheese sandwich, a egg drop soup and some steamed broccoli.
Great game, but the online multiplayer has many problems. Battle.net 2.0 being the main one.
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Last time I was there I bowed down to the statue of Phil and spoke swedish to a real Swede!
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A delicious pastrami sandwich from Waitrose next door.
Did TA Kingdoms ever get a decent patch?
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I had two hotdog buns.
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I done a tummy-shame!
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Stuff lunch! My copy just got posted! :)
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Instant noodles with a tin of tuna. Proteintastic.
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Vigorexia power!
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Oooh… I learnt a new word, thanks. But as it happens I’m boosting protein under doctor’s orders.
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This is the best thread ever, and I don’t even like food.
I had pitta with seriously strong cheddar and brussels pate (can’t do the acute, sorry).
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Do you need someone to teach you, or is there some issue with your hardware?
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@Raum – Could be an allergy?
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Usually, people posting here are Brits after all.
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Friday is Chinese day at work. I had Chicken Chow Mein.
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Boring lunch today, soup and toast.
Need more posts about food.
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Witchfynder General – bagel with chicken, chilli mayo, chorizo, spring onions, lettuce and smoked cheese from the unparalleled Where the Monkey Sleeps.
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Sounds delicious ye painted Jezebel!
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late breakfast/lunch (combined) = 1 bowl bran flakes + 1 banana + 1 apple + 1 nectarine + 1 cup of Lady Grey tea.
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Two cheese sandwiches, one with tomato sauce on, and a cupcake.
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Battlenet was pretty smooth for me the last week of beta, I’m guessing they just don’t want screenshots and spoilers from the Single Player missions hitting the web before their loyal fans get a hold of it. They don’t need the extra publicity,, the game is already going to hit the ground sprinting.
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More like with a jetpack running on full throttle and some strapped on NASA grade rocket boosters ready to fire.
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Just finished some leftover spiced carrot soup that my wife made, eaten with a big hunk of bread, as all soup should be.
RPS commenters, you are excellent. Thanks, Quinns.
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A sausage meatball grinder and a coke. Or, I will in a few minutes. It’s only just after noon.
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PS. Quinns, I recommend a nice spinach salad for your lunch (presumably the next one). Plenty of iron.
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Chicken ceaser sandwich, butterscotch angel delight, coke zero.
When I saw over a 100 comments for this thread I assumed some it had been invaded by AIM. Nope, just people eating. The internet is often great.
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Mmmm… lunch…
It’s a sort of holiday here in Utah (Pioneer Day tomorrow, so lots of people have work off today), so we’re going to a greasy spoon diner for lunch. So eggs, bacon, toast, and potatoes. Yum!
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I’m in Utah too. I found out the hard way that I didn’t have work today. It was a wonderful surprise. Cherry tomatoes and carrots. Yes, I am a rabbit.
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Hey, I’m also in Utah! Sadly I don’t get work off though.
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Roast Beef Monster Munch. Two packets.
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I only just ate breakfast (cold cereal), I’ve no idea what I’ll end up having for lunch.
As to Starcraft 2, they’re welcome to embargo reviews but I’m certainly not buying the game before I see a diversity of critical opinion and word of mouth on the subject. In other words: no Starcraft 2 reviews before launch -> no Starcraft 2 purchase until reviews.
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Eh, oh well not planning to buy it any more regardless. Once I realized they wanted $60 for each 3 separate copies to get the entire game (whenever they get around to releasing the rest) I decided I didn’t really care enough to buy it any more. I’ll buy the game if/when I can find it at least 1/2 off. I don’t really play much multiplayer and that won’t be changing for SC2. Paying $180 for a single player game is a massive rip off (even assuming SC2 lives up to the hype and blizzard’s normal standards, its still not worth $180). Also, I can’t imagine paying $60 for the zerg campaign when it is eventually released, zerg are the polar opposite of my RTS play style, so regardless of how good it is, I can’t imagine myself enjoying playing through (I usually just cheated through the zerg parts in SC to get it done and see the cutscenes).
