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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Sarafan on December 02, 2007, 04:14:49 pm

Title: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Sarafan on December 02, 2007, 04:14:49 pm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7123582.stm

What does everyone thinks of this? Great opportunity or bad move?

edit: fixed, sorry about the link, I was in a rush to post this.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Polpolion on December 02, 2007, 04:29:01 pm
My first thoughts: An infusion of Diablo II and Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: TrashMan on December 02, 2007, 05:36:33 pm
You sure that is the right link? It shows a article about God of War 3...
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: gevatter Lars on December 02, 2007, 06:29:57 pm
Yep link seams to be leading elsewhere.
Neverless I have heard about this fusion somewhere else and I don't like the idea that much. It could be good as they could give a strong oposition to EAs more or less generic games like the sports titles or the sims.
If it develops into something like EA for casual and cheap game and Activision/Blizzard for the more complex games I won't have any problems with that.
I only fear that they both try to get the attention of the same groups and throw out game after game without much quality checks.
Well we can't do much about it except to buy there games or not.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: phreak on December 02, 2007, 06:57:37 pm
April Foo-- Oh **** it's true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_Blizzard
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Flaser on December 03, 2007, 12:25:05 am
Activision made some really great and complex games like Battlezone.
Blizzard is one of our last bastions of hope against lowest-common denominator mediocrity.

I think this fusion has hope written all over it.
Whether the light at the end of the tunnel is daylight, or the train coming is yet to be seen.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: BloodEagle on December 03, 2007, 01:24:32 am
I never really cared much for the Blizzard games, to be honest.  :snipe:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Admiral_Stones on December 03, 2007, 06:01:24 am
Activision made some really great and complex games like Battlezone.
Blizzard is one of our last bastions of hope against lowest-common denominator mediocrity.

I think this fusion has hope written all over it.
Whether the light at the end of the tunnel is daylight, or the train coming is yet to be seen.

Now someone tell me World of Warcraft isn't a lowest-common denominator mediocrity.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: TrashMan on December 03, 2007, 06:36:15 am
I never really cared much for the Blizzard games, to be honest.  :snipe:

Me neither. Good, but nothing special. And I'm very dissapointed with WOW.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Unknown Target on December 03, 2007, 07:06:50 am
Don't like any Blizzard games myself, so I could care less.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 03, 2007, 07:15:50 am
I think the starcraft fans here will take that to heart.................


 :nod:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Sarafan on December 03, 2007, 09:36:34 am
I think the starcraft fans here will take that to heart.................


 :nod:

Oh, they truly will! Now with the latest release of:



Skatecraft!

Fight the cunning Terrans, the nefarious Zerg and the misteryous Protoss in the best graphical made world yet, ALL while making wicked moves with your personalized skate board!

Oh, yeah!!!!


 :D :D :D
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Admiral_Stones on December 03, 2007, 10:08:35 am
With my poor bastard zerg-protoss-terran merge Zerote.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 03, 2007, 10:15:37 am
Skatecraft!

Fight the cunning Terrans, the nefarious Zerg and the misteryous Protoss in the best graphical made world yet, ALL while making wicked moves with your personalized skate board!

Oh, yeah!!!!

May God have mercy on your soul, and nobody from the new company see this. :p
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Sarafan on December 03, 2007, 10:42:04 am

May God have mercy on your soul, and nobody from the new company see this. :p

But you didnt even see Pro Diablo 3: Skater Lord, where you can use spells to enhance your board to Xtremes!!!!!!!!!!

 :D

I'm going to hell, wont I?
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Wobble73 on December 03, 2007, 10:45:51 am

May God have mercy on your soul, and nobody from the new company see this. :p

But you didnt even see Pro Diablo 3: Skater Lord, where you can use spells to enhance your board to Xtremes!!!!!!!!!!

 :D

I'm going to hell, wont I?

