Posts Tagged ‘starcraft 2’

Winter Recap 2010

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Life always gets so much busier when the holidays approach. As work culminates to the busiest time ever for MTV International for the Europe Music Awards in early November, social activities increase with Christmas gatherings and holiday celebrations.

You would think things would ease up after the holidays but instead, work picked up to the point where I’m constantly swamped with multiple development and production projects (iphone apps, flash games, tentpole websites, etc) and I added on continuing education classes at NYU with the goal of achieving certification in Advanced Web Development by the end of June. I have a love/hate relationship with my current situation. I welcome opportunities to improve and expand my skills with open arms but I’m constantly in the brink of burning out. I just need to remember to breathe once in a while and just relax, calm down, and enjoy life.

NOVEMBER 2009

Oct 31 – JFK->Berlin

4 – MTV EMAs

It was so great to be at the actual event location in O2 world. Even though we were working throughout the show, it was so worth it to sneak backstage whenever I could to hear and feel the performances of all the great artists live.

7 – Berlin->JFK

Despite the Euro trip being mostly work, Berlin was still such as a great time for me.
Some memorable moments:
* EMA After Party (great European Dance music, great dancing, great company). We spotted Daniel Merriweather, an australian singer and British Actor Paul Danan hit on me o.Oa.
* Getting fake interviewed by Joss Stone and MTV Germany VJ Joko Winterscheidt during Red Carpet Rehearsals
* Grabbing lunch at the cafeteria of the o2 Arena and passing by Katy Perry while getting food.
* Watching/Hearing artists during rehearsals (especially Shakira, also Beyonce, Tokio Hotel, Foo Fighters, Leona Lewis, etc) and hearing them play live from backstage.
* Having Tokio Hotel walk by me as I headed towards Pete Wentz (from Fall Out Boy) at the All Access Backstage area.
* Delicious food at expensive restaurants, especially Gugelhof Restaurant (great server, awesome juices ever – will never forget Elderberry and Rhubarb and Sour Cherry)

21 -Paintball at Cousin’s, Long Island

21 – Star Wars Concert (Henry’s Surprise to me)

23 – Redeemer Hip Hop Class By Henry

26-29 – Thanksgiving Holiday

28 – Thanksgiving Day

29 – Hat Tournament – My first hat tournament ever and we won first place!

30 – Massage from Water Front Spa – Needed a sports massage badly. I found that massages are like workouts. They really work on the sore muscles and it hurts a lot during the process but it’s good for the body in the long run and the after effects make it worth it.

DECEMBER 2009

4 – Hellgate Christmas Party

5 – Katrina’s Baby Shower; Sean’s Birthday (Happy Birthday, Sean!)

9 – mtvnAZN Christmas Party

17 – MTV INTL Christmas Party

18 – Allen’s Bday Dinner at Delmonico’s Steakhouse

19 – H&M Christmas Party

20 – Ate’s Webcam Conference Baby Announcement

Wow.. I was so shocked and surprised to find this out. I know our family isn’t the greatest at showing our emotions but we probably just don’t know how to best express it. I was so happy for my sister for the wonderful miracle she was blessed with. It was such a new thought to me – that our family tree was branching out in that way, that there was a life growing inside my sister’s tummy, that I was now an aunt. I know this is all new to my sister too and I wish nothing but the best for her and the family she is creating for herself.

25 – Christmas

I could never stop loving Christmas. It brings me such joy just to think of what could possibly be the perfect presents for everyone. I love seeing people get excited and touched over gifts. I love how kind and generous people become. I’m thankful that the Lee Family shares their Christmas with me. This year, I got three guitar hero games for the Xbox 360 from Henry! Thank you! I got him a GPS – mostly a gift for Henry but also, since I am Henry’s primary navigator, sort of a gift for myself . =)

31 – New Year’s Eve at Andrew and Amy’s Place

JANUARY 2010

9 – Movie: Sherlock Holmes (Thumbs Up); Movie: Youth In Revolt (Thumbs Down)

15 – JFK-> SFO

16 – 5th Year Anniversary Celebration at the Tonga Room

17 – Dad’s Birthday Celebration (Happy Birthday, Dad!); Dad and Sean Arrive in SF – Welcome to America!

It was great having Sean and Dad in the US. It was a great reunion that was long awaited. I just wish Sean will stay open minded about living in the US. I know he has great hesitations because he isn’t comfortable here yet. I just hope he finds genuine friendships here since that seems to be what matters to him a lot and of course a means of providing for himself too. I’m looking forward to having Nikki join us. I hope both Nikki and Sean and the rest of the Martinez family will end up feeling at home in the US just as I did.

18 – SFO-> JFK

22 – (Work) Hope For Haiti

23 – Musical: Mary Poppins (Thumbs Up); Henry’s Mom’s Birthday Celebration

The coolest thing about this musical was the magic from the movies coming to life on stage. It was a great musical that left us the classic songs stuck in our heads.

