What is it about Blizzard games that have such an appeal? Are we all just nostalgic, or is there something really special about their design? Either way, they are upping their game and even giving you the opportunity to create the next Dota phenomenon.
First things first, Starcraft II now has a Starter Edition:
Play the first five missions of the epic single-player campaign and wage unrelenting war on your friends in pulse-pounding multi-player battles. Get in the fight!
That’s right, for the low low cost of free you can get your Zerg on. This is getting rolled out at the same time as an update, bringing us to version 2.1. The patch, combined with the Starter Edition, mean that anyone can play custom maps on StarCraft II, even if they don’t own the game itself. Seeing as Dota got its start as a custom game type in Warcraft III, maybe we will see the next new thing coming from StarCraft II. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Meanwhile, the battle.net launcher is finally getting Diablo III integration. For those who haven’t used the battle.net app/launcher, it is meant to streamline access to all your Blizzard games. By logging in to the app, you can then launch World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Diablo III and Hearthstone. Unfortunately, up until now, when launching Diablo III from the battle.net launcher, you would then get to the Diablo III launcher – you’d need to login again and get aggravated over the uselessness of the battle.net app. Well, that is now a thing of the past as Blizzard has announced that it’s all getting streamlined into the battle.net app and the Diablo III launcher will become a thing of the past. Oh, and this is all to prepare you for the massive patch that’s coming, just by the way.
Oh, I mentioned Hearthstone for your battle.net launcher. In case you were wondering, the game is now in Open Beta – at least, in North America. That’s right – I no longer get to feel like Oprah giving away free cars with all our Hearthstone beta keys. Just go play the game for free, now. Do it, you know you want to.
Seems like the people over at Blizzard have been busy. I like the launcher – it’s good to have all the games in once place. Now excuse me, I need to go play some Hearthstone like all the cool kids.
Last Updated: January 22, 2014
Admiral Chief in Vegas
January 22, 2014 at 12:39
As for Blizzard games, bring back Blackthorne!
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 13:05
Maybe we should start an online petition!!!
Admiral Chief in Vegas
January 22, 2014 at 13:06
I’d even settle for a 3rd person cover shooter (cuz it is mos the world’s first cover shooter :P)
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 13:09
Ok hear me out… From what I could see in that gameplay trailer for 1313 it kinda looked like a 3rd person cover shooter. What if Blizzard took the same engine and build Blackthorne on that?
Admiral Chief in Vegas
January 22, 2014 at 13:09
Hoverbombs and epic shotguns and covershooter and awesomeness!
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 13:28
Seriously need to get a new PC. I so want to play this game again!!!
El Capitan del Blade
January 22, 2014 at 13:07
yeah, ‘cos online petitions work great! remember how that Got Ben Affleck booted from his Batman role… good times
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 13:18
See, this is exactly what I mean… But who did they get to replace him? O_o
Hammersteyn
January 22, 2014 at 13:47
Kickstarter time. If only I had the skills. We could call it Swartdoring.
Kromas
January 22, 2014 at 12:39
Yep. this is my notification area. Blizzard App,Steam App,Uplay App,Origin App,EveMon,Teamviewer (left out the basic ones we all have).
ElimiNathan
January 22, 2014 at 13:09
Aren’t those the basic ones we all have ? 😛
Kromas
January 22, 2014 at 13:19
Some sear off Origin and Uplay and not everyone is a fan of Eve online. 😛
ElimiNathan
January 22, 2014 at 13:26
Ye minus the Eve online for me, and I haven’t used Teamviewer in a while either
Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!
January 22, 2014 at 12:40
*downloads Hearthstone*
Mathias
January 22, 2014 at 13:06
I never played a card game before… Will check this out regardless.
Admiral Chief in Vegas
January 22, 2014 at 13:06
Solitaire? Freecell? Uno?
Mathias
January 22, 2014 at 13:08
Specially NOT Uno.
Admiral Chief in Vegas
January 22, 2014 at 13:09
Dinking Uno? Drinking waterfall? Drinking kings?
Mossel: A Tale of One Mollusk
January 22, 2014 at 13:12
Kings! wow…what horrible memories I dont have of that.
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 13:26
Kings is interesting when you play it with my Dad. He makes all these calculated rules just to be a bastard
Mossel: A Tale of One Mollusk
January 22, 2014 at 13:51
Calculated rules? O_O sounds hectic
Unavengedavo
January 22, 2014 at 14:01
The worst is you can see the gears turning in his head and then a sly smile. And then you know that you will not be leaving sober
Mossel: A Tale of One Mollusk
January 22, 2014 at 14:03
I always feel like whoever is the drunkest wins the game. Or atleast that is my excuse.
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 22, 2014 at 13:13
Canasta, the game of kings!
Theo Steenekamp
January 22, 2014 at 13:10
uhm, I never heard of the issue where you couldn’t get into D3 with the launcher. Weird. Been using it since it came out.
Lizzard
January 22, 2014 at 13:14
Don’t recall having any issue with Diablo3 launching from the app. Find the app fantastic though. Jumping between games is very easy now.
Craig "Crios" Boonzaier
January 22, 2014 at 13:25
On the topic of Diablo 3.
Holy Hells! The Reaper of Souls Collectors Edition is expensive, I cant see why its justified for charging between R900 – R1000 for an expansion.
Its +-R300 more expensive than the original CE and its about 25% of the original content.
A 2 Brute?
January 22, 2014 at 13:42
I agree! Totally overkill. Blizzard has some explaining to do to justify such a ridiculous mark up on an expansion to Diablo III. Granted the original game is getting quite an incredible overhaul of content and gameplay/ balancing changes, I still don’t believe it warrants a R300 increase over the previous CE, and a R500 premium over the standard edition.
b1nd3r
January 22, 2014 at 13:40
My diablo has been launching from the bnet app for a few months now already >.< wtf any1 else noticed this?
A 2 Brute?
January 22, 2014 at 13:50
Same, had no issues with it. Since I installed the app, it worked fine.
Grognak
January 22, 2014 at 15:05
Same here