EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: starcraftii
With the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty last year, Blizzard Entertainment stomped on our expectations for what a strategy game could be in terms of pure presentation and style, while still retaining gameplay elements that made the first title in the series so popular.
It also crushed our expectations for PC game market performance, selling an incredible three million units in one month around the world.
To get us excited all over again for StarCraft II, Blizzard has more formally unveiled the next entry to the series, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which will this time focus on the story of the Zerg (as opposed to the Terran in Wings of Liberty), and looks to be scheduled for release in 2012.
The Association for United Kingdom Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), in association with sales tracking firm Chart Track, has announced the top-selling videogames for the region over the course of 2010.
The lists comprise sales rankings for all platforms, as well as an overall ‘All Formats’ chart, and other than a few obvious chart heroes making appearances (Call of Duty: Black Ops), you might be surprised to find out that StarCraft II, for example, wasn’t the best-selling PC game in the UK in 2010.
Or maybe you wouldn’t be.
The full sales charts for best-selling games of 2010 in the UK follow below:
Following the announcement in early August that Blizzard’s StarCraft II had sold over 1.5 million units over the course of two days, the company has now gone and revealed that the industry crushing real-time strategy game has doubled that number during its first month on sale.
A post on the official Battle.net blog has revealed details of the upcoming 1.1 patch for StarCraft II which is set to add additional mod features, bug fixes, support for Nvidia’s 3D Vision as well as a host of balance changes… and when I say ‘a host,’ I actually mean a deluge… and when I say ‘a deluge,’ I really mean that you should head to your nearest bomb shelter.
The 1.1 patch for StarCraft II is due for release by the middle of September, and will contain the following additions and improvements:
US sales tracking and research group NPD has revealed sales figures for the region’s videogame industry during the month of July 2010, and thanks to an incredible surge in Xbox 360 console sales, revenue for the month reached $846.5 million, which represents a decline of only 1% compared to the same month in 2009, when revenue reached $850.6 million.
Hardware sales then were led comfortably by the Xbox 360, ahead of perennial market leaders the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii – the first time Microsoft has managed such a feat since the release of Halo 3 in September of 2007.
On the software side, NCAA Football 11 from EA was the best-selling game for July, although interestingly enough, Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II on the PC outsold EA’s title, but due to the nature of NPD’s reporting (i.e. not comparing PC and console software data), StarCraft II has to celebrate its victory alone.
Last week’s chart dominator, StarCraft II (sales down 72%), is this week relegated to No. 4 on Chart Track’s UK Software Sales chart, as Toy Story 3 reclaims the No. 1 position after a single week of absence, despite a 25% drop in sales.
This is expected, though. Toy Story 3 is available on multiple platforms and is riding the wave of the movie’s popularity, while StarCraft II is only available on a single platform. The real news this week on the ‘ole UK sales chart is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Activision Blizzard has released its financial results for the company’s second fiscal quarter ending June 30th, posting net revenues of $967 million, down from $1.04 billion during the same period last year.
Blizzard has revealed that the studio’s recently released StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for the PC and Mac managed to sell over 1.5 million copies during the first 48 hours of its availability, easily making it the best-selling PC game of 2010, and the fastest-selling strategy title of all time.
It was inevitable. After twelve years of anticipation, and following the release of the original phenomenonal hit title, it had to happen.
To the absolute surprise of no-one, Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has this week debuted at No. 1 on Chart Track’s UK Software Sales chart, no doubt effortlessly knocking last week’s chart topper, Toy Story 3, off of its perch.
Psst. Hey. Hey you. Want to hear a secret? Promise not to tell anyone else? Alright then, here goes…
You know that epic strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment, StarCraft II? You know, the one with the insanely addictive multiplayer and the blockbuster singleplayer campaign featuring the human army, the Terran? Yeah, that StarCraft II!
It’s just been released today! After years in development, StarCraft II is finally out!
… yes, “that’s my secret”! What do you mean “you already know”?
The imminent launch of Blizzard’s StarCraft II has been ushered in with the release of a brand new and awesome cinematic trailer for the game, reminding us of StarCraft’s past story strings involving Jim Raynor, Kerrigan and those wicked Zerg, while setting up the sequel’s narrative.
It’s all suitably impressive, and if you aren’t yet at full excitement capacity for StarCraft II’s release on July 27th, this trailer is sure to help you along:
In a post on the official Battle.net site, Blizzard has reminded all participants that the StarCraft II beta will come to a close today, Monday, July 19th. Like you needed reminding…
But fear not! The opportunity to play StarCraft II (including that juicy sounding singleplayer component) will return in just over a week’s time, on July 27th.
“What happens on July 27th?” a voice in the crowd asks.
… You’re kidding, right?
From the Battle.net blog post:
BigDownload has managed to get a hold of the system requirements for the final retail version of StarCraft II from Blizzard, and as those of you who’ve already dipped into the game’s beta already know, this RTS isn’t particularly taxing on modern computer hardware.
Sure, you’ll be able to crank up the graphics settings and enjoy better special effects, but if you’re worried you won’t be able to play StarCraft II at all because your system is a couple years old, fear not!
The minimum system requirements are quite modest, and even the recommended requirements aren’t exactly hitting the upper limits of supercomputer-level behaviour.
Have a look through the final ‘minimum’ and ‘recommended’ system requirements for StarCraft II below:
Are you one of those PC gamers that’s fully embraced the digital retail space, and won’t even look at a game unless it’s available as a download through Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive or any other service. Are you starting to come around to this way of purchasing games?
Well if this describes you, and you intend to buy the impending StarCraft II through digital means before its release on July 27th, then it’s time to pre-download the game to cut down on delayed playtime on launch day!
From a blog post on Blizzard’s Battle.net site:
Earlier this week, Blizzard announced the controversial decision that, starting with the release of StarCraft II on July 27th, all StarCraft forum members in Blizzard’s official message boards would have their full real name appear beside any message posted in those forums.
It was also announced that the World of Warcraft forums would use the same system, dubbed Real ID, following the release of the Cataclysm expansion for that game
One reason for Blizzard’s decision to use the Real ID system was provided by community manager Nethaera, who said:
“Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before.”
Nevertheless, the announcement lead to an immediate outcry from Blizzard’s significant community of players, pointing out the numerous problems with revealing real world information as important as a person’s name to the internet at large.
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