StarCraft II to jettison LAN support

[Hotrod]

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-318442.html

As part of Activision Blizzard's pre-2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo tele-press conference (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/starcraftiiheartoftheswarm/news.html?page=1&sid=6210427), 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. So much for Starcraft II LAN parties...
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."
"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. "We're looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for Starcraft II in the near future."
Speaking with GameSpot during BlizzCon 2008, Blizzard Entertainment cofounder Frank Pearce noted that piracy was a concern for the developer and that Battle.net would play a role in helping to counteract theft of the game.
"We're definitely talking about ways with Battle.net that we can provide the best online experience for our customers so that there's not an incentive to pirate the product but instead an incentive to be part of that community of gamers playing that game and they'd want to be part of that social experience on top of the single-player experience," he said.
Blizzard expects to begin closed beta for Starcraft II sometime this summer and is currently taking sign-ups for the testing phase through the official Battle.net Web site. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Starcraft II.

Well...this is fucking retarded. So much for LAN parties and StarCraft II, which was what I was looking forward to the most with this game, and I'm sure that could be said about thousands of people out there. Congratulations Blizzard, you just made one of the biggest fuck-ups in the History of RTS games.

[343guiltymc]

Still gonna sell, no matter what.........Anti piracy measure no doubt.

[DrunkenSamus]

There will be mods to enable or mimick a LAN gameplay experience. Even though it is a genuinely retarded decision, it won't hinder me from buying this game.

[leorimolo]

wat. This is ridiculous, this is exactly the same bullshit happening with console games supporting less and less spiltscreen support so people have to either go online, or buy another copy of the game to do lan with it.

[343guiltymc]

On top of this, the game might be delayed again.

[FRain]

Speaking of delays, anyone remember StarCraft: Ghost?

[Warsaw]

I do, I wanted to play it, but alas it was cancelled. :(

Also, no LAN in an RTS...WTF are they thinking? A very large portion of RTS players attend LAN parties on a regular basis...

[flibitijibibo]

"Hey guys, let's release Halo: Reach without guns!"

[343guiltymc]

They might just include back if fans bitch enough.......

[Warsaw]

Petition time! :haw:

[Cojafoji]

I do, I wanted to play it, but alas it was cancelled. :(

Also, no LAN in an RTS...WTF are they thinking? A very large portion of RTS players attend LAN parties on a regular basis...
D D D D DRM.

It's fucking weak, but they're doing it to stop people from just installing the game and avoiding the battle.net drm. For good reasons as well. One friend buys the CD, it's burned about 5 times, disseminated to other friends etc.

Do I support their decision? No.

Is this news like two weeks old? Yes.


Petition time! :haw:
Best way to petition:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6830/2009070320004808.jpg

[Warsaw]

I already don't play WoW because I think pay-2-play is retarded. Same reason I don't have XBOX Live! service.

[Cojafoji]

I already don't play WoW because I think pay-2-play is retarded. Same reason I don't have XBOX Live! service.
same here, i was just posting it.

[Hotrod]

What I'm expecting to see next month : StarCraft II to jettison Zerg, as well as Protoss buildings. Also to jettison Main Menu. Diablo III to replace enemies with gardens, weapons with watering cans.

[ultama121]

Somebody is bound to create a pseudo LAN feature after release.

[Kornman00]

Petition time! :haw:
Didn't do anything for the L4D people...

[teh lag]

And this from the same company that let you install spawns from their previous games for the sole purpose of having lan parties.

WoW made you greedy, Blizzard

WoW made you very, very greedy.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

:(

[RedBaron]

It's not as big as a problem with Starcraft II as it will be for Diablo III. Diablo was built around LAN! Just last night I was having a four man LAN party on Diablo II. The franchise isn't the same if we can't be looting shit while sitting in the same room - and not paying more. This is as retarded as Halo PC requiring seperate CD keys on LAN.

[Dwood]

Ever since Vivendi bought Blizzard.

[343guiltymc]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/100/1003148p1.html
How nice, someone actually made a petition.

