-
TUMBLR
-
FACEBOOK
Tag Archives: blizzard
Blizzard Confirms StarCraft II Overheating Bug
Blizzard has confirmed that there is a serious bug in StarCraft II that could potentially cause your video card to overheat – possibly damaging it beyond repair. The problem lies in the rendering of the game’s menu screens. The frame rates aren’t limited by default, meaning that the game engine simply continues to render like crazy.
Fortunately, the fix is simple. You need only add the following to your “variables.txt” file, which is located under Documents\StarCraft II\.
frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60
I’m guessing that Blizzard will have a patch out for this within the next day or two.
StarCraft II: Minimum System Requirements
If there’s one thing that Blizzard really knows how to do well, it’s making their games run on older hardware. Although many were worried that this wouldn’t be the case with StarCraft II due to Blizzard’s new partnership with Activision, those concerns were apparently unfounded. Below are the minimum specs needed to run the game.
PC:
- Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 (Latest Service Packs) with DirectX 9.0c
- 2.6 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
- 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card or better
Mac:
- Mac OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
- Intel Processor
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon X1600 or better
PC/Mac:
- 12 GB available HD space
- 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 users, 2 GB for Mac users)
- DVD-ROM drive
Posted in Games
StarCraft II: $100,000,000+ Production Cost
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that StarCraft II cost Blizzard and its relatively new partner Activision more than $100 million and over a decade to develop. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick estimates that the game will bring in between $500 million and $1 billion in profit, however, so the production fee is really a drop in the bucket.
StarCraft 2 hits store shelves on July 27.
StarCraft II Takes to the Skies Via Korean Air
Korean Air took video game advertising to a whole new level yesterday with the unveiling of their new StarCraft II branded Boeing 747 during a major StarCraft press event.
Interestingly, it was also announced at the same press event that a special “professional” edition of StarCraft II designed for tournament play would ship… and it includes LAN support. This will of course infuriate fans who have been chiding Blizzard for otherwise excluding LAN functions. I’m guessing that it will be about two hours after release before someone pirates a copy.
Blizzard Censors South Korean Version of StarCraft II to Avoid “Adults Only” Rating
Fearing that an “adults only” rating would crush sales, 1Up is reporting that Blizzard has opted to censor the South Korean version of StarCraft II. The changes include re-coloring blood black and removing smoking references and “vulgar” language from unit speech files. This revised version should receive an “age 12″ rating, which will widen the potential customer base substantially.
Posted in Games
StarCraft II Mods
Ars Technica is running a feature on the six most impressive StarCraft II mods released since the beginning of the beta.
From a Mario Kart mini-game to a full-on first person shooter concept, modders have already begun to unlock the raw power of Blizzard’s map editor, which was released with the beta and will be available as part of the full retail release.
I’m particularly excited about the Smash TV clone.
Posted in Games
Blizzard Integrating Battle.net with Facebook
According to Paul Sams, CEO at Blizzard, the company has big plans to integrate the Battle.net service with Facebook.
We’re pleased to be working with Facebook to integrate their platform with Battle.net to enhance the social-entertainment experience for our players. This new functionality will make it easier than ever to connect with friends on Battle.net and play StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games together.
There are no real details on what this actually means for players at this point. I personally don’t think this is a good thing. I’m really tired of Facebook’s invasive strategy.
World of WarCraft Leads to Drug Dealer’s Arrest
Alfred Hightower, a drug dealer from Indiana, could live without his country but apparently not without World of WarCraft, according to this report on Kotaku. He skipped out on an arrest warrant by fleeing to Canada, where he presumably spent his time eating burritos and grinding mobs for hours on end. A deputy in Howard County sent a subpoena to Blizzard and, although it took them a while, the company responded with all of the information needed to track Hightower down and arrest him.
Blizzard: No Diablo III In 2010
GameInformer is reporting that Blizzard has confirmed what many PC gamers feared: there won’t be a release on Diablo III in 2010. Instead, they’re focusing on the release of StarCraft II and the next World of WarCraft expansion, Cataclysm.
This blows… but at least we have Torchlight to keep us company in the meantime!
Posted in Games