@NeoXY:
I keep bugging God about that, but he's being more tight lipped than Blizzard. To be perfectly honest, I think he's started ignoring me.

Oh well, as long as Blizzard work faster than God, I'll be happy, to be perfectly honest I can wait a few more years before the whole end of the world but I'd prefer not to wait too long for SC2.

TrjnRabbit

WE DEMAND MORE RELEASE DATES!

....well not really. I'll take the original (DoW II) over some paltry imitator any day. As is their M.O., Starcraft 2 will be nothing more then Starcraft with a refined mechanic or two and updated graphics.

LanciePants

Give me a freaking break. Some of you people are unbelievable.

You complain and whine when a company rushes a product out the door and doesn't have polish, and when Blizzard, a company with a damn near pristine track record of releasing great games, encourages you to be patient, you get all pissed off and tell them to hurry up.

Blizzard is one of the very, very few companies left that I absolutely KNOW will give me a quality product when it's released. They have pride in what they do and it shows. You people are so impatient, yet we all know for a fact you have at least 5 games sitting on your shelf right now that you're nowhere near finished with.

So how about in the mean time, instead of bitching about what's not even available yet, you actually play the games you have?

Insane, I know.

mva5580

"Should we release now or when WoW dies a bit?"

ETA: Somewhere close Duke Nukém Forever.

Sandro_the_Necromancer

It's Blizzard, they'll release it when they damned well feel like it!

Wolfers

Its done when its done. One thing I respect about Blizzard is they never put out a shoddy product to make the release date of Fall 20XX.

They know their games will sell a bazzillion copies no matter when its released.

FrigidAir44

@LittleBigPlaneteer: Thought they dropped that project.

Deivion

Basically he's saying the insane success of WoW has allowed them all to get lazy, take their sweet ass time, and not care what the fans think. (Oh, and make sure it's perfectly balanced to the point that it never comes out so South Korea won't declare war.)

Great.

DangrMaus

Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?? The thor lost the cannon seige? what the hell man... I was looking forward to that. Let me guess, the mothership also lost that black hole attack?

wicko

@xCruciaLx: That gives us only 2 years to play before the Mayan Apocalypse...

excaleranth

@Chew13acca: So, It's never coming out?

MKLOL

blizzard requires more vespene gas

penetraitor

My guess on 2009 release is getting dimmer and dimmer. XD

Lyner

@Strong Arm: Never.

Firstly, Blizzard said long ago that the RTS portion of the series was over and that Warcraft was now an MMO series. And secondly, after the success of WoW, it would be foolish to think that WoW2 isn't already in at the very least, the early stages of development.

Anaralia

Come on, Blizzard! I'll buy a completely broken game as long as you keep patching!

Crawl to China

Well, Mr. Pearce, people will stop asking when your company stops announcing games years from completion. Lesser publishers have to do that to turn profits, Activision Blizzard commands enough buying power to allow their developers to sit as long as they want, and it seems Blizzard is hovering precariously close to ridiculousness with the 'when it's done' mentality. He mentions that gaming isn't an exact science, and he's right. But when you're actually attempting to make a solid game that will please the fans, eventually things have to stop being swapped around and endlessly tested and simply finalized. If this was the Blizzard of the 90's, without this much financial freedom, this game would have been done by now, if it has really been in development as long as they say it has (four and a half years).

Come on, a guy like this, in his position should know better than to try and argue against fans on this point when he has voluntarily put himself in this position by holding out a cookie in front of us, then snapping it away with the promise that it will be great when it's out of the oven.

Sushmonster

@huginn: So is Jesus's second coming. And thats 2000 years in the making (if you believe that kind of thing that is)

NeoXY

How about Diablo III then?

Kai200X

When will Starcraft: Ghost be done?

LittleBigPlaneteer

If they don't want people bugging them, then don't release information about the game if it could take up to 3-4 years to go gold.

unknownfy24

@Strong Arm: Soon

huginn

@moe84:

3 even

=(

moe84

wtb bumper sticker

"LOST VIKINGS 2 OR BUST"

moe84

ETA: 'When It's Done'

The Magnificen7

Blizzard requires additional pylons.

