Blizzard Store and Downloader Service!
Surprised that there isn't a post here yet, though maybe I just suck at finding posts 
.
But anyway I just saw this news on starcraft.org.
Most importantly, Blizzard now allows you to register a "Blizzard Account" that will sync up with purchases from the store, but more excitedly once you register an account you get two major bonuses.1) Your Blizzard Account is now the main place for you to enter Blizzard's Beta-Test Eligibility Lists. So make sure you setup an account and tick the box inside your Email settings to enter yourself into the Blizzard Beta Lottery.
2) A major new function now available is the ability to download copies of Blizzard games that you have previously purchased. You need to log into your account page and then go to the Games tab. Inside you'll be able to input the CD-Keys from StarCraft, StarCraft Battlechest, StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Warcraft Battlechest, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Diablo II Battlechest (Diablo II downloads will be made available soon) or World of WarCraft, though WoW client downloads are still handled through the WoW website.
Clearly between the recent updates to WC3 and SC removing the requirement for your CD to be inside the computer to run the game, and now digital downloads for games you've purchased, Blizzard is moving themselves to the head of the pack when it comes to digital distribution and ease for their games. Hopefully this is a trend that we'll see carried onward with the release of SC2.
The Store now also features most of the Blizzard Licensed Products, including: Board Games, Figurines, Novels, Strategy Guides, and Misc. other products. A new StarCraft Anthology was released, basically a digital download of SC & SC:BW, without the added expense for the BattleChest that includes Strategy Guides.
Time to dig up all my Blizzard games and register, If I can find all the CD-keys that is...
Who Am I?
Eh, I wish they'd make them available on Steam...
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
I've just realized that the only Blizzard game I've ever owned was Diablo 2. All the rest I've borrowed from friends.
I, for one, welcome the compition for Steam. It will only make it better.
Duoae wrote:
Stengah's Steam ID
ICO: Stengah
Had a hell of a time getting the site to work with Firefox. I had to register and add games through IE. Still, it seems pretty neat. Diablo II and expansion aren't ready for download yet, but WCIII and expansion are. I don't have Starcraft, so I can't answer about that one.
Xbox Live | Steam | Last.fm
Ya, too many downloader's and STEAM has shown to be the best.
Zune | STEAM | Live | Xfire
agreed, I would buy every single blizzard game in a second if they put them on steam
I wish they would but this is really great though, I never seem to have my diablo 2 and diablo 2 expansion discs so I was able to add the cdkeys and now have them for download eventually.
did starcraft and brood war come with cd keys? I have my discs but no cdkeys
I really wish they would be on Steam.
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Make no mistake, I'd hit them all so hard that my pelvis would have to be classified as a deadly weapon, I just don't think they're all
Honestly guys, you do not want there to only be one downloader service out there. Remember all the good stuff that got added to Steam when Games for Windows Live launched? If there wasn't the competition Steam Community wouldn't exist. Or half the features of Steam, really. Without competition publishers/digital distributors would have no incentive to try and give discounts, or sales, or anything like that.
I welcome the competition, though having a special downloader for Blizzard games only is a little much. I'd rather they went with Impulse or started making their own digital distribution service and included more game developers.
"We've learned irishmen have huge nipples, and that intellectual film critics are all huge gaywads. But most of all, we've learned that creeping corporate influence over the news media ... protects us from terrorism" - Norm Archer, Onion Movie
Anyone else getting a security certificate error on their store site?
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I don't only want Steam, but I hoped we were moving away from every developer/publisher having their own seperate client, not towards it. Steam is still my favourite, so why can't they offer it on Steam as well? Just like this Impulse thing already being the only one you can use to play Demigod, and the Penny Arcade game being exclusive to their Greenhouse service.
The whole point of having these clients running on your desktop is for an integrated community, and that completely falls apart if in the future you need to switch between a dozen of these things depending on what game you play. It'll be like every time I want to play Mercenaries 2, I have to log out of Xbox Live and into EA Live, and then Namco Online to play Pac-Man CE. It turns digital downloading for the PC messy, which isn't the perception PC gaming needs right now.
Your favourite game is over-rated.
Is anyone actually surprised Blizzard did their own thing? They've got more money than a lot of countries
Why wouldn't they make their own service? They seem to like to be in control of just about every facet of their products anyway. It's a natural progression. I don't plan on using it (well, I might get the Starcraft anthology for $15), but it's nice to go and register my keys there. Next time I rebuild my PC, I won't have to search for disks, just take a trip to the Blizzard store to download my game again. Out on the raod with my laptop and feel like playing a game? Grab one of my Blizzard games from them. Yes, it would be neat if Steam had every game under the sun so you only had one client, but that's probably not going to happen in the near future.
On a related note, has anyone registered a key and then downloaded to another PC? I'm interested in if the new copy needs a net connection to run. I tend to like the single player campaigns better than the multiplayer in the available games, so an internet connection, while usually available, isn't always a priority.
