Gamespot Previews World of Starcraft

ScaryFroMan writes "Gamespot has a preview up of Blizzard's new MMO, World of Starcraft. From the article: "To put it mildly, the human brain cannot possibly fathom and the English language cannot possibly express how amazingly incredible the next massively multiplayer game from Blizzard is going to be. First screens and details!""

Lemme just say...

[isecore]

AWESOME! This is obviously soooo true judging from all the other news here today.

OMG. Ponies!!!!

Re:Lemme just say...

[mattjb0010]

Why do I get this bad feeling the "OMG! Ponies!" meme will be with us for a long while here in Soviet Russia...

Re:Lemme just say...

[jeffy210]

In Soviet Russia Ponies OMG you! :)

Re:Lemme just say...

[geminidomino]

I thought that was Alabama...

Re:Lemme just say...

[Lord Kestrel]

Washington State actually. It's legal there, and some guy died last year after he paid for a stallion to have his way with him.

Re:Lemme just say...

[quadra23]

I'm still waiting for Starcraft 2 [sclegacy.com]. Blizzard is definitely doing an injustice to Starcraft. On the Warcraft side we have three complete games released and then a World of Warcraft.

Starcraft, on the other hand, has one game with supposed, but not officially announced plans for Starcraft 2. As the link above states Blizzard has officially even registered Starcraft2.com [whois.com] and be found in a basic WHOIS search (rumour or not, the domain is owned by them). Now they plan to jump to a World of Starcraft release

Re:Lemme just say...

[Khuffie]

Umm. This is an April Fool's Day joke.

Re:Lemme just say...

[KDR_11k]

I'd bet on a preemptive registration to prevent domain squatters from stealing that address so if they decide to make the game they won't have too deal with those parasites.

Not a prank?

[dilvie]

"It's time to drop out of school, quit your job, divorce your spouse, disown your children, cancel your gym membership, upgrade your PC, and clear out your schedule for World of Starcraft." Sounds about right to me. ;)

Re:Not a prank?

[lootpal]

And as an added Bonus! http://www.lootpal.com?game=starcraft [lootpal.com] Just started selling currency and accounts for World of Starcraft Alpha!

I could almost believe it...

[Kelson]

...until I got to the part about it being a free download. Shyeah, right!

Re:I could almost believe it...

[dilvie]

And if that didn't do it.. the BurgerCraft [blizzard.com] thing would have sunk it home, right?

Re:I could almost believe it...

[snilloc]

I could see a free download. Doesn't the WOW retail pack come with some free time? Wouldn't this just be shifting the distribution mechanism? Also, Blizzard could more carefully control how fast the game world grew by not allowing too many downloads.

The totally free ad-supported version was more than a little suspicious.

Burgercraft was the clue-stick that some of us had to be beaten with.

Re:I could almost believe it...

[Shanep]

Shyeah, right!

And monkeys might fly out of your butt?

Oh My Gawd

[OverlordQ]

PONY RUSH ekekekekekekekekkekeke!

Arrrrgh *cough Spluter*

[mattydont]

We wanted World of PONEY God blizzard cant get anything right...

Re:Arrrrgh *cough Spluter*

[Anonymous Coward]

I came to here because it's like this cool page with ponies and kittens. What's with all the computer game talk? OMG It's like a nerd website LOL!!!11!!

Zerg are teh cutest EVAR

[7wisted]

Zerg are way cuter than all of the stuff in the poll.. Their slimy little faces, cute little fangs and claws, horrid bondage sex involving decapitation.. I CANT WAIT FOR THIS GAME!!! OMG 3

IF-Only

[ResQuad]

I wish, it would be really cool to see a Starcraft MMO. Now If-Only ghost would come out first.

Re:IF-Only

[bloodstar]

I wish, it would be really cool to see a Starcraft MMO. Now If-Only ghost would come out first.

Considering they have http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060324/20060324005315.html ?.v=1 [yahoo.com]shelved Ghost. It's looking rather grim for the Starcraft Universe (At least until their cash cow (pony?) gets milked into oblivion (awaits)).

Wishing?

[bradleyland]

Am I the only one wishing this story were true?

Re:Wishing?

[Sollord]

I'm wishing it was true also sounds alot cooler then the run of the mill fantasy style mmorpgs like WoW that are murdering the genre no matter how good the games are

Re:Wishing?

[Khuffie]

How can a good game be murdering the genre?

Re:Wishing?

[Sollord]

It's not 1 game but the the 20games that are all in the same genre all making a play off the same theme... Human and Elves and magic oh my!

Re:Wishing?

[May Kasahara]

Nope :)

Re:Wishing?

