starcraft2 posts

So far all of the previous patches for StarCraft II have simply been released by developer Blizzard simply as is to the public. This weekend, however, Blizzard is doing something different by releasing the next patch for the hit sci-fi RTS game via a public test server before its release to all of the game's players. Blizzard says that this will be the way most, if not all, future patches for StarCraft II will be released from now on. You can learn how to participate in the public test program via this FAQ page.

The patch notes for the 1.2 public test patch have already been posted and they include quite a few new additions. It included the long awaited in-game chat for both public and private channels. Customizable hotkey support has been added and there is now an Extreme Graphics option which adds info about abilities and upgrades to the unit help info feature along with ambient occlusion options. There's also a new Master League for the highest tier of StarCraft II players. The 1.2 patch also has a number of game balance changes for some of the game's units along with a lot of new changes and additions for the game's map editor as well as general bug fixes.

If you bought StarCraft II but then put in a character name for your player account that you later said to yourself, 'Man, that name is dumb.", you now have a chance to make it all right. Developer Blizzard has announced that players of the sci-fi RTS are getting one free character name change.

All you have to do is head to your Account Management page and check out the StarCraft II game license. There should be a Character Name Change button that's accessible. Keep in mind this is a one time deal. If you want to change your character name a second time you will have to wait until Blizzard starts up its name change service which should start in the near future ... and then you will have to pay a fee.

While Blizzard didn't talk much about its plans for the Heart of the Storm continuation of StarCraft II at BlizzCon 2010 today (next year, maybe?), today the developer announced plans to release four very unique custom maps for the sci-fi RTS game. The maps were one of the main subjects in the StarCraft II Custom Maps and Editor panel at the show today.

One of the maps, and one that's sure to be hugely popular among long time Blizzard fans, is Blizzard DOTA. This will be Blizzard's version of the Defense of the Ancients mod first made for WarCraft III and has since spawned a mini-game genre on its own. This map will feature 12 heroes from all over the Blizzard canon including Sarah Kerrigan, Sylvanas, Jim Raynor, and Muradin Bronzebeard in a 5 vs 5 team based map with a chess theme.

Other custom maps include Left 2 Die, which is based (sort of) on Valve's Left 4 Dead zombie shooter. Players take out infected structures during the day and build defenses to deal with the Zerg infestation at night. Starjeweled takes inspiration from PopCap's Bejeweled with puzzle solving becoming the key to training your troops and taking out enemies. Finally the most unusual map has to be Aiur Chef, which takes the premise of the classic cooking show Iron Chef to StarCraft II. Players must try to collect components on the map to make meals based on one main ingredient and sometimes there's fights to the death involved.

Blizzard has said all of these custom maps are still in the early stages of development and could change before they are released for free to StarCraft II owners. Blizzard will also release other more conventional free custom maps and ladder maps for the game in the coming months.

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.

Earlier this week a web site called Cheathappens.com posted up claims that StarCraft II players who used its third-party "trainer" programs in single player campaigns and AI skirmishes were banned or suspended from playing Blizzard's sci-fi RTS game. Big Download emailed Blizzard for comment. Tonight we received a response from its PR head that we are reproducing in full below:

Blizzard Entertainment is not banning StarCraft II players just for using single-player cheats. There's been some confusion in the last couple of days about the suspensions and bans meted out to players caught cheating in StarCraft II. It's important to point out first, that many of the 3rd-party hacks and cheats developed for StarCraft II contain both single- and multiplayer functionality. In order to protect the integrity of multiplayer competition, we are actively detecting cheat programs used in multiplayer modes whether there are human opponents or not.

That said, players who opt to use any type of 3rd party hacks do so at their own risk -- there are already built-in cheat codes for StarCraft II single-player that can be used safely. Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating seriously and will continue to aggressively crackdown on players who cheat in our games.

Not long ago Blizzard announced that it had banned or suspended the accounts of over 5,000 StarCraft II players. Now a new article claims that Blizzard is not just banning players that cheat or use hacks in multiplayer games but use them in single player games and in AI skirmishes as well.

The report comes from Cheathappens.com which provides a third-party "trainer" software for StarCraft II players to do things like unlock research trees, activate unlimited credits and more. However the article claims that at least one user who claims to have never played an online multiplayer game of StarCraft II was banned from playing the game due to using the trainer program in single player matches. The article has a quote from a Blizzard email in response to the ban, saying, "While single player games only appear to be you and a computer at first, your achievements and gamer score also carries weight and prestige for your online play," It should be noted that Blizzard's End User License Agreement for the game states plainly that players should "avoid using any hacks, cheats or exploits."

[Via Rock Paper Shotgun]

Fans of StarCraft II may have to wait a long time before the second game in the projected trilogy of sci-fi RTS games is released by developer Blizzard. The first game, Wings of Liberty, was released back in late July but according to a report from GameSpot, the second game, the Zerg-centric Heart of the Swarm, could be released almost two years after Wings of Liberty.

GameSpot reports that at the GDC Online event, Blizzard's Greg Canessa, the project director of Blizzard's Battle.net service, said they plan to make major updates to the service on the StarCraft II side of things "over the next 18 months between now and Heart of the Swarm". That may mean we could be waiting until April 2012 for the second game in the series to be released.

StarCraft II's developer Blizzard is always concerned about balance in the game and it looks like the maker of the hit sci-fi RTS game will be making some changes in the faction balance after checking out the 1v1 battles online so far. The game's official web site gives some battle stats from North America from players on how much they have used the Zerg, Protoss and Terran.

In short, the Zerg faction is picked by players far less than the Terran and Protoss sides. Blizzard states, "We don't want to have a huge chunk of zerg players sitting somewhere further down, unable to rise through the ranks." In actual matches between factions, the Protoss side wins a lot more competing with Terrans in some leagues. Blizzard states that it is "working on solutions" for this issue.