I bought Starcraft on Friday, it's been awhile since I had any rts fun. The game's great, but I think I'm done with Blizzard, they pulled some serious Sony crap with this one. It all stems from the innocuous system requirement listed on the box, "Broadband Internet connection". Here's about how it went down:

• I popped in the disc, hoping to get a co-op match in that night.
• I gawked when it said I needed to be connected to the internet to install the game, and that the ports it needed were being blocked.
• I turned off my firewall.
• I tried installing again and received the same message.
• I read their faqs, something I've never had to do to accomplish an installation.
• I logged in to my router and turned on forwarding for the ports listed variously across Blizzard help pages.
• Still no install.
• I bounced between the help pages and the Windows network settings, wondering if the game would be worth it.
• I submitted the issue to Blizzard support.
• I came upon a post at Tom's Hardware suggesting the removal of a registry key that specifies a proxy that I do not use.
• Success, it installed overnight.
• I started the game only to find I needed to create a Battlenet account that requires a name, phone number, mailing address, etc.
• Several menus and an email link later, I could finally play the game.

I did get an email from tech support. I had tried to save them time by listing the faqs I went through, nonetheless the email regurgitated the same information and advised contacting my hardware/os support for any further issues. No request to close the ticket, no reply email. Just a copy/paste job and a slammed door.

And I am unhappy with the fact that I need to log in to something every time I play this game offline.


The game feels a lot like a 90s rts. It has shinier graphics, some rpg elements, and can handle a larger scope, but the gameplay is the same as the original. It entertains and challenges and generates nostalgia. I haven't quite bought in to the story, but the cinemas are frequent and substantive. The jokes and easter eggs are a nice touch.


This is all because I can't move my quads. Because I paintballed on Saturday.


I photoed one round and parts of two others. The d700 escaped unscathed. I wrapped most of it in a red tshirt that took just one hit. I did not fare so well. People are very twitchy in paintball.

It's a tough thing to shoot well, most of the action happens at a great distance and the better composition puts you right where the paint flies.

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