Chew13acca

ETA: 2010.

xCruciaLx

When will Warcraft 4 be done?

Strong Arm

@Anaralia:

WoW II?

Why would they possibly release an upgraded game when they can keep people going with expansions?

The only way that a true sequel to World of Warcraft will be released is if a real WoW killer hits and sucks all the mindless zombies from WoW to it. As the likely-hood of this is quite slim, I don't see a WoW II happening.

Mact

Here's hoping for Zergtoss and or a First Person Commander View. I don't actually see this happen due to the Zerg Rush nightmares that will follow.

Seriously though, I've never been dissapointed in a Blizzard game. They only announce things to let you know that "Hey! We haven't forgotten you. Look what's coming up!"

Danjaranja

I'm really, REALLY looking forward to the single player campaigns. Leave it to Blizzard to integrate a completely wild storytelling mechanic into an RTS game. Brilliant.

Atheist Jew

If Blizzard really wanted to be bastards, they could do an engine upgrade and release Starcraft and Broodwar using the new engine.

They could probably even charge for it, 99$ or some outrageous fee, and still sell a million copies.

alzheimers

As much as I respect Blizzard, if they didn't want us to ask, it was a really dumbass idea to let us know the thing existed.

Really. What else could you expect when you announce that the most anticipated game for the past ten years is actually in development? Especially consider how they've likely been asked "When are you making a sequel to Starcraft?" everyday since 1998.

Since this game will be sapping a great amount of my time, I want the best experience possible, so releasing it when it's done is a good strategy. I just wish there had been some disclaimer that the game wouldn't land within the year before I looked at the prettiness...

Mact

Most of you act like you've never experienced a Blizzard release schedule before, jeez.

Blizzard's entire M.O. is "It's done when it's finished, and it's finished when it's done", which means they're not going to push it out the door at the whim of some exec who gets antsy every time his cashflow drops below $100M/sec.

Norellicus

@wicko: You joking? It lost it months ago.

DoctorSaliva

Its their own damn fault for announcing things years before release.

Oyn

The longer you wait, the higher you set the expectations of your playerbase, and the less forgiveness you'll get if the game isn't stellar.

raiseplease

@Deivion: @LittleBigPlaneteer:

They did drop it, and rightly so. They had a demo running at Gencon a few years ago, and it was HORRID. Dream-crushing, because before that I didn't think anything Warcraft or Starcraft related could fail.

AntiheroKing

@TrjnRabbit:
to be perfectly fair, this is just like Twilight Princess. We never saw a concrete release date, so it's not a real delay.

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST

@Sushmonster: I'd rather have "when it's done" vs "when Sushmonster wants it". I'll wait for a legendary game rather then force a half assed effort out.

Blizz of the early 90's shipped when they had a decent product. That is why no one still plays warcrfat 1. Blizz of the late 90's shipped when it's done and missed their first dates by almost half a year for SC.

If you were expecting anything else, you haven't followed blizzard very long.

kingmanic

@penetraitor: Clearly upgrading overlords would allow them to manage the development teams better.

warf0x0r

@Sushmonster:

You clearly just have got into the PC gaming. SC2 was announced 1 year ago and it is already into the alpha stage. Any idea how long time D2 or SC took to develop ? Around 4-5 years and when those game were announced they were no where near the alpha stage. Get your facts straight. Besides I would prefer them to develop this game another 10 years and get it balanced into every single damage and health point than to release it in a rush just to please Mr Sushmonster and like like him who crave fast, unbalanced shit.

Aeryss

No one's said it yet? Ok I'll oblige:

SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS!

Aggrotank

@Reikoku:

Actually, I was perfectly content wondering if there were every going to be a Starcraft II.

Ignorance is bliss.

But when they release a trailer with a marine saying "Hell, it's about time," fans tend to get a little excited... For the love of Auir, use some other phrase!

By the time this game even gets a drop date, that marine will have fallen back into stasis and we'll all be wishing he had just said "We'll get to it when we damn well please."

