Theories, theories, theories.

First indication of a Zombie outbreak in Piedmont was the comment about a chemical spill. Hello? Hasn't anyone else watched Return of the living dead? That zombie was directly linked to exposure to a zombie causing chemical. Second indication, a "falling star". Yeah hi I've seen Shaun of the Dead; I know that zombie outbreak was spread up a crashed communication satellite. What that indicates is that there are zombie space bacteria.

There also is government involvement! Come on folks, we know that the military always intervenes to blockade and quarantine zombie plagued areas to prevent a global outbreak. Let’s also not forget where said zombie chemicals originated from, last thing you want is a zombie outbreak and finding barrels of chemicals that says "Property of U.S.A." on it. Dead bodies littering the ground, a media black out coming in or out from the town are all textbook examples of a zombie outbreak containment.

I'll post more on theories and interesting developments as they continue.

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

Hey everyone, I'm going to start posting the Starcraft 2 Q&A batches that Blizzard releases on their forums. If you havn't read them or don't know what they are, they're essentially answers given to questions by fans of the game from the developers. Here's this weeks Q&A:

Despite seeing all three factions, there are still many changes being made to all factions which continue to finesse the gameplay of StarCraft II.

Furthermore, if you are reading this batch, and love StarCraft, show everyone! For the "I <3 SC" event, we've been getting tons of fun entries of StarCraft lovers in their classrooms, playing the game, posing at famous landmarks, and many unique digitally edited entries!

What does StarCraft mean to you?

Make sure you are represented in this wall of fans that will be engraved in Blizzard history. It is very simple to participate- Take a picture and join us!
http://blizzard.com/us/inblizz/contests/ilovesc/

For newcomers, if you want a quick rundown on the story leading into StarCraft II- we have it here in a nutshell:
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar.xml
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/storysofar2.xml

Chat with the Devs: The Dev team has been working hard to find the best defense mechanic that works for the Zerg. The latest builds have brought back Sunken and Spore Colonies, with a new twist. Sunken and Spore Colonies can now uproot and crawl to a more advantageous position. Incidentally, Protoss Phase Cannons no longer have the ability to change positions.

Giving the Zerg mobile defensive structures feels a lot more right as this ability opens up many more aggressive strategies in both Zerg mirrors as well as combined with Overlords generating creep to push these defenses up towards the front lines. Furthermore, there definitely is something about watching defenses crawling around that just seems very Zerg-like. Its worth noting that Zerg defenses while in mobile form have fewer hit points and are more vulnerable to attack.

Gameplay Blog: Over the past few weeks Ive really been practicing up with the Terran faction, as it is probably the one that I am weakest at playing with. After getting beat about three or four times and finally getting my build order up to speed, I realized Terrans actually have a huge advantage in StarCraft II with being able to block off choke points to your base with ease.

Currently, on most maps a Terran player is able to block off their base entry point before the enemy is able to scout, making it nearly impossible for the enemy to find out what the Terran player is doing behind that wall. With only a few Marines and a couple SCVs, the Terran player can fend off most early attacks, especially since they usually also have a higher elevation sight advantage.

Three popular options amongst the staff playing at Blizzard include:

1) Tech straight to Banshees, which have a very powerful single target attack, and can be researched to cloak. This unit devastates if the opponent is not prepared with both anti- air units as well as detectors.

2) Tech straight to Reapers, which can jump up and down hills without a spotter, and get an added bonus damage versus light units. What this means is that the Reapers are able to quickly get in an enemys resource line to annihilate workers at an astounding rate, as well as get out before the enemy can react. This works great if you can scout/scan to see if their main base is defended well with static defenses. On top of that, did I forget to mention that they can drop mines that do significant damage towards buildings? Yes, that means with a handful of these guys, you can drop enough mines to take out whole Hatcheries/ Nexuses, or strategically use them to take out Pylons or tech buildings. After you drop the mines, jump back out of combat and let the mine cooldown reset for another round of raids.

3) If a Terran player bunkers up as mentioned above and no attacks are made by this player, one way an opponent may respond is to expand and build a stronger economy, as they do not feel threatened. In this case, a Terran player can simply build up a huge force of Marines and Marauders behind the wall without the opponent knowing, and then strike when their opponent drops their guard.

Luckily, the Dev Team is well on top of balance, as they have introduced new abilities such as the Nullifiers Anti Gravity ability to lift up buildings blocking choke points and Nydus Worms to bypass such defenses to keep those Terran players honest. Maps will likely have larger choke points in the future to offer a little more chance for opponents to get a Probe or Drone in early to scout early teching Terran players.

As always, feel free to give the Devs and I a w00t if you are enjoying the batches.

---StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 35---

1. Do Banelings damage nearby friendly units when they explode onto an enemy target? (www.starcraft2.com.au)

No, in the current build the Banelings do not damage friendly units caught in the splash. The splash damage does cover its area of effect range evenly, doing the same damage to enemy units throughout the whole area.

