Excessive

Everyone remember that cool game Blizzard shocked the world by announcing? They announced StarCraft Ghost in 2002 when this gen of concoles were still pretty new... it's 2006 now and they've cancelled it.

StarCraft: Ghost Goes To Heaven?

Blizzard announces that it's moving next-gen, and that Ghost may not be coming with it.
by Nix

March 24, 2006 - Few games have had as many ups and downs as Blizzard's ambitious action gaiden to its famed StarCraft series, StarCraft: Ghost. In its unveiling at the Tokyo Game Show in 2002, the console-only game was the biggest news imaginable, a full new outing in a franchise that had not seen its deserved share of action in many years. Following that unveiling, however, the game saw numerous delays, and depending on what show you caught the game at, StarCraft: Ghost did not always impress media watchers in the glowing ways that a game of its stature might be expected to earn. While the title continued to improve, its extended development time had it competing with increasingly impressive new titles every year. The game also suffered setbacks in development, as its original coding team at Nihilistic was forced to leave the project behind when its contract was up due to other engagements. The game seemed as if it might get back on track when new developer Swinging Ape took over the project (and the focusing on just PS2 and Xbox, with the GameCube version officially cancelled), but of course, that was in July of 2004, and this is now March of 2006.

And now, StarCraft: Ghost has hit yet another crossroad, as franchise creator and project overseer Blizzard has announced that it "will indefinitely postpone production" on the game as the company shifts its focus to new next-gen systems. The good news is that Blizzard hasn't yet given up the Ghost -- the company explains in its announcement that it is evaluating the potential of StarCraft: Ghost as a next-gen title, and indicates that if the game goes that route, it will utilize the additional console power for a more impressive game than was originally conceived. The bad news, of course, is that this leaves little chance of seeing the current-gen StarCraft: Ghost version continued to release, and it promises an even longer (or eternal, if worse comes to worst) wait for StarCraft fans.

"Like many in the industry, we've been impressed with the potential of the new consoles, and we're looking forward to exploring that potential further," stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "In addition to allowing us to determine the best course for StarCraft: Ghost, this review period will help us lay the groundwork for our future console games."

Despite the cursed development history, StarCraft: Ghost has plenty of promise. Its concept is a cross between classic StarCraft RTS play and single-player stealth action (ala Metal Gear.) The game focuses on a female hero from the intriguing Ghost character set out of the StarCraft series, who have special powers and incredible Terran technology in their arsenal. Late in development, StarCraft: Ghost also added online multiplayer features, which promised to please fans of the RTS franchise who have been dying for the series to get anywhere near the number "2" after being left behind for other Blizzard franchises after the original release, a few expansion packs, and a billion hours of logged-on and LAN multiplay.

Will StarCraft: Ghost go next-gen? Or is this the end for our pony-tailed heroine Ghost Nova? Blizzard plans to make its specific plans for the future of StarCraft: Ghost known in further announcements, so please check back in between your Brood War bouts for more news.

Excessive Forum Updates

I was pretty unhappy with the UBB style feature in the Excessive Forum, and I felt that it was under developed, and didn't even immitate the real UBB style boards well enough. I spent some time working on it (as dumb as working on something you won't even use feels) and it now works and acts much more like a real ubb style board. These are the changes that have been made:

I actually had a pretty decent sleep, and (as it rarely happens) I woke up not that uncomfortable or headachey. I'm not really sure what decides whether or not my sleeps will be comfortable or not, but I would really enjoy finding out, so I could do it more regularly (haha.. do it).

I've put on some tomatos to cook today, and so the apartment smells wonderfully like the sweet and amazing smell of tomatos, and the window is open with a breeze coming in, and I just had a nummy bagel... so today is pretty nice so far.

I'm watching Hook, which is a movie I've seen a hundered times, and enjoyed more as a child, but it's still pretty fun to watch.

I'm just working a bit on the forum, and I'll write an update post when I'm done.

Until then!

