More Thoughts on StarCraft MMO...

[source: stroppsworld.com]

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There was a lot of speculation that Blizzard would announce Starcraft 2 as a MMO rather than as a RTS, and I’m rather glad that they didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the Starcraft universe would likely make a great setting for a MMO, but not every game can be a MMO and Starcraft works really well as a real time strategy game. I’m hoping that Blizzard doesn’t change the formula too much though, like was done with Dark Reign. The first Dark Reign was a great and innovative RTS, and even though Dark Reign 2 was one of the first fully 3D RTS’, it lacked much of the fun of the first game. However, I think I’ll give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt for this one.

No date was given for the release. It was, as usual, given as "when it’s done." I expect that it will probably be before the end of the year, in time for the Christmas season. From what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Blizzard have been working hard at it for quite some time. Here’s hoping anyway. My friends have already indicated that a LAN party during the Christmas break is in order.

This just leaves one more thing up in the air. I’ve heard some rumours recently that Blizzard has been developing a new MMO. Maybe these are just rumours and have no real substance. Given the Starcraft 2 announcement, that may very likely be the case. On the other hand, it’s a pretty good bet that Blizzard developers are feverishly working on Diablo 3, sweating away in the darkest dungeons of Blizzard. Maybe Diablo 3 is that new MMO that Blizzard is developing.