EvaUnit02 on 2/7/2009 at 12:39
Heh, "piracy prevention"? If anything they'll lose a lot of sales because of this bone-headed move.
(
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6212765.html?tag=nl.e544)
Quote:
As part of Activision Blizzard's pre-2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo tele-press conference, Blizzard Entertainment executive Michael Morhaime confirmed what many had suspected: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is expected to launch for the PC alongside the newly redesigned Battle.net online networking service before the end of the year. However, when Starcraft II does see release, it will do so without a hallmark of the real-time strategy genre: a local area network multiplayer option.
Blizzard today confirmed for GameSpot that LAN functionality will be absent from Starcraft II's multiplayer component, as both a piracy prevention mechanism and a quality-assurance initiative.
"We don't currently plan to support LAN play with Starcraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with Starcraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games," a Blizzard representative said in a statement. "While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with Starcraft II and safeguard against piracy."
It probably entirely futile, but you may as well (
http://www.petitiononline.com/LANSC2/petition.html) sign this petition.
WingedKagouti on 2/7/2009 at 12:49
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Heh, "piracy prevention"? If anything they'll lose a lot of sales because of this bone-headed move.
And StarCraft 2 will still top the charts the first couple of weeks after release due to a) being StarCraft 2 and b) having the Blizzard logo on the box.
Dresden on 2/7/2009 at 12:52
Eh I don't care about LAN play and most pirates would just use Hamachi to play it.
nicked on 2/7/2009 at 12:53
Is this really an issue? Surely you'd still be able to play with friends in a private online game. If so, what's the difference?
EvaUnit02 on 2/7/2009 at 12:57
Jesus Christ, of course it's a huge deal.
Have you people ever been to a LAN party? Why on Earth should someone have to have a fucking internet connection and login to some service just to play with the guys sitting next to them?
Ostriig on 2/7/2009 at 13:04
It is a big deal, but I think piracy prevention is only part of the story. I suspect Blizzard may be looking to forcefully increase its playerbase's exposure to Battlenet in the hopes of coming up with some payable services integrated in it further down the line.
Thirith on 2/7/2009 at 13:08
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Heh, "piracy prevention"? If anything they'll lose a lot of sales because of this bone-headed move.
I definitely see that this sucks for the players - but I think that Blizzard is pretty business-savvy, so I doubt they'll lose that many sales in the long run. I'd tend to suspect something similar to Ostriig.
Volitions Advocate on 2/7/2009 at 13:26
They could only release the game in south korea and still make a billion dollar profit.
Xenith on 2/7/2009 at 13:42
Great, no LAN play. I will totally buy this now. It's my dream. A game I'd like to play with people without lag and I can't. It's my fetish. I'm already starting to feel all tingly inside.
Quote:
Jesus Christ, of course it's a huge deal.
Have you people ever been to a LAN party? Why on Earth should someone have to have a fucking internet connection and login to some service just to play with the guys sitting next to them?
Obviously! FFS "piracy prevention"? I don't have a mega uber internet connection and the only reason I actually buy games that have multilayer is for the LAN parties. WTF, next thing, they take out LAN from Diablo 3 because it will probably prevent piracy even more. Good lord what a bunch of skullfucks.
Fuck Blizzard, no way am I buying SC2 now.
Malf on 2/7/2009 at 13:52
This along with the prior announcement of only one campaign, with Zerg and Protoss following later at extra cost per campaign makes me wonder if Blizzard have lost touch with their roots.
I only ever played Starcraft over LAN if I played multi-player at all, but the single player was the main draw for me. I know I'm probably in the minority here.
All of this is making me seriously re-consider this as a "Must-have" game.
And then I remember that at around about the same time, Starcraft wasn't even my favourite RTS. Total Annihilation and the Myth series were both much more to my liking.