26 – Visited Shawn at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital

It’s great knowing that Shawn has a lot of support from his friends. He is the type of person that is so nice and kind to others that people just flock around him and shower him with love when he needs it the most. I wish I had that kind of impact on people. I’m so glad that he’s done with chemo and surgery. I hope he is well and is going through a speedy recovery.

FEBRUARY 2010

2 – Lost Season 6 Premiere

4 – Tango Class

Watching all these dance shows I get obsessed with such as Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance makes me want to be like them, want to dance again. I got some ballroom classes from a groupon offer and Henry was up for these. We settled on Tango classes but Henry got sick for the next two months and we couldn’t do the Tango class every week. The first beginner Tango class was mostly walking. When we took all the make up classes at the last week of the 4 week cycle, it ended up being great for Henry and I since we could pick up the steps faster (Henry naturally picks up choreo quickly since he was a pro dancer and all I had to do was follow). In the end, it was a good deal for us to get a sampling of different types of ballroom. I don’t know if I would stick to any of them though, it doesn’t seem quite as exciting in class as it is on the show.

6 – Capoeira

It was great doing Capoeira with Helen and her friends. I just wish I could commit to going more often. Every Saturday is hard, especially with weekend classes and with Ultimate coming up. It’s always a great workout and always fun though. We’ll see if I could go again someday.

7 – Superbowl

17 – StarCraft 2 Beta Released

20 – H&M 1st SC2 Game

Oooh man Henry and I have been waiting for this for a long time! We were hooked once we started playing. Towards the end of the day we started going on a 1v1 rematch rampage. Just like old times. I really do wish I had a lot more time to play this game. I haven’t had much time because of the late nights at work. All I know is the 1 hat queen build to roach rush (thanks to Insane). I have yet to play my ladder matches. I hope I can make time for this one of these days.

21 – NYU SCPS – Advanced Client Web Development 9am-6pm; Chinese New Year Dinner with Henry’s family

23 – West Coast Swing Class

24 – Hustle Class

25 – Tango Class

MARCH 2010

10 – JFK-> DEN

12 – Snowboarding: Winter Park

13 – Snowboarding: Steamboat

Snowboarding was surprisingly warm but the snow was still great. Every year I come to Colorado I revive my love for Snowboarding. I had the same initial fear as I shook off the rust but I soon felt one again with the mountain. It’s such a perfect sensation to feel like you’re gliding down smoothly down the slopes. I was so proud that I could carve into the mountain now. I still slide down right after my turns but I can dig my board into the mountain to the point where it reduces friction and the snowboard just moves naturally. Henry tells me I have graduated to Advanced Beginner. =)

13 – Strawberry Park Hot Springs

I was so skeptical about the hot springs experience. I just heard that it was pitch black, outdoors in the freezing cold air and the springs itself was really hot. Frankly, it wasn’t a very appealing thought but I didn’t want to dismiss it completely and I’m glad that Henry and I went for it. After we waited in the cold for the ticket guy to tell us all the rules, our group fumbled in the darkness with two flashlights leading the way towards the springs. We stripped to our bathing suits in the cold air and headed for the rocks that served as steps leading into the springs. It was so hot that I was freaking out but as I went in further, I started to get used to the temperature and it became soothing after a while.

It was actually a nice feeling to have the body submerged in the warmth while the head felt the slight coolness of the air underneath the clear and starry sky. Never mind the fact that there were some naked college kids moving about since you could hardly see them anyway. I told Henry that I felt a bit left out whenever people tell me about experiences they have had that made me feel like they have lived life and I had not but this very night made me feel like I was doing just that – living life, feeling a unique experience. Overall it was great for our sore muscles too after two days of snowboarding. After about an hour, our group headed back to the car. It wasn’t so cold anymore since the springs heated up our bodies. Our bodies felt so relaxed after. It’s definitely worth trying out.

16 – DEN->JFK

21 – NYU SCPS – Advanced PHP and MySQL 9am-6pm

22 – Dancing With The Stars Season Premiere

23 – Musical: Lion King (Thumbs Up)

This is one of those musicals that gets me listening to the songs over and over again right after. That opening scene just blew me away. We had such great seats and it was good that Henry’s family could commit to watching this early enough for me to get those at a special discount. This is easily one of the best musicals I have ever seen. Much props to Rafiki. She was probably the most impressive.

25 – Karaoke with Henry

26 – Movie: Green Zone (Thumbs Up); Mom and Dad’s Anniversary (Happy Anniversary!); Nikki learns of her UC Berkeley Acceptance (Congratulations Nikki! Go Bears!)

