1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello, everyone, welcome 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Palette, and I 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: am an editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: across from me as always, his senior writer, Jonathan Strickland. Oh, 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: So since we've no place to go, well, you know, yeah, somehow, 9 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: I you know, he never tells me what the quote 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 1: is before we start, and I had a feeling actually 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: predicted this one in my head. But there's going to 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: be that particular song. H Well, then, well, before we 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: talk about what our topic is, I have a Jeopardy 14 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: challenge for you. All right, you ready? Now here is 15 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: your answer. This popular massively multiplayer online role playing game 16 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: was featured in a question on Jeopardy is College We 17 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: in two thousand five? What is World of Warcraft? You 18 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: didn't buzz in? So I'm sorry, We're taking all of 19 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 1: your money and we're going to break your legs. This 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: is this is how he plays the Predictions game too. 21 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: That is yes, I will change the rules so that 22 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: I win, no matter what. No, that is correct. We 23 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: are going to talk today not about World of Warcraft 24 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: specifically Alba, that will definitely be a large part of 25 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,759 Speaker 1: the conversation, but about Blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard, 26 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: the company behind such big hits as World of Warcraft, Warcraft, StarCraft, 27 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: and actually I thought we were going to talk about 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: silicon and synapse. That is in fact where we start. 29 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: Our story officially begins at u c l A in 30 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: around n that's the University of California at Los Angeles, 31 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: thank you for those of you not in the now. 32 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: So they were at UCLA, and at UCLA there was 33 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: a student, a computer science student named Allan Adam who 34 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: met a fellow he actually, according to him, his official 35 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: story about how he met, uh Mike Moreheim was that 36 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: Alan was sitting in the computer lab and was typing 37 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: away Tappy, Tappy, tappy, and then decided that he needed 38 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: to get up and get himself a hot beverage and 39 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: maybe a quick trip to the gents. So he locks 40 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: himself out of his computer and leaves and he comes back, 41 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: turns on his computer again, gets a ray into types 42 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: of his password and it launches. Meanwhile, Michael Moreheim says, Hey, there, 43 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: big guy, I have a question for you. How did 44 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: you make it so that your computer unlocked automatically while 45 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,679 Speaker 1: you were away? I had to lock it again for you. 46 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: And then then the process of their conversation, they find 47 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: out the most unlikely of coincidences, that Adam and Mike 48 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: both were using the same password for their computers. That 49 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: is there, that is That's the way Alan tell the story. 50 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,079 Speaker 1: Mike tells a different story. Mike story is that he 51 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: saw this fellow who was in his uh, his a 52 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: couple of his computer science classes, and this is their 53 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: senior year at UCLA, and uh he sees this guy 54 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: and he thinks, this fellow looks like he's from Israel, 55 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: and he looks really smart. So he walks up to 56 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: him and says, what part of Israel are you from? 57 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: And Alan says, I'm from Egypt. Those are the two 58 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: stories that they tell. Yeah, there's an official like Blizzard 59 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: retrospective video which is actually pretty cool. I really recommend 60 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: you watch it if you if you're into, like just 61 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: want to know more about the history of the company. Um. 62 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: The reason why that video was posted was because this year, 63 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: when we're recording this podcast is the twentieth anniversary of 64 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: that of the founding of the company. Because once Alan graduated, 65 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: he decided he wanted to make video games. Actually, he 66 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: knew he wanted to make video games even before he 67 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: had graduated college, and so he wanted to create a company. 68 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: And he called upon Mike Morheim to join him, and 69 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: Mike was working at uh Western Digital at the time, 70 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: and he left the company because Mike had graduated about 71 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: three months before Alan did, but he left Western Digital 72 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: to come and work with Alan at this new company, 73 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: which probably upset Mike's family a bit because there you 74 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: were working for alish established company with a with an 75 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: actual like revenue generating plan and everything, and then striking 76 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: out to form this this game's company. Uh. It was 77 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: probably a nerve wracking experience. Uh that he also called 78 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 1: upon a second friend. Alan had met another person in 79 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: the computer science department named Frank Pierce, and he called 80 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: upon Frank Pierce as well and said, Hey, I'm starting 81 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: up this video game company. Would you like to join me. Now, 82 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: Frank had also gone to UCLA and uh was did 83 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: not know Mike. So Frank and Mike didn't know each 84 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: there the connecting element here is allan yes. But Frank 85 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: decides to come over and he actually left another established 86 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: company called Rockwell. Yes, he left Rockwell to go and 87 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: join this new company, which, as Chris has revealed, was 88 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: called Silicon and Synapse. Wow. What a catchy name. Yeah, 89 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,679 Speaker 1: they there are reasons behind that name. Well. First of all, silicon, 90 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: of course, is the basis for a lot of our electronics. 91 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: That's the silicon chip. It's the whole the whole foundation 92 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: for the modern transistor. Uh. That was that where that's 93 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: where the whole silicon part came from. Synaps of course, 94 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: meaning that the connections in your brain, the stuff that 95 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: fires off that you can complete thoughts. So to them, 96 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,359 Speaker 1: they thought this is a great idea. But according to 97 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: their video, other people just didn't get it. First of all, 98 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: they thought that silicon was the material that went into 99 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: breast augmentation surgery. That would be silicone. That would be silicone. 100 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: But other people were like, why are you calling your 101 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 1: company after boobies, And they said, we're not calling our 102 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: company after boobies. We are calling our company. But you know, 103 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: you tell that story. And then the other response to 104 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: get us what's a synapse? Now? I kind of like 105 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: the name Silicon and Synapse because, for one thing, it 106 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 1: reminds me of other uh companies or other products that 107 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: have blank and blank, for example, Dungeons and Dragons, And 108 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: these guys clearly had at least some love for the 109 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: old Dungeons and Dragons role playing system because a lot 110 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: of the stuff they worked on had that kind of 111 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: flare to it. So the first few years they're working 112 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: under the title of Silicon and synaps the company name 113 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: of Silicon and Synapse, and they had done work previously 114 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: in their college years with companies like Interplay. Do you 115 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: know what kind of games Interplay made off top of 116 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: your head? Um? Well, I do remember some Interplay titles 117 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: yum and uh, but I don't remember any of them 118 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: off the top of Some big names would include like 119 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: Balter's Gate and Descent, and the original Fallout games were 120 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: Interplay games. Uh. And then they also had done some 121 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: work for data Soft, which is another game company. They 122 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: did things like Zaxon and Pole Position and Time and Magic. 