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Blizzard’s founder Max and Erich Schaefer, David Brevik and Bill Roper ahve apparently resigned from Blizzard. Hope this will not affect Starcraft 2.

Here is the news copied+pasted from DiabloII.net

One of the game that I waited for so many months. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne has finally gone gold on 29th May 2003. The game will hit the shelves on 1st July 2003. The game is estimated to cost around US$35.

Here is a scoope of the press release:

Half-Life 2, the rumors that have been going on for the past week and I have been following it closely. They are not rumors, it is true that Half-Life 2 will be out by the end of this year, rejoice guys. Here are some points taken from Planet Hal-Life & CS Nation:

» Half-Life 2 is scheduled for a September 30th release.
» Yes, you’re still Gordon Freeman, and yes, the story assumes you went to work for the G-Man.
» Half-Life 2 takes place in a European city called “City 17.”
» Headcrabs will be back! Although some of the Xen aliens will be your friends?
» Barney is back. And so is Half-Life’s original writer, Marc Laidlaw.
» While the new engine has all sorts of fancy features, it’s still designed to work on lower-end machines. Apparently a 700mhz processor and a video card capable of running DX6 is enough, although a 2ghz with a GeForce4 is recommended.
» The girl in the promo art is named Alyx, a daughter of a scientist who factors into the story somehow. She’s not playable.
» Scripted Sequences will be more interactive.
» Half-Life 3 is planned, so expect another cliffhanger ending.
»The eyes of players are dynamic, and accurately track objects in the real world, jumping to various objects of interest as well when nothing is happening.
» Eyes also feature true reflections.
» While a number of “Barney” security officers will be around, one main sidekick is planned.
» Full facial animation, based off of muscle-movement studies, gives natural expressions as well as automatic lip-synching.
» Fully realistic physics engine for fluid movement, falling, and collisions.
» All players will no longer walk “through” corpses, but rather step on and over them.
» Advanced fully dynamic particle system.
» Vastly improved AI system with intelligent pathfinding, threat analysis, and multiple prioritized objectives.
» Expected to be published by Activision.

Westwood also announced today that Command & Conquer Generals has gone gold and will be hitting shelves on 11th February 2003, which is about 19 more days.

Here is a scoop of its press release:

Blizzard has announcement an expansion to Warcraft III. Warcraft III expansion will be called “Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne”, and it will be out somewhere in July, which is about a year since Warcarft III is launched.

Here is the key features:

Blizzard has released Warcraft III demo yesterday. Here is the storyline of Warcraft III demo:

After receiving an ominous warning from a mysterious prophet, the Orc warchief Thrall must guide his warriors to a strange new land in this fully playable demo of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Whether you’re new to real-time strategy or a skilled veteran, you’ll be in for a challenge as you navigate the Orcs through lush 3D environments and lead them into battle against those who stand in their way. Can you rally the Horde in the face of extinction?

C&C Generals has been officially delayed, but not to worry guys, Westwood always ship their game on time.
Here is a scoop of it:

GameSpyDaily has learned that EA Pacific’s highly anticipated RTS for the PC — Command & Conquer Generals — has been strategically delayed until February of next year. Now set to ship on February 11, 2003, EA attributed the reason for the delay to its strong lineup of other titles from now until early 2003.

Yap, thats right UT2003 has gone gold. It will be out on shelves about 2 weeks later, can’t wait for it. Sure a great game with fantastic graphics. Here is the forum post about it:

Just before 5AM Eastern Standard Time this morning we shipped the release version of Unreal Tournament 2003 to manufacturing. It should be in production later today and in stores before the end of the month. We want to thank everyone on the forum for all of the valuable feedback. In the week since we shipped the demo we worked pretty much non-stop to squash a lot of bugs and incorporate some of the great feedback we got from players all around the world.

Its not Starcraft II, but Starcraft: Ghost. During a press conference today at the Tokyo Game Show, Blizzard Entertainment®, a studio of the games division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, unveiled StarCraft: Ghost„¢, a tactical-action console game set in Blizzards epic StarCraft® universe.StarCraft: Ghost is currently under development and is scheduled for a worldwide release on multiple console systems. The game will be co-published by Capcom and Blizzard Entertainment in Japan; further announcements regarding platform/country specifics will be announced in the months to come.

StarCraft®: Ghost„¢, Blizzard Entertainments upcoming tactical-action console game, refines the epic experience of StarCraft to the level of the individual soldier. Engage the StarCraft universe face-to-face as a deadly Ghost operative in the employ of the Dominion. With the help of determined allies, follow story-driven missions that take you from massive planetary battles through dangerous solo operations to an unexpected turn of events that leaves the fate of the universe in your hands.
Features:
» Revolutionary new style of gameplay featuring enhanced physical and psionic abilities