May 19, 2007 11:00 AM PDT
'Starcraft II' warps into Seoul
The big-screen monitors onstage, which previously showed looped footage of tournaments held at last year's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, now show only the logo for this year's event, which takes place today and tomorrow. The anticipation and excitement in the air from the crowds of fans and international press are palpable.
The announcement session is underway, and the lights are up. The Korean emcees are making announcements about the tournaments and music concerts that will also be held at the event. Blizzard Korea managing director Jungwan Han has taken the stage to deliver the opening remarks, greeting and thanking Blizzard fans worldwide for their support. He takes his seat, and the emcees briefly introduce Blizzard's top brass, including Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo, and Chris Metzen.
Next up are the introductions for the professional gamers, who are greeted with great fanfare by the audience as they're announced individually and step onstage. First are the Starcraft players, introduced by their name, faction played (protoss, zerg, or terran), and country of origin. These are followed by the World of Warcraft III professional players, also introduced by their name, played faction (humans, orcs, undead, or night elves), and country of origin. After the players are brought onstage, they are brought forward individually to take an "oath" of fair play.
Press from around the world arrives at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event.
Once the players are ushered away, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime takes the stage to make the big announcement, noting first that this year's event will host more tournaments than any previous event (including competitions for Starcraft, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft), then introducing a video montage with footage from Blizzard's previous games (such as the original Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft) and previous tournament events. Morhaime is finally getting closer to the announcement...the crowd cheers in anticipation. Says Morhaime, "When it came time to make this announcement, it was easy to decide where it should take place." The president praises the enthusiasm and support of Korean game players, then introduces a video trailer for the new game.
The pro gamers took the stage to tremendous fanfare.
The trailer begins with a spaceship, lowering a coffinlike object. The camera cuts to a chamber, then to a gigantic metal gate that cranks open, and finally cuts to a man with a cigar in his mouth, wearing shackles on his ankles. The man steps into mechanical restraints that lock around his ankles and the platform around him rises. The cofflinlike object sprouts metal pincers that brace his wrists while the champers reveal whirring turbines that sprout metallic drills and rivets, which fit metallic armor on his body. The figure is a Terran soldier, and the camera pans up his body, cutting to scenes of Protoss and Zerg warriors rushing to battle. The new game, as rumored, is Starcraft II.
Morhaime then introduces the lead designer of the project to discuss it--none other than former EALA designer Dustin Browder (who worked previously on The Battle for Middle-earth and Command & Conquer series). The video screen cuts to a demonstration that shows a fleet of Protoss ships that disembark several zealot infantry units, then cuts to a scene showing Terran transports touching down and becoming base structures, spouting infantry and vehicle units. Browder points out that this demonstration is in a very early stage of code. As we see in the demonstration, the new game will add abilities to existing units--the Protoss zealot, for instance, will now be able to charge into battle to quickly close the distance against Terran gunners. The Terrans retaliate by bringing in siege tanks to shell the Protoss from a distance. The Protoss respond by commissioning "Immortals"--heavy-duty tanks with powerful energy shields.
Blizzard's Mike Morhaime can't help but grin as Starcraft II is revealed.
The Terrans then commission reapers, medium infantry with jetpacks that can jump barriers to raid enemy bases more effectively. The reapers leap into action against the Protoss base to attack the pylons, but have a new series of structures that help the Protoss be much more resilient when attacked at their base, such as phase prisms, which let you quickly move units from place to place. The Protoss stalker unit has a "blink" ability that lets them jump anywhere they can see, and makes them excellent pursuers.
See more CNET content tagged:
Blizzard Entertainment,
Seoul,
demonstration,
announcement,
tournament
GamerTex_com
personally i think they woulda made a lot more money if they had released SC2 a long time ago and made three or four of them. i think they probably just didn't have the manpower to make that with Warcraft 3 and WOW going on. I mean, look @ SC Ghopst. I woulda bought all of those SC games. now, even though i know SC2 is going to be awesome, it's been so long since SC1 came out that i don't play a lot of video games anymore and might not buy it.
BTW i agree that that article was terribly written.
players, also introduced by their name, played faction (humans,
orcs, undead, or night elves), and country of origin."
There is a WoW III already? Guess I'd better catch up since I'm still
on WoW I. For the Alliance!
Why so bitter? The fact that the rumor is now truth should make EVERYONE happy.
The thing I'm not happy about is the fact that Ghost never got made.
I was really looking forward to it, too.
Besides, did you ever stop to think that maybe they didn't have permission from Blizzard to include video? There IS a procedure for a lot of this - most news agencies get the video ahead of time - bloggers do it somewhat questionably.
their beasties looks just like "Alien" or the "Brood" (from the X-Man
comics).
can't u hire someone who actually knows how to speak english?
and plus, you don't seem to know **** about starcraft... the survivors of the last battle were ghosts idiot
and most of your lines are unsuccessful imitations of dustin's explanations...
**** you man haha u ******* suck at english and prolly at starcraft too.