123 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: So um, the following statement is a joke. So then 124 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Silicon and Synapse made World of 125 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: warcraft and lots of money. No. Uh. First, the first 126 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: thing they started to do is they started working on 127 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: ports from certain platforms into other platforms. So so when 128 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: a game is made for a particular platform, say the 129 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: PC or or Windows. Let's say, and you wanted to 130 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: write a version of it for the Macintosh, you would 131 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: port the game over, the original code over to work 132 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: on a different type of computers. What we're saying, which 133 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: could take quite a bit of time because as we know, 134 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: these different operators is ms uh don't necessarily support the 135 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: same kind of models, So you would have to go 136 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: in and re like you've built all the resources in 137 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: your code, but now you've got to repurpose it for 138 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: different types of code. And uh. They started porting Amiga 139 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: and Mac titles. Strangely enough, one of their first ports 140 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: was for a game that I loved back in the 141 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: early nineties called Battle Chess. Yes, so Battle Chess, in 142 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: case you have never seen, it was a game of chess. 143 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: It was you know, played out on a chessboard. But 144 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: the the the figures that you're moving, the chess pieces 145 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: you're moving around are actually three D modeled or well, 146 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: I guess they were originally two d rendered um uh 147 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: cartoonish figures, so your ponds look like little foot soldiers. 148 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: The queen is this slinky uh, deadly woman who who 149 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: dispatches her enemies in creative ways. And there were different 150 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: animations when you would take a piece, so let's say, 151 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: you know, pawn takes pawn, it would play out as 152 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: a little battle on your screen for that square. Now, 153 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:11,719 Speaker 1: the way battle chess worked was that you would if 154 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: you made the move to take a square, that was 155 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: the piece that was going to win every time. It 156 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:19,680 Speaker 1: wasn't like it had inserted some sort of element of 157 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: chance where you would try and take us square and 158 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: your piece would end up getting defeated. That didn't happen, 159 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,319 Speaker 1: but the animations were very cute. And so that was 160 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: one of the first ports they began to work on. Um. 161 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: They also uh and they poured that over took for 162 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: windows in the compose sixty four. Actually even that late 163 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: in the game, so to speak. And then the first 164 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: do you know what the first game they developed was 165 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: the first the first game they developed, Yeah, yeah, it 166 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:48,559 Speaker 1: wasn't a port. It was a game that they created 167 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: from the ground up. It was it was called RPM Racing. Okay, 168 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: all right, I thought you were going to mention Death 169 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: and Return of Superman before you got to that. Oh no, 170 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: I don't know this. Why don't you talk about that? Well, 171 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: I don't know a ton of uh, you know, a 172 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 1: ton of information about that specific game, but uh, one 173 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: of the the articles I used as a reference mentioned 174 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 1: Battle Chess two and and the Death and Return of Superman, 175 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: which was released in an example of a port that 176 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: they had done. And they were sort of cruising along 177 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: before they got to the point where they were developing 178 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: their own titles. Well, they did develop a couple of 179 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: titles before that, but it was for the S and 180 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,559 Speaker 1: S Super Nintendo Entertainment System or the Super Famicom if 181 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: you prefer um, because the first one they did with 182 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: that was in ninety two for RPM Racing, and then 183 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: in ninety three they released one called Rock and Roll Racing, 184 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: which was one of the first games for the Nintendo 185 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: to feature the Supernintendo to feature rock and roll music. 186 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: But that was like again, that was for the Super 187 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: ne S. That wasn't a PC game or or mad 188 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: game whatever. It's not a computer game. That was a 189 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: console game. So they've done a few console games just 190 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 1: a few they're more known for, at least today, they're 191 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: more known for their their computer titles rather than their 192 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: con soul titles. UH. But this was kind of where 193 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: they started to develop their art style and they hired 194 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: a few artists. Had some great stories in that video. 195 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: I was talking about about the weird interview process and 196 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: they're playing it really fast and loose because these were 197 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: all guys who were fresh off college and had never 198 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: really done this before. So they had a kind of 199 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: relaxed way of going about business. But they really working 200 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,839 Speaker 1: for them. And the titles that they developed ended up 201 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: winning awards for RPM Racing I think, or maybe it 202 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: was Rock and Roll Racing one, uh, the title the 203 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,360 Speaker 1: best racing Game of the Year that came out and 204 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: uh and and so they were doing well, but they 205 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: still hadn't moved on to doing computer games. They also 206 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: developed a game for the Supertantendo entertainment system called The 207 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: Lost Vikings, which ended up being very popular. It was 208 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: originally so the the original idea was that was going 209 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: to be kind of like Lemmings. And if you don't 210 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: if you're not familiar with the game Limings and Lemmings, 211 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: you your task is to guide a group of little 212 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: limings from one side of a screen to another side 213 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 1: of the screen, and uh, and you assign specific tasks 214 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: to particular livings to try and create a pathway for 215 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: the livings to get there safely. And the livings will 216 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: just walk in a in a in a direction until 217 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: they encounter an obstacle or they die, and of course 218 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:29,320 Speaker 1: some of them are doomed another in order to make 219 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: the rest of the herd, you might have to explode 220 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: one on purpose. So yeah, now, now Blizzard did not 221 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: make Limings, but when they thought that the Livings game 222 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: was really interesting and so originally The Lost Vikings was 223 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: going to be a game where you would have, you know, 224 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: around a hundred different kinds of vikings that could do 225 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: different tasks. But through the development process they decided to 226 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: narrow that down and then they got down to five vikings, 227 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: and then by the time they actually got to the 228 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: point where they're putting the game together, they just it 229 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: on three vikings, and using the three vikings you would 230 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: go through a series of puzzles. So it ultimately was 231 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,199 Speaker 1: a puzzle game, but again it was very popular. One 232 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: an award for the Best Puzzle Game that year, and 233 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 1: then and ninety three, uh Silicon sonerhaps throws in the 234 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: booby towel and decides to rename their company Chaos Studios, Yes, 235 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: which lasted for a few months, and then they changed 236 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: your name again to Blizzard Entertainment. All this stuff. While 237 