Maybe a few years after all 3 parts are released they’ll put out a warchest for an appropriate sum of money. And since the graphics already seem (to me) to have aged a few years while they got multiplayer just right, waiting a few more years to finally play the game won’t really hurt them further.
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Once I realized they wanted $60 for each 3 separate copies to get the entire game
They haven’t announced a price point for the expansions yet.
Paying $180 for a single player game is a massive rip off
Weirdly enough, I don’t recall people complaining about WC3 being a massive rip off at $120.
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Or Dawn of War being a massive rip-off at a couple of hundred dollars.
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Being absolutely rubbish at RTS games, I don’t care at all about Starcraft….but I do like lunch.
I had a slice of dutch apple pie and a cup of coffee.
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Our department went out for lunch, I had a parma ham and mozarella ciabatta with coffee and glayva cheesecake. Lovely, but the service was really slow.
I’m not really interested in SC2. I know I’ll probably get it at some point, if it ever gets cheap, but I’ve built bases and amassed armies… I really prefer what Relic have been doing to the genre with Dawn of War 2 (And I’ve looking forward to the next expansion for that :) )
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I had sataraš. Mmmm…. sataraš. <3
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I had traditional Norwegian dish that I don’t know if there’s any international name for. Different kinds of dried meat and sausage, with scrambled eggs, potato salad and Norwegian flatbread (which, surprisingly, is an English word).
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I had FIRE WINGS for lunch. They were good FIRE WINGS. But now I have a FIRE ASSHOLE.
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Mango chutney chicken wrap. Eatin’ it right now. Compare your lunch to mine, and then kill yourselves!
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Ready Salted Walker’s. The nicest flavour.
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I’m going to be boring and say that I had a ploughman’s sandwich with a glass of ice-cold mineral water.
I admit, I’m rather much more looking forward to tea, as that’s when I shall be supping on rice and chicken in a Reggae Reggae sauce, because I absolutely adore ridiculously hot food.
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Chicken shwerma, from Abu Zaads in Shepherds Bush! Yummy
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Brocoli pizza and a cheese and spinach rice ball.
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Despite being so old that I recently found a battered copy of C&VG in the loft (with Fun Boy 3 on the front cover) that I apparently bought in 1983, the original Starcraft somehow completely passed me by.
So all this “The Wait. Is Almost. Over” hype is totally lost on me. Could someone please tell me if it’s actually any good – even if I dont know what a ‘Zerg’ is?
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I’m a pretty new PC gamer (I got into gaming in the N64) and I went back to StarCraft. It’s really quite good. The story is great, the missions are fun and the RTS balance is top notch. Definitely worth picking up if you can find it cheap (it’s $15 to download on Blizzard’s shop).
Some people seem to prefer the Company of Heroes type of RTS game where you reach nodes like in a Battlefield game, but I like StarCraft more. It’s simple. Wipe them all out, go! And if you’re worried about micromanagement, WarCraft 3 is much worse. StarCraft’s micro isn’t too bad. It’s a good balance.
I will be having tacos for lunch.
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Wetherspoons’ chicken burger.
Was better than I expected
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Wetherspoons? Hang your head in shame sir!
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Ahhhh fresh meat!
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‘Katsumoto says: July 23, 2010 at 5:52 pm Roast Beef Monster Munch. Two packets’
i had these last night, they don’t have the kick of pickled onion but at least you are left with some mouth skin.
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‘jaheira says: July 23, 2010 at 7:24 pm Ready Salted Walker’s. The nicest flavour.’
Absolutly!
and an excellent compliment to most foodstuffs.
err, we might need a seperate crisp thread.
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Two large pieces of rye bread (the round kind) with cucumber and slices of finnish meetvursti and porridge with a cup of coffee afterwards.
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I had some precooked chicken nuggets. Passable, I guess. But I grabbed what I thought to be BBQ sauce but was actually Italian dressing. Chicken nuggets and Italian dressing is terrible. Like Starcraft. Zing!
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For lunch? Well I’m a member of the enthusiast press so I’m eating dog food out of a bowl that publishers have provided for me because they are my BDSM slave masters
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Do you enjoy the relationship?
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could be worse, could be like that guy in Audition.
