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Blizzard Set To Debut 'Something New' At PAX East

skade88 writes "Ars is reporting that Blizzard will announce a new game on March 22, 2013 at PAX East. They say the new game is not a sequel or expansion. Blizzard is also saying the new game is not the long rumored MMO named Titan. Considering that every game Blizzard released since 1998 has had the name StarCraft, Warcraft or Diablo in it, this is big news. Ars speculates in the article that the new game could be Blizzard's version of a DOTA game. They showed off Blizzard All-Stars at BlizzCon 2010 as a SC2 custom map. It could be ready for launch as its own standalone game. I guess we will have to wait and see!"

27 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Clealry by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    they've done away with the pretense of a game and just have an auction house.

    Or it could be truly shocking and they are going to produce a fun game again.
    I would love to see a new Warcraft RTS. preferable without some lame story shoved into it.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:Clealry by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 2

      I kinda liked the hero; especially the dwarf. The sound effects in that game are classic. Can't remember tghe last time I played it and I still find myself imitating them in context:

      "Woooooork complete!"

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
  2. Re:WoW for PS4 and Xbox Durango?!?!? by masternerdguy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Citizen, you enjoy microtransactions.

    --
    To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
  3. Re:PORTAL 3 by pezpunk · · Score: 2

    that would be a neat trick, considering .... anything.

    --
    i could live a little longer in this prison
  4. Or a Quake-type game... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

    "Ars speculates in the article that the new game could be Blizzard's version of a DOTA game."

    Well, there are a half dozen of those already, too. So: Nothing new still.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  5. Let me guess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Microtransaction Hero!

    Spend real money to buy things to wave your dick around on the forums. Complete with full public profiles so others can see how much money you actually spent.

    Cool features like:
    - Call people noobs for not spending as much money as you have
    - Spend money instead of actually playing the game
    - Spend money to acquire virtual currency that Blizzard owns
    - Spend money to super-inflate the in-game economy so if you want something later, you have to spend more money

    1. Re:Let me guess by masternerdguy · · Score: 2

      That sounds a lot like EVE General Discussion to me.

      --
      To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
  6. Re:WoW for PS4 and Xbox Durango?!?!? by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

    Watch, probably moving to the annoying mobile IAP method.

    Player, you have run out of Mana! You may disconnect from battlenet for 1 hour to regenerate or pay $1 to regenerate now.

  7. Re:Definitions, please by Gaygirlie · · Score: 5, Informative

    From what I can gather you have two or more teams, each with their own base, all trying to capture points from the other teams all the while your own teammates keep yelling obscenities at you because you're not doing this or that exactly how they want, and it ends with one or the other team capturing enough points, wiping the other one out, or the players getting fed up with the constant abuse by own teammates and logging out. But really, the constant raging, belittling and abusing of own teammates is seemingly the most important thing in these games.

  8. YOU ARE NOT by etash · · Score: 2

    PREPARED for what blizzard is bringing forth!

    /me runs away

    1. Re:YOU ARE NOT by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 2

      is blizzard going to make me its bitch?

  9. Aha by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I will show "some reaction" when I know what it is.

    Seriously, I mean, I'm used to vaporware and whatnot, but this is getting ridiculous. Are we now supposed to get excited over the announcement of getting "something", they can't even be assed anymore to at least announce it?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  10. Re:Definitions, please by Anubis+IV · · Score: 4, Informative

    DOTA = Defense of the Ancients, the most popular custom map in Warcraft III. It spawned the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) genre in which players control a single hero unit from a third-person perspective while leveling/gearing up in an attempt to destroy the opponent team's base, and which now has a number of entries in it, the most notable being League of Legends. DOTA is so well known and popular that Valve even hired IceFrog, one of DOTA's lead developers, to create "DOTA 2" as a standalone game that is currently in beta (and is already the second most popular eSport title, behind only StarCraft II).

  11. Re:WoW for PS4 and Xbox Durango?!?!? by Andrio · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Man, this sucks. I remember when I loved Blizzard, but now I can't even get excited about this news, not even a little bit.

    I know that this new project, no matter what, will (1) Be always online and require an account and (2) Will have its gameplay heavily influenced, driven, or impacted by a means to make money after the initial ($60!) sale, via micro transactions or a monthly fee or whatever.

