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Blizzard Celebrates 15 Years of StarCraft

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since March 31, 1998, when StarCraft first captured our imaginations and for some of us, became a solid part of our childhood. StarCraft has also greatly contributed to the online competitive gaming world, even though at the time we couldn’t have known how much it would grow.

So, what’s the best part about all of this? Well, we’ve got many years of StarCraft ahead of us!

Blizzard is offering up a feat of strength for StarCraft players that will allow you to unlock 3 new portraits that pay homage to classic StarCraft along with getting a special achievement “15 Years of StarCraft” .

So how do you get the achievement?

Just play one game of StarCraft II in any online mode before 11:59 p.m. PDT on April 17.

Beginning March 31, play one Arcade, Custom, Ranked, Training, Unranked, or Versus A.I. game to earn the StarCraft 15-Year Anniversary Feat of Strength achievement. As soon as you’ve received the achievement, all three portraits will be permanently unlocked in your StarCraft II character profile.

You get see Blizzard’s official post about the anniversary on battle.net.

 

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Unreal Engine 4 Shows Off Infiltrator Demo

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The latest version of the Unreal Engine is showing off some of it’s capabilities in a new “Infiltrator” Demo that is being rendered in real-time.  The demo was unveiled at GDC 2013 earlier and it looks absolutely stunning.

Unreal Engine 4 will be running on the next-gen PlayStation 4 and most likely the next Xbox. Unreal Engine 4 seems to actually have a “wow factor” to it and it helps to remind us that although at times it feels like games can’t get any better looking, they can and will continue to evolve.  The final verdict on the this next-gen technology will only come into play once we see this stuff on our own TV screens. Until then, we have to keeps watching demos of what’s to come. You can see the official announcement at Unreal.

Blizzard Introduces HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft

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Blizzard Entertainment has introduced a brand new game, HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft. The game is a TCG (Trading Card Game) style game that is free-to-play and features all of our favorite Warcraft characters. Build Decks and Challenge players, the core of any good card game, and that’s exactly what HearthStone is all about.

It’s exciting to see Blizzard doing something that shakes things up a bit. I can’t wait to jump in and check it out. The game will be available for Windows PC, Mac, and iPad. You can sign up to be a part of the beta and get even more information by heading to the official site, HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft.

We’ve always loved collectible card games at Blizzard, so it’s been exciting to bring everything we love about the genre to life in Hearthstone, we’re putting a lot of focus into creating a fun new game that’s easy to pick up and play, but also has a lot of depth. We can’t wait to share it with everyone.”– Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment

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HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

Ready for Windows Blue? It Could Be Here Very Soon

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The rumors continue as more talk about Windows Blue is popping up around the web. Sources say that Windows Blue is not going to be Windows 9 but rather a series improvements upon Windows 8. We could see a public preview of Microsoft’s latest software as early as a few months from now with Microsoft supposedly planning on a summer release of the overhaul.

Sources also say that Windows Blue will include Internet Explorer 11 and improved search functionality. The refresh may also include support for 7 and 8 inch mobile devices. This sounds like a good plan for Microsoft as I feel Windows 8 is still largely unpolished. Overall, my impression of Windows 8 is more positive as of late and I’m hoping that Windows Blue will address some my remaining issues. As we hear more about Windows Blue, we will keep you in the loop.

SimCity Launch A Complete Disaster

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I can’t help but be amazed at the level of failure going on with with EA’s recent launch of SimCity. The game has been plagued with server issues that cause users to experience extremely long log-in times and even data loss. If you are able to get online, the game will usually end up freezing up or crashing all together.  The game has basically been unplayable since it’s launch, an issue that has caused Amazon to temporarily pull the game from it’s online stores.

Many people are using the launch failure as an opportunity to talk about how bad “online-only DRM” is and not to support it. I don’t really have an issue with online gaming and normally I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that an online game is having issues, it’s a difficult project to undertake, but EA is a veteran and they need to step up and make this work. I was initially pretty excited to hear about the SimCity Launch but this is a major disappointment.

EA has clearly recognized that they have messed up and are now offering up a free PC game download.

Here’s their statement.

The good news is that SimCity is a solid hit in all major markets. The consensus among critics and players is that this is fundamentally a great game. But this SimCity is made to be played online, and if you can’t get a stable connection, you’re NOT having a good experience. So we’re not going to rest until we’ve fixed the remaining server issues.

And to get us back in your good graces, we’re going to offer you a free PC download game from the EA portfolio. On March 18, SimCityplayers who have activated their game will receive an email telling them how to redeem their free game.

I know that’s a little contrived – kind of like buying a present for a friend after you did something crummy. But we feel bad about what happened. We’re hoping you won’t stay mad and that we’ll be friends again when SimCity is running at 100 percent.

SimCity is a GREAT game and the people who made it are incredibly proud. Hang in there – we’ll be providing more updates throughout the weekend.