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APB and now this? SIGH.
If this becomes a trend with new releases, I hope someone with an intonational PC gaming magazine of some kind breaks one of these stupid review embargos. They’re really not good news for the rabid consumer on the street who needs review advice prior to release day.
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So where’s the review?! It’s past lunch already!!
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Apologies for posting something serious amongst all the fun, and this may come as a dumb question – but is it actually a good/ “OMGAMAZING” game and worth pre-ordering? I’m yet to read anything decisive about whether it’s actually great fun to play or not, usually just things like ‘oh i kept getting owned’. I played a fair amount of the original and loved warcraft 3 to bits but I’m concerned that the online mode might be a bit too fast paced for me…
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Moi aussi. Ill probably pick it up on sale sometime in the future for the singe-player, but multiplayer sounds like a nightmarish twitch-fest.
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Multiplayer isn’t so bad! The matchmaking system is really good, honestly, even with the small beta population, so you rapidly end up playing people about as skilled as you.
There are also free-for-all and team play modes and co-op vs AI, all of which are far less serious and intimidating. Don’t write it off completely :)
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I’m sure you’ll have no issue with the MP. I think Blizzard has hit the proverbial jackpot with the matchmaking system. A lot more people will play MP, and the skill level involved will be precisely where you’re at, at all times. I’m still pretty annoyed by that article Alec wrote a few months back, as apparently, he didn’t even play the game (another explanation is that he’s completely rubbish at RTS games), as SC2 really isn’t a hard game to get into. I had maybe 50 1v1 games spread out over the 6 months the first phase lasted, and in phase 2 I was placed in the second highest ladder league. Really, there will be plenty of people to play with at any skill level.
Also, it’s a lot less fast paced, APM wise, than the original. The skill ceiling is a lot lower, and although it’s fast paced, it’s relatively easy to get into the macro/micro mindset of SC2. It’s not even close to being as brutal and unforgiving as SC was.
Note that I don’t think Blizzard has really catered to the hardcore crowd yet, but I’m pretty confident that they will (as they’re positioning themselves to make SC2 the first game ever that’s going to be thoroughly pushed into being an e-sports game).
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rice and stewed pork with green beans.
I regret not having yogurt for dessert.
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Homemade Longpig Burritos… although they’d have to be homemade, as I can’t quite imagine Tesco or Morrisons doing them. It is my birthday though, so I felt I should treat myself, and they were well worth the effort. Served with beer battered onion rings and spicy refried beans.
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I’m really saddened by what Blizzard has turned into since Activision bought them out. Customer service on WoW (when I still played it) was sub-par, although granted it wasn’t great before the merger, either.
Still, this to me just feels like them waiving their dicks around because they can. It’s also a worrying trend from game publishers. While reviews aren’t worth a whole lot (especially with the 8.0 average score these days), it’s very arrogant for publishers to basically say, “screw you guys, people will buy our stuff anyway.”
Unfortunately, that’s true. As saddened as I am by Activision’s decision, I’m simply amazed at the amount of apology here for this decision. I guess some people are willing to be blindly loyal to a brand. What it means though is that these brands will realize they can do no wrong, and then stop caring about customer service altogether (see also: Apple).
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Servers aren’t up and content is still missing from the game (or just simply bugged) – why is it a big deal that they don’t give reviewers early access when they’ve yet to ensure that paying customers will be able to play the game properly on the release date?
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Croque-madame. I’m a posh bastard.
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Hey, its my birthday too, happy birthday man.
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Fish fingers. No, not that kind.
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Matambre with a spinach and spring mix salad with strawberries, pecans, roma tomatoes, and feta.
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I have to say I’m rather staggered at the whole ‘doesn’t matter, it’s SC2, everyone will buy it anyway’ vibe people are giving off.
It’s – from what I gather – a fairly bog-standard RTS which just happens to have a load of impressive cutscenes that tell a story. It doesn’t matter how polished the RTS-dynamics are, it’s still going to just be an RTS.
