StarCraft | Cheerful Ghost

Starcraft: Cartooned Now Available

Well. Here’s a post I never expected to be making.

There’s a new version of Starcraft out right now, that’s been entirely tooned. The new art is done by Carbot, who has gained fame for some pretty hilarious animations based on Blizzard games.

StarCraft: Cartooned re-imagines every unit, structure, map, menu, and mission with the beloved art style of Carbot Animations. Add a whole new look to the epic single player campaign, take the cartooned mayhem online and go head-to-head on the multiplayer ladder, or join your friends for your favorite custom game – even if they don’t own StarCraft: Cartooned!

I love that Blizzard is still giving the original Starcraft some love,... Read All

Battle.net Beta Gets Appear Offline Mode, Profiles And More!

Fans have been asking Blizzard to get an "appear offline" mode in the Battle.net client for ages and they are finally brining that feature forward in beta. Steam has had it for ages, which is nice when you want to jump on and play a game without anyone bothering you or knowing about it. Sneaky!

"Appear offline allows you to set your status to show you as “offline” to your Blizzard friends while remaining connected to Battle.net. This means you can launch the app and game away without distraction.

Appearing offline will show you as offline to everyone in your Blizzard friends list. Once you have joined a game, the experience of appearing offline might be slightly... Read All

StarCraft Remastered Launch Detected!

StarCraft Remastered launched today giving players the ability to play this classic LAN staple in 4K HD! One nice feature of the new StarCraft update is the amazing new graphics and also that you can play it alongside the original remastered and totally free to play version. Blizzard also added StarCraft to the Battle.net client and also made logging in to multiplayer in StarCraft us the new Battle.net sign-in interface. StarCraft still uses Classic Battle.net after that but you sign on with the new Battle.net and then it stores your old Battle.net credentials in the new client making you only have to sign in once. If that doesn't make sense then head in to StarCraft... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/15/2017 at 05:06am

The HD video looks great! It doesn't look like the intro was remastered, though, which you can find in the main menu.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/16/2017 at 02:29am

I've had it crash my windows box a few times now

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/16/2017 at 04:45pm

Oh that's too bad. Apparently they have some bugs to fix then.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/16/2017 at 07:14pm

It seems to work better in Windowed (Fullscreen) mode than Fullscreen mode. I am not sure what the difference is. The Windowed (Fullscreen) mode isn't in a window.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/16/2017 at 07:58pm

Windowed Fullscreen (sometimes called Borderless Windowed, or just Borderless Fullscreen) is *technically* a window, it just doesn't have the window borders, title bar, etc. It doesn't give the game exclusive access to the display like true fullscreen, but it can make things better in some games (and makes it easier to alt+tab out if you need to do that). Most notably if a game has screen tearing issues and doesn't have good vsync to prevent that, it can kinda sorta force the game into the desktop's refresh rate. It usually causes minor (and almost always, VERY minor) framerate drops but sometimes it can improve framerate if there are specific issues with the game's compositing.

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Borderless_fullscreen_windowed

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/16/2017 at 11:16pm

It was 19 years ago when Starcraft came out. I was just finishing up high school. I remember playing Quake II around the same time, too. I'm not in too deep, but I don't think I've experienced any issues with Remastered. Starcraft got a good graphical upgrade, which is noticeable in some of the full motion movies. It certainly feels like a game that has aged well. Sadly, I can't say that about all games. I wish the Command & Conquer and Warcraft series would get the same facelift. Those were my wonderful RTS days. I enjoyed Starcraft II, but The Legacy of the Void proved to be quite difficult for me. I ended up cheating so I could get it over with. I think I used some cheats while playing Starcraft as well. I'll see how far I get before I feel the need.

@Travis thanks for the tech info!

I looked in Geforce Experience to optimize it, but it didn't come up in my game scan. I thought I enabled vsynch, but it appears I didn't. I haven't seen any screen tearing. Everything else is on except for Pillarbox and Enable FPS Cap. I would have used the latter, but it's scale is 100-300. If I were to limit my FPS, I'd do it with vsych or just set it for 60, which isn't on that scale. I believe it's running in "fullscreen" and I'm easily Alt-Tabbing back and forth.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/17/2017 at 04:21am

Thanks for the info Travis!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/20/2017 at 04:48am

Here's a cool BlizzDev interview https://www.gamespot.com/articles/on-starcraft-remastereds-transformation-and-why-th/1100-6452652/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/20/2017 at 11:11am

That's a great article, thanks for sharing Greg. A Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 remastered would be great!

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You Can Now Download The Original Refreshed StarCraft For Free!

As part of the upcoming StarCraft remastered release Blizzard dropped an updated version of Classic StarCraft with revamped Battle.net classic support, LAN play and a modern build that works on newer systems. Recently I downloaded StarCraft on my PC and Mac and tried it out and put simply, Blizzard did an amazing job porting this classic game to modern systems.