What’s in store for the future? I foresee a lot more work, more demand to manage time, Ultimate League I signed up for starting up, more NYU SCPS classes, more time needed for family, a trip to Chicago in May, a Chicago wedding in October, a HK trip to plan in the fall, a great need for more gym time during the mornings before work, more time needed for SC2, and a plan needed to organize my life again because that is the only way I feel like I can be on top of all this craziness. At least I always have our birthdays to look forward to in July =).

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2008 Post-BlizzCon Blog – StarCraft II Gameplay

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Whenever I got into a StarCraft II Game, I just wanted to win. I can’t help it. It is part of my competitive nature and I quickly forgot that I was there as a journalist. They only had 1v1s whereas last BlizzCon they had 2v2s. Not sure why they switched it up. I played as zerg this time. It was my first time finally being able to pick that race! My first game was pretty short. I did early rush/harass tactics, expanded and went mass speedlings. My second game I went muta ling.

Couple things I noticed: 1) I can totally play this game just like I do regular StarCraft. It felt familiar enough that it was easy to pick up and the hotkeys were the same so I didn’t have any trouble with it. 2) They modified MBS (Multiple Building Selection) a bit so that when you select a bunch of buildings and select a unit, you have to keep pressing that key for each unit you want to build. Last time, pressing the key would make a unit for every building (which was ridiculously ridiculous). 3) Lurkers weren’t as easy to make or maybe I just didn’t know how to make them. I saw that they were still in the game as it was used on the onstage match but I couldn’t get to it using the conventional method of just upgrading Lurker Aspect at the den. Weird thing – the Den evolves to a higher tier building if you make this other building. 4) Zerg buildings that were killed would blow up into a ton of broodlings that attack the opponent. I would’ve been dead without these but I felt like the game was saving me and I wasn’t saving myself. It was a bit of an issue with relinquishing control. 5) The drones were hard to control sometimes as it would take a couple of clicks to get it’s attention to make it do something. 6) Every time I play this game I keep feeling like the buildings are so big that it takes up too much of the screen space. This just makes me span and move around the map more. 7) I don’t really like how peons automatically mine. I feel like this was an aspect of StarCraft that made it more challenging and it was part of determining the difference between a good player and a noob. Do we really want to get rid of the ‘problem’ of idle peons?

I played from the point of view of someone who didn’t want to take too much time to learn and just wanted to dig in with what was familiar but along the way, it became frustrating not knowing what units and upgrades were available to me. I suppose the part of the fun of playing StarCraft is the familiarity with it. I believe this is something that can be overcome with experience playing the game but it is a hurdle to get past. I played another game where I was just trying out new units and new buildings. I feel I will need some time to just explore everything without feeling threatened or feeling the need to attack.

Beyond the new units and buildings, I still worry about the visual spam a bit. You do get used to the 3D world enough to play normally but the fact of the matter is, it does get in the way. There are many times when buildings look so much alike that it is hard to distinguish one from the other. I did think that there were so many squiggly things on my map I didn’t know if it was a unit moving or just my hatchery. I couldn’t tell the difference between zerglings and broodlings. The zerg units seemed so much more bug-like and I actually prefer that it didn’t.

The overall consensus seems to be that a lot of people will get into it. There will be a lot of support for this game, at least initially. People will try to make it into an e-sport. However, there is a lot of doubt surrounding the longevity of the game. I don’t know if it is quite up to par yet with it’s predecessor. I hope that Blizzard will focus on multiplayer and improve gameplay more.

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2008 Post-BlizzCon Blog – StarCraft II Trilogy

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Given the following options Blizzard presented to us about how to approach the problem of wanting a bigger, better game, “A) Simplify the Campaign, B) Make Each Campaign EPIC, But Release Them Each As A Separate Product, C) Compromise in the Middle, But Delay The Game Greatly”, it seems like B is the best choice and the entire audience was delighted to hear the decision Blizzard came to at the StarCraft II Gameplay panel. However, it still leaves that empty feeling – the feeling of getting your hopes of hearing a release date just shatter in front of you. Is this really the best solution?

I admit I was blown away with the cinematics and big plans for the single player aspect of StarCraft. It is a good marketing plan to separate the game into three, thus securing more financial gain from it’s loving fans. Plus, it leaves the developers to keep the future open ended. It’s sort of similar to how Lucas secured himself six movies in his contract for Star Wars so that no matter how much it sucked in the end, it would be produced and it’s broad and loyal fan base will support it. The story seems very intriguing. And I do want to see what it is like to play as StarCraft’s big heroes, especially through the eyes of Kerrigan! I want the open ended environment, the multiple threads in the storyline and the well developed plotline. But isn’t this just another game? Sure, the ideas sound great but the big draw to StarCraft is the multiplayer aspect, the custom maps, the tournaments, the competition. This is what is keeping it so huge in Korea. Who cares if the best single player gamer out there beats the game? We want to SEE the best multiplayer gamers out there show their skills!