I mean, obviously a section of gamers will buy it straight away, but I imagine a lot will be just like me; looking at it and waiting to see what the actual RTS gameplay has to offer beyond the usual, samey rock-paper-scissors fare of PC games from 10-15 years ago. If it’s basically just a more polished SC1 then I’m not touching it with a barge-pole.
And for lunch I had a cheese toastie.
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You seem to be forgetting that, much like Dragon Age, there hasn’t been a good “bog standard” RTS in over a decade.
Also, the single player is as far from bog standard RTS as you can get. From what we’ve seen, it’s closer to Dawn of War 2 than Starcraft.
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Langman: Haven’t we established by now that it’s a polished Starcraft? Sure, they may have some fancy RPG elements in the campaign that we don’t know that much about, but the game mechanics still work as they did over ten years ago.
Personally, I played Company of Heroes and have a hard time going back to games where build orders and micro dictate the game flow as opposed to strategy and tactics. It doesn’t matter if SC2 gets an average score of 10/10 – which it probably will, since it’s Blizzard and everyone seems to love them – I won’t be buying it. I think you ought to be able to get a fairly good impression from playing SC, so there’s not that much of a point in an SC2 review.
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I’m constantly confused as to why the assumption that a game with base building and micro managment must be devoid of strategic gameplay still persists, really.
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After getting back into Starcraft, and realizing that DoW2′s multiplayer was a stagnant mess, I’m equally confused.
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Just to play devil’s advocate, here. Every kind of game will require a different skill-set, and some will be more prone to one sort than another. For example, someone whose skills revolve primarily around micromanagement will find strategy in that, and they’ll see 4X and tactical games as crap and not at all strategic simply because they don’t involve their skill focus.
It stands to reason that the reverse is obviously true as well.
You’ll like what you’re better at, it’s really as simple as that. I always thought Starcraft and the like were a bit crap, really, but that’s because I have minus-zero skill when it comes to micromanagement (my poor sight has a lot to do with that), yet I very much dig 4X games. Sometimes I really have to turn my head inside out understanding what the ‘strategy’ in a game like Starcraft is, and you see, I came to the conclusion above.
If you’re not good at something, then you won’t find strategy in it. Langman likely isn’t great at micromanagement, so he sees no talent in the process. Psychopomp is clearly a bit crap at Dawn of War II, so he sees that as being something of a mess (even though it isn’t, really, he’s just unable to wrap his mind around how it works for other people, which is exactly the problem I had).
The end result is that we can’t all be wrong.
4X and tactical games require a more observant sort of active, hands-on strategy that has you thinking about the present moment, and planning things only a few steps ahead because you can’t really afford to think too much further than that. Whereas a game like Starcraft has you doing micromanagement, and trying to plot out the entire game in your head, but not leaving much room for adapting or hands-on gaming.
They’re just different sorts of games that use different skills, and to say it again, you’ll like what you’re good at. And what you’re crap at? Well, that’s obviously going to seem crap too, isn’t it? It’s all very logical and easily understood, when you really think about it, and try to understand the position from the perspective of all involved.
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I think it’s a stagnant mess, so I must be bad at it?
Dawn of War 2 is too simple to evolve. For each race there’s all of one or two viable builds and strategies. These are the same builds that have been around since the War Is Coming or whatever it was called patch. Before that, the same builds that existed since launch. Every game is the same as the last game. A metagame is practically non-existent.
Also, “Whereas a game like Starcraft has you doing micromanagement, and trying to plot out the entire game in your head, but not leaving much room for adapting or hands-on gaming,” is completely backwards. As a matter of fact, your description of 4X is far more apt.
A hands-off, unadaptable player will never win a game outside of bronze. How Starcraft became known as the MICROAN EVERY DAY game, when Warcraft 3 is right there I’ll never know, but the idea that micro is the end all be all of the game is completely off. Any serious player will tell you that it’s the last thing anyone should worry about when learning the game. Your strategies, macro and game sense are far more important, and any time spent focusing on a few units needs to pay for itself in some way, or you’re going to be behind. A micro focus is a gamble, not a necessity.
