Blizzard Confirms No LAN Support For Starcraft 2 [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Kemeno writes "Blizzard has announced that they will be dropping LAN support for Starcraft II, citing piracy and quality concerns. Instead, all multiplayer games will be hosted through their new Battle.net service. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this move, but wasn't LAN play how the original Starcraft became popular? Blizzard said, 'More people on Battle.net means more even more resources devoted to evolving this online platform to cater to further community building and new ways to enjoy the game online. World of Warcraft is a great example of a game that has evolved beyond anyone's imagination since their Day 1 and will continue to do so to better the player experience for as long as players support the title. ... We would not take out LAN if we did not feel we could offer players something better.'"http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/07/01/1628259 (http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/07/01/1628259/Blizzard-Confirms-No-LAN-Support-For-emStarcraft-2em?from=rss)
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[unwinddesign]

I've played thousands of games of Age of Empires 2, Mythology and AoE3 online. Haven't played one LAN game.

That said, even I know it's a fairly important feature, especially amongst the enthusiast crowd. Doesn't make a lot of sense to disable it. Will it really cut down on piracy that much? I'm sure someone will just hack LAN support into the game with an unofficial patch, eventually...

[Lord_Magus]

This is insane. Personally I'm not a huge Starcraft fan and wouldn't have purchased this sequel anyway, but I can totally see how this will be huge deal-breaker for people, and rightfully so.

I mean, especially considering the laughable reasoning behind it (seriously, piracy? Did it hurt the first Starcraft in the slightest?) this must be one of the most stupid things I've ever heard a company do.

[skaar]

The age of the LANparty is sadly over. Even now if we're playing something on laptops or something at someone else's house, it'll usually be online anyway.

I miss low ping LAN fragfests.

[tofu]

I think one reason they're eliminating LAN for Starcraft II is because a few programs have been floating around Warcraft III which can allow hosting games on battlenet without a valid CD key.

[otaku]

this is lame how the hell are my buddies and I that get together at the local college for huge lan parties supposed to game? over the net I suppose but still. oh well its not to big of a loss just as long as its a solid game

[kedawa]

If the netcode is done right, this really shouldn't be an issue. The fact that an internet connection is necessary shouldn't be a problem for most people.

[Clownzilla]

I think one reason they're eliminating LAN for Starcraft II is because a few programs have been floating around Warcraft III which can allow hosting games on battlenet without a valid CD key.

There was a time when companies would allow you to play 2 or 3 player LAN matches with just one copy of the CD. I can't remember what it was called but it was probably responsible for people going home and buying a copy for themselves. The LAN game was pretty much free advertising.Times are changing for the worse:(

[520xyz]

If the netcode is done right, this really shouldn't be an issue. The fact that an internet connection is necessary shouldn't be a problem for most people.


come on , man , let's play warcraft of world

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

There was a time when companies would allow you to play 2 or 3 player LAN matches with just one copy of the CD. I can't remember what it was called(

yeah, it was this little company called blizzard. i would bring diablo to school and i'd spawn it on the lab computers and we'd spend our lunch breaks in the catacombs. same for starcraft.

all this is going to do is encourage more of what blizzard calls 'pirate programs' that generate a fake bnet server so you can actually play a local game. i certainly won't be buying either until blizzard cleans up their act or someone writes a workaround.

[kupomogli]

all this is going to do is encourage more of what blizzard calls 'pirate programs' that generate a fake bnet server so you can actually play a local game. i certainly won't be buying either until blizzard cleans up their act or someone writes a workaround.

So you're going to pirate it due to them not allowing LAN? Or is that just some petty excuse?

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

So you're going to pirate it due to them not allowing LAN? Or is that just some petty excuse?

thanks for putting words in my mouth. didn't say i'd pirate the game, only that if i had to i'd use a hacked local bnet server (refered to by blizzard as a "pirate program") so i could play the game locally with a friend without having to go through blizz.

[Lothars]

thanks for putting words in my mouth. didn't say i'd pirate the game, only that if i had to i'd use a hacked local bnet server (refered to by blizzard as a "pirate program") so i could play the game locally with a friend without having to go through blizz.

What it sounds like is that there is still Lan settings in the game at least from people that have played it at events, so I don't think we have an exact word if it is in the game or not.

[Skelix]

They should leave LAN support. To really curb the piracy, they need to load it up with great anti-piracy stuff like massive DRM. Maybe do a maximum # of installs, and make the DRM chew up your computer so you need to reformat and reinstall windows. And of course the game as well!

Bah the only thing that would make me ever play a PC game again, is if it gave gamerscore. Otherwise I'll stick to the 360. They destroyed PC.

[b0ub0u]

LOL who cares about gamerscore.

Anyway RTS and FPS are only playable on PCs, period.

But back on topic, leaving LAN support out of Starcraft is not a good idea at all. I don't want to connect to b.net each time me and my buddies want to have a SC LAN match.