Funnily enough, I think I've played that!  :lol:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 03, 2007, 11:30:45 am
But you didnt even see Pro Diablo 3: Skater Lord, where you can use spells to enhance your board to Xtremes!!!!!!!!!!

 :D

I'm going to hell, wont I?

They're working on a new level, just for you; or they were thinking about contracting you as an employee for punishing gamers. I forget which.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Nuke on December 03, 2007, 01:00:42 pm
coulda been worse, coulda been ea :D
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Marcus Vesper on December 03, 2007, 04:57:19 pm
coulda been worse, coulda been ea :D
Madden 2009: Diablo Edition!  This comic here (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/02/09) echoes my opinions on EA's signature properties.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: TrashMan on December 03, 2007, 06:52:34 pm
Defeat the Lord of Terror in a all out skating tournament!

Save Azeroth by chrushing the orckish hordes in the AHL (Azeroth Hockey League) 2008!
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Mefustae on December 03, 2007, 06:59:47 pm
You people do realise that Activision only published Tony Hawk? The games were developed by Neversoft.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Dark RevenantX on December 03, 2007, 07:13:14 pm
Wake me up when they release something worth spending $50.00 for...
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Hellstryker on December 03, 2007, 09:47:16 pm
Starcraft II, but only because of modding  :doubt:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: jr2 on December 04, 2007, 01:16:17 am
List of Activision games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Activision_games)

Among which are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision#Notable_published_titles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision#Notable_published_titles)

Notable published titles

    * Fishing Derby (1980)
    * Skiing (1980)
    * Freeway (1981)
    * Ice Hockey (1981)
    * Kaboom! (1981)
    * Stampede (1981)
    * Barnstorming (1982)
    * Pitfall! (1982)
    * River Raid (1982)
    * Robot Tank (1983)
    * H.E.R.O. (1984)
    * Hacker (1985)
    * MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat (1995)
    * The Quake series (with the exception of the first version of Quake)
    * Interstate '76 (1997)
    * Battlezone (1998)
    * Civilization: Call to Power (1999)
    * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999)
    * Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002)
    * Spider-Man: The Movie (2002)
    * Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003)
    * True Crime: Streets of L.A. (2003)
    * Call of Duty (2003)
    * Doom 3 (2004)
    * Spider-Man 2 (2004)
    * Call of Duty 2 (2005)
    * GUN (2005)
    * The Movies (2005)
    * True Crime: New York City (2005)
    * Guitar Hero series (2005-2007)
    * Spider-Man 3 (2007)
    * Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Scooby_Doo on December 04, 2007, 04:01:57 am
coulda been worse, coulda been ea :D
Madden 2009: Diablo Edition!  This comic here (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/02/09) echoes my opinions on EA's signature properties.

Not only that but you can create your own character's appearance, personality and clothing.. Have them get jobs, make friends, fall in love all while fighting the hordes of evil.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Sarafan on December 04, 2007, 09:41:29 am
Activision has done a lot of good games, perhaps some day will see a finished SC:Ghost or dare I think of a MW5 game made by them and Blizzard? Miracles? :D
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 04, 2007, 10:02:06 am
Activision has done a lot of good games, perhaps some day will see a finished SC:Ghost or dare I think of a MW5 game made by them and Blizzard? Miracles? :D

That would be a miracle. Might even be enough to restore my faith in God.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 04, 2007, 12:39:11 pm
Oh sweet jeebus. Pc gamer check these forums I'll have you know. If they publish any of this i'd wager we're all going to silicon hell. 
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Ace on December 04, 2007, 12:55:00 pm
coulda been worse, coulda been ea :D
Madden 2009: Diablo Edition!  This comic here (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/02/09) echoes my opinions on EA's signature properties.

Not only that but you can create your own character's appearance, personality and clothing.. Have them get jobs, make friends, fall in love all while fighting the hordes of evil.