[why-did-I-wakeup]

If some one could make a game that is even half of what that game sounds then that would be sweet. Too bad its utter crap. A game like that would make games worth playing. But to imagine a game being written in the near future that meets those expectations is not a good idea. Imagine the pain in debugging something that huge. A game that size would be a hundred times as complex as the microsoft kernel (which is something like 50 million lines of code). Anyway whats the pony thing? I misses that posting...

WoW uses the WC3 engine...

[MMaestro]

So theorically it wouldn't be too hard to create a "World of Starcraft"... It would require a graphical overhaul, but thats nothing since they managed put some Starcraft units in Warcraft 3 as easter eggs. Gameplay-wise, its all there, PvE, PvP, raids/armies, fighting on mounts = vehicles, melee combat, ranged combat etc.

Then theres the nitpicking, but otherwise its all there. Storyline, key NPCs, THREE seperate sides with openings for cross-cooperation, planets and locations they can pull out of their ass.

Re:Wishing?

[uvajed_ekil]

Am I the only one wishing this story were true?

Yes.

Re:Wishing?

[wakingrufus]

ive been dreaming of this for years. i even wrote out my idea of how it should be done. one day, when i work for blizzard...

I almost believed it...

[dteichman2]

the screenshots were convincing. The catch is that they mentioned BurgerCraft, which instantly gave it away.

In other Blizzard "news"...

[Toxicgonzo]

Get ready for Burgercraft! http://www.blizzard.com/press/060401.shtml [blizzard.com]

Gonna have to wait...

[stanthegoomba]

Since I already went out and spent all my cash on DNF. :(

(And Ponies!)

Reading the description of the races

[jayhawk88]

....makes me realize that we will probably never see this as a MMO game. Can you imagine what a nightmare it would be to balance, while still keeping true to the "uniqueness" of the Starcraft races like the article tries to do?

Sorry...

[Robotron23]

The English language cannot possibly express how amazingly incredible the next massively multiplayer game from Blizzard is going to be.

But unless the game has ponies, WITH glitter option, and WITH several special shades of pink also optional - then it simply won't be "amazingly incredible"...it will simply be "incredible."

The game will retain incredible status due to an innovative "Zerg mating game" - basically new Zerg characters can only be created when two Zergs engage in an amusing mating ceremony minigame, the Revolution version requires a "thrusting" motion using the cool new pad. Sadly PC gamers have to make do with simple button-combo pressing, a la Parappa the Rapper.

HOWEVER due to the conservative nature of Blizzard devs/GMs, mating is only possible when married, a long...long process requiring much commitment. AND while Zerg/Protoss nudity is commended, Terran nudity is discouraged - all we are treated to are a few "moaning noises" with the screen fading to black for 1-60 minutes depending on your "intercourse" skill. :(

[ob]Mod insightful!![/ob]

Re:Sorry...

[Trails]

OMG! Hot Creep Mod forthcoming that will earn the ire of Senator Clinton and Jack Thomson.

Scary thing is...

[Shivetya]

World of Starcraft would be about the only game that could challenge World of Warcraft in subscription numbers.

Re:Scary thing is...

[0racle]

Could it also rival WoW's server downtime? I never realized how much of the world was in to S&M until I saw WoW's subscription numbers.

Re:Scary thing is...

[Ailure]

So you would pretty much have to assume that when the subscription numbers for WoE dwindlers down, then they would start on WoS.

I dunno how well RPG elements would work in the Starcraft universe though, as Warcraft seems to be more hero-based (hadn't played it, so don't sue me). It probably will work, but I would imagine it having alot of FPS moments.

That's said, I like Starcraft more than Warcraft. Becuse I prefer Science fiction over fantasy. I been thinking on trying WoW one of thoose days though, but I

Interesting fakes though

[Jugalator]

I must credit them for their two fake screenshots.

Where's those 3D Starcraft characters from? Starcraft Ghost? That secret little Warcraft 3 map? Hmm...

Re:Interesting fakes though

[Draegonis]

Ja, those screens are definatley from the Ghost series [gamespot.com].

Re:Interesting fakes though

[rk]

For some reason, everytime I see the second one I actually giggle. A Zerg named "Murray". That just really hits my funny-bone. Why, I don't know.

"And the zerg...cries...Murray."

You Guys Are Mean

[mearzuh]

I came to Slashdot today by searching Google. Turns out this site has nothing to do with pink Ford Mustangs. OMG!

Heyyyyyyyyy

[thePig]

I dropped out of school, quit the job, divorced my spouse, disowned my children, upgraded my PC, and cleared out the schedules AND THE WHOLE THING WAS A &(*&(*% APRIL FOOL'S JOKE.
    Good thing I didnt cancel my gym membership.