If you are looking for a version of StarCraft with updated visuals you might want to wait for StarCraft Remastered that is coming this summer. If you are looking for a modern build of the classic game with a streamlined interface that works incredibly well on modern systems for free you should check this out.... Read All As part of the upcoming StarCraft remastered release Blizzard dropped an updated version of Classic StarCraft with revamped Battle.net classic support, LAN play and a modern build that works on newer systems. Recently I downloaded StarCraft on my PC and Mac and tried it out and put simply, Blizzard did an amazing job porting this classic game to modern systems.

If you are looking for a version of StarCraft with updated visuals you might want to wait for StarCraft Remastered that is coming this summer. If you are looking for a modern build of the classic game with a streamlined interface that works incredibly well on modern systems for free you should check this out. Many of the old problems with classic StarCraft have been fixed, like needing to tunnel ports to enable classic Battle.net play and Blizzard also removed some strange networking options for multiplayer no one uses (like serial connections). The game is presented in 4x3 and the games original low res art(by modern standards) is kept but doesn't seem to mess up your desktop by putting your computer in 640x480 resolution. It's a nice touch and makes the whole new game build experience really solid and fresh. Blizzard also wrapped the whole new StarCraft install process in a fancy new theme that looks a lot like their modern Battle.net client. It's sad that StarCraft doesn't show up in the modern Battle.net client but one reason why this might not happen is that classic Battle.net games aren't compatible with newer Battle.net and don't have features like cross game chat and the like. That or Blizzard is saving a spot in the new Battle.net client for StarCraft remastered. Not sure which but at some point it might be nice to get all classic Blizzard games in the modern client.

The classic StarCraft game we all love is present and both StarCraft and Brood War campaigns are there for you to play... for free. I really like that Blizzard is giving out the original StarCraft for free and if you want the updated Remastered edition you can get that and both versions will be compatible with each other in terms of multiplayer. I appreciate companies giving these classic games a fresh coat of paint and when they release them for free it's like an early Christmas present.

You can download StarCraft on Windows using the link below:

https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=win&locale=enUS&version=LIVE&gameProgram=STARCRAFT&id=27575673.1487036775

You can download StarCraft for Mac using the link below:

https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=mac&locale=enUS&version=LIVE&gameProgram=STARCRAFT&id=27575673.1487036775

If you want to delve a bit deeper into the history of StarCraft development, Blizzard has a very interesting retrospective article you can read below.

https://starcraft.com/en-us/articles/20719767

Evolution Complete: StarCraft Remastered In 4K Launches In The Koprulu Sector This Summer!

The rumors were true and StarCraft & Broodwar are currently being remastered by Blizzard for a PC & Mac release this summer. This looks to be a full remastering of the original game with new crisp HD art and an updated engine for modern LAN and Internet gameplay. Next week Blizzard will drop an update to the original StarCraft game to get ready for the remastered version this summer:

"In preparation for StarCraft: Remastered, Blizzard Entertainment will update StarCraft: Brood War later this week to version 1.18. The update will include bug fixes and improvements, including the ability to rebind keys; observer mode; modern anti-cheat measures; compatibility... Read All The rumors were true and StarCraft & Broodwar are currently being remastered by Blizzard for a PC & Mac release this summer. This looks to be a full remastering of the original game with new crisp HD art and an updated engine for modern LAN and Internet gameplay. Next week Blizzard will drop an update to the original StarCraft game to get ready for the remastered version this summer:

"In preparation for StarCraft: Remastered, Blizzard Entertainment will update StarCraft: Brood War later this week to version 1.18. The update will include bug fixes and improvements, including the ability to rebind keys; observer mode; modern anti-cheat measures; compatibility improvements for Windows 7, 8.1, and 10; and more. Once the update is live, StarCraft Anthology, which includes the original game and the Brood War expansion, will be free to download and play. "

StarCraft is one of my all time favorite games and it getting this HD remastering update is incredible. To date some of the best HD remasterings of games have given them new life in a world where running them on modern systems is difficult and the old StarCraft is no exception. Blizzard updating the multiplayer means that it will be easier to play StarCraft with friends over the Internet, which up till now has been pretty difficult.

"In StarCraft Remastered, we’ve kept everything you love about StarCraft, but upgraded everything else.

Detailed visuals - Zoom out for a Battlecruiser’s view of the battlefield, or zoom in to see the veins on a Mutalisk’s wings.

Stylized Briefings - Race-themed comic book interludes tell the original story with a fresh coat of paint.

Amped Audio -The original soundtrack and dialogue, re-recorded and rejuvenated."