Isn't that called WoW? :p
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Marcus Vesper on December 04, 2007, 03:52:31 pm
Oh man, I just saw this:
(http://files.redvsblue.com/web/images/comic/20071204RT0204.jpg)
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: spartan_0214 on December 04, 2007, 05:18:40 pm
So what will they call themselves now? Actibliz, or Blizivision?
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Nuke on December 04, 2007, 05:34:00 pm
i personally think all game publishing companies are evil. look at ea. let it be known that i despise consoles. besides perhaps playing red faction on my brother's ps2 back when it came out, i havent touched a console since the sega saturn. one of the things i hated about console games, was sitting through 5 minutes of forced logos that you couldnt get out of, followed by an equally long load time. your typical pc game usually skips right into the loading phase, if not level loading at least the gui. i own exactly 2 games published by ea, one of which being crysis, the other being battlefield 2. and both have the forced logos. crysis has the publishers logo, the engine logo, i cant remember of the developer had their logo, probibly. an intel logo and a nvidia logo (which makes no sense as i already use intel and nvidia), and then some other logos after that.

NOT ON MY PC GAMES *****!!! IF YOU WANT ME TO NOT PIRATE YOUR GAMES DONT PUT THOSE ****ING LOGOS UP ANY ****ING MORE!!! BECAUSE IF I HAVE TO WATCH YOURE ****ING ADDS I WILL FEEL LIKE I ALREADY PAID FOR IT WITH MY PRECIOUS AND FINITE TIME!!!  :mad:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: spartan_0214 on December 04, 2007, 06:29:44 pm
and both have the forced logos. crysis has the publishers logo, the engine logo, i cant remember of the developer had their logo, probibly.

You know you can manually move those video files into another folder and the game won't find them. If you do that, it skips over the intro videos... :nod:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Sarafan on December 04, 2007, 06:54:04 pm
So what will they call themselves now? Actibliz, or Blizivision?

Activision Blizzard, just that. Really.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Nuke on December 04, 2007, 08:11:21 pm
and both have the forced logos. crysis has the publishers logo, the engine logo, i cant remember of the developer had their logo, probibly.

You know you can manually move those video files into another folder and the game won't find them. If you do that, it skips over the intro videos... :nod:

thats not the point, the point is that they are there. and if i have to take the time to hack them away, then my original point is still valid.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: spartan_0214 on December 04, 2007, 08:26:21 pm
Advertising makes the world go 'round Nuke, even we here at the HLP have  advertisements...
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 04, 2007, 09:31:13 pm
So what will they call themselves now? Actibliz, or Blizivision?

Activision Blizzard, just that. Really.
It's a somewhat terrible name in my opinion. But then again, I don't think I'd want to think of something better.

My first reaction when I heard of the merger was "OMG! WTF? . . . WTF?!" No seriously.  :wtf:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Rictor on December 04, 2007, 09:34:01 pm
Being the sole human being on this planet that is not interested in Blizzard games, I find it hard to care about the merger. Aside from the "OMG factor", I don't see anything substantially changing. It's not like we're going to see Call of Duty 5: Azeroth anytime soon.

Anything that fights the EA juggernaut is fine by me.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Nuke on December 04, 2007, 10:04:14 pm
Advertising makes the world go 'round Nuke, even we here at the HLP have  advertisements...

i was told in school that it was inertia which makes the earth go round. why the hell do you think im so inclined to have the earth nuked. all this spinning makes me dizzy. advertising is a leech mechanism, nothing more. a bloated economy might not be the best thing for the human race. ads make the average person a greedy shell of a human. notice how the assholness of humanity increases as the societies profit. no! the earth must be set ablaze! burn this rock to the mantle, decay its orbit till it falls into the sun, then destroy the sun! :mad:

i dont need ads to tell me what to buy, im fully capable of investigating the market for things i want/need without annoying and stupid ads being blasted into my face almost constantly. its an insult to put an ad into any media which i may choose to buy. no! never surrender to them! advert your sight and plug your ears. let no ad into your mind! :D
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 04, 2007, 10:09:26 pm
Being the sole human being on this planet that is not interested in Blizzard games, I find it hard to care about the merger. Aside from the "OMG factor", I don't see anything substantially changing. It's not like we're going to see Call of Duty 5: Azeroth anytime soon.

