starcraft posts

Remember how there was a minor issue with StarCraft fans over the fact that two of the original game's voice actors would not be returning to voice those same roles for StarCraft II?

Well those folks can rest easy now as one of those voice actors, Robert Clotworthy, has confirmed with Starcraftwire.net that he will indeed return to handle the voice acting duties of Jim Raynor for Blizzard's long awaited RTS sequel. Clotworthy states, "I'm looking forward to the release of the game and I hope that StarCraft players will enjoy going into battle with Jim and following his adventures throughout the galaxy." Now those fans can go back and continue to protest the lack of Glynnis Talken's acting in the role of Sarah Kerrigan . . .oh, and that whole lack of LAN support in the game.

On the last day of E3 2009, the Guinness World Records organization announced that a number of PC game developers and publishers were honored with brand new records for game sales. Above you can see Blizzard execs Mike Morhaime and Paul Sams accepting two awards; one for World of Warcraft becoming the most popular MMO with 11.6 million subscribers and the other for the original Starcraft becoming the world's most successul PC strategy game with 9.6 million copies sold.

Also honored during E3 was Bethesda Softworks for the fastest-selling multi-platform RPG. That would be for Fallout 3 which sold a total of 4.7 million copies in its first week on sale. Finally the US music group The Dares were honored as the first such group to hold a concert in both the real world and in the virtual world at the same time for a performace at E3 while also "performing" inside Sony Online's free-to-play MMO Free Realms.

It's good to be working at Blizzard. The massive PC game developer continues to rule as its various games sell, sell and sell more copies. The NPD Group's list of the top 20 best selling PC games for April 2009 (via info from US retail stores) shows that Blizzard-published titles took up a full third of the games on the list

Also of note are two strong debuts for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor at number four and Demigod at number 6. And an ultra-cheap price point has put Illusion Softworks' 2004 released WWII shooter Hidden And Dangerous II at the number 20 slot.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
4. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor - Relic/THQ
5. Empire: Total War - Creative Assembly/Sega
6. Left 4 Dead - Valve
7. Demigod - Gas Powered Games/Stardock
8. Diablo Battle Chest - Blizzard
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
10. Spore - Electronic Arts
11. Warcraft III Battle Chest - Blizzard
12. StarCraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
13. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard
14. Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War II - Relic/THQ
15. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
16. The SimCity Box - Electronic Arts
17. Bejeweled Twist - PopCap Games
18. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
19. The Sims 2 Pets - Electronic Arts
20. Hidden & Dangerous 2 - Illusion Softworks/2K Games

Pocket Books has had the license to publish novels set in Blizzard's Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo universes for some time and that will apparently continue for Blizzard's upcoming RTS sequel StarCraft II. Starcraftwire.net reports that Pocket Books will release StarCraft: Heaven's Devils in December.

This will apparently be the first hardcover StarCraft novel released by the publisher and will "reveal the origins of the enduring friendship between young upstart Jim Raynor and streetwise soldier Tychus Findlay." Raynor is one of the main characters in the original StarCraft game while Findlay is set to be a major part of StarCraft II. The novel is being written by William C. Dietz who has been a prolific author of many other game-to-novel tie-ins.

Last February DC Comics' Wildstorm division announced their plans to launch a comic book series based on Blizzard's Starcraft game franchise (they are already handling a monthly World of Warcraft comic book series). Now MTV has posted up a six page preview of the Starcraft comic's first issue.

Writen by comic book veterans Keith Giffen and Simon Furman the artwork is being handled by relative newcomer Federico Dallocchio. The first issue will feature a group of outlaws called the WarPigs that are out to assassinate one of StarCraft's central characters Jim Raynor. Look for the first issue to ship to comic book stores on May 27.

As the 1990s concluded, PC gaming continued its rise during 1998-1999, when some of the best games released. Hardware acceleration for game graphics increasingly common, online gaming gained popularity to the point where massively-multiplayer online games became an emergent genre. At the same time, we began to see signs that the Adventure game genre, a longtime cornerstone of PC gaming, was nearing its end.

It was perhaps the golden age of PC gaming and by the end of the 1990s it seems little could slow it down. While the new millennium hasn't been quite as kind as the last decade, it's still fun to look back on PC gaming to see how it progressed from the primitive 2D graphics at the beginning to the advanced 3D accelerated visual at the end of the 90s.

Click on the image above to read more of We Love The 90s (for PC Games): 1998-1999

Relic and THQ's Company of Heroes WWII RTS series remains a popular one for PC gamers. The series now has a new installment, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, and that game made a strong debut at number 3 on the NPD Group's latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games sold in US retail stores.

The list has Blizzard's MMO expansion pack World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King on top once again for the week ending April 11. A couple of other games have made return appearances in the top 10 list as well:

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor - Relic/THQ
4. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
5. Empire: Total War - The Creative Assembly/Sega
6. Left 4 Dead - Valve
7. StarCraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
8. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
9. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
10. Nancy Drew: Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake - Her Interactive

One of the few remaining pro gaming tournament organizations with tournaments in the US is the World Cyber Games. Recently the organization announced which games will be the official tournament titles that will be used in the WCG championships.

Some of the games have been used before like Counter-Strike 1.6, Starcraft: Brood War, and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The WCG will also use the PC version of FIFA 09, Carom3D (a billiards title) and the MMO game Red Stone. In an unusual move, the WCG have also added the racing game Trackmania Nations Forever as a new official title in tournaments. Regional and national tournaments will be held throughout the year all over the world. The WCG World Championships will be held in Chengdu, China on Nov. 11-15

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

Some games are played for a few years after release, and then lost to the sands of time. Other games become perennial classics that people enjoy for years afterward. Starcraft definitely belongs in the latter category. With over a decade of continual professional-level play, in both the US and abroad (here's looking at you, South Korea!), this is the game that most people think of when someone mentions the real-time strategy genre. Compelling story, balanced races, interesting gameplay... Starcraft has it all. It's no wonder that it's a phenomenon, and the incredible amount of polish present still carries its luster to this day. Blizzard is making a sequel, but let's take a look into the past by playing the original.

Blizzard has been hinting about this for some time and tonight the developer/publisher has just launched the new version of its Battle.net web site. The 2.0 version of the site still serves as the multiplayer gaming hub for a number of Blizzard games, including the original Starcraft, their Warcraft RTS game series, the Diablo titles and of course their World of Warcraft MMO.

While the "classic" Battle.net accounts are still around for Blizzard's older games the new 2.0 version will give people who play World of Warcraft and the upcoming Starcraft II and Diablo III a way to sign on via just one Battle.net account. Creating a free Battle.net account also gives anyone an option to beta test upcoming games, including Starcraft II. In fact, Starcraftwire.net states that beta invites for the RTS sequel have already begun to be given out to random Battle.net account holders (it should be noted that these are invites only; the beta test itself has not yet begun).