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@wulf – your definitions for ‘Tactical’ and ‘Strategic’ seem to be a little muddled. 4x games, by their very nature, are quintessential Strategy games (slow moving long term plans which are kind of a more complex version of chess) Whereas a fast paced, think-on-your-feet tactical game tends to be what we call RTS games. (A weird corruption) there is clearly a bit of both concepts in both types of game as they are the two sides to the same coin. Also I dont think that you necessarily dislike something because you suck at it. Im utterly useless at Dominios 3 but I absolutely love it.
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“It doesn’t matter how polished the RTS-dynamics are, it’s still going to just be an RTS.”
Like how X-COM is “just” a turn-based tactics game? >:[
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@Zwebbie: “Personally, I played Company of Heroes and have a hard time going back to games where build orders and micro dictate the game flow as opposed to strategy and tactics.”
This doesn’t even make sense because build orders and micro REFER TO strategy and tactics.
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There are bad micro, like a Korean making a motorcycle unit unkillable moving around it like crazy. and I don’t call that strategy, I call that tactics-minus-minus-star
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I mean, obviously a section of gamers will buy it straight away, but I imagine a lot will be just like me; looking at it and waiting to see what the actual RTS gameplay has to offer beyond the usual, samey rock-paper-scissors fare of PC games from 10-15 years ago. If it’s basically just a more polished SC1 then I’m not touching it with a barge-pole.
So, you never played SC?
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I played in the beta and the likely reason for the review embargo is that they’re not done with Battle.net… you have to log into battlenet for single and multi-player and it acts as a portal for all the achievements/social networking/etc stuff. The multi-player side has already gone through ~18 balance patches and is basically done. The pre-orders are already shipping in europe.
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Hey, it’s Starcraft 2. You really think anyone’s going to read the review before buying it?
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It’s been a long time since anyone has had to read the review of any Blizzard product.
Who knows, SCII might fail, but based on the mutliplayer I doubt it.
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@DJ Phantoon: They took herding drones to mine new things out, you can just rally your hatchery to the minerals (and rally combat units elsewhere at the same time). Which is nice.
Pretty graphics are nice when you’re watching replays, day[9]‘s daily strategy casts or casts of tournament games. Those are all a nice break from, as you say, fairly intense matches.
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I’m sorry to hear that any Company of Hero’s fan will be missing out on this.
I haven’t seen the single player of SCII, so I won’t comment.
But to say that build order and micro are not important in any RTS is silly. Playing in the beta for months I can say with out a doubt that yes, mechanics are more important in SC2 than the other two examples but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an amazing time with what is truely a well constructed multiplayer.
I understand that videogamers are always looking for the new and mind blowing, and get bored very quickly. How else do games die so quick a death. But lets not pretend that this will be anything but a very very well made product. Too pass on it becuase you think it’s outdated? I don’t know what to say. I enjoyed the hell out of Punch Out on the wii, was that outdated? Yes, but it sure as hell was fun.
So has starcraft been, at least for me. Don’t get jaded just yet.
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Galleon: I’m assuming that’s a reply to my post, so I’ll give you a short summary of my opinion.
I think Company of Heroes is (or was, before OF) the best RTS out there, sticking out with head and shoulders. Here’s why: the environment was incredibly important. From cover to stick your troops in, to buildings of which you have to assert the value by location, construction, and coverage, to the resource being supplied through linked territories, to setting up arcs of fire. That’s fun; it allows you to execute a good amount of strategic maneuvers with a limited amount of tools (such as Riflemen vs. Volksgrenadiers and MG42′s). It’s also very real and recognisable, since making use of the terrain is one of the primary things to keep in mind in actual warfare. It’s very elegant.
In Starcraft and the other ‘old guard’ of strategy games… not so much. Starcraft has a whole set of complex mechanisms to execute strategies, but they’re all rather artificial, and the game often has to resort to abilities to introduce another layer. Is it really strategy if the situational awareness is barely a part of it? Only half so, if you ask me.
I can see the excitement in a game of Starcraft, but it’s also always very abstract, and rather boring in that way.
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Pretty much everything you just listed, bar cover, is important in Starcraft. Starcraft just doesn’t put in place a bunch of mechanics for them like you gave in CoH.
