Starcraft 2 goes shareware!

[Konjad]

Blizzard have removed the Starcraft II demo from Battle.net, to replace it with a “Starter Edition” – a move which echoes World Of Warcraft’s free 20-level trial. The Starcraft II starter edition allows you try out a bunch of the single player game, and also the Terrans in custom games and single-player vs AI games. More details below.

The first four missions of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, including Mar Sara 1-3 and the choice to embark on Tychus’s first mission or Dr. Hansen’s first mission.

- The first two Challenges: Tactical Command and Covert Ops.
- Access to the terran race in Custom Games and Single-Player vs. AI.
- Access to the following custom maps (map selection may rotate over time):

Xel’Naga Caverns
Shattered Temple
Discord IV
High Orbit

Any campaign progress and achievements you earn while playing StarCraft II: Starter Edition are automatically saved to your Battle.net account, and will carry over should you ever upgrade from the Starter Edition to the full version of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08 ... %E2%80%9D/


That's a very nice move You can't create a party as a demo user, however I don't know about joining if someone invites you.

 

[Kraszu]

Meh 7GB. I did get bored of SC2 in beta, and they had fucked BN 2.0, and UMS so fuck Blizzard.

 

[MetalCraze]

What's so nice about releasing a demo that is actually a demo, not jew shit, a year after game's release?

 

[Konjad]

You're right, skyway, they should cut some content and release it as payable DLC like glorious Bohemia Interactive did.

Seriously: It's nice because those who did not buy SC2 due to being uncertain can try it out for free and you can play with a friend that does not have a full version?

 

[MetalCraze]

You're right, skyway, they should cut some content and release it as payable DLC like glorious Bohemia Interactive did.

Which content was that?

Seriously: It's nice because those who did not buy SC2 due to being uncertain can try it out for free and you can play with a friend that does not have a full version?

All normal demos have multiplayer and some missions. Doing this a year after game was released doesn't make much sense.

 

[Renegen]

It's not exactly what I would call shareware, I agree. Shareware was available on day one, and you could activate right there. This gives you a very gimped version of the game 1 year after it came out, to people who likely didn't buy it. It's a promo tool for people who don't care about SC2 more than anything, but it's a good direction for the industry, sort of.

 

[Micmu]

Kikeware

 

[Konjad]

demo, whatever, what matters there is a free version for everyone to try

 

[Bruticis]

Are there people out there that don't actually know what a Blizzard RTS game plays like?

 

[Fens]

last blizzard rts i played was warcraft 3 and that was quite a long time ago, so i guess i might just as well try this new "demo" thing blizzard seems to have invented...

let's see... blizzard account... got about twenty accounts with all kinds of companies now, but ok... agree to blizzard monitoring my conversations ingame... well... ok... terms of service... *sigh*... ok... download blizzard downloader... god... ok... download 7gb... ok, enough time to read about the restrictions... a few maps, only vs. ai or custom vs. human, no laddering... all fine... have to be always on to play... oh come on now...

anyone remember just finding an interesting AA/AAA game, downloading a demo/installing from a magazine floppy, playing it for a while and then uninstalling without all that shit ? yeah... i want that back

 

[Sceptic]

You're right, skyway, they should cut two thirds of the content and release it as 2 separate new games like glorious Blizzard themselves did.

 

[racofer]

Here in third worldia, we've been subjected to a different version of SC2 since its release. You buy the game and you get 60 days of full game time. After that period, your game gets locked up again, even single player. If you want to continue playing, you have to pay a little more to "unlock" the game for a few more months.

The only solution to have the game available at all times was to buy the collectors edition of it for a bargain price of nearly R$200,00 (~US$135). I can already see Activision claiming that South America is not a viable market, probably due to piracy.

 

[Phage]

Bought SC2 at midnight release. Played for one week. Never touched again. I don't know why, it just didn't keep me hooked like the original did.

 

[J1M]

This is the same feature set as the spawn copy for StarCraft 1.

It's a nice gesture.

 

[SCO]

Go eat a bag of dicks konjad.

 

[Zed]

Started edition has been out for weeks.

 

[Renegen]

Here in third worldia, we've been subjected to a different version of SC2 since its release. You buy the game and you get 60 days of full game time. After that period, your game gets locked up again, even single player. If you want to continue playing, you have to pay a little more to "unlock" the game for a few more months.

The only solution to have the game available at all times was to buy the collectors edition of it for a bargain price of nearly R$200,00 (~US$135). I can already see Activision claiming that South America is not a viable market, probably due to piracy.

That's some very nice corporate strategy right there. Make the game a MMO like they always planned, except not in the US where people would complain very loudly. Just do it quietly in South America. This is genuinely the first time I'm heard of this and I'm shocked. I think the whole internet could be up in arms if they knew of this underhanded and offensive tactic.

 

[Konjad]

i heard of it, but i also heard it's optional. like you can buy the full version for the full price or for lower price, but with monthly fees

 

[Konjad]

i heard of it, but i also heard it's optional. like you can buy the full version for the full price or for lower price, but with monthly fees

 

[attackfighter]

You're right, skyway, they should cut some content and release it as payable DLC like glorious Bohemia Interactive did.

Seriously: It's nice because those who did not buy SC2 due to being uncertain can try it out for free and you can play with a friend that does not have a full version?

There's nothing 'nice' about it at all, Blizz simply figures their demo will entice people into buying the full game. Every other company does the same thing but suddenly when Blizz does it the codex starts singing their praises and declaring them the most benevolent company evar. Typical. Oh FYI there was already a demo out but I guess people were too dumb to notice it so Blizzard had to announce it a second time

 

[attackfighter]

This is the same feature set as the spawn copy for StarCraft 1.

It's a nice gesture.

No with the spawn copy of SC1 you could play TvT death matches in on LAN, but since SC2 doesn't support LAN you can't play deathmatches.

 

[Konjad]

You're right, skyway, they should cut some content and release it as payable DLC like glorious Bohemia Interactive did.

Seriously: It's nice because those who did not buy SC2 due to being uncertain can try it out for free and you can play with a friend that does not have a full version?

There's nothing 'nice' about it at all, Blizz simply figures their demo will entice people into buying the full game. Every other company does the same thing but suddenly when Blizz does it the codex starts singing their praises and declaring them the most benevolent company evar. Typical. Oh FYI there was already a demo out but I guess people were too dumb to notice it so Blizzard had to announce it a second time

Oh my, company wants people to buy it's products! Oh no! Bad capitalism! And they give away to people a part of their product to try it out! This must be the Satan itself!!!!!! Companies shouldn't make demos, it might make more people buy their games!

 

[MetalCraze]

That's some very nice corporate strategy right there. Make the game a MMO like they always planned, except not in the US where people would complain very loudly. Just do it quietly in South America. This is genuinely the first time I'm heard of this and I'm shocked. I think the whole internet could be up in arms if they knew of this underhanded and offensive tactic.

Actually it was like that in all of Thirdworldia, not only SA.

And of course region-locks even in MP like PC is some fucking console but worse