2. When a Nydus Worm is detected, is it possible to shoot it down while it is traveling? (www.starcraftcz.com)

Yes, having detectors in strategic places will keep you from being surprised by an unexpected Nydus Worm showing up in your base.

3. Does the Nydus Worm, a ground unit, move through open space? (battle.net) pop.helo

Yes. We dont know how we are going to make this look yet. When we come up with a visual solution we are happy with we will show it to the community.

4. Can Zerg buildings be infested, and if so, what units are produced? (starcraft2forum.org)

Zerg buildings cannot be infested. It is planned that infested Protoss buildings will produce an infested Protoss unit that will play differently than the infested Marine.

5. Will be there such doodads like customizable light or shader? (battle.net) Dagguh

Yes.

6. The first screenshot listed in Karune's 33rd Q&A shows what looks like the Mothership's Black Hole ability. However, it was said that the Black Hole was removed. Does this mean the ability has returned in the current build? (Starcraft.org)

As mentioned before, the state of many of these units are always changing. In the current build, the Mothership has become more of a support unit with increased hit points and decreased speed. The Mothership now allows Protoss Gateways that have converted to Warp Gates to be able to warp units straight to the Mothership. The warp-in mechanic (which cannot be queued) has also been tweaked to allow Protoss players who use it to get a slight time decrease in unit production as opposed to queuing units traditionally at the Gateways. In other words, the cooldown timer on warp-in doesnt take as long as the build time for units at a Gateway.

Furthermore, the Mothership will also have the ability to transfer energy down to casters below it, such as Templars. Both the Time Bomb and Black Hole abilities have been removed

7. Will Phase Cannons be able to rematerialize on an allys Pylon Power, or an enemys Pylon Power for that matter? (sclegacy.com)

Phase Cannons are no longer able to move in the current build.

8. Is the Tauren Marine going to be included in the StarCraft II map editor? (battle.net) scorpionbrood

Yes.

---End of Transmission---

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

When speaking to a gamer or playing with gamers online there are times when your opponent, stranger, or friend will say something that sounds something akin to a sound you would make when getting hit in the head with a baseball head (other blunt objects apply as well). I am here to tell you that said gamers are actually communicating in a legitimate language which most, if not all gamers actively participate in. This is an attempt to aid people who are l337 illiterate. This list is a beginners guide to gamer smack-talk and expletives.

*Readers should note that the following terms and definitions should be read silently or out loud with a distinctive British accent.

Noob: This is the first and perhaps most essential piece of the gaming language. Essentialy a noob is a person who does not perform well in a game, this can be done in many ways such as: Having an unnappealing spread (Go to "Spread" for the definition), killing members of your own team, acting like an idiot. These are but a few ways of being a noob within the gaming universe.

Spread: The spread is the term for your kills and death ratio. An example: I have killed four members of the opposing team, I have died twice thus my spread is +2. If you have a bad spread, you're a noob.

Fragged: Generally this is a term used in first person shooter games which imply that you're opponent lacks the testicular fortitude to approach you and has elected to toss "Nades" from a distance which would avoid confrontation, but result in your death.

Nades: Grenades.

Hax: This term is used to describe a situation which appears as though your opponent are performing abilities outside of the reality of the game. An example would be withstanding rocket fire, or appearing and disappearing from your screen. This can be sometimes confused for "lag".

Lag: This is the event in a game where times slows down and enjoyable gameplay ceases. Choppy graphics and gameplay result in what is sometimes mistaken for hax.

Fuck: Fuck is a term used by gamers to describe a situation which displeases them, such as the event of death, lag, or hax. This is the next most common word after noob.

GG: Meaning "Good Game". A more scarsely used word more common within RTS games.

GL, HF: "Good Luck, Have Fun". See above.

Micro: The ability to command and allocate your active and building army within an RTS scenario. The greater ability a player has in managing their army quickly, the greater the micro they posses.

Pwn: (Pronounced owned). A widely used term used for describing how you have defeated your opponent thoroughly. May be used in ways such as:

"Hey Timmy, I totally pwned your mum last night after I pwned you"
"I am going to pwn this noob so hard that they will not be able to walk straight for decades"

I hope this brief field guide will be able to help those who do not understand some of the finer points of gaming.

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

This really is, what goes through my head as I go about my days.

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

The Tauren Marine! 

 Yesterday Blizzard revealed on the SC2 site the new marine unit. Here's a snippit of the fluff surrounding it:

"While most tauren were satisfied with their agrarian culture and primitive existence, the Confederacy was able to lure away large numbers of young bulls for a life of adventure and violence along the galactic rim. Other tauren referred to these adventurers as 'mad cows,' and they were ostracized from the rest of their kine. The newly created tauren marines didn't care--they got neat-looking armor and big guns to own everyone else with. These beefy new soldiers are now an integral part of the Confederate military, and have managed to horn in on the roles traditionally filled by firebats and other infantry units."

