starcraft 2 posts

StarCraft II recently banned or suspended over 5,000 players of the sci-fi RTS game for allegedly using hack programs or cheating while playing the game. Now it seems the game's publisher Blizzard is taking those bans to the next level. GameSpot is reporting that Blizzard filed a lawsuit last week against three people that Blizzard claims created and sold programs designed to cheat in the game.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles US District Court, says selling the hacked programs was a serious matter, saying, "Among other things, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard's legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience." Blizzard is seeking both damages as well as any profits generated by the sales of the hacks. The people accused in the lawsuit are referred to in the article only by the nicks "Permaphrost," "Cranix," and "Linuxawesome". Two of them live in Canada while the other lives in Peru.

Earlier this year we reported on a third party app that would allow players who have the PC version of StarCraft II to control playing the game remotely with an Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Now a new video has been released that shows how the app, the RTS Gameboard, works with Blizzard's sci-fi RTS sequel.

As you can see from the video, the app works basically like a remote keyboard that controls the gameplay in StarCraft II. The app's creator insists in the video that the client software that you have to install on your home PC is not a hack or cheat for StarCraft II. He claims that the game simply looks at the client software as a keyboard for the game. Of course, Blizzard may feel differently as they have made it clear that using any kind of third party hacks in the game could get you banned. The RTS Gameboard app and client software could be made available as early as next week with a price of $2.99.

StarCraft II players have a new patch update to download via the game's auto-updater. The 1.1.2 patch for Blizzard's hit RTS game is now live and actually has quite a few balance adjustments for all three of the game's playable factions along with some general changes and bug fixes.

On the unit balance side the patch has some changes for the Protoss Nexus structure and Void Ray unit. The Terran faction also has some changes for the Thor and Reaper units, among others. Finally the Zerg side has changes for the Roach, Corruptor and Infestor units along with some adjustments for many of the side's structures.

If you are one of the lucky folks who got a ticket to attend BlizzCon 2010 in the flesh you will get to see a plethora of different panel discussions on Blizzard Entertainment's many games. The October 22-23 fan event in Anaheim, California will feature many different panels on StarCraft II, Diablo III and of course World of Warcraft. A full schedule of events, including pro gaming tournaments. is also available on the site.

Of course, the panel descriptions on the site may not tell the whole story. At last year's BlizzCon, for example, a panel of StarCraft II lore was an excuse to have a panel with the RTS game's voice cast including the surprise reveal of actress Tricia Helfer as part of the cast. Many people are speculating that Blizzard will finally reveal the first details on the developer's next major MMO project at BlizzCon 2010. Of course, many folks thought that would happen at last year's BlizzCon, too.

Blizzard gave players some advanced warning this would happen and late on Thursday it went ahead and put the ban hammer down on StarCraft II players that Blizzard claims cheated in online multiplayer battles on the Battle.net service. Blizzard said over 5,000 such players have either been banned or suspended from its Battle.net multplayer service.

This will likely be just the first time that Blizzard will execute its rights to ban players of the recent sci-fi RTS game that it finds to be cheating or using hacks to play online. In announcing the bans, Blizzard stated, "Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."

Just a week after Blizzard released a major 1.1 patch for its sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II, the developer has now issued a new smaller patch for the game via its auto-updater. The 1.1.1 patch deals with a few smaller issues that have cropped up in the game since the 1.1 patch.

Some of the bugs fixed in the latest patch include a few issues with some of StarCraft II's units such as a problem with the Phoenix's Graviton Beam cutting out if the unit reached 50 energy points. Another issue that's been fixed is stuttering when using older save games or replays. Finally an issue where some Mac gamers were unable to join games has been addressed.

Last week, Blizzard released its first major patch. 1.1, for its hit RTS game StarCraft II. It contained a bunch of balance changes, support for Nvidia's 3D Vision tech and more. But Blizzard isn't done yet. PC Gamer quotes the game's lead designer Chris Sigaty as saying the 1.2 patch should be out "by the end of the year."

This 1.2 patch will have some new chat features along with new features for the game editor. Sigatry also says the 1.2 update is "largely our e-sport patch." Hopefully that means pro tournaments will have some support for playing games without the need for a net connection. There will also be some bug fixes and more unit balance changes. Sigaty admits that unit balance is something that will take a year or more get just right.

Some StarCraft II players have complained that the Zerg faction is underpowered by Sigaty states, "We have fewer Zerg players overall. I avoid playing Zerg as much as possible because I find them to be just more complex in general."

Next month's BlizzCon 2010 event should reveal more info about Diablo III and what's next for World of Warcraft but people heading to the event in Anaheim, California should not expect to see any info about the next chapter for StarCraft II. PC Gamer reports that according to Blizzard's lead designer Chris Sigaty the planned next chapter in the sci-fi RTS franchise, StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm, won't be playable or even shown at the show.

While there will be a StarCraft II story panel at BlizzCon, Sigaty states the panel is, ". . . just to tie up any loose ends and questions players have about what was happening during the story." While we suspect the show will have some StarCraft II-related reveals it's a little disappointing that we apparently won't be learning anything about the Zerg-centric next game in the series.

As promised, Blizzard has now released the 1.1 patch for StarCraft II via the game's auto-updater. While the hit sci-fi RTS game has had a few small patches released since its release last July this is the first major patch for the game with a number of new features as well as many gameplay balance changes for a number of StarCraft II's units.

Some of the new features in the 1.1 patch include adding support for Nvidia's 3D Vision technology, a quick save feature for the single player campaign, the addition of a game clock so players can see how long they have been in a match and more. There are also a number of changes and bug fixes for the game as well as the editor. In addition the patch will allow players who have the English language version of the game in Australia and New Zealand to play on North American-based servers

A few weeks ago Blizzard gave some advanced info on the upcoming 1.1 patch for StarCraft II. Now Blizzard has announced that the first major patch for the hit sci-fi RTS game will be made available to download on Tuesday (there have been a few small patches that were previously released).

This 1.1 patch, as we previously reported, will have quite a few gameplay balance changes for units as well as some mod and editor feature editions. It will also support Nvidia's 3D Vision technology for the first time. The patch update also means the game will not be able to be played online from 8 am to 2 pm Eastern time on Tuesday.