Mact

Don't show us early if you don't want us to ask.

piccolo3nj

why did the announce it last year then? its been in development since fuckin 2003! and its only in alpha? why dont they release the mulitplayer when they are done balancing next year, then they can take as long as they want on the single player.

otis123

Please...please don't let Blizzard's takeover by the new EA of the gaming scene, Activision, affect its titles...

..oh its coming when its done? We're not going to get Starcraft II, III, IV, Starcraft: Aerosmith, Starcraft: Korea, Starcraft: Tony Hawk over the course of the next 18 months?

Good. :D

(Please Mine More Minerals!)

plutoknight

@Mpalm.: I think that I see where you drew that conclusion, but I think those are two independent thoughts that he mistakenly threw together. Like I don't just want a DOW clone. I think that Star Craft 2 will be too much like Star Craft. Of course he could just be dumb this is the internet.

Neostorm

World of Starcraft plz.

Final

@Mpalm.: It's possibly an ironic joke. Blizzard folks were huge war hammer fans. Warcraft was supposed to be a "warhammer" brand game but the people who held the warhammer license passed so Blizzard retooled it. Now Warcraft and warcraft related products far outstrip Warhammer in populatirty and profitability.

Gamers workshop can't sue because both of them dipped heavily into the Tolkien ink well and both have fairly extensive and non similar back stories.

kingmanic

If they didn't show us anything everyone would be pissed at being left in the dark. I see no reason to be annoyed just because they say they aren't ready to name a date yet.

Reikoku

@LanciePants: You clearly know nothing about RTS games if you think starcraft imitates dawn of war...

Mpalm.

Well it'll be out when it's out but since it's been so long in development you think they could atleast give you something, a ball park about the completion %, a description on what they've managed to do so far etc. It's going to come out but these guys are slow as hell, I admire they're work but I don't really think the double/triple times more dev time than other devs has payed off proportionally.

Llost

Hey mister, were the thing thats keeping blizzard rolling, dont make us shut you down. Actually you can be rude to us as much as you want and people will still play wow...sad...

Cufol33tcat

Oh seriously, cry me a freaking river. If you don't want people bugging you about the release date, you shouldn't have announced it over a year ago with no plans to give a ghost of a clue as to a release date, especially with your spotty track record of releases.

The_Atomic_Pod

@KaliKOtt: *Computers =(

KaliKOtt

It will be done when most of our can run Crysis

KaliKOtt

They're probably working on Battle.net and ironing out what they want to do with it. They did say that when Starcraft II comes out, a new iteration of B.net will also come with it.

Phlycheez

@kingmanic:

I'm interested to hear how Company of Heroes was good, but DoW wasn't. Being that the entire premise of CoH gameplay was based ENTIRELY off the mechanics established in DoW.

LanciePants

@HeyApples: To be fair, they are working on two sequels to two very popular games: Diablo III and Starcraft II. That is in addition to managing the most successful MMORPG ever created. They aren't exactly twiddling their thumbs.

DugDawg

I can not wait for this game to come out!!!
i know this will be epic and great!! i bought me a new computer for this game. LOL REALLY, well and for my video editing =P

SamuraiG0SU

@HeyApples:
develop SC2 and Diablo 3?

blizzard always takes its time between game releases, and often concentrates on one game at a time. they're not a shovelware factory, you know.

willyolio

Don't panic. It'll probably be out in a year or less.
I'm sure part of the marketing strategy is to have the "core audience" foaming at the mouth by the time it finally comes out.

erlik

@tzaketh: Actually that would be legendary. DOW was pretty pathetic. It obsoleted no one and it's not even int he same category as SupCom, War 3, SC. Company of heroes is a good but different style of game.

DoW is an also ran. live with it.

kingmanic

Anyone who thinks Starcraft 2 will be legendary is fooling themselves. It's Starcraft with prettier graphics and new units, and it's using an outdated gameplay system that's been rendered completely obsolete by Relic with Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.

tzaketh

IMO they need to build more supply depots to be able to continue development.

mikeevd

Blizzard to me is losing the relevence it once had.

If you aren't attracted to the timesinks of WoW, what have they done lately?

HeyApples

@Mpalm.:

If you're referencing gameplay mechanics and play style, then your absolutely right and I agree with you. But unfortunately for your comment, I was referring to the creative content of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40k.

