As the SIGGRAPH event is over for this year, there are some quite interesting things that have been revealed through it. Of course the new cooperation between Blizzard and AMD originally seemed to be of some interest at first glance, but IncGamers' StarCraft network site; StarCraftWire.net has let their tech guru loose on some of the papers that were published for the lectures by AMD, and has come to much more interesting conclusions.
The cooperation between AMD and Blizzard surely seems to be more than just a PR trick or getting free graphics cards for BlizzCon, as the documents Blizzard provided themselves hold new, exclusive information about StarCraft 2 system requirements. In this case "only" the requirements for graphics cards, but you will find out a lot more information from this with the help of PC hardware expertise and thorough analyse:
"This is in line with information provided by Xordiah in QA session 13 that the game required Pixel Shader 2.0 support. My article last month, StarCraft 2 System Requirements, contained my analysis in which it became clear that in terms of the GeForce series, the FX line was the bottom grade. This appears to be complete confirmation, the graphical situation was as I expected. I appear to have been near dead on regarding ATI Radeon cards as well."
Even though fans have been clamoring for a StarCraft 3 for years now, it seems like Blizzard really has no reason to spend time making one.
They sort of ran the story as far as it could go.
Also, it seems like blizzard is more busy with mediocrity at this point in time.
The problem with Blizzard is they have franchises that don't need sequels. People are happy playing the games that they previously made. What they need is new games, none of this business of trying to transport the old audience into a new version of an old game which only ends up nickle and dime'ing users.
Jason Hall, currently an indie developer and former Blizzard employee, has been sharing some really interesting stories from his long career in the industry for a while now. Some of them are truly insightful, while others may seem depressing.
I’m a little shocked that StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty sold only around 6 million copies. The original StarCraft did over 11 million. Maybe Blizzard was too leisurely in releasing StarCraft 2? Starcraft 2 came out 12 years after it’s predecessor.
Im surprised too. Starcraft was still a huge name in 2010. It was kinda the only new RTS around and other genres like MOBAs hadn't really kicked off yet. I do remember at the time sentiment around the game was
pretty angry the game was being split into 3 but I doubt that would have impacted sales to that degree
For a long time I believed StarCraft II sold on par or better than its predecessor. There was so much hype for the game. Plus it had a pretty strong E-Sports scene for a few years.
Myself and half a dozen friends all bought StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and played it religiously for a full year. While I bought the expansions, most of my friends did not. RPGs seem to be a generally low selling genre.
I'm not shocked at all. This was an early example of Blizzard being greedy. Instead of releasing a complete experience, splitting Starcraft 2 in 3 parts so it could make us purchase it 3 times if we wanted to know the whole story and play story mode with the other races.
I originally had that stance. However, Wings of Liberty, was just as long, if not longer than StarCraft 1. The expansions were of decent length too and added a good amount of additional content.
and people wonder why we are having mtx in everything. i blame the people who actual buy them.
It's interesting he used Brazil as an example of the importance of regional pricing. Nowadays many companies on Steam are setting their prices in Brazil as high as, if not more than, their price in USA. I simply refused to buy a few games when I noticed that's the case.
Illogical Games has just announced the official release of Star Discord, the one-man indie dev's charming StarCraft lookalike on mobile.
I know the ATI 9800, but the Geforce FX series? I can't say I know where those stood in the whole lineup? Does anyone know which Geforce card preceded/followed these?
Was pretty hard to find that document, but the rewards were definantly there. Confirmation from Blizzard themselves on what graphics cards the game engine was designed in mind for, right from development. Hope it proves useful to someone!
Wonder why Blizzard didn't release this formally if it was just going to spill out when one person got smart and recognised it's value? Not that I don't mind cloak and dagger work, keeps me in work and all.
Great work! I'm really looking forward to SC2 and, since I will be building a new computer in the next few months, it's great to know what I will need ;)
While my initial reaction to the partnership was bad (I don't like ATI) it does seems that is has brought some benefits. The paper is surely to be quite technical, but it is a priviledge to have an insight into Blizzard's modus operandi
what about us intel integrated people?