Anything that fights the EA juggernaut is fine by me.
I agree with your opinion that it's not really important to you/me. It's just the randomness of hearing it without any pretext that made my reaction.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Gloriano on December 05, 2007, 01:07:37 am
I think it's great move activision has been lacking on PC side development, with this move they are really strong on PC market and console market
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 05, 2007, 03:20:39 am
Volition - Saints row.........


It can be done properly if it's a good company :(
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 05, 2007, 01:37:11 pm
I think it's great move activision has been lacking on PC side development, with this move they are really strong on PC market and console market
I dunno really. Activision hasn't really gotten my fancy because it seems to make the same sort of mass-produced games that EA tends to make and that sucks. This is just my opinion though :p
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Dark RevenantX on December 05, 2007, 06:43:24 pm
Mass Prodution + Games = Massive Crap
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: phatosealpha on December 05, 2007, 07:16:05 pm
Meh.  Never cared much for blizzard games anyway - they only really give a damn about the multiplayer market.  It will be sad to see them go under, which is exactly what they're going to do - be forced into consolization then sink - but only in principle to me.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 05, 2007, 08:23:42 pm
RevenantX! Your 616 post count, gone! Noo!
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Ghostavo on December 06, 2007, 02:18:07 am
Since everyone is so uptight about this.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/12/05

I'm pretty sure I've seen several direct image links from HLP to several webcomics but hey...
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: BloodEagle on December 06, 2007, 12:09:07 pm
You shouldn't directly link to someone else's image.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: NGTM-1R on December 06, 2007, 12:56:13 pm
I dunno really. Activision hasn't really gotten my fancy because it seems to make the same sort of mass-produced games that EA tends to make and that sucks. This is just my opinion though :p

Activision has never been a producer of mass awesomeness in the sense Blizzard has occasionally been; though they had a time where they came close. However, neither have they been the indefatiguiable mediocrity that EA is. Overall they seem to hold themselves to a higher standard than EA has.

Blizzard, however, has recently dropped the ball with Warcraft 3 and WoW. Their recovery remains to be seen.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: spartan_0214 on December 06, 2007, 05:33:51 pm
You shouldn't directly link to someone else's image.

 :wtf: Why not? It's got the copyright on it...
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: BloodEagle on December 06, 2007, 05:45:36 pm
Because you're stealing using someone else's bandwidth.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 07, 2007, 03:17:31 am
They can handle the traffic.............. :nod:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Ghostavo on December 07, 2007, 08:40:24 am
They've got more bandwidth than all FreeSpace related websites combined.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: BloodEagle on December 07, 2007, 04:03:44 pm
I'm going to laugh when someone replaces that image with the image of a decapitated animal.  :doubt:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 07, 2007, 06:05:36 pm
Dead sheep! ;)
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: IceFire on December 07, 2007, 07:48:42 pm
You shouldn't directly link to someone else's image.

 :wtf: Why not? It's got the copyright on it...
Because they run their website and it has at least one ad on the page and thats "traffic" that your depriving them of advertising revenue.  As much of a rebel as anyone may be its still polite and improper to link directly to an image such as that without linking to the actual site.  Occasionally there may be extenuating circumstances where thats not necessary but in this case it is.

Would be nice if you changed it.
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 10, 2007, 03:21:34 am
I'm going to laugh when someone replaces that image with the image of a decapitated animal.  :doubt:

Actually, thats not very funny. I hate direct links in hindsight.............


*remembers getting banned....... :shaking:
Title: Re: Blizzard/Activision merge!
Post by: Asuko on December 10, 2007, 06:42:33 am
In retrospect, I'd think it as boring actually.