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View Full Version : SC II = Not Ready For Retail.



McRat
July 28th, 2010, 08:48 AM
Bought my son Starcraft 2 (yeah, for my SON, that's the story and I'm going to stick with it).

None of our home PC's have very good game specs, so we put it on a 2010 MacBookPro (2.4ghz dual core, 4gb ram, nVidia 320m graphics). It crashes constantly. When it's not crashing, the mouse pointer vanishes. It took a long time to install as well.

Anyhow, you MUST first establish a Battlenet account at Blizzard.com before you do anything with it. Even if you just want to play single player, you need internet access. It's hooked into Facebook as well. It gives me the creeps from a security standpoint.

Tom (my son) played a bit on-line, and I played a bit Single Player, and we both gave up to due to instability (crashes, vanishing mice).

The graphics are pretty, there are more kinds of units, you can "grab" more units at a time, and there are SuperMarioCrap prizes scattered on the map, but otherwise gameplay seems to be about the same.

Not sure I like this better than the original, even without the crashes.

szymon_g
July 28th, 2010, 01:12 PM
well... it works fine for me. great game :P!

soapytheclown
July 28th, 2010, 02:44 PM
i got it yesterday and have a fairly beefy machine can run the game with everything set to ultra at 1900x1080 and to be honest im dissapointed with the game even with it being compleletly stable, i know ive only had it one day and will play it again later today but i felt like i was forcing myself to try and enjoy myself whilst playing and i really wasnt, i was at the point of reaching for my old C&C3 disc and was ready to re-install that instead!!

this pararagraph from this article (http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=112789) pretty much sums up my feelings of sc2 atm


"It's hard to place my finger on exactly what the problem is, but after playing for a while I just feel bored and I have to 'force' myself to play, maybe because I just really want to like it. My friend made this exact comment to me before I got to play, and I didn't believe him, I thought he was simply expecting SC1 with 3D graphics, but I can honestly say I agree with his comments 100%. I know others have the entirely opposite opinion, but I think many of those people just want to like the game and are being too forgiving IMO."

just hope i start enjoying it when i play again later today

dfreer
July 28th, 2010, 02:44 PM
None of our home PC's have very good game specs, so we put it on a 2010 MacBookPro (2.4ghz dual core, 4gb ram, nVidia 320m graphics). It crashes constantly. When it's not crashing, the mouse pointer vanishes. It took a long time to install as well.

Maybe it's only buggy on Mac? Works just fine in Windows 7. And it's somethine like a 8GB's install so yeah it's going to take awhile. I actually downloaded the client the day before, took about 2 hours at most to download it. Once I bought my copy at midnight I was up and playing no more than 15 minutes later.


Anyhow, you MUST first establish a Battlenet account at Blizzard.com before you do anything with it. Even if you just want to play single player, you need internet access. It's hooked into Facebook as well. It gives me the creeps from a security standpoint.

It's not like it forces you to use the Facebook Friend finding feature. And FYI F-Spot Photo Manager for linux hooks into Facebook too, again optional, it's simply there for ease of use for users who wish to use it.

The battle.net system sucks a bit, but so what? Vast majority of gamers use Steam to play games now, and it requires you to log in too. At least I don't have to have to put in the damn DVD/CD every time I want to play a different game now.

And get this: You don't need to log into battle.net everytime you play, just when you want to play multiplayer. Single player can be accessed without any login. Removing LAN play is a horrible decision on their part, and hopefully they will re-institute it in a patch later.

Overall, sounds like the Mac version is buggy and you have a fear of being online. Now if you had complained about the cutscenes, or the single-player RPG like qualities, or really anything else major you could possibly claim that Starcraft is not ready for retail. But on it's own your claim is pretty weak, and I'd suggest changing the title of your thread.

Frogs Hair
July 28th, 2010, 04:17 PM
System requirements for this game are different on every site I visit . The last site claimed OPTIMAL cpu requirements are an 3.0ghz intell XII or a 2.8ghz Amd XII. Does any one have official specs for this game ? they seem to change from site to site.

Muffinabus
July 28th, 2010, 04:50 PM
System requirements for this game are different on every site I visit . The last site claimed OPTIMAL cpu requirements are an 3.0ghz intell XII or a 2.8ghz Amd XII. Does any one have official specs for this game ? they seem to change from site to site.

I would imagine that Blizzard's support site were most accurate:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=26242&amp%3Blocale=en_US

As for the game not being ready for retail? It is, a single bad occurrence doesn't mean that there is a widespread problem with the game. Blizzard has always put out some of the most polished PC games, SCII is no exception.