As for a cover system, they did actually have one in the early stages of development. Caused too much turtling, games were largely static and uninteresting, with little ebb and flow.
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I also think that CoH is the best of the genre by a mile, and that Starcraft 2 doesn’t look very impressive when compared. I’ll give it a shot to see though, but I think it is just that when CoH came out it had a style of play I totally loved – taking quite a few pointers from Close Combat – and it made the old school RTS games seem very outdated. Going back to an old school RTS might work, after all I expect SC2 to be an extremely polished example… but I really doubt it will be for me. A lot of the strategies and mechanics of that sort of game just no longer seem very appealing.
I don’t think it has anything to do with what you are good at, just what you find appealing. I expect SC2 to be very popular and have plenty of strategy and competition, but I think it is now quite a retro sort of game. I’d love to see CoH 2 being made, not that the original is very dated, just that the DoW series is weak in comparison.
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Personally I just didn’t think CoH was the game DoW was. Dawn of War is held high in my mind as one of the best examples of RTS gaming ever. It was varied, it was fun, it let me turtle (yes I’m one of those kinds of players). CoH simplified the formula, gave less variety and forced me (like most of the other recent RTS games) to play a rush game. I hate being forced to rush out and participate in a land grab from the word go, it made CoH strategically one-dimensional in my mind.
DoW2 was even worse at this. Playing the land grab was the only facet of the game. They removed bases, they removed unit variety, they removed large battles. In short, they removed everything I liked about DoW. To this day I still play DoW, but have vowed not to send another penny Relic’s way, because inevitably they will destroy any series I like, turning it into a dumbed down micro-fest game of “who can rush better?” They destroyed the homeworld series, they’ve destroyed the DoW series, next up is CoH, which going by their pattern will involve controlling one squad of guys, if that.
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The big problem with Starcraft in general is that it’s a lot more advanced than any other RTS, it just doesn’t flaunt it with shiny new buttons or bullet points. You have to be a good player to see and understand the more advanced mechanics of the game.
It’s like Chess. If it hadn’t been common knowledge that the game is incredibly advanced, most people would look at it and think it was cut and dry. This piece does goes diagonally, this other one just one square to either side. Easy, right? Then you start playing it, and the ceiling of skill and complexity suddenly towers above you — you can, in fact, barely make it out, because clouds and the density of the atmosphere is in the way.
I do enjoy Company of Heroes, but it’s a pretty simple game. Starcraft is still evolving. It’s a 12 year old game. Not by any means as impressive as Chess (still evolving after hundreds of years), but still, it says something about what kind of game it is. Played competitively by millions, and still not figured out yet.
It’s not just another RTS. And as much as I enjoy Company of Heroes, I recognize the fact that, sadly, it’s precisely that. Just another RTS. Starcraft is so much more.
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From Madrid, but for work reasons I get to experience a completely differrent kind of food, I live in Holland, and even if there are a lot of spanish food restaurants and I can cook at home, it’s just not the same.
The beer is great though…
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opps, this wqas meant to be a reply for a post from wayyy before….
Apologies…
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Don’t worry, it wouldn’t have seemed so out of place if people hadn’t gotten off topic talking about Starcraft 2.
I moved up today’s lunch’s slot of a bowl of cereal on the schedule to this morning to fill in for breakfast.
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This. As well as wanting honest opinions about the final version of the online mode and not recycled beta impressions.
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i’ve never had much of an interest in Starcraft, a game that prides itself on it’s best players committing 300 actions a second sounds to me like it needs a UI and AI overhaul not praise
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It did get one. It’s called Starcraft 2
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Grrrrrrrrrrr……
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Potato/sausage stew, but then again I also had that for breakfast, brunch, dinner and late-night snack.
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Lunch being the second meal of the day, rather than something eaten at lunchtime? Chicken stir-fry with broccoli, carrots, and onions over brown rice. Mmmmmm.
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@ DJ Phantoon
You make it sound like Starcraft 2 should have been designed to specifically please people like you who don’t like extremely intense, challenging and demanding RTS games, which is pretty ridiculous considering the original was an extremely intense, challenging and demanding RTS game.