    --
    The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
  12. What genres are new to them? by stewsters · · Score: 2

    I am kind of curious. They cover there fantasy and dark fantasy bases with Warcraft and Diablo, they cover their distant future with Starcraft.
    What does that leave that's significantly different?

    A contemporary hyper-realistic fps war game? Where you can trade real world money to drop tanks and get airstrikes?

    An mmo where you play as a minimum wage worker at a large box store? You can have to make up the difference in your rent with micro-transactions?

    A pirate simulator? Where you need to use micro-transactions to buy fruit so you don't get scurvy?

  13. Re:World of Hobbitcraft by idontgno · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't have to imagine that; I have children.

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  14. More well polished mediocrity. by Ziggitz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Blizzard has become the J.J. Abrams of game developers in the last couple years. Nothing they do is risky or ambitious. As a result Diablo 3 turned into a snoozefest with no new mechanics and a loot system that was less exciting than its predecessor. They showed they can't break away from core mechanics in Starcraft 2 that were terrible for the multiplayer scene. If they were to make a DotA style game at this point, I would give an absolute vote of no confidence in their ability to turn it into a quality competitive game. Sure it'll look pretty and it'll run smooth. It'll either be well balanced and boring as hell or broken beyond all belief. They'll ignore player feedback and commit themselves to horrible design decisions.

    The thing I dislike most about Blizzard right now is that they seem to think that they have bottled the formula for fun. They think that they have a perfect statistical method for determining balance while completely ignoring how their games are actually being played. What they've actually bottled is the perfect formula for average clones of prior success. So not really all that excited.

    --
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  15. World of Starcraft! by S810 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe this will be World of Starcraft! I have long thought that it was the next evolution of that franchise.

    --
    "I think you know what I'm talkin' about, Mr. President; We're gonna kill us a mummy!" - Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley
    1. Re:World of Starcraft! by Tharkkun · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe this will be World of Starcraft! I have long thought that it was the next evolution of that franchise.

      It will probably be the Bungie and Blizzard collaboration that has yet to be announced. The signed on to develop a game together a couple years back.

  16. Re:Assuming the MOBA rumor is true... by ArhcAngel · · Score: 2

    Yeah, There is a lot of hype around DOTA 2 but I figured it wasn't meeting Valve's expectation when they started handing out multiple copies to anybody who had ever shown an interest. I had already purchased a copy and they gave me and my son's account 4 more each to hand out to friends.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  17. I say this now. by Westwood0720 · · Score: 2

    I'll say now that I'm not buying it. Then again, I say I'm cancelling my WoW account and never returning. Only, in four months I renew, level to 45, get bored, and quit again. I do this three times a year. Diablo 3, told myself I wasn't going to bother. Week after release, I bought it. Blizzard always seems to sucker me into their games. No matter how often I tell myself I'm not playing, I come back. >.
    Certainly has my attention as to what the game could be though.

  18. Blizzard Games by CFBMoo1 · · Score: 2

    WoW has seriously turned me off to Blizzard games. Seven years in that did have it's good times but that was from the people I met and not from the game I played.

    Loved Diablo 1 and 2, haven't even touched Diablo 3. I'll be cracking away at the next cavern in Minecraft when they release this new one.

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    ~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
  19. Re:Assuming the MOBA rumor is true... by HaZardman27 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It was planned as a free-to-play game with cosmetic microtransactions. The whole point is to get as many people interested in it and playing as possible. The $30 you can spend for it is "early-access" for anyone that somehow can't get an invite. Look at the number of people playing it on a typical day - it usually peaks at over 200k simultaneous players.

    --
    Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
  20. Meh. Who cares? by runeghost · · Score: 2

    Blizzard jumped the shark years ago. The only people who might be legitimately excited by this news are stockholders, at the prospect of yet another franchise to milk cash from.

  21. As a Mac user, let me be the first to say by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Finally, another game available for the Mac! We almost have a dozen good games now!

  22. Re:WoW for PS4 and Xbox Durango?!?!? by GodInHell · · Score: 2

    Dude already addressed that in the line after the one you quoted.

  23. Re:Probably will screw it up again by geekoid · · Score: 2

    Diablo 3 had a pretty sharp drop off.
    Most people weren't happy with it.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect