How much is too much?

Since the announcement in Korea, I had been looking forward to Blizzard's launch of StarCraft 2. I was even lucky enough to participate, if only for a short period of time in the multiplayer Beta. I had been sensing the hyped buzz and knew the time was approaching for the product release. Now I hadn't bothered to preorder or even check out what the suggested retail price of the game was, so, when I picked up last weekend's Sunday newspaper, I was shocked to discover that SC2 would not only be out this week, but would carry the hefty price tag of $60.00!!

Now, I'm not a cheap person and as recent as last month I purchased a console game with a similar price tag and didn't think twice about it. This time, I paused. I'm not sure if it was shock or just being confused. When did PC games move up in price? One of the great reasoning behind PC gaming staying relevant in this age of console gaming was the lower cost of games. Affordability was what appealed to me. Apparently, thanks to the money grubbing whores at Blizzard, not anymore. I can't be shelling out $60.00 every time I want to play a new game. My general philosphy when it comes to console games is to wait a few months, or in some cases less and pick the game up either used or low down cheap. Course, with PC games they don't come used nor do you see any significant price drop until a year after the release, especially on a game that sells millions as I'm sure SC2 will do its first week alone.

I've not been living under a rock mind you. I know that recent game releases like Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the PC had started to inch up in price to equal their console versions, but some where in my psyche I thought Blizzard was the one of those rare companies that wanted to support the PC gaming industry. To help it survive under the current flood of consoles. Course, if your heart is set on playing StarCraft 2 the only way you can play is on a PC. There will be no console version to the best of my knowledge and the same will go for Diablo 3. Blizzard just has no shame. We are the god of all PC gaming. We own the most popular MMO in history with over 10 million users. We can do what we want. If people want our product they have to pay our price.

Here is the added issue that others are upset about. "StarCraft 2: The Wings of Liberty" is only 1/3 of the complete single player story. Blizzard will be releasing in the not so far future, 2 more games that cover the Zerg and the Protoss sides. This doesn't bother me since it has been explained on the intertubes that this release includes well over 20 or so missions. The original game only came with 30 or so and included missions for all three races. All the races are available for online play so if mulitplayer competition is your thang, then you are good to go with "Wings of Liberty" and don't need the other "Expansions" to unlock races. There is no Lan support, so the days of playing with friends at giant lan parties is pretty much over unless there is an internet connection to accommodate your crew. But for my part I would only play online through there Battlenet service, so even that change from the original doesn't bother me.

I'm not sure if its Blizzard that is being the source of all evil or if its Activision. Either way, they pretty much have the fans by the short hairs as my mom use to say. I can choose not to stick it to the man and missing out on what reviewers are saying is one of the best RTS game in years or join the masses of zombie Blizzard fanboys and buy StarCraft 2.

I will leave it to the readers. Should I protest the increase in price by waiting till it comes down or should I just hitch my wagon up and drink from the Blizzard kool aid?

The Wilting of a Money Tree

Apparently, 10 million subscribers isn't paying the bills for Blizzard. Unable to harvest their current crop of money tree's and hurting for cash since the merger with Activision, it appears that Diablo 3 will be all about the DLC (Down loadable content) using their "Still Free for Now" player matching service, Battle.Net.

"We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features," said Diablo III director Jay Wilson. "We kind of have to."

Quoting another source close to the decision, "We just can't afford to wax our yachts every day. I've personally had to lay off one of my 20 gardeners working at the 50 acre animal compound in Africa. It's just tragic. This decision to charge for things, that in the past we have provided for free should help ease the pain."

If that news wasn't bad enough,with regret in his voice and tears in his eyes, Blizzard’s Vice President of Game Design Rob Pardo announced that the campaign version of StarCraft 2 will be a trilogy, each part focusing on a separate race. "It's a separate product. Look at the next two as expansion packs, but will have the feel of stand alone products."

Citing a source close to Pardo, "He really wanted to release it as one product so the players could enjoy all the gaming goodness at once, but with the economic crisis, he knew if he was going to afford that trip in to space he had planned for 2010, he would have to pass the cost on to the players."

Continuing with the plan to keep their company a float, World of Warcraft production boss J Allen Brack apparently confirmed at BlizzCon session this weekend that paid character customisation is on the way to World of Warcraft. From this Warcry report:

When asked to expand upon a button found by sifting through the Lich King beta’s data files named “Paid Character Customization,” Brack initially hesitated to give any answer at all. Several questions later, he went back to the matter, saying that he could, in fact, confirm that World of Warcraft would eventually have some form of paid character customization, though they themselves hadn’t yet worked out any details.

With Warhammer's aggressive attack on the MMO market and the lack of good ink to print their own money, Blizzard is heading down skid row. It won't be long before the execs at Blizzard might actually have to cut back on the Hummers and Cesna planes.

And we can't have that.