Blizzards's Rob Pardo, Vice President of Game Design, had a recent chat with the very versatile Sticks of Joy, clarifying for them (and for us, and for the rest of the world, actually), how's it like to be producing a single game that will ship into three separate episodes. Yes, ladies and little sisters, we are, once more, talking about Starcraft 2. Or, maybe, Starcraft 2, 3 and 4.

Last week's news about the game being split in three, due to its "massive" and "epic" content was not a pleasant one, indeed. People would have expected a final product that they can devour in one setting, but hey, the strings are being pulled in different directions. Pardo insisted on the fact that the second and third campaigns are, unlike the "original" Terran Starcraft 2, NOT being considered as separate products by Blizzard. They are, let's say, the equivalent of expansion packs, so that's why the company does not think separate release dates will affect the game's overall quality. So the only thing we will miss, while waiting to play the Protoss and the Zerg, is the singleplayer component.


About timing, Pardo had no exact figures to set to the table, but being the speculative man he is, he heralded one year time between each part of Starcraft 2. Just like they are doing with World of Warcraft, where expansions are scheduled to be released in the same way. Long story short, we will buy the game in 2009, and we will get to fully enjoy it by the end on 2011.

The time has come for us to polish those shotguns and dial that Stargate secret access code, because, here it is, a closed Beta Test begins on Wednesday for FireSky's Stargate Worlds, the very much anticipated sci-fi MMO. Interested in this? I bet you are, well, at least, I am. If your breakfast consisted of immense quantities of shit and your luck has skyrocketed faster than George W. Bush can count to ten, pay a visit to the game's official website and sign up for a chance to get a spot into the Beta.



It seems like the developers are also planning some Open Beta in the near future, more exactly somewhere early in 2009. Stargate Worlds should also launch in 2009, that is, if nothing bad happens.

Oh boy! I'm pretty excited, this will finally be my chance to kill that son of a bitch Daniel Jackson, I hate that helpless idiot almost as much as I hate Bethesda.

Whenever you say Blizzard, you say Battle.net. Whenever you say Battle.net, you say free services and servers provided by Blizzard for their online community. This big badass company has been facilitating the virtual life of its fans for as long as I can remember, feeding them with decent and stable servers for their non-MMOish titles, such as the Warcraft and Diablo franchises. Fun times, indeed.

... Up until now. According to Big Download, things are about to change very soon. While covering a Diablo III gameplay panel at this year's BlizzCon, game producer Jay Wilson said something in the lines of:

"We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features. We kind of have to."

Obviously, this will piss off fans like never before. I mean, many of them already frowned when Blizzard started to stare more at their profits and less at their fan base, with World of Warcraft squeezing large amounts of money each day, and with Starcraft 2 being cleverly sold as three separate games. But now, this?

The "good" news is that we have no details about what this "monetizing" actually means, or if it is aimed at the gamers themselves, or at some random advertising companies. Will we be forced to pay a monthly fee? A one-time fee? Or will we be staring at Coca-Cola commercials on every fucking Battlecruiser, while wiping the floor with the Protoss forces? Time will tell.

By the way. I find it peculiar that all these "clever" marketing strategies, specially designed to bring more income at all costs, have started right AFTER Activision got their paws on Blizzard. Hmmm...

Another preorder opportunity has just popped up on the steamy service known as Steam, and this time, it's all about trading goods, raping galaxies, visiting planets and colonizing worlds full of hot virgins. That's right, X3: Terran Conflict is coming soon to a PC near you. Or, more likely, in front of you.

On October 17, players will be able to download the full, digital, product worldwide, while the retail boxed outlet is heading to European stores in the same day. In case you don't know the new and enhanced features that this game will offer, here is a short list:

- A brand new user interface allow full control using only the mouse
- New and improved mouse flight controls
- Several new races and factions, including Earth's primary military force, the Terran United Space Command
- Independent, non-player owned corporations, complete with unique ships and stations, offering new friends or foes to players
- New group management system allowing for better control of large numbers of ships in your fleet
- Over 100 new ships and several new ship classes
- Double the amount of distinct weapons
- The ability to board and capture huge capital ships with your own mercenaries and soldiers

“Hello, my name is Unimportant Person, and I represent Bigass Money-hungry Bethesda. I am here today to let you all know that, somehow, without the knowledge of our pure (in)-breed Hell Hounds (which, if I must say, are constantly watching over the company's treasury ), a copy of Fallout 3 was leaked, flushed and obliterated into the hands of criminal gamers that should be raped in the ass in prison. Of course, we had nothing to do with it. No, Sir.”