Xbox Live | Steam | Last.fm
The thing is, this doesn't look like a service where you have to be online to be able to play your downloaded game. I know Steam is great, but when it comes to game downloading services I think more is better, competition is good.
I prefer downloader service where there isn't a background process that has to be run and requires online access all the time. I know Steam has some offline playing options, but I don't remember it being easy to make use of.
Who Am I?
Didn't Steam start out with just Valve games?
Don't you understand, Cliff? We put a chainsaw on a machine gun! That's it! It doesn't get more awesome than that! We've peaked, man! We've peaked! - ctrl-alt-del on Gears of War 2
SWEET! I have my keys but theres a few of them that i've lost the disk to and was considering repurchasing.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
You don't have to be online to play Steam games. It has an offline mode.
"Just because something's popular, that sure doesn't make it right." -Penn Gilette
"You can't fix stupid." -Ron White
blog.digital-lifeline.ca
Really, we're going to have to face the reality that part of the PC platform being open is that we're not going to have a console like "XBox Live" that everything supports because the only way to have that is to require everyone to support it before they can publish their game, like Microsoft does on the X360. It's an open platform, it's not a console.
"We've learned irishmen have huge nipples, and that intellectual film critics are all huge gaywads. But most of all, we've learned that creeping corporate influence over the news media ... protects us from terrorism" - Norm Archer, Onion Movie
I agree with that, but there's a difference between having a few options and every single developer having their own service with five games on it, nor is there anything stopping Blizzard from using Steam AND their own service. That's what I'm getting at. I'm glad there's competition, but I could see it getting annoying if it's open to the point of hindering my convienience. I'm glad iTunes aren't the only service of it's kind in town as well, but I wouldn't want to be forced to have an account at a seperate store for every single music label.
Your favourite game is over-rated.
Downloaded Starcraft using the key included in the "Battle Chest" release. On installation, however, the key is not accepted. Doh!
Thanks for pointing that out, but I already mentioned that in my previous post
By the way, is Steam working okay with Vista 64-bit yet?
Who Am I?
nevermind...figured it out...there was a new key generated after "adding" the game. That one works.
OMG Thank you for posting this. Also, I think I have a few extra keys for D2 and D2LoD. WTB WC3 and WC3TFT keys. (I have both the real cds but no keys to these games, I can't find the original cases.)
Your friendly neighbourhood hair splitting singularity.
Yeah, it works fine.
Except for a large chunk of the revenue
Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto
True, although I doubt they are really hurting for money. Plus, it would probably make up for it by people who would buy it off Steam who would have never bothered going to the Blizzard store.
Your favourite game is over-rated.
This is truely awesome for me personally. I lost my original install media for StarCraft and Warcraft 3 last year when I literally threw away half the junk in my garage, but I still have all the CD keys for every piece of software I've ever purchased in a PGP-Encrypted spreadsheet on my PC. I've been hankering for some old-timey Blizzard RTS action, but not enough to hunt down copies of the media.
Perfecto!
-- My Biking Team --
Correct me if I am wrong, but this is just a service from blizzard for re-downloading their games from this webservice right? If so then I really can't take any issue with there being another digital distribution network...now a steamesque system where there is third party software involved at every step of the play process would be something I could get fired up about.
The Gaming Chronicles
PSN ID: Harbinger01
Steam ID: [GWJ] Harbinger01
Elysium wrote:
You're right. I got Steam and Impulse. There's two.
I'm good.
What I REALLY don't want is a separate downloader for every two-bit publisher.
Unless you believe Steam Community was developed in about a couple of months, I don't see much basis for this. There was not very much time between GFW Live launch and Steam Community's beta.
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Xbox Live: Legion SB | PSN: Legion_SB
"Damn, your comedic timing is awesome." -- Spaz, *Legion* Fan #1437
Well I tested it out with my Starcraft set. I rate poor at his point.
I like having everything in one nice place; however, I am still required to get out my disks once I want to install to put in my key.
Zune | STEAM | Live | Xfire
What, can you explain that last part a little more, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole thing?
Your friendly neighbourhood hair splitting singularity.
I registered an account, but I can't get the email validation. Anyone else having that problem?
I agree with Legion I don't want to have to download every single company's digital distribution shell to play all these different games....I think Steam is amazing and having your own store is fine for the people that just want Blizzard's games but cutting a deal with Steam and distributing there as well only increases profits and gets more eyes on your classic titles. But news keeps coming up about more and more of these things. Like Penny-Arcade's Greenhouse, now this one with Blizzard, and Stardoc's service as well. It's getting to be too much already.
I want Warcraft II, dammit.
Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crud.
So do I. I was sad to hear/see it wasn't on there.
*edited twice*
Woops. Did it wrong the first time. Starcraft works like a charm.
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