QuoteVINE, Calif.—March 12, 2013—Hail to the Queen of Blades! Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today set off a global zerg invasion with the launch of StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™, the next chapter in the epic saga of StarCraft® II. Kerrigan has arrived, and with the help of her brood, she aims to take down Arcturus Mengsk once and for all.
Players can now purchase Heart of the Swarm in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as digitally via the game's official website (www.StarCraft2.com). Release plans for mainland China will be announced at a later date.
"Heart of the Swarm enhances every aspect of StarCraft II," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "In addition to Kerrigan's campaign and the new multiplayer units and maps, we think players will really enjoy the new online elements and new features that make StarCraft II more fun and easier to learn than ever before."
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/press/pressreleases.html?id=9067509
All day and no thread on this? Did anyone pick this up?
I have been waiting to get SCII: Wings of Liberty but I don't think I can wait any longer and maybe bundle the games games for $59.99.
I can only handle one release debacle at a time. Last spring it was Diablo 3. This spring it's Simcity.
Crap. I pre-ordered it because all my friends play and i totally forgot to practice in anticipation of the release. They're going to destroy me at this game now.
Anyway I'll be playing it here and there but with Sim City out my gaming time is severely limited. I prefer the multiplayer to the campaign typically as the challenge is a lot more... intense. I'll probably play through the campaign and then obsess over the multiplayer every few months like I did with the original SC2. I played the HOTS beta a bunch it was good fun, definitely worth a buy if you enjoy SC2.
Too many games not enough time - the story of virtually everyone on this forum...
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 07:28:46 PM
I can only handle one release debacle at a time. Last spring it was Diablo 3. This spring it's Simcity.
Well I figure if I get the two games bundled I'll be ok. Wings of Liberty has been out long enough that all the bugs should be worked out of that. By the time I get around to finishing that all the bugs will be worked out of Heart of the Swarm. ;D
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
Good to hear hopefully I can get them dld overnight while I sleep.
I'm only interested in the SP campaign so I'm going to try and wait until it goes on sale.
Well considering it's Blizzard you might be waiting awhile.
If you buy the bundle right now you save $20
Quote from: TheCommandTent on March 12, 2013, 10:04:47 PM
If you buy the bundle right now you save $20
If you don't buy the bundle you save a lot more than $20. ;)
Quote from: Greybriar on March 12, 2013, 10:08:31 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on March 12, 2013, 10:04:47 PM
If you buy the bundle right now you save $20
If you don't buy the bundle you save a lot more than $20. ;)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fallaboutlol.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F01%2Fpee.jpeg&hash=19e1e28913686bc4971f8815150cde7d6b0f1a22)
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 07:28:46 PM
I can only handle one release debacle at a time. Last spring it was Diablo 3. This spring it's Simcity.
Dude, are you crazy. You bought several games at PrezCon! Think how overloaded your brain will get! Those boardgames are still games, even if they're in the closet!
Quote from: Greybriar on March 12, 2013, 10:08:31 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on March 12, 2013, 10:04:47 PM
If you buy the bundle right now you save $20
If you don't buy the bundle you save a lot more than $20. ;)
Omg that's a really funny reply and it makes so much sense.
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 04:31:36 AM
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
Well Minecraft did the same at first and people are still raving about that game. ;)
Besides, having, or not having in this case, a frame limiter says nothing about the game itself. It's just a technical bit, which was easily fixed soon by the devs, or before that by the players themselves with a 3rd party tool.
Still, having a game damage your hardware s$cks pretty hard. :D
Quote from: Yskonyn on March 13, 2013, 05:23:14 AM
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 04:31:36 AM
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
Well Minecraft did the same at first and people are still raving about that game. ;)
Besides, having, or not having in this case, a frame limiter says nothing about the game itself. It's just a technical bit, which was easily fixed soon by the devs, or before that by the players themselves with a 3rd party tool.