Re:Heyyyyyyyyy

[linzeal]

Yeah I believed it all till you said the thing about the Gym membership, geeks don't have gym memberships unless it was given to them.

Re:Heyyyyyyyyy

[freakmn]

Well, you can't cancel one if you don't have one. Therefore you could both be right.

The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[GeorgeMcBay]

The absolute worst part of April 1st isn't the deluge of stupid "pranks" listed on sites like Slashdot, but rather the few gems of stories that you WISH were true and could/should be true, but aren't.

As a former but recovered WoW addict, I can say that you'd get my $60 and monthly dues again for at least another year and a half if you made this happen, Blizzard. I'd love to play a GOOD sci-fi MMORPG.

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[caffeination]

i feel ur pain [slashdot.org], i rly rly do :~(

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[Gleenie]

Ever played Eve Online? http://www.eve-online.com/ [eve-online.com]

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[Snaller]

Lame laggye offline fest.

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[festers]

Hmm, your comment is about 1.5 years too late. Better luck next time?

P.S. You're missing out on a great sci-fi mmorpg that keeps getting better.

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[Snaller]

Hmm, your comment is about 1.5 years too late. Better luck next time?

You mean it has been worse!?!?! Thats hard to imagine.

P.S. You're missing out on a great sci-fi mmorpg that keeps getting better.

I joined recently, what a mistake that was. You'd be hard pressed to find something more booring and contentless.

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[Lord_Dweomer]

No kidding, in all honesty they'd just need to do a graphics/world revamp and I'd be hooked all over again. I'd actually be kinda shocked if they weren't already working on this, although they might not want to cannibalize the WoW playerbase.

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[johnnliu]

Not trolling here, just curious.
Why World of Starcraft?

Have you tried the Sci Fi offerings currently out there? What were the things you didn't like?

Anarchy Online
EVE Online
SWG

I've been wanting to try these out for quite a while - but if people have reviews for them, I don't have to learn the hard lesson myself.

jliu

Re:The absolute worst part of April 1st...

[Pxtl]

Dunno about AO, but EVE and SWG were both quite famous for being slow, tedious, player-driven-society games. Good for people who want a complicated social structure, bad for people who want to just jump in and have some exciting combat.

Although I hear that the revamped SWG is more of the typical EQ-style dungeon-crawler.

English?

[mattjb0010]

the English language cannot possibly express how amazingly incredible the next massively multiplayer game from Blizzard is going to be
 
"WoS is t3h r0x0r" is English?

Korea first

[Erioll]

I especially liked how it would be out in Korea first.

Nice touch.

EFF condem Blizzard for spyware

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah lets all hype Blizzard while overlooking their spyware
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004076.php [eff.org]

Re:EFF condem Blizzard for spyware

[ceejayoz]

Isn't Punkbuster voluntary and not at all secretive about its own existance and workings?

Re:EFF condem Blizzard for spyware

[ImpactedColon]

Please remove your tinfoil hats at this time.

Dang

[guru8376]

So i guess i should try and get my money back from that guy on ebay...

Wishful thinking

[VanHalensing]

In reply to the guy earlier, yeah, I'd love it too. But at the same time, I know they'd screw it up so bad. So I'd rather have a Starcraft 2. Even Ghost would be nice. I mean come on! How many times are they going to postpone/ hold indefinately?

Re:Wishful thinking

[Traiklin]

it's blizzard.

we should only have to wait another console generation before they get it together (reffering to PS4, Xbox 720, Nintendo Mindblower).

I remember (and still have it) where one of the blizzard games has an advert for Diablo II coming in I think it's 1997, the game was finnaly released in 2000.

Ghost was announced back in what? 2001? went through two production companies and 3 engines (IIRC) only to be canned again. so IF they were to ever do a world of starcraft or starcraft II we wouldn'

Ponies

[m0u5y]

A someone else previously stated... omg ponies.

Damnit.

[Cyno01]

God i wish it werent april fools. I would love to play a good non-fantasy MMORPG. When the hell is tabula rasa coming out? Fucking ponies...

Re:Damnit.

[Roguelazer]

Vendetta Online [vendetta-online.com]. I like it. Plus, we're approaching a big new release. Some features (new station UI, new ship class) are already in; more are about to appear. Cool stuff, man. (This Post Is Not An April Fool's Day Post)

Re:Damnit.

[Cyno01]

Yeah, but i want something thats not just ships. I guess i want it all, charcter, ships, planets, stations. Much like what the article described. Something like KotOR, but with more ships and ship combat too. I had an idea for an awsome Cowboy Bebop themed MMORPG, but no studio is ever gonna make a good anime game, so its not worth wishing.