[Cortexian]

Here's the largest petition I believe:

http://www.petitiononline.com/LANSC2/petition.html

Signatures at time of post:
57,565

[Phopojijo]

And this from the same company that let you install spawns from their previous games for the sole purpose of having lan parties.

WoW made you greedy, Blizzard

WoW made you very, very greedy.I honestly honestly doubt WoW made them greedy.

Activision.

[flibitijibibo]

I honestly honestly doubt WoW made them greedy.

Activision.

Activision.

Activision.
Son of a bitch. How did we both forget and not see this coming.

[Mr Buckshot]

wat. This is ridiculous, this is exactly the same bullshit happening with console games supporting less and less spiltscreen support so people have to either go online, or buy another copy of the game to do lan with it.

Wait, don't you need another copy of the game anyway even if you're doing LAN? LAN is not the same as split screen.

Yeah it's a ridiculous decision though. Hope the petitions work :/

[klange]

Wait, don't you need another copy of the game anyway even if you're doing LAN? LAN is not the same as split screen.

Yeah it's a ridiculous decision though. Hope the petitions work :/
... no, what leo is saying makes perfect sense. Fewer and fewer games are supporting split screen multiplayer, for which you only need one copy of the game. Without this support, you need to play over LAN for local multiplayer, which requires another copy of the game. This is seen as an analogue to games in which LAN play did not require multiple copies: but then there's Halo, which still does its CD check over a LAN, degrading local multiplayer.

[Inferno]

That's what a crack is for. 1 copy of the game 4 player LAN.

It's the PC equivalent of split screen. Split game.

[Phopojijo]

That's what a crack is for. 1 copy of the game 4 player LAN.

It's the PC equivalent of split screen. Split game.Except actual split screen :p

[Siliconmaster]

Here's the largest petition I believe:

http://www.petitiononline.com/LANSC2/petition.html

Signatures at time of post:
57,565


Signatures now, including mine: 72,033

And that's only 4 days later. Wow.

Edit: http://www.petitiononline.com/Xsc2lanX/petition.html Idgi...

[p0lar_bear]

Best way to petition:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6830/2009070320004808.jpg
It is, but do you actually think people will be willing to lose their accounts just because of a business decision for a game they most likely will never ever play? :smith:


"Hey guys, let's release Halo: Reach without guns!"
If you're going to crack a joke about bad decisions, at least make sure your joke actually contains a bad idea. :realsmug:

[JunkfoodMan]

First they split the game into 3, now this.
People should stop buying this shit, but hey it's still gonna sell.
Fuck you Activision. There's this, and now the Modern Warfare pricing for UK.
fuck it all.

[Phopojijo]

And you all thought EA was evil :p

[n00b1n8R]

I lol'd
What the fuck Blizzard? Really? You think this is going to get people to buy the game?
Oh wow
Not only has WoW made them greedy, it's made them fucking blind. This isn't some grindfest crack fix, this is an RTS which will be played by people with brains which lack the consistency of badly set jelly.

But hey, it's not like they need the money anyway.

tl;dr: wtf Bliz :ugh:

Offtopic:


http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6830/2009070320004808.jpg
It's like a sad child you've just told you don't want to be friends with. :lmao:

[343guiltymc]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1011003p1.html
More phail. I don't even want to know when the rest of the games in the trilogy is coming out.

[teh lag]

lol blizzard

though i can't say i'm surprised

[Cortexian]

Hey now, Blizzard is infamous for taking however long they need to polish off games before release. With the exception of WoW of course.

[Sever]

Hey now, Blizzard is infamous for taking however long they need to polish off games before release. With the exception of WoW of course.
And Starcraft Ghost, which took a massive amount of time for them to give it the axe.

[Hotrod]

I swear, it doesn't take 7 years to make a game, especially if you're a company as big as Blizzard...

[343guiltymc]

I swear, it doesn't take 7 years to make a game, especially if you're a company as big as Blizzard...
What about TF2? That took more than 7 years, and Valve is arguably a pretty big company. Activision is really trying to piss off its PC players these days.