Still, having a game damage your hardware s$cks pretty hard. :D
Minecraft was made by 1 amateur, SC2 was developed for many many years by the biggest kid in the block who employs thousands of experienced personal....
And does the game even have an interesting plot? so far Blizzard's M.O was to make sequels and expansions just get the plot to run in circles with no real resolution.
And that ~70-80 $ entry price is pretty darn steep for a game that's only 2/3 complete and might suck miserably.
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 07:14:31 AM
Minecraft was made by 1 amateur, SC2 was developed for many many years by the biggest kid in the block who employs thousands of experienced personal....
Sure, but that's beside the point?
I was just refering to you comment about it being a bad game because of it. Which it isn't. It's just a technical snag, which got fixed.
Like the new 787; the old battery assembly turned out to be pretty dangerous; does that make the 787 a bad plane as a whole? I don't think so?
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 07:14:31 AM
And does the game even have an interesting plot? so far Blizzard's M.O was to make sequels and expansions just get the plot to run in circles with no real resolution.
And that ~70-80 $ entry price is pretty darn steep for a game that's only 2/3 complete and might suck miserably.
I don't know but this is a different discussion. :)
It's a "minor snag" from a technical design standpoint, but from a user experience standpoint, burning out your hardware is a pretty major snag. As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that (for me, at least) any developer who built a game that could fry my hardware, without giving me any warning, gets on my "never buy again" list.
It's akin to building a battleship and forgetting to put propellers on the prop shaft.
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on March 13, 2013, 11:13:15 AM
It's a "minor snag" from a technical design standpoint, but from a user experience standpoint, burning out your hardware is a pretty major snag. As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that (for me, at least) any developer who built a game that could fry my hardware, without giving me any warning, gets on my "never buy again" list.
It's akin to building a battleship and forgetting to put propellers on the prop shaft.
TBH the "frying thing" is actually the GPU manufacturer's fault.
They should have built-in protection against software doing whatever it wants with the piece of hardware. They should not let any software control any facet
of the device's operation.
My qualm would be that Blizzard either never really tested the game much or they did encounter this common issue and chose to ignore it (and hide it).
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 04:31:36 AM
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
are you still pissed over that???
Quote from: Windigo on March 13, 2013, 12:39:01 PM
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 04:31:36 AM
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
are you still pissed over that???
Nope. It didn't burn my GPU. I never got the game and only saw others playing it after the bug was fixed :)
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 12:46:10 PM
Quote from: Windigo on March 13, 2013, 12:39:01 PM
Quote from: Tpek on March 13, 2013, 04:31:36 AM
Quote from: Bison on March 12, 2013, 08:24:09 PM
TBH Wings of Liberty actually released in real good shape. It got better when they added in an offline play option. Still waiting for that to happen with Diablo 3.
If you call burning people's GPUs "a good shape"... :P
are you still pissed over that???
Nope. It didn't burn my GPU. I never got the game and only saw others playing it after the bug was fixed :)
I seem to recall that bug was also in Supreme Commander
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on March 13, 2013, 11:13:15 AM
It's a "minor snag" from a technical design standpoint, but from a user experience standpoint, burning out your hardware is a pretty major snag. As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that (for me, at least) any developer who built a game that could fry my hardware, without giving me any warning, gets on my "never buy again" list.
It's akin to building a battleship and forgetting to put propellers on the prop shaft.
True, but that was not the point! :)
I played the game quite a bit just after it was released. My gpu's didn't burn out. They took it in stride and kept on going. That's not to say there weren't those who didn't experience it, but it's also a bit disingenious to suggest that it happened across the board to everyone. As far as I know the fix was putting a fps cap on the game, which should be a standard across the industry anyway IMO to protect hardware.
The point is that there were no game breaking bugs with the release. The game played and worked as intended. No serious server issues.
So how about some God damn impressions already?
Quote from: Bison on March 13, 2013, 02:54:30 PM
The point is that there were no game breaking bugs with the release. The game played and worked as intended. No serious server issues.
