I wonder what the chances of them making a new franchise is.

Maybe it'll be a Starcraft FPS and play like Natural Selection for Half Life. I'd buy that in a second.

I'd love to see a new franchise and a new genre as well. Too bad we all know that's not going to happen.

I think a Starcraft Action-RPG (Diablo-Style) would be neat, although pulling this off without ruining the entire Starcraft universe seems almost impossible.

From a business perspective, they'd be mad to release World of Starcraft this soon after the release of Burning Crusade. Buzz surrounding the expansion isn't dead yet, and Blizzard would be picking their own pockets. Some of their customer base would surely feel alienated as well, feeling they "wasted" their money on the expansion when news of this MMO pops up shortly thereafter.

That said, having seen what's been going on with WoW from afar, I'm not entirely sure I trust Blizzard to have that much sense. Then again, maybe they're going with the mad plan of marketing World of Starcraft primarily to the Koreans, and focusing their WoW attentions mainly on the western player base. After all, from figures I've seen, WoW gets overshadowed by classic Starcraft and Lineage II over there.

I dunno if I'm that enthusiastic about thoughts of Starcraft 2 anymore, either. They've got quite a personal standard to live up to, and I really don't think Blizzard is the same company we all remember and love. Several years ago I couldn't have given Blizzard my money fast enough for Starcraft 2, but now it almost seems like missing the boat. Especially since I know it'll demand faster specs than my computer can handle.

If it isn't SC 2 I'm gonna have another good laugh at all the folks who got their hopes up (yet again) for a sequel to SC. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, it just gets funny when I see something like:

Headlines: "Blizzard to announce new game on date x"
Gamers: "ZOMG!!111 ITZ SC 2@!@!@!!!
Headlines: "Blizzard announces new game: <insert game that's not SC 2 here>
Gamers: "WTF BLIZZ!!!!"

Sorry it just gets funny after awhile. Especially since the last time this happened was when they announced WoW, and how bummed everyone was after finding out.

That said, if it is SC 2, I'll be interested in seeing what comes of it. I just hope it's *nothing* like WC 3. The campaign in WC 3 was fun, but other than that it was just a rush fest of how many tier 1 units can I build and rush at the other guy's base in x amount of time.....and oh yeah let's throw a hero in there for good measure. The original SC maps even against the computer had a more satisfying feel to them too, so I definitely wouldn't complain if they went with some tried and true elements from SC *if* it is indeed SC 2.

Ever since I finished C&C3 with the Scrin, I had the urge to play Starcraft again. A second Starcraft (btw - whatever game it is, we won't see it until 2009 (late 2008 perhaps), mark my words) would be wonderful.

A new MMORPG would be plain stupid, I'm sure everyone agrees on that. Why destroy the cash-machine named WoW?

Besides, since starcraft2.com seems to exist and is showing the same flash screen (the guys at diablo3.com seem to be anxious as well) - I doubt it'll be anything else but just SC2.

I'd love another game though, but would it be worth it for Blizzard?

I would really like to see a new Diablo but I think the demand for Starcraft is much greater. Hopefully they will grant my wish :(

Shame about SC:Ghost though, it started to look pretty sweet.

Blizzard have lost their soul since they released World of Warcraft. I myself was part of the collective for a while, but I broke the chains that bound me.

They didn't release games a terrible lot, but when you played those few games they did make, you noticed straight away the amount of effort that was put into the game. This was all lost when they wreaked WoW upon this world.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is something related to WoW. That's all that's on their minds these days. If by some miracle it's not, then I'll actually be impressed. It's about time they redeemed themselfs.

They put 4+ years of development into World of Warcraft. The original product was amazing. But the development teams and the "maintenance" teams are two very different things at Blizzard. The lead developers don't necessarily have their hands all over what's going on with World of Warcraft anymore. I'd be willing to bet that those most responsible for the majority of WoW's early development have been working on this new project since WoW's release, and a separate set of developers are responsible for the expansion (which I believe ruined WoW).

I wouldn't doubt that it'd be some sort of high-number 3rd person over the shoulder strategy game based on Starcraft. Think...World of Warcraft battlegrounds, starring Starcraft characters...with more than two teams. It could be quite cool, or it could be terrible.

Or perhaps it's a new license altogether? I'm sure Vivendi is willing to let Blizz develop whatever the hell they want after making the company a couple hundred million dollars on WoW.

The thing is, their drone of a player base would buy anything they throw out there.

And Grawl, they're notorious for delays. Probably the worst I've seen (spare Duke Nukem Forever). Compare it to any Zelda. Any Metroid, any Unreal game. 2010.

From what I seem to remember a while back was a report from Vivendi discussing the upcoming future of Blizzard games for sequels. The two most obvious choices (Diablo and Starcraft) were both under a "highly probable" column for MMOs, with "true" sequels given a very poor chance.

My guess is that Starcraft 2 will come out and it will be World of Starcraft. Or they may surprise us and do both, with Starcraft 2 being first to drum up interest before announcing an online version (much like what they did for War 3 and WoW, if I remember correctly).