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: it's not as glamorous as some of the stuff they've 238 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,679 Speaker 1: done in the last say, fifteen years, over those first 239 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: three or four years, they really were making a name 240 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: for themselves. And then no pun intended with the name 241 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: changes names for themselves, um because a company named Davidson 242 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: and Associates acquired the company in ten and also for 243 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: ten million dollars um. So you know, just even as 244 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: a a fledgling company, uh, Chaos Studios was becoming known 245 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: for its work and it was obvious that these these 246 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: guys knew what they were doing. Yeah, And actually that 247 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: that ended up getting really complicated too, because so Blizzard 248 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: gets purchased by Davidson and Associates. Davidson Associates gets purchased 249 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: by a company called c U C International see you 250 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: see International then goes on to merge with a company 251 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: called h F S Corporation, and the new parent company 252 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: is called Sendent c e N d E n T 253 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: and oh do you Oh I have D E N T. Interesting, 254 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: But anyway, it's uh, that's the company that also owns 255 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: Sierra Online. So now you've got Sierra Online and Blizzard 256 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: Entertainment are kind of mashed together as a division within 257 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: this parent company called Sendant and uh, we'll get back 258 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: to send It and a little bit, but we're still 259 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: in right now. And that's also when demos begin to 260 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: circulate in that summer for a new game called Warcraft 261 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: Orcs Versus Humans. Yes, this is the game that really 262 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: really puts Blizzard on the map. I mean, Blizzard had 263 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: already won awards for its Super Nintendo Entertainment System games, 264 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: but these are the games that make it a name 265 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: in PC gaming and Matt gaming eventually. Yes, yes, as 266 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: a matter of fact, well, of course ORCS really sort 267 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: of come from um to yeah, the Lord of the 268 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: Rings and uh and really they're sort of borrowing that idea. Um. Now, 269 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: this actually in a way goes along with the story 270 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: of Nintendo not directly, but um one of the things 271 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: that they were doing with this title was too basically 272 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: levin the computer game with story. This the the story 273 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: of the War between the Orcs and the Humans isn't 274 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: just a computer game. It's also got a backstory about 275 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: how the Orcs are being used by another power, and 276 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: that will eventually develop later in other titles. But um, 277 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: they had they had a new sort of game on 278 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: their hands with the real time strategy game and m 279 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: and let's let's explain what a real time strategy game is, 280 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: just in case some of our listeners don't know. So, 281 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: typically a real time strategy game plays out in real time. 282 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: So there it's not turn based, so you don't you 283 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: don't uh make a move then wait in order to 284 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: make another move. Everything's going on around the same time. 285 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: While you're preparing your armies to attack, your opponent is 286 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: preparing his or her armies to attack at the same time, right, 287 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: So unlike games like Risk or Civilization where it is 288 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: turn based, it's all going on simultaneously. Then, uh. The 289 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: way you create your armies as you build a resource 290 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: gathering uh units, you build special buildings that allow you 291 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: to create military units, and so you have to build 292 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: buildings with various types of characters that you have. So 293 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: you might have some characters that are not warriors. They're 294 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: like farmers or or woodcutters or whatever. They go out, 295 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: they gather the resources you need to build the other 296 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: stuff you need, and then might fol right, and then 297 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: you might have to build something like a barracks which 298 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,959 Speaker 1: will allow you to produce troops. And then there's certain 299 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: specialized units that you can only produce if you build 300 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: other buildings as well. So it becomes a balancing act 301 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: of creating military units and also creating the resources you 302 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: need to produce the units you need. Um. And you 303 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: know all of this is coming from the same raw materials. 304 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 1: So the strategy is is multifaceted. You have the production 305 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: strategy like how many how much effort do you put 306 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: towards gathering resources, how much do you put towards producing 307 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: basic units, how much do you put towards enhancing the 308 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 1: buildings you already have? Uh? And then also how do 309 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: you explore and defeat your opponent? Now, in the original 310 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: Warcraft game, you pretty much could see everything on the map, 311 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: but uh, the the other Another development comes up a 312 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: little bit later that changes that. Also, it was top down, 313 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: so you're looking it's as if you were directly overhead 314 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: of the map. In the original Warcraft game, it was 315 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: a top down view, um and it it Actually there 316 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: was a game that came out before Warcraft. You're thinking 317 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: probably of Westwood Studios due to Yeah. Dune two was 318 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: another real time strategy game that that that follows the 319 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: same general philosophy as Warcraft. Has a totally different feel 320 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 1: to it than Warcraft, but um uh it became like 321 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: a kind of a battle between Blizzard and Westwood to 322 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: see who was gonna win out. But the art style 323 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:51,040 Speaker 1: of Warcraft, the the backstory to Warcraft, the whimsy really 324 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: of Warcraft all helped to really push that game ahead. 325 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 1: I loved. One of the things that I loved about 326 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: that game and and the game's like it that followed 327 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: is just it's not even part of the game. It's 328 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: continuing to click on people after you've because when you 329 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: want to have a unit do something, say you want 330 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: to uh, one of your one of your units to 331 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: go chop wood so that you have wood for your buildings, 332 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: you click on it and you say, you know, okay, 333 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: I want you, and then you click on the trees 334 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,840 Speaker 1: to go over here and cut, you know, cut down 335 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:30,479 Speaker 1: wood for lumber. And you know, when the Blizzard had 336 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: the idea to um to basically give you a verbal acknowledgement, Um, yeah, 337 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: my lord, and then you But the thing is, somebody said, 338 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,440 Speaker 1: you know what, you need to keep clicking on the guy. 339 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: So I said, all right, and I did and I 340 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: and as as you continue to click on that one unit, 341 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: they become increasingly annoyed with you. Well you will, you will, 342 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: And as far as I know that continues. I don't 343 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:02,959 Speaker 1: have StarCraft Tube, but even in the StarCraft game they 344 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: would do that, and I it's one of the things 345 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: that I just love about it because it goes along 346 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: with the game. Of course, you can waste time while 347 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: the other guys building up his army, but it's just 348 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: I thought there was a kick to do that. So 349 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:17,479 Speaker 1: we're still in right now. At this point, Blizzard has 350 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: about twenty five employees. Uh. They've only been in business 351 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: for three years and they've got twenty five employees. They 352 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: created a small