StarCraft2 Specs

[Ja Di ksw]

That isn't really correct - you now know that the machines listed above will be able to run it. What type of machine do you have, maybe I can offer some more info.

So while the hard minimum isn't yet available, as I said the machines above are in the set that we build and test on every day.

I know those machines are able to run it, but like I said, all we know is that info and a handful of units from starcraft2.com. My machine will be able to run it fine (namely b/c my current one won't, and I'll be getting a new one within a month or two), that's not my complaint.
My complaint is that it was announced a long time ago (over a year) and we still don't have that much information. Not many units, no rough timetable, etc. Mainly, these are my questions:

Will the system requirements (minimum and recommended) be announced very close to the release date, or can we expect them sooner? (eXan kinda answered this, thank you)

Can we get a rough, *ROUGH* timeframe for release? As in, can we expect this ~2009, or is it going to be more ~2012?

Yes, I know it's a sport in Korea, I know it's a great game, yada yada yada. You don't need to convince me of that, Starcraft1 single handedly lowered my grades freshman year of college! I just wish more official information was out about SC2 considering it was announced over a year ago (and someone, I forget who, high up in Blizzard said they wanted to revisit it within 10 years, which I think has passed or come close to passing).

 

[rbarris]

I can't give you any information on the scheduling of beta testing, final release, or finalized system specs.

But from what you wrote it sounds like your machine specs won't be an issue, so it just boils down to wanting to play it as soon as possible, yes ?

 

[Ja Di ksw]

Oh yeah, I could have told you any frustration I have is from not being able to play soon enough - with soon enough being after I grab a quick dinner tonight .

I realize you can't give out any information, that's perfectly understandable. Just saying, can you understand the frustration of people who have been waiting over a year since it was announced, and over decade for this game in general, and we still barely have any info?

And yeah, this isn't a rant at you, even if it comes off that way (sorry). This is a general rant of a SC junkie that needs his fix.

 

[darklyt]

Oh yeah, I could have told you any frustration I have is from not being able to play soon enough - with soon enough being after I grab a quick dinner tonight .

I realize you can't give out any information, that's perfectly understandable. Just saying, can you understand the frustration of people who have been waiting over a year since it was announced, and over decade for this game in general, and we still barely have any info?

And yeah, this isn't a rant at you, even if it comes off that way (sorry). This is a general rant of a SC junkie that needs his fix.

You do realize that most Blizzard products are announced years in advance of their release, right? I seem to recall WC3 going through different genres of games after being announced and still took took a couple of years of development once the final games type was settled down to a Heroes system implemented in an RTS.

They seem to have announced SC2 later into development than previous games, but I would be (somewhat) surprised to see a Beta within this year. About a year from now is when I personally might expect something to be announced about Beta-testing. I would definitely not complain if was opened a lot sooner than that.

 

[SnoopyLoL]

HEY! You know how the WC3 map editor is extremely huge and is like soooooo much bigger then the actual WC3. I've heard that SC2's map editor is going to be EVEN MORE POWERFUL THEN THE WC3 EDITOR I wonder how well I will be able to play it on the iMac I'm getting for my birthday in July Just asking.

 

[CJM]

I can't give you any information on the scheduling of beta testing, final release, or finalized system specs.

But from what you wrote it sounds like your machine specs won't be an issue, so it just boils down to wanting to play it as soon as possible, yes ?

Hey, will you be at the WWI this month? ;P

You must be having a right laugh at us poor plebs, squirming over tiny morsels of information. If you could but just tell us one thing; is SC2 in alpha yet?

Here's hoping like hell we get SC2 beta keys

You do realize that most Blizzard products are announced years in advance of their release, right? I seem to recall WC3 going through different genres of games after being announced and still took took a couple of years of development once the final games type was settled down to a Heroes system implemented in an RTS.

They seem to have announced SC2 later into development than previous games, but I would be (somewhat) surprised to see a Beta within this year. About a year from now is when I personally might expect something to be announced about Beta-testing. I would definitely not complain if was opened a lot sooner than that.

Ah I thought I remembered seeing screenshots way back in '00 or something showing WC3 as a WoW-esque style of game, I always wondered what happened to that

I realise it really could be quite a while before SC2 comes out, but I think that including the community in the development, sometime before release, is a really good idea that'll hopefully ensure a balanced, well-rounded game.

Going off-topic a bit, how near/far do people think that WotLK is into a beta release? I may have seen... aheh... some leaked info... but it, to me, looks quite a long way off. Missing textures, zones, talents, broken abilities and whatnot.

 

[K0uhija]

Remember. All blizzard games are well set for use with low-end computers also, with support for high-end technology. The games are well scalable to make it play with nearly all hardware-configurations. All eyecandy can be scaled, or turned off.

The game will be released in mid-september, or later determined when they see that the game is finished. Latest for the christmas market (as it would in any way make the game sell more on release...) As noted blizzard does not give out beta-ready games.

