Gamers are furious that Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming real-time sci-fi strategy game Starcraft II will have no LAN support. They’ve been storming the message boards to express their displeasure with the decision, and, as reported by Wired’s Game Life blog, some have even started an online petition to implore Blizzard to reconsider.
Here’s what Blizzard’s PR department had to say to StarCraftFans.com:
While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.
Battle.net is Blizzard’s proprietary online gaming service, which debuted in 1997 with the release of Diablo. It was the first built-in online platform, and the company wants it to become “the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games.”
Image courtesy Blizzard Entertainment
See also:
- Hands-on with ‘StarCraft II’ multiplayer (OCRegister’s Blizzard Blog)
- ‘StarCraft II’ Battle Report 3 live (OCRegister’s Blizzard Blog)
- D&D parent co. pulls legal PDFs off market, starts flame war