And how the hell can Starcraft be imitating DoW's gameplay? Starcraft came out like 10 years before DoW saw the light of day.

LanciePants

@Aggrotank haha i was just about to say that!

I think they require more vespene gas tho. There's never enough around when u need it lol.

Grandreaper999

no doubt Blizzard makes good games, but even Blizzard #@cks up from time to time. Starcraft had unforgivable issues and is only now a mature game. How did that come about? From years of actual players playing and giving feedback.

All Blizzard needs to do is make sure SC2 is in a playable competitive state. Not fully balanced, that would be impossible anyway, just enough to not make the game total ass when someone realizes they can kill someone by using SCV's alone. Hell, unless Blizzard is reallllay tricking out the gameplay that wouldn't happen anyhow as they're mostly using SC1 as a template for 2.

And get it out by end 08 goddamnit, getting a little sick of SC1's quirks, want a new polished SC for 09.

MrFatalistic

So they're tired of people asking when it'll be done? Well I ain't tired of asking!

Quilt

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS!

+ Watch video

Odin

There are an insufficient number of screenshots! Build more pylons!

Until they add the boyz to it and I'm throwing up some WAAAGH!'s I'll continue to treat DoW and Starcraft as apples and oranges, capable of satisfying different produce related urges.

Human Bomb

well i dont mind if the game takes longer to ship as long as it results in a better game. knowing blizzard, it probably will.

maraxusofk

@LanciePants: DoW was Homeworld on land. Both were slightly less polished RTS's with focus on massing with "starcraft like upgrades". Company of heroes just felt more polished but all of them aren't in the same league as SC, War 3, of Supcom in many ways. All three had very balanced and refined play with SC and War 3 pulling away from Supcom in story and sound quality while Supcom pulls away in technology and breadth of tech tree.

Even compared to Homeworld II, DoW felt less polished. The story mode had terrible voice acting while homeworlds II was passable. It may also be a personal bias as I have a keen interest in WW II stuff.

To me DoW, Homeworld, and CoH just felt less then SC, War 3, or SupCom. They lacked the massive scope of SupCom, the responsiveness of SC/War 3, the expandability of all three, or the community. A single Custom maps type in War 3 have more players then most new online games. The number of players for SC and War 3 eclipse that of almost any online game except half life and maybe halo 3/COD4. The number and variety of custom maps in both SC and war 3 are amazing.

kingmanic

This bears repeating: Blizzard and release dates do not go together.

I can't believe I actually have to say this, but however long it takes for Starcraft II to come out, it will be worth it. Their track record for the last, say, 9 years has been pretty good, hasn't it?

pastepunkjames

If they're not going to release it until it's absolutely perfect, then I think it's fair to expect there never to be any patches or updates after release.

Apreche

@HeyApples: Nothing, and it doesn't matter for many of us. SC and WC3 are still awesome and still playable. I don't know how many people play DotA, which is just one custom map for WC3, but it's probably more than most online games by itself.

i.of.the.storm

@Anaralia: Shit, really? [citation needed], but if that's true I'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight...

i.of.the.storm

As with any Blizzard product, this is the only answer fans will get when asked about any product:

"Soon"

Copyright 2004-2008 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. "Soon" does not imply any particular date, time, decade, century, or millennia in the past, present, and certainly not the future. "Soon" shall make no contract or warranty between Blizzard Entertainment and the end user. "Soon" will arrive some day, Blizzard does guarantee that "soon" will be here before the end of time. Maybe. Do not make plans based on "soon" as Blizzard will not be liable for any misuse, use, or even casual glancing at "soon."

Inferno-X

Fans get this weird sense of entitlement over games. You see it at all stages, from announcement to development to testing and finally release. Yes Blizzard announced the game a while ago...so what? If you're not interested in the game anymore, move on. Don't sit around complaining that you're not yet playing.