Exactly! :D
I'm pretty sure it cooked my GPU.
Anyway I ended up getting the games(s).
I've already finished the Terran campaign and starting the Zerg one.
Well, as for the last mission of the Terrans and all Zerg missions, my impressions are: Crashes, a, friggin, lot!
I mean really, all the time. You have to save every few seconds and restart the game very minute.
Quote from: Tpek on March 14, 2013, 05:03:21 PM
Anyway I ended up getting the games(s).
I've already finished the Terran campaign and starting the Zerg one.
Well, as for the last mission of the Terrans and all Zerg missions, my impressions are: Crashes, a, friggin, lot!
I mean really, all the time. You have to save every few seconds and restart the game very minute.
I haven't experienced a single crash...I've played through most of the Terran Campaign and maybe 4 missions of the Zerg campaign.
Quote from: LongBlade on March 14, 2013, 08:34:32 AM
I'm pretty sure it cooked my GPU.
That was most likely just backdraft smells from your grill.
I'm a couple missions into the Terran campaign and very much enjoying the experience.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on March 14, 2013, 05:12:04 PM
Quote from: Tpek on March 14, 2013, 05:03:21 PM
Anyway I ended up getting the games(s).
I've already finished the Terran campaign and starting the Zerg one.
Well, as for the last mission of the Terrans and all Zerg missions, my impressions are: Crashes, a, friggin, lot!
I mean really, all the time. You have to save every few seconds and restart the game very minute.
I haven't experienced a single crash...I've played through most of the Terran Campaign and maybe 4 missions of the Zerg campaign.
I've found a whole lot of people on the SC2 forum that also experience the same thing. Apparently it's far more common among nVidia users (such as myself) than ATI ones.
Quote from: Tpek on March 15, 2013, 03:28:44 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on March 14, 2013, 05:12:04 PM
Quote from: Tpek on March 14, 2013, 05:03:21 PM
Anyway I ended up getting the games(s).
I've already finished the Terran campaign and starting the Zerg one.
Well, as for the last mission of the Terrans and all Zerg missions, my impressions are: Crashes, a, friggin, lot!
I mean really, all the time. You have to save every few seconds and restart the game very minute.
I haven't experienced a single crash...I've played through most of the Terran Campaign and maybe 4 missions of the Zerg campaign.
I've found a whole lot of people on the SC2 forum that also experience the same thing. Apparently it's far more common among nVidia users (such as myself) than ATI ones.
I have a nvidia card. I guess I'm just lucky...for a change! ;D
In my experience Blizzard games have been rock solid. SC especially and SC2 literally never crashed once and I spent hours playing that game. I haven't played HOTS that much yet but so far it's been smooth sailing.
Tpek the frequency of your crashes makes me wonder if your videocard is overheating? Do you see crashes in any other games?
Quote from: DeathTouchWilly on March 15, 2013, 06:33:03 AM
In my experience Blizzard games have been rock solid. SC especially and SC2 literally never crashed once and I spent hours playing that game. I haven't played HOTS that much yet but so far it's been smooth sailing.
Tpek the frequency of your crashes makes me wonder if your videocard is overheating? Do you see crashes in any other games?
It's not overheating. And it is just SC2.
It's a common problem with the game according to the SC2 technical support forum. I am waiting for a patch.
Quote from: Bison on March 14, 2013, 05:47:22 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on March 14, 2013, 08:34:32 AM
I'm pretty sure it cooked my GPU.
That was most likely just backdraft smells from your grill.
Could be. I've heard silicon wafers go well with wine and cheese.
Oh yeah that's right LongBlade I forgot that. Yeah the game definitely pwn3d your GPU.
Your last comment really makes me want to pop a bottle of Malbec tonight. Thanks for the inspiration.
OMG, i am dying of impatience while it installs itself.
I can almost hear the siege tanks.