I've wondered if Blizzard would use the original engine to do a possible retelling of StarCraft or use the new StarCraft II engine and it seems this is a remaking of the original game with much update love. From the many behind the scenes videos about StarCraft i've heard the codebase is hard to work with so this is a pretty large effort and I can't wait to pick it up when it drops this summer. I also hope Blizzard releases a collectors edition, that would be an incredible way to launch this retelling of the game.

https://starcraft.com/en-us/
https://blizzard.gamespress.com/

Travis Admin wrote on 03/26/2017 at 06:09pm

I was just coming to post this! I hope we get the same kind of treatment for Diablo II and others. Starcraft is coming up on 20 years old... 20 years! It's amazing to see it played so heavily still, and getting this kind of update.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/27/2017 at 01:05am

Yeah, Travis is right, it was about 20 years ago (apparently) that I got my copy of Starcraft. I couldn't find it within my small local area, so I actually travelled half an hour to a Wal-Mart in West Virginia to get it. I can't remember which box cover I chose, I think it was Protoss or Terran.

This is good news and what surprises me more is that it's supposed to be out this summer. I enjoyed the game and the expansion. I liked the cut scenes and funny things units and characters say. Remember, "I love you Sarge!" LOL

However, I'm not sure when or if I might pick this up. I enjoyed SCII, but the recent additions were a bit too difficult for me and I ended up cheating. This kind of turned me off a little bit. I remember using cheat codes on the original. I don't remember it being extremely difficult. It's been a long time since I've played it, so I don't recall very much very well.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/27/2017 at 03:12am

The only missions I remember I cheated on in SC was the ending mission where the Protoss team up with the Terrans against the Zerg. That was nuts and I just typed in the code to have it be over. And it was. And I was confused by the ending.

Go figure.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/19/2017 at 06:30am

Starcraft is now free with a new patch. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/starcraft-goes-free-today-with-new-patch-its-first/1100-6449431/

Travis Admin wrote on 04/19/2017 at 01:10pm

And when the remaster comes out we'll be able to play multiplayer across this version and the remaster.

The one thing that I question is that CD-key banning is the most effective tool they had against hackers. They don't have that now since someone can just make a new account rather than having to pony up money for it.

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Take it with a grain of salt, but "sources" report Starcraft HD is coming soon!

iNews24, a news organization in Korea, has reported that Blizz is giving us a shiny coat of paint for the original Starcraft.

This isn't a tabloid or anything, it's a respected source, but they don't have any official confirmation from Blizzard on it yet.

Reportedly, it will keep the same gameplay, but have new graphics and better resolution. No more 800x600 max!

This move would make a ton of sense for Blizzard since the game is still popular, and I'm hoping for the same treatment for Diablo II and Warcraft III.

Source: http://kotaku.com/report-blizzard-releasing-starcraft-hd-1784863397

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/06/2016 at 12:32am

Lately it seems that a lot of video game rumors are true. This would be cool, I enjoyed Starcraft and the expansions. I have Diablo II, but haven't spent much time with it. I've never played Warcraft III. So, I might be interested in all three games, if they make them.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 08/06/2016 at 02:55am

"A lot of video games are true"

Let's make some new ones so they come true!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/06/2016 at 04:20am

Now there's an awesome idea! =)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/06/2016 at 05:24am

We can start a rumor mill post! :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/07/2016 at 03:34am

Greg is actually pretty right in that lots of these video game rumors seem true. Also, nearly all the credible Blizzard rumors are also true. The rumors of the latest Hearthstone expansion were right on the money. That said...

I wonder if this will be a a newer recompile of the original game with modern networking OR basically the original game re-created in the StarCraft II engine? Both would be fine by me.

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We Finally Have A Good Picture Of What Happened To StarCraft: Ghost

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/0/0d/SC-G_Logo1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080508203154

Polygon has a really great article that covers the history of the infamous Blizzard game StarCraft: Ghost. Ghost was a game that was aimed at consoles and featured stealth gameplay starring the Ghost character Nova. I remember hearing quite a big of buzz about the game and as with many upcoming Blizzard games, I was really interested in playing it. Eventually Blizzard stopped talking about the game entirely and then we found out the game wasn't in active development but never properly cancelled. Up until now we didn't know much as to why the game was scrapped but Polygon has a very well written article that covers the story of Ghost from conception to it changing... Read All

New Cartoon Series: Starcrafts

YouTube animator CarbotAnimations recently created "Starcrafts" a series of cartoon shorts based on Starcraft. They are released every Saturday and have 10 episodes already!

Linking to them all because you have to watch them all, they are that awesome!

Episode 3 Mini Marine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBOOJvXDjX0&feature=plcp

Episode 4 Zerg BM:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk6wYlRR-BI&feature=plcp

Episode 5 Choked Up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COV2GfUnxFc&feature=plcp

Episode 6 A Hellion of Harras:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxOm86GB9nQ&feature=plcp

Episode 7 Roach Approach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9T0hjPs2NU&feature=plcp

A Thank you... Read All

Search Google for Zerg Rush.