BLIZZARD - E3 2002
Blizzard's booth was similar to it's setup in previous years. 2 games were shown, with no major surprises. A nice looking WarCraft 3 cinema was being shown on their big screen, which looked as good as you would expect. Blizzard is at work on other projects, but for now we will have to wait to see what they are. After some lengthily discussions with Chris Miller, producer for WarCraft 3, it turns out his Blizzard South team is a big fan of StarCraft and wouldn't mind doing another one. It is probably a safe guess that an expansion pack is in the works, probably going to be released a year after release of the full version. The rest of the team could be on something new (StarCraft 2?) or perhaps we may see a new series. Good show, as always.
| World of WarCraft - This game is still early. The Blizzard folk weren't even going to talk about a release date at this point, so it is expected to see this game much more detail at next year's E3. What was seen was impressive though. While the environments were a little bit void of other characters and monsters, the terrains was really nice looking. I ended up playing the game for a good half an hour or so, and the Orc which I controlled was easy to use. There were a variety of magics I could use, one of them being an entangling vine that captured an enemy allowing my allies to fight it easily. Bliz said that the E3 version had a lot of features removed so that it wouldn't be stolen by the competitors, which I've been told has happened already with certain features of the game. |
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WarCraft 3 - Being a beta tester for WarCraft 3, I may be a little bias <pats self on back>, but WarCraft 3 is shaping up to be a solid addition to what fans have come to expect from Blizzard. The single player missions were playable at the show, and there is plenty of dialog and plot to keep the RPG fan in you happy. The great thing is this game is on track for release in late June! New effects not seen in the beta include environmental enhancements like water on the shores animating and nice looking new tile sets. There will be a lot of side quests, should you chose to play them, making the single player campaigns a possible 60+ hours to beat! Multiplayer games are still in the process of balance changes, but the game has progressed significantly due to the public beta. Expect a plot twist toward the end of the game! I've been warned that Blizzard did something they usually don't do... so maybe there will be an unexpected surprise? Should be a strong title coming in June! |
