So this article was a wild ramble, but I like that there's interest. Let me sum some things up about SC2 and battle.net, completely unofficially and without inside information.
StarCraft II is trying some new things. They are taking control over more of the experience than they did before. That cheeses off a lot of people, but they have the opportunity and technology to do it and want to improve the experience in lots of ways instead of just the core game, which of course will be great.
The front end has been a mess by Blizzard's standards, I think. But it will evolve and get much, much better than its beta incarnation. StarCraft is a game that has held up for ten years plus and that is totally the intention on SC2. Blizzard released a patch for Diablo II earlier this year, so it helps to think about the long term.
And finally, Battle.net is an emerging network that's also in beta in its current incarnation. You can't serious if you think that it's not going to grow hugely in usability and capability in the next few years. And it's not like they're going to be supporting dozens of titles. Battle.net has got to be their avenue to making money off of non-MMO games, so they are very motivated to make it great.
“I know that SC2 beta is having problems and u guys r talking about should we buy the game or not but this is just a beta and u are playing it for free! july is yet to come and they are still working on the beta to make it more stable so do not complain about this problem. When this happens after the beta that is the time u can complain about the lag and balance problems” – Typical idiotic Battle.net forums post.
In what way does requiring people by force of law to do things a certain way "improve the experience in a lot of ways"? How would the experience be diminished if Blictivision acted less dickish?
StarCraft II is trying some new things. They are taking control over more of the experience than they did before. That cheeses off a lot of people, but they have the opportunity and technology to do it and want to improve the experience in lots of ways instead of just the core game, which of course will be great.
The front end has been a mess by Blizzard's standards, I think. But it will evolve and get much, much better than its beta incarnation. StarCraft is a game that has held up for ten years plus and that is totally the intention on SC2. Blizzard released a patch for Diablo II earlier this year, so it helps to think about the long term.
And finally, Battle.net is an emerging network that's also in beta in its current incarnation. You can't serious if you think that it's not going to grow hugely in usability and capability in the next few years. And it's not like they're going to be supporting dozens of titles. Battle.net has got to be their avenue to making money off of non-MMO games, so they are very motivated to make it great.