Down to the Last Save

Well, in a very surprsing move, it seems that Blizzard has confirmed that there is NO LAN in Starcraft II. This was confirmed in a interview with Rob Pardo, the senior VP of game design at Blizzard Entertainment. Rob Pardo stated that:

“we don’t have any plans to support LAN,” he said and clarified “we will not support it.” The only multiplayer available will be on Battle.net.

Blizzard dropped LAN support for Starcraft II because they will be incorporating unknown features into Battle.net that will better serve their customers. I see it as a way for Blizzard to try and crack down HARD on piracy. So instead of being able to pirate and play the LAN mode over the internet with hamachi (or at a friends house); you will need a valid key to play anything. That is exactly the route that Company of Heroes took. When the game first came out you only needed an account (tied to a valid cd key) to play multilayer and pirates played over Hamachi. When Opposing Fronts came out, Relic changed everything so you had to sign in to do ANYTHING (single player, lan, etc).

No LAN in Starcraft II has fans up in arms and somebody started a petition (worthless since it doesn’t even verify your email). I figure that no lan in Starcraft II isn’t such a bad thing. Yes it sucks when you go to a friends house, and the port forwarding might be a bitch. It does also suck for all of the LAN Centers out there; I know that trying to get ports forwarded for 24 machines is a PITA.

On the flipside of the no lan for Starcraft II is the fact that the tech trees have been posted online! (Thanks to Giant Bomb). Even though the beta for Starcraft II is a few months off, you can start studying up the tech trees to prepare to kick some ass. Here are the screenshots of the Protoss, Terran and Zerg Starcraft II tech trees:

Starcraft II Protoss Tech Tree

Starcraft II Terran Tech Tree

Starcraft II Zerg Tech Tree

I know I don’t write about console games all that much, but I thought this would be a good thing to share. It seems that the entire achievement list for Halo 3: ODST has ben leaked (allgedly) by Game-tuts. The ODST achievement list doesn’t any major shocking surprises, but it does hint at how the campaign mode will work out for Halo 3: ODST.

Taking a look at the video below will show you all forty seven achievements that are available in ODST. According tot he lis the “Vidmaster” achievements will show up in the game as well as the regular campaign achievements. There is no surprise that there will be campaign scoring and co-op achievements (yay skulls) in ODST either. There seems to be your usual complete map X and unlock X character. I thoroughly enjoy achievements names such as “Ewww Sticky”; double entendres are the best! If you don’t want to see spoilers, obviously don’t watch the video. As always, the Youtube comments are a goldmine of comedy (and stupidity).

So you want the sweetness that is Big Surf Island, but don’t want to pay the big $12.50 for it? You need more than just the new muscle cars, the big racing enviroments and the new license? You just can’t be happy.. always wanting something MORE DAMNIT! (we all do).

There are nine new vehicles that can be unlocked in Big Surf Island; five of them are the big muscle cars and dune buggies. As an added bonus, the other four unlockables are the cars from the Legendary Cars pack from a couple months ago. They come back now as little toy cars; little adorbale cars that will smash your face into the guardrail when you least expect it.

So if you were too cheap to pay for the Burnout Paradise Legendary car pack, you had better pony up the cash for the Big Surf Island DLC. Pay up Scrooge McDuck!

• Toy Jansen P12 88 Special (Time Machine) – Hit all 45 Island Billboards
• Toy Hunter Manhattan Spirit (Ecto-1) – Hit all 75 Island Smashes
• Toy Hunter Cavalry Bootlegger (General Lee) – Jump from all 15 Island Mega Jumps
• Toy Carson GT Nighthawk (KITT) – Complete all 24 Island Road Rules (Timed & Showtime)

It seems that Turbine is looking to get some more players into Dungeons & Dragons Online and are targeting the penny-pinching crowd. The free DDO is going to happen just right now, you will have to wait until they release Eberron Unlimited later this summer to get your Dungeons and Dragons fix. The new version is going to be a hybrid version and allows players to download the game for free, but there will be some limitations between the DDO VIP and the Free To Play (FTP). In DDO Eberron unlimited, players can still subscribe and gain unlimited access to the game, along with a few other perks. Turbine could be onto something very interesting here, as there isn’t much use of the Hybrid model in MMOs; Free Realms is the closest comparison out there.

I will probably give the free to play version a try; I was very excited when Dungeons and Dragons Online first came out. I got fed up with the monthly payments and gave up after a month or two. Now with the launch of new content (even though some of it will be restricted to the VIP players). Here is a list of the details and an image comparison of them as well (thanks to Massively.com)

• Brand New Content & Features – DDO Unlimited will deliver a new class, increase the level cap, introduce new adventure packs including a new 12 player raid, major combat improvements and more!
• The Fiercest Combat – DDO Unlimited features an extraordinary and heart stopping combat experience that requires players to fully engage in the battle by relying on their wits and reflexes in real time. No more clicking skills and watching the action from the sideline.
• Mind-blowing Visuals – Explore a vast and dangerous online world, featuring the most advanced graphics in the industry, that is stuffed with the legendary monsters, glorious treasures, devious traps, mind-bending puzzles and endless adventures from the world’s best known RPG.
• Full-featured MMO – Experience sophisticated systems found only in the best games including auctions, arena death matches (Player versus Player), NPC hirelings, gambling, crafting, and powerful social tools for finding a group, forming a guild or planning an epic raid!
• Easier Than Ever! – DDO Unlimited gets you playing in minutes instead of hours, using new proprietary Turbine technology. Creating a new character is incredibly simple with guides and templates that speed you through the process. Features an all-new new player experience that gives gamers their first taste of excitement quickly while teaching them how to play solo or with a group of fellow adventurers.