Blizzcon 2009

Guru3D events and tradeshows 19 Page 4 of 8 Published by

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Starcraft 2 and Battle.net

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Some of the biggest news at Blizzcon regarding Starcraft 2 was their big changes coming to Battle.net and how this would integrate into the game. They have drawn inspiration from World of Warcraft and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

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This log in screen will look very familiar to World of Warcraft players.

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Once logged in you'll be greeted with this Battle.net screen. In the top right corner you can see your player, and other players in your party if you join one (similar to the World of Warcraft mechanic).

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This is your profile screen, where you can view your achievements, match history and more.

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Match making will be improved as well, so that you can be sure you are playing against players of equal skill.

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This is the real big news. Real ID means that you have one name across all Battle.net games. That means your friends can see and communicate with you regardless of what Blizzard game you're playing. So while you're playing World of Warcraft, you can see and speak to your friend playing Starcraft 2. For you WoW players, this also means you don't have to remember all your friend's character names, they will all be tied to one name, their Real ID and you can talk to them, cross-server and cross-faction. Your achievements will accumulate across all Blizzard games as well. Earning achievements will unlock decals and icons that you can use for your profile and in games (units will display your decal in Starcraft 2 for example). Also mentioned during the panel is the move to cloud storage; your game progress will be saved on Battle.net, not your computer. So if you were to play Starcraft 2 at work (and I know you won't!) and then come home and play, you can pick up right where you left off.

At Blizzcon they also had a demo available, although it had a strict 20 minute time limit. A bit disadvantageous for me as I never played the original Starcraft. It starts up with an in-engine cutscene of a rescue from the Zerg. You find yourself aboard a starship free to choose a mission or wander the ship. You can talk to the various characters, go to the armory and purchase upgrades with the cash you've aquired or go to the lab for information on research you can do for bonuses for your units. When you're ready for a mission, you'll be given a choice, typically a more benevolent mission or a mercenary mission. The missions will offer different rewards (the mercenary missions). I was given the choice between evacuating some colonists, which rewarded a Firebat or mining a planet, which rewarded a Marauder as well as a bit more cash (mercenaries don't work for cheap!).

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I chose the benevolent route and chose to rescue the colonists, but didn't get too far before my time limit expired. Had some fun burning some Zerg with my Firebats though!

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