Do you also complain when movie sequels aren’t designed for a different audience to their prequels?
All is not lost though, because there are many other RTS games available. One of them is bound to suit your preferences. You sound like a Dawn of War II type of guy. :)
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So when APB does this, there’s 200 nerdrage comments of people ragging on the game.
When Starcraft 2 does this, there’s 200 comments about food?
Colour me worried, gang, but what’s the motivation here? Give the AAA developer a break, but screw the new guy? Isn’t there a problem, when a company known for its super-mega-ultra polished products is having trouble a week from launch?
Beta’s been going on since Feb, but all the features aren’t even in yet? On a game which is a graphical upgrade with new units thrown in of the original that came out 12 years ago?
Who cares when it will get “8 or 9/10 anyway?”
Kotick must be ecstatic reading this over his midday snack of chicken-salad-hold-the-chicken with a cup of virgin blood.
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APB was trying to embargo reviews until a week after release, which is unprecedented in the industry. Launch day embargoes are pretty standard, which is why no one’s particularly shocked or appalled. I’ve got no horse in this race, being indifferent to both APB and Starcraft 2, but the two situations are not comparable.
As to the food issue, Quintin asked what we had for lunch. We don’t want to be rude you know.
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Not to mention that there was already a general consensus that APB was not very good by any standard, and the devs pretty much openly called reviewers retards.
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I do enjoy RTSgames alot, but after i played the sc2 beta i wasent that pleased. Thing is its way too much hardcore for me to enjoy, however after ive seen the latest trailer i just had to preorder it cuz they story looks/sounds amazing. So im actually buying the game for the SP part only :O, however i do know peps out there will make awsome TowerDefense maps and you gotta love em :O smooth clicking.
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Well, it’s Saturday morning here now, but for lunch yesterday I had McD’s. Second day in a row.
*hangs head in shame*
Also, Quinns, yes the thread has been charming and yes you should do it every Friday =)
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Nevevr played it, and don’t want to. But i’m off to write an “exclusive review” and get lots of hits…
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you reporters feel sore for waiting ive been waiting for about 3 years and you cant wait for blizzard to have lunch
CAPTCHA
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When Jim Raynor drinks, you know shit’s going down
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My friend recently shot and ate a rabbit. Big bugger it was too.
He showed some before and after photos of the unfortunate jumpy creature. That rabbit looked fucking delicious.
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Two word review – It sucks
Four word review – Not worth the wait
The blizzard publicy machine must be working overtime on reviewing itself. Given that they took so long to release it there were only two possibilities: It would either be the best thing since sliced bread or, as I suspected, the people in charge didn’t know what they were doing. Unfortunately my suspicions proved correct.
The cinematic sequences are very good, but the rest of the game sucks. The movement engine has the same flaws as the original with units getting suck behind buildings or on terrain on a regular basis (Gameplay is far from flawless as the ‘independant’ reviewer claimed). The graphics though more detailed are sillier for the zerg & protoss making it hard to take them seriously.
Extra units make the terrans more interesting but the added complexity interferes with the fast paced gameplay that was one of the hallmarks of the original.
The storyline of the campaign is a typical cliche designed to appeal to 13-15 year old boys.
Multiplayer must run through Blizzards battlenet making the game close to useless without a very good broadband connection. No LAN parties with this one.
Overall there is no way an independant reviewer would give this anywhere close to 100% unless they’re hyped up on some stim packs.
With a few simple changes this could have been an excellent game but as they say the devil is in the details. Basically they should have got some real gamers design this, not a bunch of suits.
Graphics 8/10
Gameplay 3/10
Campaign 2/10
Functionality 0/10
Overall 4/10
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Single player review:
http://www.gladriel.com/reviewFull/content/3761/StarCraft-II-Wings-of-Liberty-review/
9.2
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StarCraft 2 Video Review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwEXXebT4A
full review from BadSec (ex-GameStar):
http://www.gladriel.com/reviewFull/content/3761/StarCraft-II-Wings-of-Liberty-review/
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SC sequel is similar like original, there is no major changes. The graphics has been updated a few units added. Still, game is good and enjoyable. It reminds me on good old times.
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