JDShu
July 28th, 2010, 05:37 PM
What made SC awesome is that Blizzard maintained it for a decade since it's release. I haven't played SC2, but its probably the same. Give it a few years and it might become a classic as well. That's also why I'm not getting it now, but rather when the whole battlechest edition comes out :P

betrunkenaffe
July 28th, 2010, 05:56 PM
I agree, Linux has a long way to go!

Oops, wrong thread.

McRat
July 28th, 2010, 07:29 PM
Maybe it's only buggy on Mac? .... But on it's own your claim is pretty weak, and I'd suggest changing the title of your thread.

When you load a new game on a new machine which exceeds the specs on the box and the mouse doesn't work reliably, the application does a fatal crash every few minutes, that is unacceptable for a retail product today. This is even after a patch. Yes, it patched itself on a Day One release.

Even by 1990 standards, that's a poor showing. While PC's can have a wide variety of configurations, that's not true with Intel Mac's. They had a really small target to hit.

When the mouse doesn't work, or the game crashes, this is not a minor bug.

Perhaps they should have held the Mac support. Dunno. I'm just a customer of their's since the original Warcraft, which indeed ran on LAN (IPX). I don't work in their marketing department.

Removal of the local LAN feature is WEAK, as is the manditory internet connection. This removes the game from the "Time Killer" list for traveling.

So if I want a Blizzard game on my travel computer, it will be SC, or Diablo II, not SC II.

JDShu
July 28th, 2010, 07:32 PM
Removal of the local LAN feature is WEAK, as is the manditory internet connection. This removes the game from the "Time Killer" list for traveling.


Agreed, no drunken starcraft 2 LAN parties for me :(

dfreer
July 29th, 2010, 08:40 AM
When you load a new game on a new machine which exceeds the specs on the box and the mouse doesn't work reliably, the application does a fatal crash every few minutes, that is unacceptable for a retail product today. This is even after a patch. Yes, it patched itself on a Day One release.

Even by 1990 standards, that's a poor showing. While PC's can have a wide variety of configurations, that's not true with Intel Mac's. They had a really small target to hit.

When the mouse doesn't work, or the game crashes, this is not a minor bug.

Perhaps they should have held the Mac support.

Which is why this should be "Starcraft 2 isn't ready for Mac" and not "Starcraft 2 is not ready for retail".


Removal of the local LAN feature is WEAK, as is the manditory internet connection. This removes the game from the "Time Killer" list for traveling.

So if I want a Blizzard game on my travel computer, it will be SC, or Diablo II, not SC II.

Removal of local LAN support is a horrible decision. I'm hoping that they will change that in a future patch, much like they changed their minds about using real names in the forums after hearing everyone complain about it.

Beyond that, the mandatory internet connection comes down to a matter of ease of use to the rest of us gamers: In that it's often far simpler to log in to an account online to play rather than to carry a binder full of CD's/DVD's and have to insert them just to bypass a CD protection check. It's just another form of DRM that just about every mainstream game will have.

So in the end, you only have two valid points and one of them *I* brought up: 1. Currently you have a problem running it on Mac (which from what I can tell hasn't been a big issue with other Mac users so far) with a Nvidia 320m which is basically a glorified integrated onboard video card. 2. LAN removal sucks, which everyone knew beforehand and has nothing to do with the game being ready for sale.

betrunkenaffe
July 29th, 2010, 09:47 AM
fyi, I just tested by disabling my internet completely, was able to start campaign (and in fact continue my current game).

Achievements are disabled.

Internet connection is NOT mandatory to play solo.

dfreer
July 29th, 2010, 02:48 PM
fyi, I just tested by disabling my internet completely, was able to start campaign (and in fact continue my current game).

Achievements are disabled.

Internet connection is NOT mandatory to play solo.

How do you continue an existing campaign, all I saw were 3 empty slots when you log in as guest. Or do you log in with your regular account?

BTW, just noticed last night that if you are in the middle of a mission and battle.net gets disconnected, you don't get those achievements until you log back in :(

cascade9
July 29th, 2010, 03:12 PM
For everybody doing the "but it runs fine for me, so its got to be you"...yeah, well, lots of reports around about SC2 crashing.

http://www.gamebrood.com/2010/07/28/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty-crashes-freezes-black-screen-disconnection-issues-download-problems-single-player-error-low-fps-graphics-issues-and-more-fix-and-fixes/