Ladi

Let them take as long as they need. If it's a good game, then it will be well worth it. If it's mediocre, well then, it's there own foot they're shooting, not mine. Seriously, at least wait for a beta before saying how it's not going to live up to SC. Some screenshots and gameplay videos aren't really enough to critique a game with.

ashman512

The gameplay looked like it was locked, they're probably working on CGI for single player cut scenes and general polish.

kemicon

@kingmanic:

That's funny because I'm completely on the opposite side of the fence in relation to your preference for Supreme Commander. I've played Supreme Commander quite a few times and I always felt it was :/ . I thought the voice acting was ok but in my opinion it lacked the emotion and delivery of DoW's. I never cared for it's slow, almost lethargic play either. Walking a Monkey Lord through someone's base is fun but getting there takes forever. Nor did I care for it's tech tree. Besides a handful of units, each army is damn near a mirror image of one another. Your process for teching is the same for each army, no deviation. Whereas DoW, some tech trees are radically different. Other's like the Tau force you to make a decision with your tech tree, affecting your unit selection later. In other words SuCo always felt like a bigger version of Total Annihilation. Not necessarily a better version, just bigger. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I can't comment on the comparisons between Homeworld and DoW. So I'll take your word for it. I never got around to playing Homeworld, I was in the thrall of a very serious TFC addiction at the time.

CoH in my opinion is a clone of DoW, with a refinement on the capture point mechanic and a few units. So I figure if you liked the play and action oriented style of CoH, you would probably enjoy DoW. CoH was a good game because DoW spearheaded a lot of those mechanics. They're a little more primal and not as polished but the core gameplay which makes it fun, is still there in spades.

Yes, I'll definitely agree there's some polish issues with DoW. If you follow Relic and their work this won't be surprising. They're great at developing new styles of play that are, relevant to gameplay and dynamic. But executing on those ideas and seamlessly integrating them into products is something they need to work on...in my opinion.

I give lots of props to SC. God knows it ate up gobs of my life LAN'ing it up in the dorm. The build que system they implemented, along with automating tasks like having your combat medics heal damaged infantry, were fucking awesome. In addition all three races were very well balanced. So props to SC, it deserves it's legacy.

In my view WC3 on the other hand appeared to be a simple SC polish fest, with Warcraft trappings. The gameplay was derivative and just not very enticing to those of us expecting some new and exciting. Granted the implementation of heroes brought a new dynamic to play but they nerfed it. They held back when they should have pushed forward. I think WC3 would have really been something special had they developed the game more along the lines of their Durotar mini-campaign. Where you were more focused on a small group, making more use of abilities and hiring meat shields as needed.

I'm glad your excited for SC2 but from the footage I've seen, it's doesn't look all that amazing. I'm sure it'll be a fun game to play because they're going to pour loads of resources into it's development. But in the end, based off what I've seen so far, it's a SC clone with updated graphics. They'll comfortably remake a classic and make a boat load of money in the process. I hope I'm proved wrong and they knock me clean out of my pink panties. But I don't have my hopes up.

LanciePants

@kingmanic:

You're using Strategics's definition for Strategy. While the two are synonymous, they're not the same. Strategy is to be found at both the tactical and strategic level. I think there's an argument to be made that any game requiring resource management and unit control, even down to the tactical level can be coined an RTS. But this is simple semantics.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the community support of DoW. But I can tell you it's definitely there. Check out relicnews, gamereplays and dowsanctuary. Lots of user maps and playbacks for people to pick up on the cues to playing their favorite race. If you haven't tried DoW, give it a try. You can probably pick-up Soulstorm in a bargain bin some where and it's available on Steam. Otherwise I guess we agree to disagree.

LanciePants

@Strong Arm: yes, then it'll let us WoW players get another expansion after the emerald dream and after WOTLK (which is awesome, btw. DKs are extremely strong but all the classes just got stronger!!!)

Shockadin

I will never understand their cruelty! WHy not push the public beta out sooner?? We are ready for it!! They have claimed this alpha phase for over a year now, and many of us have been patiently waiting for information about the beta and release. Blizzcon occurs during my Birthday and I was hoping for a freakin beta invitation courtesy of Blizz for that happy day...now it looks like we may have to wait longer than Blizzcon (although we should have at least a beta release date by then!).

Stop torturing us please, and release the beta, we are such good supporters of your company, this mind-numbing torture of waiting can't go on for much longer.

