

Starcraft II launches July 27 - 32ftpersecond
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6260963.html

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matthew-wegner
The Starcraft II beta is kind of horrifying--their excellent matchmaking
ensures games are always _very_ intense. Pardo actually commented on this at
the Game Developer's Conference:

 _"If your matchmaking is really good, it means that for every single game,
you're kind of the edge of your seat," Pardo said. "After you play an hour or
two of games like that, you're kind of exhausted. So we're actually talking
about, 'Is that the right matchmaking approach?' You might want to add a
little sloppiness to the matchmaking. Maybe that means sometimes you get
stomped, but sometimes you have easier games. And sometimes you have the
really competitive games. It's got better pacing._

(From [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99211-Battle-
net-S...](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99211-Battle-net-
StarCraft-II-Matchmaking-Too-Good))

So there's that interesting human element there--how wide do your want your
matchmaking algorithm to get? Personally, I enjoy the nightmare intensity; it
means I more easily get my fill for the night. Is only being able to play a
few games at a time actually a _bad_ thing? I guess it might be from
Blizzard's perspective.

If you're in the beta, try playing 2v2 with a friend against the Internet. If
you're losing you can at least lose together. Think of it as a co-founder ;)

~~~
hassy
Since this seems to be the thread for beta participants

who wants a game?

~~~
mattmaroon
I'm themaroon there.

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hartror
Hmm I wonder if there will be a causal relationship between this release and a
bunch of startups deadpooling . . .

~~~
metamemetics
as a Beta participant I'll testify it is addictive. However Ladder games are
just high speed chess and really get your mental juices flowing in general.

Any fans should check out the HDH Invitational tournament underway:
<http://www.youtube.com/user/hdstarcraft> ,
<http://www.youtube.com/user/HuskyStarcraft> (these guys sportcast SC games
and consistently have more viewers than ESPN's youtube channel)

~~~
kentosi
speaking about addiction - this game ruined my late teen years. i still
remember spending an entire day in my room battling it out with guys half-way
across the world :-)

can't wait for it to come out. thankfully i have a social life, work, and
other good things in my life now so i should be able to control myself :-)

~~~
vishaldpatel
Ah yes, hope springs eternal :P

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ZachPruckowski
For those who didn't know, you can pre-order from Amazon, Best Buy, or
Gamestop and get a beta key, so that Starcraft II can destroy your life before
it even ships.

Last night, at 7 PM, there were 25,000 people on Battle.net, so it's a fairly
large beta.

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hristov
I think one of the reasons I switched to Linux is to prevent myself from
playing this game when it comes out. We'll see if it works.

Boy did I waste enough time on battlenet.

~~~
light3
It might run under wine, I know warcraft 3 did :P

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teebes
And speaking of Starcraft 2 and coding, here is a Raphael.js / jQuery web app
that matches up units currently in the Beta against each other:
<http://scstrategy.com/matchup>

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colbyolson
On a side note, I'm still very much waiting on Diablo3. _One day_...

~~~
Psyonic
The purpose of SC2 is to keep your mind off Diablo 3. One day you'll wake up
and it'll be there, and you'll be a very happy man

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heresy
Damn you Blizzard, for making games I love to play.

I just got myself off WoW.

Now this, and Diablo 3 coming later...

In other news, the Korean economy is expected to contract from August.

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metamemetics
<http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/2009/04/post_17.html> "Saving the
Economy with Starcraft"

> _According to Lee, there are almost 20,000 PC Bangs in Korea and they
> collectively make about 120 billion wons (about 100 million US dollars)
> every month. Lee has also stated that “This is not the only source of
> economic influence achieved by gaming. There are three cable channels for
> starcraft leagues and tournaments, as well as thirteen other professional
> teams. These game broadcasts have potentials to be exported into other
> countries, just like how Korean dramas were actively exported throughout
> Asia during 2002-2006.”_

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hobbe
Really way too soon for me to start promoting my little side project, but I
guess I could use some feedback on the idea before I start investing too much
of my spare time...

Anyway, I'm planning on launching something I call the Starcraft 2 University
(<http://sc2uni.com>), which (hopefully) will help people find tutors for
personal training sessions (the idea comes from online poker where this is
quite popular). I'd love some feedback on the idea - the site currently up is
simply just for collecting some e-mails - none of my actual code is up yet
(although I'm planning to go with this layout and "design language").

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truebosko
I thought with a Linux box and a Macbook I would never really play games on a
computer again, minus the odd casual flash/javascript game.

Then I got the SC2 Beta from a friend. Oh man, so awesome.

(Not addicted .. but oh so fun. Love Blizzard)

~~~
MikeCapone
I'm also extremely happy that it will be released on OSX too. I hope this is
part of a new trend now that Macs are selling better than a few years ago (and
the Intel hardware can't hurt).

~~~
Psyonic
That trend may or may not be happening, but Blizzard has always released their
games on Mac, so I wouldn't use this for evidence one way or the other.