booth at c e S that year, 353 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:28,400 Speaker 1: and that's where they kind of showed off the idea 354 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: of Warcraft and UH and got a lot of attention 355 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: there and so it created a lot of buzz um 356 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: And then of course later in the year Warcraft came 357 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:36,959 Speaker 1: out was a big Hit and then near the end 358 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: of just a year later, they released Warcraft two Tides 359 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: of Darkness, and that's where they introduced the idea of 360 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: a fog of war. Now, if you're not a gamer 361 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,400 Speaker 1: and you don't really know these terms, what fog war 362 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: means is that part of the map is intentionally obscured 363 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: from your view as a player, and you only can 364 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,680 Speaker 1: uncover that part of the map part of me once 365 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,399 Speaker 1: you start it's sending units in to to explore it. Yeah, basically, 366 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: I think that that is sort of a role playing 367 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: game addition, because if you think about your players as characters, uh, 368 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: and yourself as a character in the game as the 369 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: if you will, the general behind behind your troops, you 370 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,199 Speaker 1: haven't been there yet. Your troops haven't been in this 371 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: part of the forest yet, so they don't know what's there, 372 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: right And and because you don't have any eyes there, 373 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: it's not like you can you know, if you were 374 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: on the ground, you would not be able to see 375 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: that far like. So the idea is that the fog 376 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: of war limits what you can see until you start 377 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: sending units and to explore. So that gave the option 378 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:39,679 Speaker 1: of creating things like scouting units things like that changes 379 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: the strategy a lot. You couldn't just immediately glance in 380 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: the maps see what your enemy was up to and 381 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: then adjust. You had to h anticipate what your enemy 382 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,959 Speaker 1: might do and try and and head them off. Um. 383 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: And and also Warcraft had already introduced this the idea 384 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: of being able to play against human opponents, not just 385 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: the computer opponents, but human opponents, either over a modem 386 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: or over a local area network. That I can't stress 387 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: enough how important that was to the success of Warcraft, 388 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: because playing against the computer is fun. Playing against your 389 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,880 Speaker 1: friends as a blast, right, I mean, you know, there's 390 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 1: the whole element of smack talk. There's bragging rights. Uh, 391 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: they're the great stories that you tell where you know, 392 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: it looked like all the way up until the last 393 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: half hour of that game, it looked like you were 394 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: gonna lose, but you somehow turned it around just because 395 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 1: this this crazy tactic that had just a sliver of 396 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,879 Speaker 1: a chance to work actually paid off. That kind of 397 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: stuff is really invaluable for a game. I mean, it 398 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: really pushed it too into a phenomenon. And Warcraft too 399 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 1: continued that. Uh. And also players were taking it upon 400 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: themselves to find creative ways to create matches against each 401 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: other online. This predates Blizzards own online service. So what 402 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 1: they were using was a service called Collie k a 403 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,679 Speaker 1: l I and they were creating matches over that. But 404 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: that sort of served, you know, Blizzard took took notice 405 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: that and they that sort of served as a model 406 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: for them, and they began to develop their own online service, 407 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: which would become known as battle Net or battle dot 408 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: Net if you prefer. UM. Just an interesting note, and 409 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: we were talking about the serendipitous nature of the founders 410 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: of Blizzard UH meeting one another. UM. Actually there's something 411 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: else it's about to come up that has its roots 412 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:27,920 Speaker 1: back at a C E S. When they were when 413 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 1: the company was developing titles for the S N E S. UM, 414 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: they had been asked by a company called Sunsoft develop 415 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,399 Speaker 1: a d C comics fighting game for the S N 416 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,920 Speaker 1: E S and they had a copy of it to 417 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 1: show off at C S. Well. As it turns out, 418 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: a company called Condor UH Condor Software UM had been 419 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: asked to do the same thing for the Sega Genesis 420 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: and the two companies didn't know one another, but they 421 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: the founders at the CUP and he's met at at 422 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: c S and they basically stayed in contact with one another. 423 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: In fact, from what I understand, Um, Dave Brevick of 424 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: Condor was given an opportunity to beta test Warcraft, the 425 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: early version of Warcraft, because he liked what he saw 426 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: and thought it was really cool. Um. So this game, 427 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,879 Speaker 1: this game company called Condor, Yes, were they developing a 428 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: game that would become a worldwide phenomenon? Do do do? 429 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: Do do? They might have been, and and did Blizzard 430 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: uh get into the opportunity to actually acquire said company Condor? Well? Was? 431 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: It turns out the Warcraft games were a hit and 432 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,200 Speaker 1: hit and they brought a lot of money into if 433 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: you'll pardon my pardon my joke, Blizzards war Chest. Nice, 434 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: I didn't say battle chest. Actually that's why I picked 435 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 1: up my first just as inside I picked up my 436 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,400 Speaker 1: first Warcraft. I got the battle chest with Warcraft Aircraft 437 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: two and the expansion, and I played the living daylights 438 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: out of those three. Um. But anyhow, yes, they with 439 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: with that money, they contacted Condor and said, hey, you know, 440 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: we're friends. Why don't we work together? Work together? And 441 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,360 Speaker 1: and so yeah, Blizzard acquired Condor and they came Blizzard North. 442 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: They renamed it Blizzard North. It was located in San Mateo, California, 443 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: and uh and Condor was working on a game that 444 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 1: it would become insanely popular, so much so that there 445 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: that right now as we record this podcast, there are 446 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: people begging to get into the beta of the most 447 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: current version of that game. And that game was a 448 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: dungeon crawler and a mouse killer. Yes. As a matter 449 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 1: of fact, it from from what I understand, people credit 450 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: this game with with launching the dungeon crawler. Yeah, and 451 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: also launching Battle neet. Uh. It is, of course Diablo 452 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,879 Speaker 1: a game where you created a fantasy inspired character and 453 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,680 Speaker 1: you would have various weapons. You would go into dungeons 454 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: and you would click on things to kill them. And really, 455 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,399 Speaker 1: when you get down to the gameplay, it was pretty simple. 456 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 1: You know, it's not of clicking, but it was addictive 457 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: because the for lots of reasons, the game design was fantastic. 458 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: The art was great, the leveling system was cool, the 459 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: loot system was very satisfying as a gamer. So everything 460 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,040 Speaker 1: in this game, considering how simple it was, was done correctly, 461 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 1: just to the point where people just fell in love 462 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: with it. And it launched with the battle Neet service, 463 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,399 Speaker 1: which was a free online service where people could go 464 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: and make matches to play online together. Um and it 465 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: made money through online advertising through web advertising. Actually made 466 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: quite a bit of money because it was incredibly popular. 