14 DAY TRIAL // It's official MMO and RTS fans: StarCraft 2 is in the works. Not only that, but a new race has been added and existing units' characteristics will have many changes, as TeamLiquid translates the original Korean news article on Blizzard's World Wide Invitational (in short WWI) in Seoul. I'm sure you're quite surprised at the news and so am I to be totally honest. Who would have thought that after all this time, Blizzard would announce a new installment of the highly successful real-time strategy series, StarCraft, and in 3D too. What, I forgot to mention it was being developed in 3D?
The translators also say that the information has been leaked from previous Blizzard employees (obviously). Thus, through an acquaintance of ex-Blizzard North employees, StarCraft 2's development and its announcement at the WWI has been confirmed. Organizers of the two big StarCraft leagues in Korea, MBC Game and OnGameNet had a few words each.
Lee Sang-Ho head MBC Game: "Frankly, it's half anticipation and half worry. If SC2 is released in a form that is compatible with e-sports broadcast, there will be many new gamers and the entire industry will develop. However if it comes out in a form that is not easy to broadcast, like WarCraft 3, StarCraft fans will focus on the sequel while the original league will suffer a decline." Is it just me or the man's skeptical about the whole deal?
As for OnGameNet's StarCraft commentator, Um Jae-Kyung, he thinks that the developer "has probably already grasped the difference between this nation's gamers and foreign gamers' difference in inclination through WarCraft 3." From this point on, Jae-Kyung's statement is identical to Sang-Ho's: "So I'm hoping for a more balanced structure, a structure with e-sports in mind. However, (that "however" is so typical!) I believe that the e-sports league will continue to focus on StarCraft and a new league focusing on StarCraft 2 will form, the industry growing bigger as a result. As a gamer, I'm really looking forward to it."
Us too, but there's one question that has remained unanswered: now that it's going to be in 3D, will it still be a RTS, or is it becoming a MMO just like World of Warcraft?