Battle.net-2.0 posts

StarCraft II players are on watch once again. Developer Blizzard has announced today that a number of player accounts for the hit sci-fi RTS game have been either suspended or banned from playing due to what Blizzard states is "cheating and/or using hack programs while playing."

Nearly two months ago Blizzard suspended or banned over 5,000 StarCraft II accounts for similar reasons. Today's announcement did not mention specific numbers; Big Download has emailed Blizzard to see if they plan to reveal any concrete number of players. A little while ago Blizzard responded to complaints by some players that they were banned even though they were using training programs for the game's single player modes. Blizzard's response was that such programs could also be used to hack into multiplayer games as well as artificially boost a player's access to achievements.

StarCraft II was just about the launch of a new sci-fi RTS game from Blizzard. It was also about the launch of the new version of Battle.net and the use of the game's map and mod tools. Ever since the game was released last July there have been tons of new maps and mods made for the game by its fans and uploaded to Battle.net for others to play.

How many new maps and mods are we talking about. During Activision Blizzard's financial conference call today, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that over 65,000 maps and mods for StarCraft II have been uploaded to Battle.net just from North America. Blizzard announced last month at BlizzCon plans to release a number of its own StarCraft II maps and modes over the next several months. Morhaime also spoke briefly about plans to launch the Markeplace feature on Battle.net where players will be able to sell their maps and mods for the game. There's still no word on when this feature will launch.

Earlier this year, Blizzard let people pre-order and then download StarCraft II via its Battle.net online service. However, the people who got the downloadable version only were not able to play the RTS game until several hours after the game started being sold in retail stores.

Now Blizzard has announced a similar pre-order and download program for its MMO expansion pack World of WarCraft Cataclysm. During the opening ceremonies at BlizzCon today it was revealed that downloadable pre-orders will begin soon and people who buy the expansion will be able to play when the servers go live at midnight December 7.

The sales success of StarCraft II has proven that Bizzard's sci-fi RTS sequel can still sell a ton of copies even as the RTS genre itself isn't generating as many sales as it did during its headay during the late 1990s. But PC game piracy has also gained traction in the years in between StarCraft game releases, making many PC exclusive game developers to either move to consoles or shut down entirely.

Blizzard, however, isn't worried as much about StarCraft II being pirated as the game is tied in with the developer's newly revamped Battle.net service. In a chat with MCV, Blizzard exec Michael Ryder stated, " ... we work really hard to offer a tailored, regional business model, so it reduces the incentives to go to a pirated solution." He adds, ""For World of Warcraft we have been able to work well around the piracy issue and we think we'll be able to do the same with StarCraft II."

After over 12 years of waiting, US gamers are finally buying StarCraft II and installing Blizzard's sci-fi RTS game on their PC hard drives. Blizzard activated the Battle.net servers just after midnight for the east coast. This allowed US gamers to play the full version of StarCraft II online like their Asian, Australian and European brethren had been doing for several hours (Latin American gamers should also be playing the game now.

I went to my local Taylors SC GameStop retail store last night to see if anyone showed up for the midnight launch of StarCraft II. In the end over 20 people came to the store at midnight to purchase either the standard or collector's edition of the title. Many spend extra for the regular or collector's edition strategy guide. All in all it seemed like a lot of people for the launch of a PC exclusive game. Remember if you chose to purchase the digitial download version of the game you won't be able to complete the download and purchase the game before 1 pm Eastern time today.

Now for the fun part - playing StarCraft II.

Update: You can check out reports and pictures from Blizzard's official StarCraft II launch event at Fountain Valley CA at the game's official web site.

StarCraft II's new community web site has continues to add content in preparation for Tuesday's launch Blizzard's sci-fi RTS sequel. The site has now added two new videos which we have reproduced here. The one you see above this post gives the basics of the game's single player campaign without going into too much story detail. The other video goes over how the game uses the new Battle.net system for various features. You can check out that video after the jump.

The site has also posted a detailed game guide going over the basics of the game, the multiplayer units, the various worlds and races, StarCraft II's cast of characters and more.

Download the StarCraft II campaign overview trailer at Big Download
Download the StarCraft II Battle.net overview trailer at Big Download

Many times a game developer or publisher will give advanced copies of a finished gold copy of a game to members of the media so they can play and have a review ready to publish when the game itself ships to stores. That won't be the case for StarCraft II, however. Blizzard's RTS sequel will launch worldwide on Tuesday but members of the media will get to play the full version of the game alongside the game's many fans.

The reason isn't that Blizzard is imposing an embargo on reviews of the game. Rather, as told to Eurogamer and also as told to Big Download via Blizzard's PR rep, StarCraft II's use of Battle.net for the game's servers and authentication makes it impossible for reviewers to play the game ahead of its launch. Blizzard will also be releasing a "day one" patch that will fix issues that have been found by Blizzard in between when the game went "gold" (i. e. when the game's retail disks were replicated) and launch day on Tuesday. That also means reviewers will get to check out StarCraft II's long single player campaign on the launch date (Blizzard has only shown a small part of single player gameplay at press events).

StarCraft II's release is less than a week away now and many fans who want to get the upcoming sci-fi RTS sequel have been wondering about the particulars of activating the game on Battle.net and also the differences between the boxed retail version and the digital download version. A rep for the game's developer Blizzard answered these questions in a forum post.

In short there are no differences between the digital download version of StarCraft II and the one in the boxed version, with the Blizzard rep saying, "All the files are exactly the same, but you obviously don't get the box, DVD, or manual." Also, If you get a boxed copy of the game and add the included key into your Battle.net account, "the option to download the client online will become available." The game client is region-specific, however. As the Blizzard rep explains, "Therefore, in order for a player to log in and begin playing, both the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty game license and the installed game client must be from the same region. If the game license and the game client don't match, the player will be unable to login."

Blizzard had previously said that they would offer fans a way to purchase and download StarCraft II. Now Blizzard has posted up word that people who want to go the digital download route can now do so. The digital download verison of the long awaited sci-fi RTS game is available on Blizzard's Battle.net site (you have to have an active Battle.net account).

Blizzard is letting people pre-load most of the game right now without having to pay to do so. Blizzard will make people pay to finish the download and play the full game at 1 pm Eastern time on July 27 (and yes both Windows and Mac versions are available). Obviously that means people who wait for midnight launch events to purchase the retail version of the game will get their copies first.

Earlier this week Blizzard announced that the upcoming Real ID social networking system, where people will have the option to put in their real first and last names to identify themselves online in games like the upcoming StarCraft II, will be a requirement to sign into the developer's new forums after the release of the multiplayer sci-fi RTS game on July 27. Since then there's been a ton of activity on Blizzard's official forums with many posters upset, for a variety of reasons, that their real names will soon be needed to post messages.

Gamasutra has quotes from a Blizzard rep stating the developer is "definitely listening to player feedback" concerning Real ID. The rep stated, "It's important to note that both enabling Real ID in game and posting on the official Blizzard forums are completely optional." While in theory people could use fake names, each Real ID name will also be tied into the game's unique CD Key. Blizzard states it will enforce the use of real names for Real ID, saying, " ... if a player uses a fake name, it would ultimately impact our ability to provide him or her with timely service."