467 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: Now around n a couple of different things are happening. 468 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,680 Speaker 1: For one Blizzard to start starts to develop a game 469 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,119 Speaker 1: that would be you know, actually they were supposed to 470 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:08,360 Speaker 1: release the game in ninety seven called Warcraft Adventures. Now, 471 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: this was going to be a game that was going 472 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: to be an adventure based game. So adventure games when 473 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: we talked about that, that that those are games like 474 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: the Monkey Island series um or the Old King's Quest 475 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 1: series or Space Quest. These are games where you solve puzzles, 476 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,679 Speaker 1: you wander around, you interact with other characters. Um. Generally 477 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: you have to collect a lot of items and then 478 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: combine stuff in your inventory in order to uh to 479 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: achieve certain tasks, to complete certain tasks. Um And it 480 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: was fairly popular for a while. So Blizzard thought, well, 481 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: why don't we create a Warcraft adventure kind of in 482 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,360 Speaker 1: the model of the Old Monkey Island games and flesh 483 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: out this mythology we've created about the Orcs, and this 484 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: will give you more of a backstory about what the 485 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: Orcs are and why they are the way they are. Um, 486 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 1: and they started developing it. But here's the thing about Blizzard. 487 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: They take game development very seriously and if a game 488 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: is not ready for release, they will not release it. 489 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: So they don't release games prematurely. They don't want to 490 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: have they don't want to introduce a buggy, bad game 491 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: into the market because it all it's a black eye 492 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 1: for the company. Yeah, they have a they're they're famous 493 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: actually for their release date when it's ready. Yeah. So 494 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: they learned that less in the hard way because they 495 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: had announced that this game was going to launch and 496 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 1: it didn't and as the there were delays in the 497 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 1: development process, the the adventure model changed. For one thing. 498 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:42,840 Speaker 1: Companies started to develop three D adventure games. So, uh, 499 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,400 Speaker 1: one of the Monkey Island games, one of the later 500 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: Monkey Island games, was in a was rendered as a 501 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: three D style game, so that the characters were no 502 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,560 Speaker 1: longer this kind of flat animated look. Grimm Fandango is 503 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,560 Speaker 1: another example. So at that point, the Warcraft Adventures was 504 00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: starting to look dated because it was doing the old 505 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:04,239 Speaker 1: two D design and because of that other other reasons, Uh, 506 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 1: Blizzard decided ultimately to kill the product and and it 507 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:12,160 Speaker 1: never it would never reach store shelves. Um do that. 508 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: And that same year, in ninety seven, that's when you 509 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 1: had the scandal at scindent UH, the company that the 510 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:24,719 Speaker 1: parent company that owned Blizzard. So here's the scandal. Apparently 511 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: the company had sort of fibbed about its income and 512 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: inflated it by about a third because analysts had expected 513 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: the company to do incredibly well, and so in order 514 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: for it to look like the company had met those expectations, 515 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: they cooked the books over at Sindant And in the 516 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,960 Speaker 1: wake of the scandal, they ended up selling off Sierra Online, 517 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: which included Blizzard Entertainment, and they sold it to a 518 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: French company called Havas UH. And then that company then 519 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: was bought by another company called the then d the Plumbers. 520 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: So I know that yet another company that's in video 521 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: games now that was in something completely different essentially. Yeah, 522 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: we'll get back to we'll get back to their their 523 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 1: adventure in a few years. So yeah. Again, what was 524 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: remarkable though, is through all this corporate change where they're 525 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: being acquired and merged and sold off and reacquired and 526 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. While all this is happening, 527 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: Blizzard remained remarkably cohesive. Uh. The at this point, the 528 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: three founders are all still there, um and uh. And 529 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 1: they were still working on on games. Now. That same year, 530 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: in nine seven, they were developing a new real time 531 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: strategy game and they showed it off at the second 532 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 1: ever E three conference. And this was an isometric view 533 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: science fiction real time strategy game called StarCraft. Uh. Isometric 534 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: view meaning that it's instead of being a direct top 535 00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:59,760 Speaker 1: down view, you're viewing at an angle, kind of like 536 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,440 Speaker 1: iagine you're hovering over the landscape and you're looking down 537 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: and ahead of you. That's kind of what we're talking 538 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: about here, and isometric you and um uh. The StarCraft 539 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: game featured three races, the pro Toss, the Terran, and 540 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: the Zerg. And and it's kind of interesting because unlike 541 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: other games and in Warcraft, in Orcs versus humans, you 542 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: had Orc units and you had human units, but they 543 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: were essentially analogs to each other. Yeah, you had the 544 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: same essential buildings. You had you had to mind gold. 545 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: You had a barracks where you produced your your warriors. Um, 546 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: you know, they used the same buildings, but they looked 547 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: different and spoke differently different arts style, but they behaved 548 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 1: very much the same way, So not the case with StarCraft. 549 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: StarCraft each race had its own unique units, its own 550 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: unique UH strategies, so a strategy that would work for 551 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: one race would not work for another one. You'd have 552 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: to develop a totally different race depending upon a totally 553 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: different strategy rather depending on what upon what race you 554 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: were playing and UH. They also had some other cool features, 555 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 1: like the game would it would feature your mission objectives 556 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: might change in the course of a mission, which meant 557 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: that you had to be flexible. You couldn't you couldn't 558 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: commit all of your resources to doing a specific task 559 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,480 Speaker 1: because if that task changed halfway through, then you might 560 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: be stuck. So it meant that you have to be 561 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: really quick on your feet when you were playing this. 562 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: And in fact, there are professional gamers who specialize in 563 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: StarCraft to this day. Yes, as a matter of fact, 564 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: South Korea as a huge StarCraft following. There are StarCraft 565 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: TV shows. Yeah, and we've talked about that a little 566 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: bit when we talked about a professional gamer podcast. But yeah, 567 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: these StarCraft it was a huge Actually, this this game 568 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 1: helped launch that movement. Yeah, they're like professional athletes in 569 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: some countries and they and and when if you ever 570 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: watch a truly adept player, it is it's it's incomprehensible 571 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,280 Speaker 1: to me. I mean, they're they're they're executing so many 572 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: commands per second that I can't Like, I'm thinking, like, 573 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: where's my little guy who says hello when I click 574 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: on it? And the meanwhile they've they've wiped out half 575 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: my units, And I like, what happened. By the time 576 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 1: that you find him, he'll be the only guy left. Yeah, 577 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: I'm yeah. So StarCraft became a worldwide phenomenon and and 578 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: it was a big hit