PrivateJ0ker

@LanciePants: Small squad play would have made it more of a tactical squad game then a RTS. which in fact is what DoW is. It's more squad oriented then "Army" oriented. Perhaps you just enjoy a different scope then I. SupCom is a Real Time STRATEGY game. while slower and more ponderous then Sc/War3 it's about bigger pictures. Sc/War3 is all about customization via usemaps, Story, balance, and skill based matches.

kingmanic

When will your mom be done?

stevesan

Get ready to laugh at me everyone...I just started playing Starcraft for the first time. I'm horrible, and I love it. I actually hope they take their time on this game, so I can not suck by the time this game comes out.

ThisCharmingMan

You know, when they first announced it...
Nuclear launch of questions of when it's going to be released should've been detected.

We fans are requiring more vespene gas for it's release.

But it seems that they must construct additional pylons to get to it...

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Dark Reign!!

too bad the game died out.

i.roboto

@LanciePants: I bought it a while back bundled with winter assault. It didn't hold my interest long. I found the campaign unsatisfying and no one I know played. I did finish homeworld II and it was good. My attempts at coercing my friends to play were unsuccessful.

There isn't the same robustness in the user created maps. I looked in various places, there isn't a analog to DOTA + Clones,Tower Defense games, various longer RPG oriented maps etc... Blizz still takes the cake for robustness of user tools.

kingmanic

If I were this guy, I would simply say when asked when the game is going to come out "Fall 2020". This shuts them up and then I look like a hero when it releases Winter 2015.

Narsil

Relic is most certainly on the right track to take the reigns from Blizzard. DOW was a pretty awesome game (if you didn't play it too competitively, it was ass then) and Company of Heroes is completely awesome. I don't get why some infantry seem to be like Neo and others die in 1 shot, but hell, I don't understand why the Unit AI in Starcraft has too be so ridiculously gimped that I need to be able to do 500 APM.

MrFatalistic

I totally respect the fact that they may be sick of answering "When will StarCraft 2 be out?" dumb fanboy-type questions. Really, fans should have the self-respect, humanity and maturity to knock this deplorable pestering the HELL out.

SERIOUSLY.

So... Did you ask them when Diablo III will be out? Did ya? Did ya? Did ya?!

Trai_Dep

@kingmanic:

Ooh yea, for Winter Assault the single player campaign could be measured in Dog Shits. It was terrible. Dark Crusade fixed this glaring weakness. With their campaign meta-map.

[i6.photobucket.com]

LanciePants

@kingmanic:

Well it's definitely not as mature and varied as what you'll encounter with WC3 stuff. There's no RPG but there's no established RPG elements for the community build off. No Durator compaign to ignite the community's imagination for example. There's a lot of balance mods, and mods that add more 40k stuff. But I'm not aware of a Defense of the Ancients style mod. In this regard Blizzard definitely benefited from their brand and established community. In regards to DoW I'd say give it time. Also the developer is doing some VERY cool stuff in DoW2 like co-op. A first that I'm aware of for an RTS.

LanciePants

@tzaketh: That was a damn nice joke, are you a professional comedian?

mizeriq

Think about what is happening here people. Starcraft II is in the Alpha stage. These people are just playing the god damn game!!! They probably haven't done shit since the Alpha went up. Everyone knows the time suck that is a Blizzard game. If I was able to play Starcraft II on a daily basis, I wouldn't care if the rest of the world had their hands on it either. This is what they mean by "when its done." Blizzard plays their own amazing game for 6-12 months while the world waits. ha

SoulSuckinJerk

@Anaralia:
@Strong Arm:

Uh, about that: [kotaku.com]

Also, WoW 2? What would be the point? They've already improved graphics and physics and gameplay with incremental releases. What use is a full sequel?

Sounds like FUD to me.

DaoKaioshin

What do they expect? Honestly, StarCraft came out a decade ago, they announce the sequel and they DON'T expect people to ask about it? NOBODY is that naive.

LastFace

So, do they go by Valve time or Blizzard time then?

Melonfodder

Poor Blizzard. All they want to do is make ridiculously fun games, but they still get bitched up a tree for every thing they do.

B.Forbes