BTW McRat, there might be a fix for your issues-


20# How to Improve StarCraft 2 Performance on Mac OS
Sad for Mac guys as they are experiencing some horrible performance issues with StarCraft 2 even on the high end specs. There are few things you can try to enhance the StarCraft 2 performance on Mac OS.
Workaround #1
Download the Mac OS X 10.6.4 combo updater, which is 887MB but will you troubleshooting. Quit all open applications and run the installer.
Workaround #2 only if Workaround #1 Fails
Boot your Mac in Safe Mode then simply restart normally is enough to resolve number of issues after the recent Mac OS update by Apple. It will clear potentially problematic cache and may resolve your issues.
To boot in Safe Mode, hold the Shift key while your Mac is starting up. After booting in Safe Mode, simply restart normally and check if this has any significant effect.
Workaround #3 Only if Workaround#1 and #2 Fail
Downgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.3. Although this option eliminates important security fixes included in Mac OS X 10.6.4, along with any other enhancements, it may be the only option.


http://segmentnext.com/2010/07/27/starcraft-2-errors-freezes-graphics-bugs-crashes-mac-os-fix/

LowSky
July 29th, 2010, 04:28 PM
SC2 crashed 5 minutes into starting the campaign for me. (Win7)
I played for about 3 hours and it never happened again.

I'm not sure what to think of the game. I'm happy there is a new version of starcraft, but I'm not really sure I like the game as much as the first one. Then again I had the first one like 12 years ago. I'm kinda upset there isn't any protoss or zerg campaigns, only the multiplayer for now.

ticopelp
July 29th, 2010, 04:33 PM
The hyperbole around here is always amusing.

"Had some bugs and features I didn't like" = "Not ready for retail"
"Slight change in market dynamics" = "IS DYING"
"Uses system resources when I run applications" = "Bloat!!!"

Shompol
July 29th, 2010, 05:19 PM
In fact, I liked it so much, I pre-ordered it!

- Race balance is much better than when SC1 came out.
- Incorporates many WC3 features, especially multiple building selection, and bnet matchmaking engine.
- 3d looks nice, although does not add anything to gameplay

Subjective observations:
- protoss continues do dominate air, not only did they retain carriers, they now have Void Rays, that make carriers a joke in comparison.
- Terran got an upgrade from sucky-turtling race they were in SC1. They have the best harass units now and can really control the map.
- Zerg hydras and Guardians got serious upgrade, i did not play them much though.

Don't know if it's better than original, overall I loved it. Too bad Activision is in it for the profits, and will never risk porting this baby to Linux. It sucks to have short-sighted management.

Lucradia
July 29th, 2010, 05:21 PM
Agreed, no drunken starcraft 2 LAN parties for me :(

Are you serious?! No LAN mode?

You fail blizzard.

RiceMonster
July 29th, 2010, 05:21 PM
The hyperbole around here is always amusing.

"Had some bugs and features I didn't like" = "Not ready for retail"
"Slight change in market dynamics" = "IS DYING"
"Uses system resources when I run applications" = "Bloat!!!"

Well said.

pwnst*r
July 29th, 2010, 05:23 PM
Lots of my friends bought this game and it's working stellar for them. Sounds like an issue with your system.

So, in essence, yes, it IS ready for retail.

McRat
July 29th, 2010, 06:23 PM
...
So, in essence, yes, it IS ready for retail.

If you sell games for a living, then I suppose you are right.

If you expected it to have a Mac version like SC1, you were wrong.

Not only does it not work on most the Macs sold today, it's starting to appear they knew it but didn't want to reprint the boxes. If it has OEM nVidia and Snow Leopard, it's not working on SC2, only SC1. SC1 doesn't come in the box though, only SC2 is on the disk.

I imagine they will fix it before Christmas when the big sales are expected.

pwnst*r
July 29th, 2010, 06:31 PM
Don't worry, I'm right.

betrunkenaffe
July 29th, 2010, 06:39 PM
How do you continue an existing campaign, all I saw were 3 empty slots when you log in as guest. Or do you log in with your regular account?

BTW, just noticed last night that if you are in the middle of a mission and battle.net gets disconnected, you don't get those achievements until you log back in :(

Attempt to login, you will get a "Play Offline" message because Battle.net cannot be reached. Overall that pretty much eliminates my complaints because if I don't have a net connection, I can still play.

JDShu
July 29th, 2010, 06:40 PM
Are you serious?! No LAN mode?

You fail blizzard.

Indeed, but I guess the truth is that most gamers have no RL friends, so SC2 will still sell well :P

McRat
July 29th, 2010, 06:44 PM
Don't worry, I'm right.

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.:p

Here's the best I can figure:

Windows users have stronger wrists from constant stroking motions used to pass the time during reboots. Mac users don't get as much wrist exercise, so they are more susceptible to Carpal Tunnel than Windows users. To avoid lawsuits, Blizzard made SC2 for Mac with an automatic shutoff routine to avoid injury.