when it launched. It it 579 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: didn't it wasn't like a slow burn. It it took 580 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: off pretty quickly, although it's popularity was grew exponentially once 581 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: it went overseas. So in Blizzard announced Warcraft three. Now, 582 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: originally Warcraft three was supposed to be a new type 583 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 1: of game. It was supposed to be a role playing 584 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: strategy game, not a real time strategy game. And the 585 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,400 Speaker 1: idea again because Blizzard was very much interested in the 586 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: storytelling aspect of video games and conveying a kind of 587 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 1: a tale to hell and that the the gamer is 588 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: part of that story and helps generate that story. Um. 589 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: They thought that this was going to be a really 590 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: immersive game that would connect the player to the game 591 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: in a way that had not been done in previous 592 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: Warcraft games. So the announced in Unfortunately, really by the 593 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: time it came out, I mean, although Warcraft three is 594 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: an amazing game, it was not the same sort of 595 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: game that they had talked about back in ninety nine 596 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 1: when it finally debuted, because again, you know, they found 597 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,279 Speaker 1: what worked what didn't work, and they were not going 598 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,680 Speaker 1: to release a game that was just okay. They wanted 599 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: it to be the best that could be based on 600 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: their resources and their knowledge. I know, Warcraft three, if 601 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,719 Speaker 1: you've played the first two Warcraft games in StarCraft for 602 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: that matter, um, StarCraft one, well we'll see somewhat familiar 603 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,640 Speaker 1: and somewhat unfamiliar because um and that where you could 604 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 1: actually play, uh through a long game where you had 605 00:34:55,800 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 1: many many scenarios, you were also required um and Warcraft 606 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: three to take a turn with each of the races. UM. 607 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: And again, Warcraft three took the StarCraft model where each 608 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:12,359 Speaker 1: of the races has a little bit of a different ability. Um, 609 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,879 Speaker 1: the things that work for night Elves won't necessarily work 610 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 1: for you know, I'm dead. And they introduced the hero 611 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 1: classes as well, so that changed things of the hero 612 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: units rather. Yeah, and and there was a story that 613 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: goes to the game. You start off with the human 614 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:29,479 Speaker 1: units and you're working there, uh with a prince who's 615 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: your hero, leading your units through battle. And well, I 616 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 1: won't have a story spoiler, but the story continues as 617 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: you go through the other races. And I think it's 618 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: more of at least in my opinion, it's more of 619 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: a battle Neet type game where you're, um, yeah, you 620 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,720 Speaker 1: can play it, uh, just yourself, but the real value 621 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: and that game is to play it online or with 622 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: other people. Um, because it was really designed to be 623 00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: an expansive online, real time strategy as opposed to something 624 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,719 Speaker 1: that you spend hours trying to solve yourself. So between 625 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: when they announced Warcraft three and when Warcraft three actually debuts, 626 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:12,240 Speaker 1: which is about three years. In that three year period, 627 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: they're not just trying to create Warcraft three and and 628 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:20,640 Speaker 1: switching things around. They also in two thousand released Diablo two, 629 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,200 Speaker 1: which was again very hugel and and they started releasing 630 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: expansion packs for their games, and those expansion packs were 631 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,799 Speaker 1: also very popular, and that's one of those things where, 632 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: you know, Blizzard was one of the kind of pioneering 633 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,520 Speaker 1: companies to show that expansion packs could really help you 634 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: extend the lifespan of a title and to really enhance 635 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 1: the the player experience for those titles. It was like 636 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: a win win for everybody. The players loved it because 637 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,880 Speaker 1: there was this game that they were truly emotionally invested 638 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: in that they got to play more of, and the 639 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:54,799 Speaker 1: you know, of course Blizzard liked it because it meant 640 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,440 Speaker 1: more revenue coming in and they didn't without having to 641 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:00,560 Speaker 1: develop an entirely new game. You you develop an expansion 642 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: pack that's built on the foundation of the game that 643 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: it's expanding. But in a I'm sorry, go ahead, I 644 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:10,680 Speaker 1: was going to note that, according to Blizzard, UM, Diablo 645 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 1: Too set a record at that time for the fastest 646 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,439 Speaker 1: selling PC game ever. Um. And then in two thousand one, 647 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: when Diablo two, Lord of Destruction, the expansion pack was released, 648 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 1: that sold more than a million copies in its first month. 649 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,799 Speaker 1: That's pretty impressive. Yeah, And uh, two thousand one was 650 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: also when Blizzard went to the European Computer Trade Show 651 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: and announced the development for a game that would take 652 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,879 Speaker 1: that kind of dwarfed the success of all the other 653 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,800 Speaker 1: games combined, ultimately called World of Warcraft. And this actually 654 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,400 Speaker 1: shocked people that Blizzard was going to get into the 655 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: massively multiplayer online role playing game game because at that point, 656 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: really there were there had only been two big m 657 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,799 Speaker 1: m O RPGs in North America at that point. There 658 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: was Ultimate Online, which was kind of the first one, 659 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: but by this time Ultimate Online Star was in serious decline, 660 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:08,359 Speaker 1: and there was ever Quest, which was a Sony property. Yeah, 661 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,800 Speaker 1: and ever Request was still going on strong, and people 662 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,720 Speaker 1: were a little skeptical that Blizzard could create a game 663 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,560 Speaker 1: that could compete against ever Quest. Now, granted this is 664 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,880 Speaker 1: two thousand one when they announced it. It wouldn't be 665 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: till two thousand four when the game actually launches, So 666 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 1: between two thousand and one and two thousand four there's 667 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,400 Speaker 1: massive development being put behind World of Warcraft. Also in 668 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: two thousand two, there was another story about a failed 669 00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,799 Speaker 1: attempt to bring another Blizzard game to market. In this 670 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,960 Speaker 1: case it was a console game. Yeah, they were the 671 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: re emergency the console uh attempt. But also you can 672 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,040 Speaker 1: tell by this point that Blizzard gets the idea that 673 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:54,000 Speaker 1: their franchises. By expanding on their franchises, they can continue 674 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: the success of these games and build the universe a 675 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: little bit more each time. With each iteration, I believe 676 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:04,960 Speaker 1: you're talking about StarCraft Ghost. Yeah, StarCraft Ghost. This was 677 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: supposed to be a first person for that. Yeah, it's 678 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:09,640 Speaker 1: supposed to be a first person shooter game, stealth game, 679 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:13,320 Speaker 1: so kind of like uh, you know games, other stealth 680 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:18,200 Speaker 1: games we can think of like um, the um except 681 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: excepted skipped on my head. Let me try this again. Okay, Well, 682 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 1: StarCraft Ghost was StarCraft Ghost was a game based on 683 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,920 Speaker 1: a unit from the StarCraft series. The Ghost is a 684 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,520 Speaker 1: Terran unit that has the ability to use stealth technology 685 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:38,880 Speaker 1: to hide. Um. And I think the idea would be, uh, 686 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: that you would be able to become one of these 687 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:45,280 Speaker 1: ghosts and sneak up on on your enemies and become 688 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 1: essentially a sniper or sapper and get behind enemy lines 689 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: and and do that which is you know, spy games 690 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: are are always kind of fun because you have that 691 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:56,880 Speaker 1: element of I've got to be sneaky, I've gotta you know, 692 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:01,280 Speaker 1: hide out and and sneak up on the enemy and Uh, anyway, 693 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:07,200 Speaker 1: splinter cell splindor cell. Yeah. Um. So anyway, this is 694 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,720 Speaker 1: what I get for having four hours of sleep. Uh, kids, 695 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: get your sleep. Um. Yeah. So they first partnered with Nihilistic. 