I'm not giving much hope to true to form sequels for those two games, even though I love them to death as pretty much all of the guys for DII have left for their own company (which is why I'm going to be picking up Hellgate: London), and I believe the ones responsible for Starcraft were the same people.

I heard that rumor as well, but I very much doubt it. They wouldn't dare to make another MMO because that would cut away players from WoW.

I want a Starcraft sequel just as much as anyone else, but only if it's done right. It's been nearly 10 years since the original came out, and it's still popular this day. It's a big shoe to fill, that's for sure.

The reason a Starcraft version of WoW would work is because the game won't be out for a few more years still. It'll be given a year, then use the Blizzard delay method to add 1.5 more years to it.

Heh, last night my friends and I were joking they were going to announce Duke Nukem Forever since they take forever on their development times. Anyone else have the insert in their SC CD case for Diablo 2 with a scheduled release date, like, two years before when it actually happened?

Also, for anyone that cares, I just got an e-mail from EBGames this morning, and Hellgate: London has been pushed back from the beginning of September to the last day of October (lollin at how it's Blizzard people working on this too).

Hmm... Blizzard is out to make a buck. The new Nintendo system has wireless built-in and an nifty Internet browser.

World of Wiicraft anyone? :revolution: :D

http://static.flickr.com/79/261457181_83009a8652_o.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...mputer_lab.jpg

O, please don't let me interrupt. Please continue your ever so important speculations. Even though they've basically said it's going to be a starcraft based MMORPG. Or the fact that your economics make no sense because if they pull fanbase from WoW it still contributes money to the same company, oh, and that it would draw back in a lot of people who had left WoW. Right. But it's a bad economic model. Please, continue. You're making STUNNING points here.

If they're developing a system that's hoping to appeal to the same base as WoW it is kinda not the best thing for them since they'll have to support two different MMORPG server systems, have two separate dev teams for very similar projects, and most likely won't draw many people that weren't into MMOs to start with.

Of course, since it is Blizzard, if a game is announced they'll probably have plenty of time to phase out WoW before anything gets released.

Oh, and to whoever said MMORPGs aren't popular in Korea; aren't games like RO and the hundreds of other similar ones (ROSE Online and Maplestory to name two that I regret playing) popular over there?

There's still money to be made from Burning Crusade; not everyone who will buy the box has it already. The game itself is hardly on the decline; WoW is still picking up new subscribers.

If they announce World of Starcraft now, people who haven't bought the expansion yet are going to hold back and save their money for this shiny new game that's coming along, even if World of Starcraft is two years away. People who might have been thinking about joining in on the WoW bandwagon will wait for the new game. Existing players who are bigger fans of Starcraft will jump ship and cancel their subscriptions before the game is even out, leaving a gap where Blizzard does not get their money.

It's not at all in Blizzard's best interest to release World of Starcraft until interest in WoW has waned to the point where subscription numbers start to significantly taper off. There are plenty of people who Blizzard hasn't tapped for money yet who would be scared off by the announcement of a new MMO at this time.

World of Starcraft? What the fuck! it's set in outer space.

I bet $100 it's UNIVERSE of Starcraft!
Comming 2009! (but delayed until 2010.

Heres the deal guys, and I don't meant to adress all of you, I'm talking squarly to that idiot Monkey King. Vivendi own Blizzard, Vivendi love the ridiculous revenue WoW generates. WoW is not forever, if Blizzard don't provide the next big MMO, someone else will.

AND GUESS WHAT! Just becuase they announce it Saturday, doesn't mean it gets released on Sunday. 2 years, maybe 3 to go.

Blizzard was my favorite game company.... but not after 2002.... bleh.

Flagship is the company now!

I still think that the Starcraft MMO is going to incorporate a little more of the tactical strategy inherent to the original game. It probably won't be as story-driven as World of Warcraft. Meaning, more player versus player, controllable maps, people influencing the game world climate.

Blizzard and Vivendi want people to subscribe to both WoW and the Starcraft MMO, not just one or the other. I think in order for that to happen, they know that they'll have to make the games just different enough to keep the interest of their subscribers with both products.

Maybe the announcement will be that they've finally finished Ghost.

Though honestly I'm praying for a Starcraft 2. A Starcraft MMO would just be kinda... iffy. I'd only buy it if its monthy payments were tied with WoW's, that way when you pay for a month you have a month to freely jump between WoW or Starcraft. But somehow I doubt it'll happen. Also considering the fact that the announcement is being made in Korea, the land of Starcraft, I think it definitely seals the deal on the fact that its going to be a starcraft game of some sort.

Comon Starcraft 2!

World of Warcraft expanded the mmo genre to non-mmo players. Why couldn't Universe of Starcraft do the same and expand the actual market which wouldn't necessarily pull players from WoW? I know a few people who like fantasy but not sci-fi and vice-versa after all...

I think the Starcraft franchise isn't ready for a MMO. All we got was a game and an expansion, whereas Warcraft had three games plus expansions. I just can't picture Starcraft being a MMO.

Then again, a MMO is a great way to expand the universe.

Thoughts~

I just want a single player experience. I don't really care for online gaming too much.

New Diablo plzkthxbye