StarCraft II

We're back at BlizzCon 2008, all ready to learn some more about what's being planned for StarCraft II. This panel features Chris Metzen and Andrew Chambers, talking about Lore.

Following the revelations from yesterday, it'll be interesting to see what transpires... let's tune in!

LIVE BLOG:
(most recent event first)

6:07am : ...you heard it here first, Metzen is referring to a Quadrilogy. Somehow, I think he's joking. ;)

6:03am : "...so he went to this planet that's right out there at the end of the galaxy, Mar Sara *cough*Tattooine*cough*..." - we love Metzen. Really, we do.

5:54am : ...I'm not going to cover all of these questions as they are, really, full of fanboy squee - but if you were interested in seeing the new logos for the separate games, we should be able to see them sometime soon :)

5:53am : As they throw the camera over to Q&A, Metzen is trying to hide from the spotlight. Not very rockstar-y behaviour, but it is early in the morning, I guess.

5:51am : House Mengsk needed a logo - they were looking at lion heads, but that got a bit to Alliance, so they ended up with Wolf heads, which has even better symbolism behind it. There's a new book coming out soon - I, Mengsk - that explains the backstory, the relationship with Valerian -> Arcturus -> his father... Mmm. I don't know why he's been named after a herb that puts people to sleep, but that's not the point.

5:50am : Valerian is horribly similar to Arthas in WC3, but only in terms of appearance and the fact they are the son of the leader. Valerian has some nice haircuts, but would look good in the Lich King helmet.

5:49am : Valerian Mengsk is Arcturus' son. Ignore that you haven't heard of him before - he's been in hiding! ...so now there's a bit of a dynasty set up, with Valerian ready to step up if anything happens to Arcturus (not that this would happen - right?).

5:48am : Apparently the Gestapo element of the character design is not intentional, really - but it manages to represent what he's fighting *against* more than what he's actually there for.

5:47am : He also believes in Jim Raynor - more than Jim may believe in himself. He's sort of Jiminy Cricket - telling Jim that he is a real boy! ... and is all about reminding Jim what he's truly fighting for.

5:46am : Hello, Matt Horner. You are still not our writer, Matt Warner. You are in fact the ship captain. Career military - straight up, by the book. Believes totally in the revolution philosophies, etc - and is a bit bitter about the way that the revolution turned out.

5:45am : Is the game about being a freedom fighter - or is it about just surviving?

5:44am : Tychus represents what Raynor could have become had he made a few different choices. They used to be like Butch + Sundance, apparently.

5:44am : He is, of course, the marine from the original trailer - and appears mostly (if not totally) in his armour. He and Jim Raynor were bigmates - until Tychus was sent to jail and they lost contact. Now he's back.

5:43am : Next: Tychus Findlay :D

5:42am : Metzen explains about Tosh - "We wanted to develop a Boba Fett type character for this storyline..." - even though people would say that Fett was never really used. Tosh is getting a lot more backstory, and is designed to appeal to people's darker interests. He's a bit more sinister, an outlaw. Represents the 'bad side' of Raynor.

5:41am : The storyline for StarCraft Ghost is actually being novelised, by the way - so even though we don't get the game, we get the book - which is okay, I guess.

5:41am : Next: Tosh - is black. Has a bit of a connection to Nova, apparently. He's also got some tie-in to the manga releases, too. Tosh started out looking one way and then they played around with colouring. Neatly fits in with the StarCraft Ghost mythology.

5:39am : He is a Calmorian (sp?) - and lead a revolution, until Jim saved him. Lots of backstory. He has a bionic arm, which he lost in the fights. He'll be appearing in the 3d cinematics between missions, and looks pretty shiny. Is it possible to be both shiny and dirty? Swann manages to, anyway. Gritty.

5:38am : Also interesting to hear the guys discussing how canon this story is - the character of Swann ties back to the StarCraft books, too.

5:37am : Rory Swann is the next character - sort of like Scotty from Star Trek - he's the ship's engineer. Representing blue-collar workers, he's one of the characters who basically wrote themselves. He's irish. You can tell by the shamrocks drawn on his character sketch. Actually - he's got a strong New York accent, apparently. Interesting.

5:36am : We're now being introduced to Dr Hanson. She's a colonist. And yes, she's a girl, and is a "scientist-doctor type lady person", according to Andy. She has glasses "that she does remove so she looks really cute", and a lab coat. Obviously, a strong female character for us to identify with. She reflects basic humanity ... and is romantic interest for Jim, who has great luck with the Ladeez.

5:34am : So - breaking it down into a trilogy - what does that mean for the character development?

5:34am : Apparently the trilogy plan has nothing to do with Andy and Chris being unable to write short stories. They'd like to call the games "chapters", rather than "episodes" - as "episodes" has baggage. Interesting.

5:33am : Chris Metzen is wearing his sunglasses inside again. He's such a rockstar.

Start : It seems that last night was a Big Night for the Blizzard staff... poor kids.