696 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,000 Speaker 1: Nihilistic was a company that had created a game called 697 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:21,000 Speaker 1: Vampire the Masquerade, based off the role playing game of 698 00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: the same name. Uh, done by White Wolf Studios, if 699 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,640 Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, located of Stone Mountain, Georgia. Yeah. Nice 700 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,280 Speaker 1: guys over at White Wolf. I've I've met several of them. 701 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 1: So they had created this game for uh called Vampire 702 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,799 Speaker 1: the Masquerade, and Nihilistic and Blizzard together we're going to 703 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:39,239 Speaker 1: try and bring StarCraft Goes to to market. But there 704 00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: were delays in the development process, and eventually, because Nihilistic 705 00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:47,920 Speaker 1: had other contract obligations, uh, the partnership had to dissolve. 706 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:52,279 Speaker 1: So then Blizzard partnered with a different company called Swinging Ape. Yeah. 707 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,440 Speaker 1: They actually acquired Swinging Ape in on May sixteenth, two 708 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 1: thousand five. Um. And that was the point, was that 709 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: they were going to become the Calm Soul team and 710 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:06,239 Speaker 1: continue working on StarCraft Ghost. Yeah. Now, at the abandonment 711 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,640 Speaker 1: process was a long and painful one. First, Blizzard abandoned 712 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:13,399 Speaker 1: the plans to create a GameCube version of StarCraft Ghost. 713 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:15,959 Speaker 1: Then they abandoned the PS two and Xbox plans because 714 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 1: at the point at that point, the next generation consoles 715 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:21,880 Speaker 1: were starting to come out, so now if they were 716 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: going to develop it, they were going to have to 717 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: develop it for the next generation ones, and it kind 718 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 1: of those have kind of become vapor That game has 719 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 1: become vaporware essentially. Yeah, it's it hasn't been, uh as 720 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,319 Speaker 1: far as I know, officially discontinued, but it's on an 721 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:39,760 Speaker 1: indefinite hiatus. So two thousand and four is when World 722 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,440 Speaker 1: of Warcraft officially launches, and it launch is late in 723 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,239 Speaker 1: two thousand four, but by January two five, it had 724 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:50,400 Speaker 1: sold over six hundred thousand units. So for an m 725 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 1: m O RPG to sell that, that's pretty that's pretty 726 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,839 Speaker 1: significant because you've got to remember, a classic computer game, 727 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:01,160 Speaker 1: you plunk down your money, you've bought your game, you 728 00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,479 Speaker 1: take it home, and you play it until you're either 729 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: tired of it or you complete it, or maybe you 730 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 1: never stopped playing it, maybe you just love it that much. 731 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:12,400 Speaker 1: But an MMO RPG is a continuing investment because you 732 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:14,799 Speaker 1: buy the game, and then you have to subscribe to 733 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:17,720 Speaker 1: the service to allow you to continue to play. So 734 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: for it to make that many sales is pretty impressive. 735 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,359 Speaker 1: You know that it's they had Blizzard had really made 736 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,600 Speaker 1: a name for itself, and people trusted that name, and 737 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: a lot of people bought it. And then again it 738 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,960 Speaker 1: used that sort of cartoonish style, not a cartoonish so 739 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:38,239 Speaker 1: much that it it was like off putting, but just 740 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,480 Speaker 1: a little bit of the cartoonish style that Blizzard had 741 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,880 Speaker 1: kind of developed over its ears as a game developer 742 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:46,400 Speaker 1: that really I think appealed to a wide audience. I 743 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: think that uh, well, of course, Blizzards sort of has 744 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: a signature style of art that they use, and I 745 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:55,719 Speaker 1: think that again Blizzard has enough of a sense of 746 00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: humor that the units can be have a cartoonish l 747 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,560 Speaker 1: man and it kind of softens the gore of all 748 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 1: the slaying that goes on in the game because it's 749 00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:08,240 Speaker 1: you know, a little a little quirky and a little 750 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: uh softer and friendlier looking. Now, after the development was 751 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,360 Speaker 1: over for World War Crap, but before it had actually debuted, 752 00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,680 Speaker 1: one of the three founders, Alan Adam, actually the guy 753 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: who was the the lynch pen for the original Glue. Yeah, 754 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:29,840 Speaker 1: the glue that held the original team together left Blizzard, 755 00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,120 Speaker 1: although he was still a consultant. Yeah, and and he's 756 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,239 Speaker 1: still I mean, if you watch the video like I 757 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 1: said that I was talking about on on Blizzard site, 758 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:40,399 Speaker 1: he's featured very heavily in it, and he has nothing 759 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: but good things to say about the company. So it's 760 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 1: not like there was any bad feelings or anything. It 761 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: may have just been that that was it was time 762 00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:49,120 Speaker 1: to go. It was time to go, time to do 763 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:51,120 Speaker 1: something else like that. He had set out to create 764 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: a successful video game company, he had done that and 765 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,399 Speaker 1: now was time to move on to the next next thing. So, um, 766 00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 1: the other two founders are still there at they still 767 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:05,480 Speaker 1: are working there. Um. And in two thousand five, Blizzard 768 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 1: through the very first blizz Con, which is a game 769 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:14,239 Speaker 1: festival of gaming festival that that focuses on Blizzard titles, 770 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:16,759 Speaker 1: and so they'll have things like they'll have tournaments, and 771 00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:20,480 Speaker 1: they have they'll they'll allow people to play demos of 772 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 1: various games that haven't come out yet, and they'll have 773 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,080 Speaker 1: costume contests and a lot of the people that a 774 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,680 Speaker 1: lot of my professional peers love to go to blizz Con. 775 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,280 Speaker 1: I have never been. Uh frankly, I've I've played several 776 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,360 Speaker 1: Blizzard titles, but I've never gotten into World of Warcraft. 777 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:40,360 Speaker 1: So I'm not I'm not as heavily uh tied to 778 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 1: the company as some of my friends are. But folks 779 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 1: like Tom Marrin and Veronica Belmont, Scott Johnson, like all 780 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:50,719 Speaker 1: these these other podcasters and crazy people love to go there. 