Could be Cool

[FroBugg]

This really could be cool if they decided to do it.

I think it'd work better as a MMFPS, though. Something like Planetside, but with the different races and then some factions within those races. Terrans fighting Terrans, Protoss teaming up with one Zerg hive to hold off another hive, etc. Make the whole thing built around PVP instead of PVE.

Oh, well.

Re:Could be Cool

[bar-agent]

StarCraft:Ghost Multiplayer!

Who's with me!?

Re:Could be Cool

[lummy_al]

lol nice one guys. Not a totally retarded idea. I liked how the gamespy guys kissed up to the 'developers' though by saying that having less choice in terms of races made the game "quicker" to play. Lol, it really does sound like their style of take spin as the gospel truth attitude. And burgercraft was classic. Not that horrific and idea for high density population areas though. Think of all the starving game that can't get flat foods and Irn bru 32/red bull at 2 in the morning. I cry for them every nigh

Who else is in beta?

[CrazyJim1]

I liked when I leveled my hydrolisk to 40 fast and evolved into a Lurker. I just walked into one of the pkenabled towns and no one had a siege tank yet, they were all marines,scv or firebats. I just burrowed in and scored tons of kills while people screamed "Griefer. Lurker, don't go in there, I told you not to. Why you going back again."

I think next time I'll play a dark templar and merge with someone else's dark templar at 40. Sure one guy controls the movement and the other the mind control, but its fun to mind control an scv and have him harvest minerals for me so we can ebay them. I think by the month's end I'll have an army of chinese SCV mining minerals for me and then I can totally sell Battlecruisers on ebay.

So apparently nothing real happens on 4/1

[darkhitman]

4/1 must be the most boring day on Slashdot. All there is is fake news, which means the parallel universe that mirrors our own is having a lot of interesting things happen, but we aren't. The day the world stood still? 4/1.

I find it funny how the terms 'gay' and 'straight' are part of the tags for every single 4/1 post. Why?

This isn't funny...

[Zencyde]

It's only funny when it doesn't make me cry that this didn't happen. Starcraft was so much more interesting than Warcraft.

wow

[PDog91]

I think I would kill to get this game, I mean this is all I ever asked wow to be.

What really disturbs me

[gaijin99]

What really disturbs me is that the folks at Gamespot came up with what sounded like a pretty workable way to put in a race like the Zerg into an MMORPG as an April fool's joke. I thought the whole idea of World of Starcraft sounded extremely cool, but the Zerg race notes sounded like it might be a workable game mechanic...

large scale RTS

[algaeman]

While this is clearly a joke post, the idea is pretty cool. A large scale RTS, where some players act as officers (giving directions), and others act as grunts (and get to plaster "real" people), would be pretty cool. I suppose once the THz processors come out, this will be a blast!

it would be nice

[sentientbrendan]

if blizzard did something other than add stuff to world of warcraft! Seriously, what is up with them? Don't they made games anymore?

Eight years later, all of their fans are still waiting for starcraft II...

Bring Out SC2

[raptorspike]

Can we stop all this crap and just release StarCraft 2??

what makes it even worse...

[themysteryman73]

I think that what makes it worse is that people still play the first Starcraft. If it was an MMORPG I think we'd all die.

Why Does Blizzard Hate Me?

[Wes Janson]

Seriously, I'm beginning to think Blizzard specifically hates my particular demographic. I knew this would be an April Fool's joke, but remembering prior jokes that turned out later to be true (Gmail anyone?) one always hopes. And it had me going, too, until they reached the BurgerCraft part.


Damnit, Blizzard made a great game in Starcraft and then totally shut down that whole franchise. Millions of people would gnaw off their hands for an opportunity to play Starcraft 2, and yet Blizzard dumps it

Ha ha, just a joke!

[snaz555]

drop out of school, quit your job, divorce your spouse, disown your children, cancel your gym membership, upgrade your PC, and clear out your schedule for World of Starcraft

Dammit, I totally fell for this one!

Now I have to go tell my former employer, my ex-wife, and the nuns at the orphanage that it was all just a joke! Thanks a lot pinkdot.

Too late!

[ockegheim]

Are this article and pictures cached anywhere? I think I missed my chance to dream.

I'd buy it

[Malakusen]

I don't mean believe the story, I mean if they had a Starcraft MMORPG, I'd play it. I'd play a 40K mmorpg also.

Re:I'd buy it

[skitz0ut]

Man, they got me. I couldnt find the info on gamespot, so i was googleing it. Looks like a bunch of other wish this game was real too. We should write Blizzard. Who knows? We might get lucky.

PaniK