July 1, 2009 2:40 PM PDT
Blizzard chooses cloud over LAN for new game
Blizzard Entertainment has decided to forgo LAN support for the next version of Starcraft II and instead require users to connect to the new Battle.net cloud-based service.
"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."
That statement sounds a bit self-serving to me, as most people don't care about piracy problems (even if they are real.) The justification for the decision should really be in support of Battle.net, a case where "cloud" supposedly means more than just an Internet connection, offering a platform that enhances the game play and leads to more interaction amongst players.
"Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we're encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of Starcraft II," the statement continued.
Some users lament the idea of cloud game platforms as causes of latency and other possible game-play issues, but I suspect that things will balance out. Most online games are already pretty good at making the most of available bandwidth and odds are the new features will encourage users to stay on regardless.
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Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
Really, this won't get rid of LAN parties. People will still go to centralized locations to play, they will just all be connecting to their own accounts on the cloud-based service through a router and play online like that.
Boo, Blizzard. Boo. Now they can add "users who won't buy the game for lack of LAN connectivity" to "users who don't pay money for software, period, but choose to pirate it." Way to cut off your ear to spite your face.
Bah.
What makes you [the Author] think this implementation is related to cloud computing?
What it describes is exactly what WoW offers. cloud computing is nothing more then a distributed mainframe over the internet.
Lame marketers just came up with the term to make it sound modern.
Definitely the worst decision ever, I hope nobody else will follow such poor model.
CLOUD = MONEY (14.99 month). That's why they're doing it. It's not so difficult to put the feature in, but it's all about how to make people keep paying them.
Ofc you'll still have to pay for WoW after the merger of Battle.net 2.0 and WoW servers.
Internet in Collage is a rip-off, and i don't want to "save up" internet for a LAN.
Oh and yes people do want to be in a centralised location, it makes a better LAN. ie a group of friends playing games all against each other in the same place.
This cloud based multiplayer design is going to suck especially when i am at a friend house who does not have internet.
POOR effort blizzard, I hope everybody resists buying this product.
- by ddcom July 2, 2009 2:20 AM PDT
- this title is incorrect and misleading, Battle.net is using client-server model, if they were using the so called "Cloud model" your computer be nothing more then a terminal, no processing or rendering, no program to install. it would run on pretty much anything, big drawback of this is bandwidth and latency
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- by servermaker July 2, 2009 11:48 AM PDT
- this is what happens when people try to throw around buzzwords versus explaining what is really happening. perhaps the author's goal was to use the word cloud to attract attention/readers. perhaps the author has a definition of cloud that is not in line with yours (or mine). assuming you both have the same definition for cloud, perhaps the author doesn't really understand the technology at work here and believes it has something to do with "cloud" computing. In any case, an attempt to label what is going on with the word "cloud" is probably not leading to analytical clarity with regard to what is being done by blizzard...though maybe clarity is not what the author is after...
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- by pentest July 3, 2009 2:44 PM PDT
- Nope, no difference.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (44 Comments)what blizzard are doing is just disabling the LAN multiplayer, so people have to play online therefore have valid CD Keys, and battle.net account, you still need to install the game and have good enough graphic card
there a big different between client-server model and the so called "cloud model"
Name a "cloud" application where the view is not rendered on the client.