 

[Sceneshifter]

Hey guys, I'm not familiar with all the gfx card names mentioned previously on page 2, however, are we SOL with the x3100 integrated card?

 

[bobber205]

I'm buying a DX10 card this summer just to be ready when this game comes out...

 

[rbarris]

Remember. All blizzard games are well set for use with low-end computers also, with support for high-end technology.

All depends on what your definition of a low end computer is, which is the whole point of the system specs (sorry, not released yet). A low-end machine that can run WoW may not be a machine that can run SC2 playably - however this should not be surprising considering the spread in release dates between the two titles (WoW was Fall 2004).

 

[ethernet76]

Well, that's not totally true...
I just got my MBP repaired and they gave me a 2.6GHz CPU instead of 2.2GHz logic board with 256 MB instead of 128 MB VRAM... and I get 25% more framerates... I'm sure most of it is because of the processor but VRAM has to be a part of it too...

It's probably all because of the more vram. The processor doesn't really do much during a game. Not to mention most games aren't written for dual-core machines.

VRAM matters because it allows more textures to loaded into memory. But the most important part is the GPU.

 

[Eric5h5]

It's probably all because of the more vram.

Nope, this is WoW, which is a 4-year old game that doesn't have billions of high-res textures. 100% guaranteed it's mostly the CPU.

The processor doesn't really do much during a game.

That's dependent on the game, but usually it does quite a lot. The graphics card only displays stuff. Well, "only" isn't the right word given the complexity of 3D graphics, but computing everything (animation and so on) requires a fair bit of CPU grunt.

--Eric

 

[CJM]

Remember. All blizzard games are well set for use with low-end computers also, with support for high-end technology. The games are well scalable to make it play with nearly all hardware-configurations. All eyecandy can be scaled, or turned off.

The game will be released in mid-september, or later determined when they see that the game is finished. Latest for the christmas market (as it would in any way make the game sell more on release...) As noted blizzard does not give out beta-ready games.

I'd bet you a large some of money that SC2 probably won't be released this year. Blizzard has a rule of releasing games ¨when they're ready¨ not at a time when sales can be maximised. (although, it could be said, this happened for WoW with its November 04 date)

Also, if by your last statement, you're implying there won't be a SC2 beta, I beg to differ. Dustin Browder, SC2's lead game designer stated in the latest Blizzcast that they want to do a multiplayer beta to ensure balance in the races.

 

[eXan]

It's probably all because of the more vram. The processor doesn't really do much during a game. Not to mention most games aren't written for dual-core machines.

VRAM matters because it allows more textures to loaded into memory. But the most important part is the GPU.

If WoW was as GPU-intensive as you say, it wouldn't run so well on machines with integrated graphics.

Some games are more CPU-intensive, some are more GPU-intensive and rarely both. With first, you can get away with a weaker GPU and with second, a weaker CPU, in order to run the game decently. WoW is CPU-intensive.

 

[K0uhija]

I am not saying there would not be a beta released. I meant that blizzard doesn't have a habit of releasing games as whole games in their alpha/beta-stages as many game-software programming houses.

 

[CJM]

I am not saying there would not be a beta released. I meant that blizzard doesn't have a habit of releasing games as whole games in their alpha/beta-stages as many game-software programming houses.

Oh I getcha, you mean that some developers are forced into release dates when the game isn't ready yet?

Yeah, it sucks when that happens. Blizz just likes to put a lot of polish into their games.

 

[tYsopz]

I'm just in the process of buying a new computer for school, WoW & SC2, and having no clue whatsoever what the system req would be for SC2 I almost bought an extremely expensive PC with top speccs only for gaming (god i hate windows) and a MB for school, but now I'm thinking I should simply get a MBP to cover all my needs.

Lucky I stumbled upon this thread today and not 3 days later!

 

[naventus]

rbarris - I was wondering if you could add any details about the difference in performance between the 8600 and 8800 (MBP vs MP). I am guessing that the 8600 will have dial down some settings, if not a lot, to medium. Will the 8800 be able to handle everything maxed?

 

[rbarris]

rbarris - I was wondering if you could add any details about the difference in performance between the 8600 and 8800 (MBP vs MP). I am guessing that the 8600 will have dial down some settings, if not a lot, to medium. Will the 8800 be able to handle everything maxed?

It's really too soon to say, since development is ongoing which includes things like driver improvements from the GPU vendors that we are working with.

Here's the thing though, the next generation of cards are now coming out, (NV GTX2xx and AMD R48xx) - you should note that what we put in the game as the "max / ultra" setting level may be scaled to that level of hardware or beyond, and might not be the setting level of choice for lower-powered cards. But even that is subjective, if you want the max frame rate then you will likely opt to go lower on the settings rather than higher - no matter which system you have.