Update on Starcraft single player bans

Official statement issues by  Blizzard:

"Blizzard Entertainment is not banning StarCraft II players just for using single-player cheats. There's been some confusion in the last couple of days about the suspensions and bans meted out to players caught cheating in StarCraft II. It's important to point out first, that many of the 3rd-party hacks and cheats developed for StarCraft II contain both single- and multiplayer functionality. In order to protect the integrity of multiplayer competition, we are actively detecting cheat programs used in multiplayer modes whether there are human opponents or not."

Be sure to read this carefully. This does NOT mean they are banning single players cheats. (there are built in cheat codes for single player) This does NOT mean you are free to use all cheats/mods/add-ons. Any unfriendly programs detected within battle.net can and may lead you to a suspensions and/or ban.

If you are not familiar with the battle.net ban styles of Diablo 2, it worked like this.

Say you are using a maphack.
The maphack accesses lines of code within the game files. Battle.net knows what lines of code those are. There was a bot used by Battle.net to sweep through accounts to detect if those lines of code were being accessed, we used to call it the "warden". The warden was not on at all times, just periodically, the only way you knew, was when someone got banned. When the warden was turned on, it would "sweep" and ban accounts by the Thousands.

The Ban-Hammer.

Depending on the infraction, you would get "Temp-banned" We got it all the time in Diablo for joining and leaving games to quickly. (create game, Tele to Mephisto, tele to Pindle, Save/quit, repeat). Those usually last 15 minutes. But there has been times when the Warden would sweep and we get temp banned for days.


Long story short. Mods/add-ons/hacks/cheats: Use at your own risk.

Posted by SLG_Rady

DOTA 2 to be released by Valve!

 
I haven't been this excited in a long time. I was eating my lunch in the break room at work while checking my twitter to find that IGN, Gameinformer, and basically everyone worth mentioning, had posted new information on Valves new upcoming release.


So, here's the full story.
Dota (Defense of the Ancients) is a custom Warcraft 3 map based off an old Starcraft map called "Aeon of Strife". Dota was first created by a mapmaker under the alias Eul it was then re-worked after the WC3 expansion by Steve Feak (his version becoming the dominantly played version)

Steve added  and renamed it Defense of the Ancients - All-stars. Still acronymed Dota
Feak wanted to create Dota as a stand alone game, and under certain circumstances, began work with Riot Games creating "League of Legends"


Dota was slightly re-worked again in version 6.1 by Icefrog.
Icefrog added new heroes, features, and fixes. His work on the map made him a name in the WC3 community. his work also achieved him an opportunity to work with none other than Valve. To create a stand alone game, Conveniently name Dota 2.


Sweet, sooooooo whats Dota 2 going to be like.

• I'll keep this short and sweet.
• Virtually untouched gameplay form the legendary original
• DotA-Allstars' roster of 100+ heroes is being brought over in its entirety.
• Items, skills, and upgrade paths are unchanged. Some hero skills work slightly
• Valve's Source engine, ooooo shiny!
• Integrated voice chat!
• AI bots will take over for disconnected players
• "The bulk of innovation in Dota 2, however, is ancillary to the gameplay itself. Valve is upgrading Steamworks (the company's backend technologies for matchmaking and other gameplay and community-related things) to allow them to create in-game rewards for participating in the Dota 2 community. The idea is to have everything a player does in or out of game tie back into their online identity. Like the improvements to Source, the Steamworks upgrades will be available to third-party developers who choose to use Valve's tools when Dota 2 launches in 2011."  (source)
• skill-based matchmaking for both individuals and teams
• interactive guides will allow players to do more than just read a guide

 I am thoroughly excited, and plan on keeping you all informed as more information becomes available to me!

SLG_Rady

Starcraft Bans on single player!!

Cheathappens.com posted an article describing Blizzard BANNING users for using cheats and trainers on single player matches, whether they playing multi player or not.

“While single player games only appear to be you and a computer at first, your achievements and gamer score also carries weight and prestige for your online play,” a Blizzard spokesperson told CheatHappens.

 posted by SLG_Rady

The Banhammer Falls on SC2

     According to battle.net, over 5,000 Star Craft 2 players were banned from online play this morning. 

      "We recently took action, including suspensions and bans, on over 5,000 StarCraft II players who were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair competition that’s essential to play on Battle.net, cheating and hacking can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. Maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online-gaming experience for legitimate players is a top priority for us, and we'll be continuing to keep watch on Battle.net and take action as needed."  - battle.net

Posted by SLG_J

New Release Dates Added! Cataclysm?

9/28 FIFA soccer 11
9/28 Front Mission Evolved
9/28 Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock
9/28 MorphX
9/28 Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
10/5 Two Worlds
10/12 Borderlands: Game of the year edition!
10/19 DJ Hero 2
10/19 Saw 2
10/24 Shaun White's Skateboarding
10/26 Tony Hawks Shred
10/26 Rock Band 3
10/26 Star Wars the Force Unleashed.
11/2 Dragon Ball Raging Blast
11/2 MegaMan Ultimate Showdown
11/16 Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.

MMO-Champion Posted this earlier today.
"A few weeks ago I announced that the target release date for Cataclysm was November 2. Well, according to an update I just got, the release has been postponed and Blizzard will try to release the game in early December. (Basically, either December 7 or December 14)" Ofcourse this is an unofficial statement.

They Also posted the Valor Points Rewards and Tier 11 sets!

Posted by SLG_Rady

Was it Kerrigan or Darth Vader for GREATEST game villian of all time?

If you have been out of the loop. Gamespot.com has been running a user decided contest to decide who is the greatest video game villain of all time.

It started with 64 different villains from Bowser to Diablo.

Here's the excerpt from Gamespot.com

"And when the battle began, it began in earnest. Evil clowns faced evil clowns. Evil female computer AIs struggled against evil female computer AIs. And a whole cavalcade of doctor-versus-doctor-versus-doctor matchups kept us all on the edge of our seats.

The competition introduced great villains from all walks of life--villains who got their start in video games, and in some cases, villains who made their debut in other media. Films. Comic books.
But none could overcome the greatest force of evil in known space.

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the winner of this epic competition. The greatest game villain ever to put the boots to the good guys.

Here it is.

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Waaaaait for it.

 

YES!
 
At long last, victory!

Bask in the glory!

Seriously!

…I know, right!

Wait.

Wait…no.

No…that's not right.

Let's try this again:

Ladies and gentlemen!

The greatest video game villain of all time is none other than:

Yeah. No, that's--yes, that's better.
Kerrigan (that's Sarah Kerrigan), also known as the Queen of Blades and the leader of Starcraft's insidious Zerg aliens, has triumphed in this competition and has earned the title of All-Time Greatest Game Villain. More importantly, user 00Wu has chosen the winningest bracket and is the winner among user votes. Aside from various emblems and other prizes, this user has earned the ultimate reward--bragging rights for picking the best villain bracket in town."
"

Posted by SLG_Rady