[=sw=warlord]

I swear, it doesn't take 7 years to make a game, especially if you're a company as big as Blizzard...
DNF...:gonk:
But yeah although blizzard maybe a large company their not just working on one game they do have WoW to deal with as well as all the other things their working on.

[Sever]

What about TF2? That took more than 7 years, and Valve is arguably a pretty big company.Valve defies temporal laws, and in doing so makes great games. All other slow companies are just fucking slow, and half of them don't even make mediocre games.

[Hotrod]

What about TF2? That took more than 7 years, and Valve is arguably a pretty big company. Activision is really trying to piss off its PC players these days.
Did it? I didn't really look into that too much. And as Sever said, Valve takes a long time to make pretty damn good games, so it's worth the wait.

[343guiltymc]

Did it? I didn't really look into that too much. And as Sever said, Valve takes a long time to make pretty damn good games, so it's worth the wait.
Yes it did, it first appeared in the 1999 issue of PC gamer, back then it focused on Gritty realism. :ohdear: Not that WoW is a good example, but Blizzard makes some decent games too.

[sevlag]

I swear, it doesn't take 7 years to make a game, especially if you're a company as big as Blizzard...
i'm still waiting for DNF :\

but really, why jettison LAN support for an RTS game? did somebody get a lobotimy (or however the fuck you spell it) over at Blizzard?

[343guiltymc]

i'm still waiting for DNF :\

but really, why jettison LAN support for an RTS game? did somebody get a lobotimy (or however the fuck you spell it) over at Blizzard?
The geniuses who count the bills at Activision are too pussy to stomach potential piracy.

[343guiltymc]

Gameplay video: http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1014331p1.html

[Cortexian]

I'm sure they'll be a crack/hack that enables some kind of LAN play. Possibly even a battle.net server emulator that you can setup and run on a local network computer, then just set the other computers "hosts" file to that computers IP instead of actually hitting up battle.net servers.

Don't worry about it.

[Kalub]

That or just... you know... let the game die. Wait 10-15 more years and see if they learned in StarCraft III. :gonk:

[Cortexian]

That or just... you know... let the game die. Wait 10-15 more years and see if they learned in StarCraft III. :gonk:
Hey,










































































































No.

[Hotrod]

I'm sure they'll be a crack/hack that enables some kind of LAN play. Possibly even a battle.net server emulator that you can setup and run on a local network computer, then just set the other computers "hosts" file to that computers IP instead of actually hitting up battle.net servers.

Don't worry about it.
Oh yeah, definitely. They had something similar for Warcraft III that had Battle.net on LAN. However, we know that it might take a while (as in not the day the game is out, or before) for us to get something like that, and I'm sure many people will want to play LAN right away like me. Another thing to consider is that a large part of the community won't know about this hack, and won't be able to use it.

[Cojafoji]

That or just... you know... let the game die. Wait 10-15 more years and see if they learned in StarCraft III. :gonk:
some of us have been waiting since '98. why not wait a little longer?

*Edit: By the way, that WoW shot isn't mine. I picked that up off of digg.

[343guiltymc]

I hope they at least include a decent storyline for SP like SC1 and WCIII. IMO they killed the warcraft lore with WoW.

[Cortexian]

Oh yeah, definitely. They had something similar for Warcraft III that had Battle.net on LAN. However, we know that it might take a while (as in not the day the game is out, or before) for us to get something like that, and I'm sure many people will want to play LAN right away like me. Another thing to consider is that a large part of the community won't know about this hack, and won't be able to use it.
Well as with all PC games the people who play the game over LAN legitimately (none of this Hamachi stuff) are a fairly small group. Granted this is Starcraft and a lot of people did play it during LAN's and stuff, but it's still a smaller number of people that those who play on Battle.net servers. Plus, most people who host LAN's aren't computer illiterate, so I'm sure that your average LAN goer will be informed on something like this.

Like I said though, there's no need to worry, as one of the most popular games ever I'm sure it won't take to long to get a LAN workaround.