781 00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,760 Speaker 1: So I love following Twitter during blizz Con because it 782 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,840 Speaker 1: is hysterical and awesome. I mean, you to see that 783 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,279 Speaker 1: kind of excitement behind game titles is always fun, right, 784 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:04,640 Speaker 1: And so, uh, two thousand five was the very first 785 00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 1: blizz Con, and they've just gotten larger and more elaborate 786 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: every year. Uh and then in two thousand seven. Keep 787 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:13,960 Speaker 1: in mind, over all this time, Blizzard continues to release 788 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:17,279 Speaker 1: expansion packs. Yeah, there was one thing I wanted to 789 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:21,799 Speaker 1: mention that in August of two thousand five, August first, 790 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:26,439 Speaker 1: in fact, the Redwood City Studio closed. Um, just about 791 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,680 Speaker 1: everybody got moved to the Irvine, California office, which is 792 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:34,719 Speaker 1: where Blizzards based. Um, but they actually closed Blizzard North Studios, 793 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:38,400 Speaker 1: the actual building, and quite a few people left Blizzard 794 00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 1: North at that time to people who you know, left 795 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,279 Speaker 1: on their own to found other companies. But in two 796 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: thousand seven, Vivendi, if you remember, that was the company 797 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:52,840 Speaker 1: that had purchased Sierra Online, and thus um um Blizzard 798 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:58,480 Speaker 1: Entertainment merged its game division with Activision, which then creates 799 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,319 Speaker 1: a new branch called Active Vision Blizzard, whis where we 800 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,120 Speaker 1: stand right now, although you never know by the time 801 00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,759 Speaker 1: this podcast comes out. And of course Activision was was 802 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:12,880 Speaker 1: founded by former Atari people who had worked on titles 803 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,719 Speaker 1: for the and so then uh, they're old hands in 804 00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:18,680 Speaker 1: the gaming business too. That's kind of bringing us up 805 00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: to date. StarCraft two came out in again massive massive hit. 806 00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:27,319 Speaker 1: Another big expansion pack called Cataclysm came out for World 807 00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:31,640 Speaker 1: of Warcraft, which which dramatically changed the game it was. 808 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:34,080 Speaker 1: It was supposed to be this this essentially a world 809 00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 1: altering event within the game world, so that places and 810 00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:42,880 Speaker 1: and activities that had been familiar now suddenly weren't. Um 811 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:44,920 Speaker 1: it was and it was designed to be that. It 812 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:47,120 Speaker 1: was really designed to shake things up so that people 813 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,040 Speaker 1: have been playing the game forever would suddenly have new 814 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:53,000 Speaker 1: stuff to do, and it wouldn't just be like a 815 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,240 Speaker 1: new map that they could explore because they had reached 816 00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 1: you know, the level cap and and now they had 817 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,440 Speaker 1: nothing else to do. Um. And so that was a 818 00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:06,479 Speaker 1: big deal when that came out. And uh, and this year, 819 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:09,880 Speaker 1: the game Diablo three is in beta. It's one of 820 00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,920 Speaker 1: those those betas that people are really I can think 821 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:14,680 Speaker 1: of two games off the top of my head that 822 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:18,080 Speaker 1: have had gamers scrabbling at the chance to be in 823 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:20,680 Speaker 1: the beta. One of them is Diablo three, the other 824 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:23,160 Speaker 1: is The Old Republic. So those would be the two 825 00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:24,960 Speaker 1: big games I would think of even that people are 826 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:26,880 Speaker 1: trying to get into. And Diablo three, of course, just 827 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:30,840 Speaker 1: has this huge history behind it and uh, and people 828 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,560 Speaker 1: are eager to play a new Diablo game. I mean 829 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:37,000 Speaker 1: it's been years since Diablo two came out, so um, 830 00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:40,080 Speaker 1: that's something that's going on right now. And something that 831 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:43,200 Speaker 1: happened earlier the week that we're recording this podcast I 832 00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:46,640 Speaker 1: thought was interesting is that Blizzard auctioned off some of 833 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:50,239 Speaker 1: the original server blades from its first server for World 834 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:53,480 Speaker 1: of Warcraft. Um, and they auctioned it off in a 835 00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:58,080 Speaker 1: charity auction that would benefit St. Jude. St Jude Children's 836 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:01,200 Speaker 1: Research Hospital. So that was kind of cool that you 837 00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: know this, This piece of video game computer game history 838 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,240 Speaker 1: went on sale in order to benefit a charity. Um. 839 00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:12,719 Speaker 1: And also there's I should add that there is the 840 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:15,239 Speaker 1: rumor it's not so much a rumor, it's just in 841 00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:19,960 Speaker 1: development limbo of a Warcraft movie. Oh, interesting World of 842 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,680 Speaker 1: Warcraft movie. And and Sam Raimi is uh is inked 843 00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:27,120 Speaker 1: to direct this film should it ever actually get into 844 00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:31,040 Speaker 1: true development. Uh so Sam Ramy of course famous for 845 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,680 Speaker 1: the documentary Evil did Ah. And uh of course the 846 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,600 Speaker 1: blizz con announcements this year included, uh, the Defense of 847 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:43,600 Speaker 1: the Ancients game called Blizzard Doda d o t A 848 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:47,040 Speaker 1: being Defense the Ancients um. And also a couple of 849 00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:50,319 Speaker 1: expansion packed StarCraft too Hard of the Swarm and there's 850 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,000 Speaker 1: going to be new units in that apparently, and uh 851 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:57,080 Speaker 1: what World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria, which features a 852 00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:02,680 Speaker 1: new monk unit and creators that are Pandas Apparently, if 853 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:06,880 Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, this actually started as a joke, and 854 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,440 Speaker 1: uh they decided to go all out with it and 855 00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 1: make an expansion. So again, I hope I love that 856 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:18,040 Speaker 1: about Blizzard. I hope would they attack now? Actually the 857 00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:23,080 Speaker 1: Pandarin Race apparently debuted long time before uh Kung Fu 858 00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:28,279 Speaker 1: Panda did, so I maintain my statement. Okay, all right, 859 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:31,000 Speaker 1: but Blizzard has has really set itself apart, not just 860 00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:33,320 Speaker 1: for the quality of its games, but for its willingness 861 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:36,080 Speaker 1: to add a little humor and mix it up in 862 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:39,279 Speaker 1: their plus uh um. I've always found it kind of 863 00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,479 Speaker 1: nice that they released a Mac version of the game, 864 00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:45,560 Speaker 1: you know, long before OS ten, back when Apple was 865 00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:51,760 Speaker 1: considered a a a very an endangered species of computer. 866 00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:55,040 Speaker 1: They were, but Blizzard was still releasing the Warcraft and 867 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:58,719 Speaker 1: StarCraft and Diablo games for the older versions of the 868 00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:00,880 Speaker 1: Mac os and I always you know, it seems like 869 00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,759 Speaker 1: they're not afraid to take chances with things and just 870 00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:05,719 Speaker 1: to get a few, you know, to give other people 871 00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,600 Speaker 1: an opportunity to to play the games. So they're one 872 00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:10,960 Speaker 1: of my favorites. It's a pretty remarkable company as as 873 00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:14,359 Speaker 1: video game companies go. And I'm curious to see, you know, 874 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:16,399 Speaker 1: how things pan out in the future. And I'm sure 875 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:18,840 Speaker 1: that World of Warcraft will continue to be a juggernaut. 876 00:50:19,480 --> 00:50:22,160 Speaker 1: Uh And I'm really curious to see what their next 877 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:27,760 Speaker 1: totally new product will be. There's there's a a rumor 878 00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:31,360 Speaker 1: about something called Titan and I'm not certain whether or 879 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:38,040 Speaker 1: not that is a tie into something else. So well, 880 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:40,000 Speaker 1: that's kind of where we are today, and we're gonna 881 00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 1: wrap up this discussion about Blizzard. If you guys have 882 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,400 Speaker 1: any companies you would like us to to highlight, or 883 00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:50,120 Speaker 1: people within tech, or if you just always wondered how 884 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,560 Speaker 1: something works and you really wanted us to talk about it, 885 00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:56,239 Speaker 1: let us know. You can email us. Our address is 886 00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:58,840 Speaker 1: tech stuff at how stuff Works dot com, or you 887 00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:02,080 Speaker 1: can let us know on ebook for Twitter are handled 888 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:05,040 Speaker 1: there as tech Stuff H s W and Chris and 889 00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:10,279 Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon. Okay. Be 890 00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,000 Speaker 1: sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff from 891 00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,880 Speaker 1: the Future. Join How Stuff Work staff as we explore 892 00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:20,520 Speaker 1: the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The House 893 00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:24,280 Speaker 1: Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes, 894 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,400 Speaker 1: brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 895 00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:32,879 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you