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Blizzard Still Has Hope For StarCraft Ghost
Next Generation reports on a panel from the Hollywood and Games summit, where several influential names in Massively Multiplayer games discussed ways to connect virtual worlds with other media. Interesting stuff, but the piece points out something that you probably didn't know: Blizzard still wants StarCraft:Ghost to get made. Ghost was the much-delayed, and then cancelled, shooter title set in the StarCraft world. Rob Pardo speaks to its possible future while making a point about commitment to quality: "[Blizzard is] just willing to cancel the products that fail. That's important to our brand. We're willing to bite the bullet and write off those expenses. Sometimes six months into development, the idea doesn't flow ... Our most recent one was Starcraft Ghost. With that game we were very stubborn. I still believe in that game and the characters but we were not able to execute at the level we wanted to...Rather than work on that we had to focus on our other games. We're hoping one day to return to it."
With WoW expansion in development and Starcraft 2, I don't see Starcraft Ghost coming out in the next 3 years.
I was looking forward to Ghost after its initial announcement and would still be interested in it should it come back up in the future. As blasphemous as it probably is to say, I'm not in the least moved by the notion of World of WarCraft or StarCraft 2, so I have to wait for Ghost or Diablo III (or a new installment of the Lost Vikings or Rock 'n' Roll Racing!) before Blizzard catches my attention again.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
The game was in playable form at E3 2005 and I was there as a correspondent, so I got some good demos from the Blizzard staff. It was there on all 3 consoles as far as I can recall, and although the Cube one didn't have online multiplayer, all 3 looked cool and played well.
A 3rd-person shooter of that sort would be very welcome by folks who miss the good old days of Jet Force Gemini, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the game 2 years ago. It also appeared nearly finished!
However, the additional delays basically made it a title that would be released well into the 360's lifespan, making it look very outdated. I do hope they get a chance to overhaul the graphics engine and maybe add whatever content they felt was missing, and release the game.
(Though, the real deal-maker would be if they made it possible to play through the game as either Nova (the ghost) or a Protoss hero, and possibly some hyper-intelligent Hydralisk or something.)
I like basketball!!1!
If they release it for Wii: - People will be more accepting of slightly outdated graphics. - Blizzard developers get some experience with coding controls for the Wii. - Introduce Starcraft and Blizzard to a whole new audience. - They can start printing money by re-releasing the classic on Nintendo's DS handheld and/or the Wii.