To start, the new studio did something that might come as a surprise to many Blizzard fans today, as it largely developed ports for the Super Nintendo. The studio landed on a new name in Blizzard, and got to work on the game that would ultimately define the company: Warcraft.
You don't have to be a die-hard Blizzard fan to know where things went from there. Warcraft spawned two sequels and eventually paved the way for the massive online RPG World of Warcraft.
Blizzard used its experience developing strategy games to create the Starcraft series. Have you played Diablo: Hellfire? The title acted as the foundation for what would be one of the company's first original projects. The Lost Vikings combined a humorous attitude with a clever technique of having players switch between three characters to solve platforming puzzles.
Rock n' Roll Racing is perhaps best known for its licensed instrumental versions of classic rock songs including Bad to the Bone. Oh, it also featured Larry "Super Mouth" Huffman providing racing commentary. While Blizzard was gaining experience on the home console in , Westwood Studios released the enormously influential Dune II.
Though it wasn't much of a commercial success, this unique strategy title would certainly impact Blizzard's next project and PC gaming would never be the same. It was easy to know everyone well because going out for a beer only meant taking 2 or 3 cars to bring the entire company.
This bloody platformer starred a shotgun toting space pirate that battled villains bearing more than a passing resemblance to the orcs that would become so recognizable in later Blizzard products. By that summer, PC gamers were circulating the demo for Warcraft : Orcs vs. The series took the top-down strategy tactics in Dune II and added an approachable fantasy presentation. Anyone familiar with Tolkein's tales could find something familiar in the colorful and often humorous characters portrayed in Warcraft.
It no longer mattered who was "first" to the genre after Blizzard played to their greatest strength: tapping into mass appeal. Perhaps what is most important about this landmark game for Blizzard was that it didn't just attract hardcore gamers, but it generated them. The addition of multiplayer over modem and LAN allowed for the full potential of the strategy genre to be explored by millions of friends experiencing online competition in a strategy game for the first time.
Warcraft not only put Blizzard on the map, it also made the company profitable. I went to CES and we had a ten-by-ten booth and there were a few dozen people who came by our booth to take a look at the game and they were all excited. Blizzard forged ahead technologically as well. Warcraft II included an easy-to-use map editor that let players share their.
PUD files across the web. Along with two-player matches over a modem and eight-player matches over a local network, Warcraft II became popular over Kali, a tool that allowed players to take the game online and a third-party precursor to Blizzard's own Battle. The company realized the importance of this online aspect of the game and would incorporate it heavily into their next project.
Everyone has their favorite Blizzard title, but the importance of the original Warcraft series is undeniable. Sonic on the consoles. This battle of the strategy games turned casual players into passionate fans, spurred innovation in both titles and bolstered PC gaming as a whole. Blizzard has cultivated its sterling reputation over the years by putting its games ahead of its deadlines.
As the founders have been quick to point out, the company is run by and comprised of gamers who have dedicated themselves first and foremost to putting out great products before they worry about sales figures and deadlines. It's an enviable mantra, and not one that many developers have the luxury of following.
Blizzard's quest for perfection has left some casualties along the way, including two very notable projects that never saw the light of day. Almost everyone involved with PC gaming in the early 90s was enamored with Lucas Arts' and Sierra's mastery of the adventure game genre.
The folks at Blizzard sought to emulate titles like Monkey Island and expand the Warcraft universe through a similar title. The project was supposed to fill in the mythology behind the Orc race of the Warcraft games.
Its two-dimensional animations were stylish and filled with personality, but as the project wore on and missed its first deadline of completion in late , Blizzard realized that the game was becoming dated before it was finished. Adventure games were a dying breed and the masters of the genre were moving on to three dimensions with titles like Grim Fandango. Just before E3 the project was canceled.
It was a bold statement: rather then release something mediocre they'd rather forge on to something new. Every fan knows that the next step in the expansion of the Blizzard empire was a game called Diablo. The title was actually developed by Condor Games, a separate studio that was working for Blizzard. Early the next year Diablo launched into the open arms of dungeon crawlers everywhere. The premise behind Diablo is deceptively simple, and though there have been countless other action-RPGs, all current references to the genre inevitably lead back to this one extremely popular game.
The combat involved little more than pointing the mouse and clicking away, but the leveling structure, the interface, and of course the loot, made Diablo insanely addictive. And perhaps more important than the game itself was the service it came bundled with: Battle.
All over the internet players were beginning to take their games online through third party clients or subscription based services. Blizzard had seen how the life of Warcraft had been extended through online multiplayer and they decided to package a simple, free, online gaming service with their latest product.
The original feature set of Battle. About the Company. Adoption assistance. Breast milk shipping service. Employee Assistance Program. Flexible Spending Account. Subsidized child care. Wellness seminars. X weeks' parental leave. Bereavement leave. Discount programs. Extended health care benefits. Gift card bonuses. Sick days.
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