Be a Part of StarCraft 2 Development!

[Freak705]

No, you won't be writing code or modeling or animating characters, but you can have your voice heard on the matter of something mildly important. Blizzard has an online poll set up where YOU can choose which Dark Templar model makes it into the final game.

Originally posted by Blizzard Entertainment

The protoss dark templar has always been one of the StarCraft community's favorite units -- now, the community has a chance to participate directly in the dark templar design process for StarCraft II! Over the course of the next month, players will vote to decide which dark templar tribe will be represented in StarCraft II multiplayer matches. Click here (http://www.starcraft2.com/features/protoss/darktemplar-vote.xml) to see the options or head to the forums to cast a vote (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=14274447938&sid=3000) for your favorite.

Blizzard has also posted new artwork and four new screenshots. Check the thread to see them!

You can complain about Blizzard milking this game as a trilogy, but you can't complain about their dedication to their fans in taking their input.

[InfiniteAmmo]

Web site is down! Korea must have killed it.

[ÜberJumper]

Yeah, totally dead.

[Freak705]

Screenshots:

http://sclegacy.com/images/uploaded/starcraftiinews/ss106-hires.jpg
http://sclegacy.com/images/uploaded/starcraftiinews/ss107-hires.jpg
http://sclegacy.com/images/uploaded/starcraftiinews/ss108-hires.jpg
http://sclegacy.com/images/uploaded/starcraftiinews/ss109-hires.jpg

Artwork:
http://starcraft2.com/art.xml?s=97

[Freak705]

I should add that you must have a battletnet login in order to vote.

Here's a rundown of the two options:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1Xumhoa5U&eurl=http://sclegacy.com/

[asimplehero]

Aren't Dark Templars always cloaked? So we'll just see this model for a fraction of a second before they disappear?

[Freak705]

Your enemies won't see them, but you'll see a translucent model. And in custom games made with the included scenario editor I'm sure you'll be able to take off the cloaking permanently

[D4rkM4g3]

I voted to use both models... the first one I think is more true to the original, but number two has that Darth Maul badass-ness to it. Plus, it'd be nice to have it mixed up a bit instead of have a bunch of identical units running around.

[Chimpbot]

You can complain about Blizzard milking this game as a trilogy, but you can't complain about their dedication to their fans in taking their input.

You call it dedication, I call it throwing us table scraps. They're not empowering the fanbase at all; they're just giving us the ability to make a nigh-pointless decision that doesn't affect the quality of the end product at all.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Blizzard has to listen to the fanbase at all...at times, it can definitely be a bad thing when a developer listens to the userbase a little too much. Let's look at this situation like it really is, though; they're letting us vote on what one unit will look like. Sure, it's sorta cool of them...but don't act like they're actually taking our input on anything. They're letting us pick out a model...maybe. We might just get both if things pan out properly.

I, for one, feel damn empowered. It also totally makes up for the fact that I'll have to (most likely) pay ~$120 for the full Starcraft 2 experience...but I get to vote on one unit model, so I guess it evens out.

[sgtslappy]

Voted for both.

I can't wait for SC2 to come out.

[Borys]

God damn it, Blizzard and Valve are so damn cool.

[Qoz]

Chimpbot, if you can complain about user/fan interaction with the SC2 development, than you can complain about anything!

They have Q&A batches taking questions from the forum users and answering them. This feedback is thrown back to the developers.

They have changed many things according to what some users have suggested.

It's not like users are dictating what the Developers should do, but rather Blizzard is using the forums (interaction with fans) to gain some ideas og concepts they did not think off themselves. Sucj user-interaction is time-consuming and can be dangerous, because the fans keep wanting more, but they have done a REALLY good job IMHO.
This psuedo-influential poll is not indicative of everything they are doing.

I LOVE how they split the games into more singleplayer stories.

The fact is, that they could not make the game they wanted within a proper time/expense-scope. They had to make it more simple, if they wanted all the races at first release.

Now we get even more Starcraft and in a more next-generation innovative way.
Not just the "10 levels pr. race"-recipe we are used to.

It like claiming the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy was ripping us off, because they wanted to do 3 films. Imagine if they had made that story into 1 movie?! It would have sucked bigtime.

Some other movie trilogies are somewhat poor - like The Matrix and the 3 StarWars prequels. But remember that this is Blizzard we are talking about and they are almost guaranteed to deliver a fantastic games. When the content is good, it justifies a trilogy.

So wait for reviews and don't buy the first one if you don't like this particular RTS games. If you milk a franchise it means you produce a stream of content, without doing a good job. We can decide if they are milking it, when the products are here.

[Hapless]

You call it dedication, I call it throwing us table scraps. They're not empowering the fanbase at all; they're just giving us the ability to make a nigh-pointless decision that doesn't affect the quality of the end product at all.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Blizzard has to listen to the fanbase at all...at times, it can definitely be a bad thing when a developer listens to the userbase a little too much. Let's look at this situation like it really is, though; they're letting us vote on what one unit will look like. Sure, it's sorta cool of them...but don't act like they're actually taking our input on anything. They're letting us pick out a model...maybe. We might just get both if things pan out properly.

I, for one, feel damn empowered. It also totally makes up for the fact that I'll have to (most likely) pay ~$120 for the full Starcraft 2 experience...but I get to vote on one unit model, so I guess it evens out.

Blasphemer. How dare you question Blizzard's right to milk you for all the money you have.