Last week the much awaited for (i really wasn’t waiting) game from Blizzard, Star Craft II hit the shelves after 12 years from the original game. The first game is still considered a national icon with gaming centers still filled with kids and adults battling it out, and two professional leagues setup. I knew that it was coming out but didn’t really think that i was going to get it until Thomas said that he was going to the store to pick it up at midnight and watch the intro. The next day i decided to stop by the store after work and pick it up at the Gamestop down the street. I went back and installed it, logged on, and immediately went to battle with Thomas and his employee. It really doesn’t seem like much has changed in game play, but honestly i don’t really remember the original considering the last time i played it was back when i worked in the computer lab on campus at CSULB. Even before that i never really played the game very much.
Playing with friends online brings me back to the Costa Mesa house where we would invite some 10 people over to play War Craft III. Everyone would bring over their own computer setup and we would set teams up in separate rooms. We would drain so much power the breakers would go off and we would have to use extension cords to draw power from the other outlets. We would play until our eyes bled and the house was out of soda and pizza.
Its a little less crazy now that everyone is a little older has a little more responsibility and some don’t even live in the same state anymore. Although times have changed, at least the Internet is able to keep us all together. Just the other night I got in a game with Thomas and Alex in OC, Jerry from the IE, and Jonathan’s old friend Alex who logged on from Taiwan.
I’m currently learning the Zerg, and i actually originally got their gameplay mixed up with the undead from WC3 and totally ate it the first couple games i played. I’m still learning and have gotten my ass handed to me a few times, but at least now there are a ton of tutorials, and keyboard shortcuts to learn to keep up with the real gamers out there. So if you got the game just look for my e-mail address and bring it on!
