Blizzard Entertainments senior VP for game design, Rob Pardo has confirmed a massive disappointment for the long awaited StarCraft 2 title. Yep as you may have realized by reading the title of this article, he stated that the development team,
don’t have any plans to support LAN… we will not support it… The only multiplayer available will be on Battle.net.
Now apparently the reasoning behind this is because of “the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net,” which they have yet to expand on.
Rob, Rob, Rob has Blizzard completely forgotten that a LAN option was one of the characteristics that made the original StarCraft so popular. Not including this in the new title would be like KFC changing their entire menu to the grilled chicken option.
It’s KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken, I eat there because I love the deep fried flavor and awesome skin! But hey perhaps they’ve really got something amazing in store for Battle.net, we’ll just have to wait and see I guess but scroll down to see a few of the 31 new screens released. I figured that posting all 31 screens might be a bit overkill considering they’re all in-game. But you can check out the rest here.
Source: incgamers
Last Updated: June 29, 2009
easy
June 29, 2009 at 14:02
wtf!!
yet another nail in the coffin of pc gaming
Janrik
June 29, 2009 at 14:11
Damn. EPIC FAIL!
Darkling
June 29, 2009 at 14:13
I was willing to upgrade my pc for THAT exact reason..
Now..meh.
Geoff
June 29, 2009 at 14:40
StarCraft without LAN is like a beautiful woman without nipples. Apparently Diablo III will also only have MP over battle.net.
I expect South Korea to be washed away in a sea of tears.
Darkling
June 29, 2009 at 14:47
Won’t Diablo 3 also not have LAN?
Darkling
June 29, 2009 at 14:51
Nevermind,didn’t read Geoff’s comment.
0rk0
June 29, 2009 at 15:03
If that is the case, they might as well have moved the franchise to consoles.
(EA’s Red Alert 3 also has to be played through their servers on the PS3)
Guess no one’s going to go to Rage this year to LAN.
Well done Blizzard.
You’re chasing the people who are able to buy your game and
the people who already have accepted the standard, can’t buy it.
Pure genius.
Atomic
June 29, 2009 at 15:25
This makes me angry..
Ruslan
June 29, 2009 at 15:59
Hahahaha… I bet this tactic from Blizzard is to deter PC pirates and to make them buy it legit! As always there will be a loophole to fool a Blizzard game into thinking they are on Battle.net, similar to the fake WoW servers. :biggrin:
bboy
June 29, 2009 at 16:04
I dunno hey – LAN is old skool, nay… LAN is dead, get connected and stay connected. We only bitch because our net sucks here, i don’t think the majority of Blizzard’s clientele are even gonna blink.
“South Korea to be washed away in a sea of tears.” What the hell are you talking about!? They have the fastest and most available internet IN THE WORLD! They really not gonna care about LANning… unless they pirates and not even paying.
Geoff
June 29, 2009 at 16:07
All of their major Starcraft tournaments are STILL done using LAN. While battle.net will obviously work fine for them, there’s the added disadvantage when organising tournaments of incorporating internet facilities.
While I personally don;t care for them, International large-scale LANS are still quite popular – Notable examples being QuakeCon and CPL in the states, DreamHack in Sweden, theGathering in Sweden – all of which take place at least annually, some of them more often.
To say that LANNING is dead is a little misguided, and there are no doubt many people who’d rather have LAN functionality in the games they buy.
easy
June 29, 2009 at 16:26
i was about to say the same as Geoff.
setting up a big lan is pretty difficult in itself, and to add an internet connedction for each computer would be a nightmare. serious pipe would be needed.
rage is expecting 1800 odd gamers… who’s gonna pay for connectivity?
Nick - Lazygamer
June 29, 2009 at 16:35
I am really upset with Blizzard because of these moves, especially with Diablo III. I prefer online gaming through and through, but there are some games that just work so well when played in the same room.
Major issue I have, is that we will now have to pay for the bandwidth to play games with people in the same room as us. Another example is that if you are capped or your internet goes down, then no MP either. You cant just whip out your laptop now and play with a buddy for a while, unless you all have access.
It’s really, really thick.
Aequitas
June 29, 2009 at 17:12
I agree
This is just stupid. Excluding LAN play in something that is non-persistant is idiotic.
I was looking forward to playing this at the monthly Mayhem LAN … but that’s now out of the question.
WTF Blizzard?
Pollynator
June 29, 2009 at 20:00
An absolutely retarded move…. WTF is wrong with them…. this makes the game impossible in lans like rAge and in tournaments as the bandwidth requirments for an entire tournament.
I really don’t get it… if you have 1000 computers in the same room why do we have to be forced to play through the internet just to play against someone who is 2 feet away…
This is really really stupid, it pisses me off!! :angry: :angry: :angry:
Can you imagine the number of COD play if they excluded LAN for example…
I think that everyone should get together and do something about this!!
Faheem
June 29, 2009 at 21:40
say whaaaaaat? no way… let down after let down
Faheem
June 29, 2009 at 21:42
lol i gotta say – you are so right esp about the console reference
Faheem
June 29, 2009 at 21:47
honestly i think that by excluding LAN, they’re actually throwing away much of the SC experience. why the hell would they wanna do that. i realize in SA we complain because of the band costs but come on… i wana obliterate a mate sitting next to me with my awesome zerg force and be able to stand up and point at my nether regions so he can see it without an mms or pic transfer…. if what i’m saying makes no sense thats cause i love Baronne! its red and liquid and amazing :w00t:
Vix
June 30, 2009 at 08:17
Agreed. When I first read it now (about 10 mins ago) I thought “WTF? NO – It’s not true…but it seems many sites are reporting the same thing”. Then I thought “Ok…then they can kiss my @$$ because without LAN I don’t want it”…but Dialbo 3 will be my saviour right? Wrong it seems…FARK YOU BLIZZARD!
Vix
June 30, 2009 at 08:25
I visit my bro and some of his mates in the FS. He only uses his cell (pre-paid) for any kind of internet access…so now we can no longer LAN at his place?
Seriously I’ll stick to C&C or something else that has LAN support if I want my RTS fix from now on – they can take SC2 (all three iterations of it) and shove it into their stupid hole. Ah well I know my ranting means nothing to anyone but at least it feels good for me to do.
Vix
June 30, 2009 at 08:28
One question. Will battlenet have local servers? They’ve never given SA local WoW servers…so that probably means no. So now I’m going to have to use international bandwidth to play a LAN? With a 400-800ms latency?
Give me a gun now and I’ll go shoot that friekin’ clown at Blizz right now (ok a plane ticket and an address too please…wait on second thoughts only give me the gun once i’ve landed).
👿
Dark
June 30, 2009 at 09:35
Does anyone know yet how Battlenet.2 will work? Im sure they said it was going to be a major part of all future blizzard titles. Perhaps in there lies the key? (Im an optomist and I am sure Blizzard have a plan? Surely?)
Ringo
June 30, 2009 at 11:19
What will this do to the modding community? Cutting out LAN play might reduce the number of fun mods like we saw in WC3.
Hunt
February 19, 2010 at 06:10
I saw the Battle.net panel on youtube, and it seems than you can do the same stuff you just need internet, and you have to purchase 2 games instead of 1.