The moment finally came. The crowd was alive with excitement and the flashes of camera lights went off like a light show in the press box. Mike Morhaime was called up to the podium in Korean, then in his native English.

The crowd of teenagers salted with businessmen in starched suites throbbed and pulsed and cheered and roared. The World Wide Invitational is Blizzard’s big convention in the East, and the crowd was extremely excited to be in the stadium. The press rushed the barrier and squeezed into each other just to get a closer look.

It appeared that Mike Morhaime has more than his share of celebrity status here in Korea. It makes much more sense if you know his history; he has given birth to the most exciting, most popular and most played games in Korea and all over the world. Blizzard, his love-child, has made young Korean gamers into millionaires and major celebrities dwarfing, according to at least one pundit, the fame of such legends as Michael Jordan and Brad Pitt. His games — particularly the real time strategy games Warcraft and Starcraft — have impacted South Korean culture; they are like South Park is to Americans, an immediately understood reference. As this gaming celeb stands before the crowd, the lights flash, the music starts and Mike grins. He has held onto a secret for nearly 5 years and he is excited to be able to share it with the world. He humbly greets Korea and its valuable players.

He says, ?When the time came for us to plan this announcement, it was easy for us to decide where it should take place.? The crowd is silent as the translator gives sends them the message, then the eruption of a screaming applause. Mike continues, ?Not only has the passion and enthusiasm of Korean gamers come to make Blizzard a leader in multi-player entertainment. It has played a large part to transform Blizzard into a global-gaming company. Unveiling our newest game here in Korea is just a small way for us to say thanks to all of you.? Translation from his English words into Korean, hushed silence, roaring applause. It becomes glaringly obvious that Korea is much more than a world trade power, much more than just another country in southeast Asia, much more than just another place to visit. Korea has intruded itself onto the radar of the gaming community, taken it by force and, quite frankly, left all of us Westerners somewhat dumbfounded. It is no wonder that Blizzard loves Korea, enough to have established its own office here, stretching its fingers further over the world than nearly any other game developer has.

Hearts beat with excitement as he says, “Mere words won’t do justice to this announcement. In true Blizzard fashion we would like to start things off with another movie for your viewing pleasure.” The translator translates and the crowd is patiently silent. As she closes her sentence the stadium goes dark. Sparklers fly across the room, as if giving a signal and fireworks erupt on stage. The time has come that we have all been waiting for.

Blizzards logo appears on screen then fades to black.

The crowd is hushed, waiting, anticipating. The music starts, deep base beats move through the floor and into our hearts adding to the drama that will ensue. The first shot fades in.

The crowd goes completely insane. The cheering could be heard within a five-mile radius. Jim Raynor, the Terran commander, is back and he’s none too happy. This is exactly what the Koreans and other Starcraft players have been waiting for. Blizzard has answered their cries and given them what they have been asking for. Blizzard’s next game will be Starcraft II.

WanderingGoblin.com is an MMO site; of course, we were hoping for a new Blizzard MMO. Despite this, it was hard not to get excited about Starcraft II. The intensity, the excitement of the event, the overwhelming crowd reaction to the announcement was staggering. Blizzard continued to build upon that excitement by giving the crowd a lengthy, thorough, detailed game demo.

The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay is smooth, at least according to the demo. Introducing old units with new abilities, new units with new abilities and a nice fluid look with the graphics it’s hard to imagine that anyone will be disappointed when this game releases. Morhaime won’t give a release date. He only chimes, “It’ll be ready when it’s ready.” Blizzard is notorious for its pride in the design of past games, often holding release dates for expansions and new titles until the game is perfect and usually against the outcry of their devoted fans. Check out the following screen grabs and their descriptions.

In the first image Battlecruisers fire cannons against Protoss Phoenix using the Overload ability. In the next the powerful Warp Rays with a Phoenix engage in battle against Terran Battlecruisers.

In this image you will again see Terran Battlecruisers face-off against Protoss Phoenix.

In a nutshell, Blizzard appears to be on track to deliver a flawless product full of the state-of-the-art computer graphics that RTS gamers have come to expect. As much as fans scream and cry about the amount of time they have to wait between sequels and expansions, Blizzard feels they would cry more if they were forced to deal with less than high quality products. In fact, Mike Morhaime asserts such with absolute certainty.

There will be a delay until SC II is released. Blizz, as is typical for them, wouldn’t even hint at a release date. Further, Morhaime repeatedly spoke of the need to polish SC II to perfection. He was clear that SC II would not be released until it was, without question, an excellent game.

For MMO fans prone to worry, don’t. According to Morhaime, development of Starcraft II will have no impact on World of Warcraft. The development teams are completely seperate. Starcraft II won’t affect the amount of content introduced into WoW, nor will it impact any future expansions. Morhaime affirmed that Blizzard is able to work on several select projects simultaneously.

We will all have to wait for Starcraft II. After seeing the game played, that waiting will be with baited breath. Ciao!

Copyright 2007 WanderingGoblin.com