~~~
slyn
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(content_delivery)#Mac_OS...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_\(content_delivery\)#Mac_OS_X_release)

"With its release, Valve will include native Mac OS X, OpenGL versions of Left
4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Portal, and
the entire Half-Life series. Portal 2, due by the end of 2010, will be
simultaneously released on both the Windows and Mac versions of Steam."

May 12th! Between steam for OS X, SC2, and eventually WoW: Cataclysm, I'm not
going to be getting anything done this summer. =(

~~~
Psyonic
That is a pretty awesome development. Hopefully other steam developers will
jump on board.

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hyperbovine
Thank god. Releasing this before school gets out would have been truly
nefarious.

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enterneo
I have always been AOE follower, I have been observing the hype over Starcraft
lately and wondering how is Starcraft different from AOE? (its like is it
something huge I am missing)

~~~
icegreentea
Totally different style of play. It's very similar to the difference between
Halo and UT2k4. Not only do the econs function differently, I always felt that
SC was more micro intensive, or at least when it actually comes to combat.

SC also used more soft counters compared to AOE with more hard counters. What
I mean by that is that in AOE (from what I remember, its been years), counters
are more or less put down in stone. If your mass of pikemen ran into a mass of
footmen, then your pikemen would more or less get raped. Same with cavalry
charging into pikemen. No amount of micro will save you. In SC, even when your
army has been countered (your muta swarm runs into a huge mass of medics and
marines), it's possible (very hard, but possible) to snatch away at least a
partial victory with the proper application of micro.

The games also feel completely different when the three races are
fundamentally different, as opposed to being more or less the same with
different bonuses and special units.

Whatever I put above has been clouded by the fact that I have never seen
really high level AOE play, and have spent days of my life watching high level
SC.

~~~
Psyonic
Welcome to SC2, where hard counters make an appearance. Rather than only
having damage cuts, like SC1, they now have bonus damage, which can make an
ENORMOUS difference. If you're zerg and rolling out a bunch of roaches, you'd
better make sure he's not building immortals, or you're in for some pain.

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bittersweet
The Mac beta is finally available for users in Europe, I'm currently
downloading the 3 GB file, I'm assuming the latest patches are already
included because the filesize is significantly larger then on Windows.

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city41
In other news, Korea's GDP is expected to plummet starting around July 28th.

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MikeCapone
Can anyone comment on technical requirements (at least of the beta, which
should give a good idea for the final game)?

Any idea how it would run on a 2008 Mac Pro with the base ATI GPU (2600 HD
iirc)?

~~~
slyn
I've been playing on my MBP w/ 2.4 ghz c2d and 8600m and its been working
surprisingly well. I dialed down the setting just to maximize FPS, but other
than weird choppiness with the menu screen the game has been very stable.

I'm pretty new to the game but I'm starting to get the hang of it, if anyone
wants to skirmish or give me some tips my id is corohd.warpath

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albemuth
I'm really lucky it runs really bad on a MBP, if I want to get into that
timesink I'll have to invest on a gaming pc, hopefully I can fight the urge
for a while.

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d0m
yep, I'm happy that my final exams are over

~~~
JeeyoungKim
Not mine... Sigh.

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nessence
Please, not SCII. I'M NOT GOING TO BUY IT. OK?

Say it with me:

I PROMISE NOT TO BUY SCII INSTEAD OF BUILDING MY COMPANY

I PROMISE NOT TO BUY SCII INSTEAD OF BUILDING MY COMPANY

I PROMISE NOT TO BUY SCII INSTEAD OF BUILDING MY COMPANY

I PROMISE NOT TO BUY SCII INSTEAD OF BUILDING MY COMPANY

I PROMISE NOT TO BUY SCII INSTEAD OF BUILDING MY COMPANY

~~~
sonofjanoh
I will build my Nexus first.

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mawhidby
You require more minerals.

~~~
zackattack
You require more vespine gas!

