Responding to Pop Culture

            Video games, there have been many best selling, award-winning industry changers. But what makes a great game? Some plus are next generation graphics, a compelling storyline, advance game mechanics, or having a never before seen game engine. Not all of these are required to have a Game of the Year Award; an award giving by different video game magazines or websites. For example, Fallout 3, which came out in 2008, won Game of the Year, even though the Gamebryo engine that was used is horrible and the graphics were barely up to par. A different example could be 1998’s Zelda: Ocarina of Time; which at the time had revolutionary game mechanics, next generation graphics, and an extremely immersive story. Blizzard Entertainment is notorious for making best selling Game of the Year award winning computer games. Every game that Blizzard Entertainment has released has received a Game of the Year Award, some earning more than one.

            One game in particular, that I enjoy, is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. StarCraft, one of the best-selling games of all time, was released in March of 1998. Twelve years, Blizzard Entertainment did it again with the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. StarCraft is a science fiction real time strategy computer game. StarCraft is widely known as one of the greatest real time strategy games, along with Dune. Based off the criteria set above, Wings of Liberty has a compelling story, crisp graphics, a Blizzard made engine and a widely accredited, free online multiplayer network. Though the graphics are a few years old, they were revised many times to make StarCraft look as clean as possible. The online service also has some latency issues; otherwise having a free online network to use is a huge plus.

            I think StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is popular because of its worldwide fame. Countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia all have dedicated servers for players in the respected countries. Also, StarCraft II is one of the most bought computer games ever. In South Korea and the United States StarCraft and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty are considered an electronic sport, or ESport. There are thousands of people who go to these ESport tournament events to watch gamers, from around the world, compete against each other for cash prizes. These ESports events and the number of StarCraft teams have well known sponsors, such as; Intel, SteelSeries and Monster Energy.

            Now, StarCraft is not for everyone. Blizzard Entertainment targeted gamers who played StarCraft and younger players that enjoy other Blizzard games. I have met people from the ages of 5 to 45 years old who play Wings of Liberty. I feel that StarCraft and Blizzard Entertainment are important to my generation of gamers because those who played the first StarCraft have a nostalgic feeling towards the game. While the younger player get exposed to a game and company that has been so influential to the video gaming industry, for many years.