The fluff is a bit strange for me as from what I've read so far, but they're impact in the game is undeniable. They really remind me of Ogryn from Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard, acting like heavy duty badass infantry. There are some screen shots available of their mayhem and even a video showing the raw killing power they posses.

Normally I'd say that these units seem WAY overpowered and that they need to be nerfed, but we've seen what the Protoss have and beginning to see the insanity that is the Zerg, so the Terran having a unit like this would only seem to balance the weighs a bit.

Here's the video I was talking about earlier:

I'm not a big fan of this unit though, this really does seem to take Warcraft too far, I know it's a popular MMO but Starcraft is Starcraft, as Artanis said "This is not Warcraft in space!" Althought this is in the hands of Blizzard at the moment and nothing can be done about it.

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

P.S. 

lulz. The Blizzard staff are pretty funny and always have their fun on April fools day. This year wasn't any different. With the "release" of the Tauren Marine and the "Bard" in WOW, it brought me a few good chuckles. Look up the main Blizzard site and you'll see a couple of the pranks they did there. Seriously though...when is Blizzard going to show a new unit >____<

I doubt the marine will be shown soon since from the screenshots I've seen from the new Zerg fighting the Terrans, it seems that they're constantly tinkering with the unit both graphically and it's operation.

Cheers for realz,
Jerry-Orest

DOOOOOOM!!

Don't panic. I'm not. Really? I think I'm not, AM I?
WHY, why do I have to listen to CBC radio in my car? I'm just sitting there delivering Chinese food when I hear a news report on how a recently constructed collider machine may be the DOOM of us all! The machine is called the Large Hadron Collider and was constructed in Switzerland. It was designed to smash together at the speed of light two beams of particles to recreate the big bang. Now I know that in the name of science that this can benefit humanity in our never ending quest for knowledge, but hasn't anyone stopped to consider that we are recreating A BIG BANG?

Hello? doesn't a big bang result in a large explosion like event? Which could be bad for objects and people near by it? If I wake up to a mushroom cloud I will know who to go after. My vengeance knows no death. Not only this, but apparently, there is a possibility of creating mini blackholes as a result? Oh yes, that's what we need, blackholes destroying everything. How am I supposed to fight a blackhole anyway?

All of this really just sounds like something I've heard of before and the technology there was used for evil....

....THE SPOT!

But in all seriousness, What's the deal with Switzerland? This seemingly neutral nation which has stood in the shadows of the international spotlight. I don't trust them. This sounds like the plot of a James Bond movie, are the Swiss really just creating a super weapon to take it's place in history? I'm keeping an eye on you Switzterland, you're chocolate isn't even that great.

Cheers,
Jerry-Orest

There something I've always found satisfying about RTS, maybe it's the concept of not only outkilling your enemy, but also outsmarting them in the process to make the victory that much more complete. Starcraft and Red Alert are two games of which I've enjoyed the most bar none. The story and gameplay were nothing short of brilliant imo and now in the next year or two my two favourite games that I've been playing for years are coming out with their expasions...YES!!@^&$

Really, I could make a long and detailed post on how truly excited I am for the releases of Starcraft 2 and Red Alert 3, but all you need to know is that I love it, story ends there. What I will draw attention to the latest news from each of these games: First is the reveal of the Zerg faction of Starcraft. Obviously my post is a bit late to make this breaking news but nonetheless I am extremely stoked on them. No new units have them shown yet on the main site but we've had some nice peeks on the Zerg video.

Watch Video Here

In the video you can see that the good old terrans don't just get turned into exploding sacs of zerg goodness (upon further review that comment appeared to me laced with sexual innuendo, but the humourous nature of this fact led me to keep it in...that's what she said). We now see that a new zerg unit infects the barracks and pumps out infected marines which instead of blindly running into their objective now shoot back.

For the sake of keeping this post short I’m just going to also post the vid for the Red Alert 3 announcement.

Red Alert Announcement Vid

Cheers everyone, I’ll keep this up to date when I find more out about these games.

Jerry-Orest 

Blizzard, I have to say that this relationship has turned sour. What was once hours of fun has turned to frustration and abuse. How could you do this to me Blizzard? I just wanted to play Starcraft, but you won’t let me. You lead me on and then shut me down with unfounded lag. This abuse has to stop, I do not have high latency and neither do my friends. I used to come back to you whenever I would leave, thinking that you’ve changed but everytime it’s the same thing.

I don’t know how else to say this Blizzard, other than I won’t be seeing you again, you’ve led me on and have abused me for too long and I’ve had enough, we’re over. I don’t want to see you again until you change into Starcraft 2.0

Goodbye Blizzard.

Cheers,

Jerry-Orest