I personally don’t mind having the trilogy as long as it doesn’t greatly affect the multiplayer aspect. I want to learn more about the plans for multiplayer. I’m happy that Blizzard is focusing on single player and are excited to develop it but what about MULTIPLAYER? All I will say is that they better make sure the multiplayer is very solid. They cannot afford disappoint their audience.

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StarCraft 2 Announcement

Friday, May 18th, 2007

Updating my entry with my teamliquid news post cuz I liked that one better =): http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=53470

A week ago Blizzard.com started teasing its audience with spash screens showing a countdown of all its major titles from 1994 to the present. On May 19th, 2007, gamers around the world stood still as Blizzard made their humongous announcement in their Worldwide Invitational event in Seoul, South Korea. We F5ed (refreshed) our way to keep updated with information at teamliquid.net and ign.com and finally at 3:00 Seoul time (11pm PST), they announced the long awaited STARCRAFT 2!

This sequel brings StarCraft into a 3D world with many familiar units from the original game as well as new units for Protoss, Terran and Zerg races. Original StarCraft units have been upgraded with new functionality. The gameplay is fast-paced real-time strategy which utilizes a new 3D-graphics engine with realistic physics and can handle massive army sizes. Online play will make use of an upgraded version of Battle.net. There will also be a single-player campaign that continues the StarCraft story. A powerful full-featured map editor is included for our map making community which will help keep the game ever changing and always new as it did for the original StarCraft. This game will be released concurrently on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X.

Official StarCraft 2 website: STARCRAFT2.COM
Screenshots: http://www.starcraft2.com/screenshots.xml
Videos: http://www.starcraft2.com/movies.xml
FAQ: http://www.starcraft2.com/faq.xml

IGN live report page where announcement was made:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/788/788627p1.html

New and updated Protoss units:

  • Zealot (announced in starcraft2.com) – Has a new charge ability that help them run quickly to a close range when attacking enemies.
  • Immortal (announced in starcraft2.com) – The updated versions of dragoons. They have powerful shields that wield a strong defense against powerful attacks but weaker attacks do not activate their shields.
  • Stalker (announced in starcraft2.com) – A ranged unit inspired by dragoons and includes within it the essence of dark templars. They teleport quickly over short distances.
  • Phase Prism (announced in starcraft2.com) – A transportation unit that can teleport armies anywhere on the battlefield.
  • Colossus – A large four legged vehicle that fires strong dual lasers and is mobile through uneven terrain.
  • Mothership – A powerful hovering unit that utilizes a great amount of resourches. It can attack multiple units at a time and has three abilities – Time Bomb which slows enemy missile attacks, Planet Cracker which is a large laser that fires from below the Mothership and obliterates anything in its field, and Black Hole which creates a void that absorbs and destroys enemy air units. Only one of these can be active at a time.
  • Phoenix – An air unit that can overcharge guns for multiple projectile blasts. After the initial blast, the ship is unable to move or attack for a short period of time.
  • Warp Ray – An air unit that attacks with a blue laser and dteals mroe damage as it focuses on the same target. It is powerful against tough units and buildings but wastes damage on small units.

We are still pretty much in the dark regarding Zerg and Terran units.

New and updated Zerg Units:

  • Nydus Worm – A transportation unit similar to the nydus canal which transports small units such as zerglings from underground.
  • Baneling – Zerglings can mutate into suicide bombers similar to infested terrans. They fill with explosive and acidic chemicals and can roll across terrain and explode on impact.
  • A unit that has an “infect” ability which allows takeover of hostile organics for a limited amount of time, ending in target unit exploding and damaging units around it.

New and updated Terran Units:

  • Reaper – Similar to a marine, this unit can fire strong dual lasers and can traverse differences in terrain height.

There is currently no release date but Blizzard promises to take as much time as needed to make sure the game is as polished as possible.

Higher Quality Trailer and Gameplay Videos on YouTube/Google: (thanks to mr0919)

Lower Quality Embedded YouTube Videos below:

Youtube clip of first video seen of StarCraft 2 cinematics (thanks to Tieno):

Youtube clip of first video seen of StarCraft 2 gameplay (thanks to koreanism):

Youtube clip of gameplay showcasing protoss and terran units (thanks to koreanism):

Youtube clip of gameplay showcasing protoss and zerg units (thanks to koreanism):

The videos have little clues regarding what else may be added to the game. Kerrigan shows up briefly in the cinematic trailer.

Teamliquid thread that had been keeping track of the Blizzard.com front page from day 1:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=53135

Thread that was formed right after the announcement:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=53386

We have an all new StarCraft 2 section of our forum as well so please feel free to post related topics in there!

Reference Websites:
http://www.teamliquid.net
http://www.starcraft2.com
http://pc.ign.com/articles/788/788627p1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_2

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