While yesterday was stressful, tiring, a daze, and really weird... in comparison, today was pretty boring and/or lazy. Truthfully, all I did was go for a walk once, and the rest was either watching TV or playing a game. It was nice because of how relaxing it was, but lame because it feels like a wasted day... it's probably best that I'm so apathetic and actually don't give a shit.

I watched The Bone Collector today, which is a movie I've seen numerous times and always enjoy, and it was about time to watch it again, so I downloaded it and enjoyed it once again. I planned on watching a second movie, but time seemed to run out and I ended up... not. I've got many movies in line waiting to be watched too, The Benchwarmers, The Negotiator, Aeon Flux, Final Destination 3.. and others.

I'm tired.
I'm going to sleep.

In my effort to further increase the awesomeness that is Mark spamming a userless message board, I've continued to fix and add features to the forum.

Fuzzy Mail

Fuzzy Mail is a spam filter for forwarded messages by cPanel... basically this is the deal. When you set up a forward in cPanel, it takes a copy of every email recieved by the source address (ie. jordan@webkore.net) and sends a copy to the forward (ie. assintercourse@bumsluts.com), that way both e-mail addresses get a copy. Why would you do this? Well, you may want a copy of the e-mail at two different places, or a copy sent to your phone so it alerts you that you have a new e-mail, or keeping track of e-mails in a dual OS enviroment. Regardless of why you'd want it, both Anthony and I do, but we quickly noticed a bug within cPanel that was seriously annoying.

Alright, so today was pretty tiring, stressful and boring, all rolled into one... but I guess the day isn't quite over, and I'm really not sure why I'm writing right now... considering it's light out, and.. ewwww.. people are outside near my window. Bah, regardless, I'm writing this now because I'm freakishly tired, and I need to get this all out of my system before it disappears for good, because god knows I'll be napping soon.

There was a bit of Webkore downtime this afternoon, as I'm sure all my dedicated fans noticed. It was only about 2 hours, and it wasn't our fault... I'm sure Tony has something more he could add hehe.

Today sooo sucked... I was in a bad mood, I started hungover, ended up just being depressed, and I never wanted to see anyone again. Now that the night has come and the day is over, and I'm not quite so alone, I feel quite a bit better, however I still stick by my belief that last night mostly sucked, as did today.

I don't think I really enjoy drinking anymore... sure, the process is fun, but the end result is usually bullshit. I end up regretting most things, or just not having fun at all, and the after effects the day after (mostly being super depressed) just aren't worth it. I'm starting to think I would have more fun if I were just sober at the bar, than drunk, although it would be much harder putting up with the drunk and/or high retards that are usually easier to ignore when you're drunk enough to tune it all out.

The only good parts about last night was getting to be with Ally, and getting to hang out with Dave and Kurt. During the show the band had to skip two songs because of a miscommunication, or 'oversight' if you will, and the smoke machine wasn't turned on, but they did a good job regardless. I watched The Birthday Massacre from the merch table... yeeeeaah.

I was pretty pissed off by the end of the night because someone spilled beer all over the merch (shirts included), and just for the record, it wasn't me, for once I actually didn't do anything wrong or stupid. Also, I was feeling grumpy and angry to begin with do to a few other circumstances, so I left as soon as I could, instead of staying till close like I should have. Dave was kind enough to pay me for my services this time, and so I made very decent money for the work, especially since I get into the shows for free, get free beer tickets and get to watch either from on the stage, or right in front (whereever the smoke machine reaches).

I've been working a bit on creating a layout for a blog for Anthony... it's nearly complete and I'm sure by tomorrow afternoon a first entry will be made... so that'll be cool, and I suggest my readers check it out, since it will have a lot of funny, Webkore related stuff hehe.

I'm just waiting for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report now, and then at 12am, Tony and I are playing Diablo 2 for a bit, and that should relax me enough to not feel death filled until I can get to sleep, and hopefully wake up tomorrow feeling much better.