There we have it. Before launch, Bethesda's attempt at making the Fallout universe politically correct is already beeing played by some keen X360 users all around the world. Good for them. I still wonder how the hell this version got UNINTENTIONALLY (yeah, right) in the hands of some random users, and not the PC version. Because, you know, we are used to pirated PC stuff first.

The guys over at Tom's Games are thoroughly investigating the matter, while officials from Oblivilol's mommy and daddy are trying to figure out if this is the final release code, or some earlier build.

I don't really know if I should laugh or cry when I look at this - not to mention the fact that I am still not getting it. Blizzard is, was and will be one of the top notch game producers ever invented by loli Jesus, alongside BioWare, Black Isle, 3DO and Westwood, so I usually do not question their motives when they decide something in their marketing strategy. But their latest thing seems a little... curious.



BlizzCon, the almighty place where all geeks meet either to jerk on some naked Blood Elven chick, either to discuss Blizz's future products, was the place where they announced that Starcraft 2 will actually be a trilogy, singleplayer-wise. As in, three different games. As in, no, you will not get them all-in-one. As in, HUH?

Because of the fact that its storyline is supposed to be “of epic proportions”, the game cannot be shipped just in a mere ONE bundle, so we will get a standalone campaign for each and every race. Terran: Wings of Liberty, where our old pal Jimmy Raynor does his usual “I have no place in this freaking universe” thing, Zerg: Heart of the Swarm, where Kerrigan might actually leak those naked pictures of her when she was young, and Protoss: Legacy of the Void, where the Protoss will probably be as gay and retarded as ever. With a new Matriarch. Each campaign will feature up to 30 missions, all, of course, fully enjoyable.

With infinite kindness, the girls at Steam are now accepting preorders for the very much anticipated Far Cry 2 and, to convince their customers even further into buying the game, the whole package comes with an amazing 5 USD discount. Just the right amount of money to buy that Bentley you have always dreamed of.



Alongside this, Steam is also swiftly delivering copies of Xpand Rally Xtreme, plus an updated version of their client, just to make people a little fuzzy inside. Far Cry 2 will ship on October 22.

Now that Fallout 3 is Gold and ready to ship into stores soon, the dearly beloved folks at Bethesda decided to let us know what to expect, when it comes to hungry system resource management. So, if you are still childishly thinking this game will be any good, or, at least, that it will keep a minor portion of the REAL Fallout... touch, then feel free to admire its requirements, for the PC Version.

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 Continue reading 'Fallout 3 System Requirements'...

Sequels are becoming so... yesterday. Or the day before that. It's either publishers getting lazy and covered in too many layers of cash, either the fact that, well, an expansion is easier to make, no one needs to create anything new from scratch, you have your engine, you have your shiny effects.. so just throw a few more multiplayer maps here and there, a singleplayer campaign to mess you up a bit while smashing AI heads with a blunt polearm, and, voila! Halo 3 Recon is up and running.

At least, it will be, somewhere in the rainy Fall of 2009. That is, if we will be getting any Fall by then. Story-wise (*gasp*), no more Master Chief for you, folks, just some random, nameless and personality lacking ODST Marine, who just happens to look like Master Chief.

Despite having gone gold earlier this month and receiving what looked like a final release date for October 3, X³: Terran Conflict isn't quite ready to be put to the test by its hardcore fans, after all. But don't worry, it won't be much longer. According to a recent update posted by German developer Egosoft, they had to push back the game's release to October 10, "due to unforeseen delays in the production process".

Aside from fixing whatever is wrong with it, the devs are also promising to "sweeten the waiting time" with more screenshots, videos and blog entries. And speaking of videos, we seem to have missed a few of them during our extended summer break. Well, no matter, here they are now.