Starcraft Ghost Novel Interview

[JCalCGM]

Firingsquad chats with novelist Keith R.A. DeCandido about Starcraft Ghost Nova, the upcoming Pocket Books novel that serves as a prequel to the now cancelled Blizzard console action game. You can check out the interview right here (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11235). Here is a snip:
FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the novel's storyline at this time?

Keith R.A. DeCandido: Well, like I said, it was originally designed as a prequel to the game. The game was going to be a first-person shooter, in which you-the-gamer play Nova, a Ghost -- basically a powerful telepathic and telekinetic assassin with excellent martial arts and weapons skills. What NOVA the novel does is tell the character's backstory and show how she got the point she's at in the game.

Nova Terra started out as a scion of the Old Families on Tarsonis. Because of her family's position, her telepathic talents have been kept a secret -- both from the Confederacy of Man and from Nova herself. At least, it's kept secret until tragedy strikes the Terra family, and Nova finds herself in the worst part of Tarsonis City, being chased by a Wrangler, a special agent trained to seek out telepaths to be brought into the Ghost program. The novel follows Nova's tribulations in "the Gutter," and the Wrangler's attempts to track her down.

[randir14]

When did the game get cancelled?

[OUX]

How can it be a prequel to something that never was?

[Freak705]

I'd give both my kidneys for Blizzard to revive this game.

[Medievaldragon]

I'm webmaster of Blizzplanet.
I can tell you that Starcraft: Ghost is not dead. The word used by Blizzard on the press release (http://www.blizzplanet.com/?action=news&id=634) was postponed indefinitely. Blizzard didn't say canned nor cancelled.

For example, Warcraft Adventures was a cancelled game. Death.
However, if you read the press release, Blizzard said they will focus on Next generation consoles. This is a new technology they need to learn and master to enhance the possibilities of Starcraft: Ghost and future console games.

If you check the recent job posting they clearly require the candidate to have Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii production experience a plus (page bottom):
http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/senior-producer.shtml

Remember, once Xbox 360 launched, all Xbox games dropped price. Would it be smart to launch a game when game prices drop $10-30.

Additionally, I think it is named XNA ... it allows game developers such as Blizzard to have control over their servers using the XNA infrastructure, whereas the previous Xbox was Microsoft closed architecture -- only they could operate it. I am not an expert on this arena --- I am assuming based on what I interpreted when reading an article.

According to Wikipedia this is XNA Framework:

The XNA Framework is a set of tools provided by Microsoft which facilitates computer game design, development and management. XNA does this by freeing game designers from worrying about nuts and bolts boilerplate coding,[1] and brings all aspects of game production into a single system. XNA was announced March 24, 2004, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California; the first Community Technology Preview version was released March 14, 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA

NOTE that the first preview released was March 14, 2006. Blizzard announced Starcraft: Ghost production going on hold ten days later on March 24, 2006 talking about their plans to move to next generation consoles ... see the coincidence on those dates? =)

[dark_inchworm]

Thank you for saving me the breath/typing, medievaldragon. Unfortunately, I have learned the hard way that 90% of gamers are completely blind to the truth.. so trying to spread it is a losing battle.

[Medievaldragon]

Welcome buddy. Read my update above, it gives you a scope of why Blizzard stopped production. The press release was announced barely 10 days after Microsoft held a preview of XNA framework at San Jose.

If you have heard, Blizzard acquired around 1,000 Optetron servers. Using XNA they can control their own Xbox 360 servers -- hope I'm not saying a blunder here O_o -- for Starcraft: Ghost multiplayer.

[RevGored]

Ghost failed because it was a bad idea in the end. Sometimes, Blizzard gets too ambitious, and it falls apart. Everything about Ghost smacked of copycat, and not a good one at that. Blizzard is good at taking basic elements of a genre and refining them to the point that people want to play them to death, and Ghost didn't do that. It changed hands too many times, and ended up too much to handle.

Once Blizz starts next-gen production, we may see something similiar to Ghost, but it'll probably be a more refined (re: realistic) version of what Ghost was going to be; not just to make it more accessible, but to make it replayable.

[jBusy]

Additionally, I think it is named XNA ... it allows game developers such as Blizzard to have control over their servers using the XNA infrastructure, whereas the previous Xbox was Microsoft closed architecture -- only they could operate it.
XNA is a framework for making games. However, it is not open and only works on microsoft platforms - Xbox and Windows. XNA has nothing to do with opening up XBox Live.


NOTE that the first preview released was March 14, 2006. Blizzard announced Starcraft: Ghost production going on hold ten days later on March 24, 2006 talking about their plans to move to next generation consoles ... see the coincidence on those dates? =)
March 24th was during Game Developers Conference. Everyone makes annoucements there.

[jBusy]

If you have heard, Blizzard acquired around 1,000 Optetron servers. Using XNA they can control their own Xbox 360 servers -- hope I'm not saying a blunder here O_o -- for Starcraft: Ghost multiplayer.
You know that they run WOW right? Unless Ghost is coming out this year, why would they buy servers for it? They'll just sit around decreasing in value. I'd also like to point out that Xbox live games are hosted by individual xbox users, not servers.

[cppcrusader]

I always find it amusing when gamers who don't understand what XNA is base their rampant specualtion on it.

I'm webmaster of Blizzplanet.
I can tell you that Starcraft: Ghost is not dead. The word used by Blizzard on the press release was postponed indefinitely. Blizzard didn't say canned nor cancelled.

Since you're a webmaster and you want to defend that the game isn't cancelled then perhaps you shouldn't be calling it canceled yourself.


Read an IGN Article concerning the cancellation.
Saturday 25th of March 2006 Posted by Medievaldragon

[HALO 32]

i rember years ago, Starcraft: Ghost was at #2 on my most wanted list...next to Halo 2 of course...but that was years ago, i guess were just going to have to move on

or it could come back and then it would be lower on the list...but it still would be there

[EGO]

I doubt it cancelled. They're probably Tomb Raider Legends-a-fying it (high res textures) and gonna spit it out.

But will anyone care?

Starcraft Ghost Forever FTW! :D

[Manzy]

Starcraft Ghost shouldn't be released anyway. It'd be like Jesus Christ coming down for the second coming and his greatest trick is doing a standing front flip, and you find out his mother isn't Virgin Mary anymore, but Courtney Love.

(YES, I am talking about a game I haven't played! I am omniscient, you wise asses!)

[PopoWRX]

Starcraft Ghost shouldn't be released anyway. It'd be like Jesus Christ coming down for the second coming and his greatest trick is doing a standing front flip, and you find out his mother isn't Virgin Mary anymore, but Courtney Love.

(YES, I am talking about a game I haven't played! I am omniscient you wise asses!)

Still, I am really itching for more Starcraft. My favorite Blizzard world by a good margin.

[Manzy]

Still, I am really itching for more Starcraft. My favorite Blizzard world by a good margin.

Yes, but Starcraft Ghost would be like going through heroin withdrawals and having someone shoot you up with water (Man, I am on a roll!).

[Freak705]

Make it next-gen, and then throw in Zerglings like zombies in Dead Rising and I'd be sold even more :p