Are you the type that likes to pretend you know what’s going on when you see some “hardcore” gamers talking shop around the water cooler? If so, Casualty Gamer has your back. Take a look at this week’s history lesson and be prepared to wow (pun intended) all those geeks at the water cooler tomorrow.
It was 17 years ago when three UCLA grads named Allen Adhem, Michael Morehaime and Frank Pearce decided to form their own software company called Silicon & Synapse. If you’re reading this in the downtime between marathon WOW sessions, you’re probably well aware that Silicon & Synapse would eventually change their name to Blizzard Entertainment and become one of the most influential dev. houses in the world.
Blizzard’s rise to the top started off modestly enough. Under the Silicon & Synapse banner they mostly worked on porting software for specialty computer systems like the Amiga and Apple. There was a chess game, a variation of solitaire and even a children’s typing trainer. They managed to churn out quite a bit of software in that first year and it wasn’t long before they had the experience and funds necessary to start work on their very own project.
Their action puzzler “The Lost Vikings” was released in 1992 and although sales at the time were mediocre at best, the game has since earned cult status and maintains a dedicated fanbase to this day. As the title suggests, the game revolves around some lost Vikings. Three of them to be exact, named Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout. Each of the vikings had a special ability which players would utilize to guide all three vikings to the end of each map. The game had some unique mechanics, although it did draw a few parallels to classics like The Humans and Lemmings.
Since The Lost Vikings’ release, Blizzard has had an almost unblemished record of success. They followed up Vikings with the popular 16 bit arcade racer Rock & Roll Racing which, along with Mario Kart, helped launch the combat racing genre. Blackthorne, the first game they released after officially changing their name to Blizzard, was a violent 2d action shooter similar to Flashback or Out of This World. It never gained as much popularity as some other Blizzard games, but those who played it remember it well and anxiously await the day they finally announce a sequel.
There were a couple of duds in the early days as well. In 1994, directly after Blackthorne, Blizzard released “The Death and Return of Superman” a side scrolling beat ‘em up for the Genesis and SNES. The game was just another footnote in a long line of abysmal Superman games. Even a charmed developer like Blizzard couldn’t break that curse.
They followed Superman up with another DC licensed fighter called Justice League Task Force. It’s debatable which game is the worse of the two, but it’s a debate we won’t get into as that would mean having to play the games again and that’s a punishment no man should have to endure. Task Force was Blizzard’s last in-house foray into the console world as they chose to focus solely on PC games from that point on.
Fortunately for Blizzard, by the time Task Force reached the bargain bin, they were already riding high on the wave of success generated by their first RTS Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.
Now it’s probably fair to say Warcraft was responsible for popularizing the RTS genre. It certainly wasn’t the first PC RTS. It’s gameplay does borrow elements from Westwood’s Dune 2, but had Warcraft not arrived when it did we’d be looking at a very different marketplace right now.
The game wasn’t without it’s issues. The graphics were lackluster, the a.i. was incredibly stupid and it seemed to be a little bit unbalanced at times. Still, once Warcraft managed to get it’s hooks into gamers it refused to let go. For better or for worse, the RTS craze had been born.
By the time the much improved Warcraft 2 arrived, Command and Conquer was riding high as the most popular RTS. Warcraft 2 managed to temporarily reclaim the crown for Blizzard, but it wasn’t long before Command and Conquer: Red Alert struck back. To this day rabid RTS fans debate over which was the superior title. Luckily the market proved large enough for at least two contenders and both games enjoyed fantastic sales.
Seemingly satisfied with their co-domination of the RTS market, Blizzard decided to shift it’s focus briefly to another genre. They purchased dev. studio Condor and set them to work finishing up a little isometric action RPG called Diablo. They released it in 1996 and the PC gaming market more or less exploded. If you’re not familiar with this game we’d prefer it if you stopped reading this article now. You’re welcome to return to the site once you’ve completed the game a few times. Run along now…and watch out for the butcher.
When Blizzard decided to return to the RTS genre, they really had their work cut out for them. The Command & Conquer series was as popular as ever and a new challenger named Total Annihilation (Yes!) had risen. Blizzard’s answer? The sublime Starcraft. Even though it’s been a full 10 years since this game’s release, it’s still more or less undisputed as the greatest RTS of all time. Starcraft is something of a religion in Korea where pro players are looked upon with much the same respect as professional athletes. Again, if you haven’t played this game you should probably get started now. Go ahead. We’ll wait for you. (not really)
Not content to rest on their laurels Blizzard set the former Condor studios, now renamed Blizzard North, to work on Diablo 2. The game expanded on the first by adding different playable character classes, upgraded graphics, free online play and almost limitless customization options. Not surprisingly it remains fairly popular today. Check it out. It’s still easy to find new on store shelves.
A full two years later Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos was released. The game is something of an evolution rather than a revolution, but it managed to satisfy hungry RTS fans and should fill the gap nicely until Starcraft 2 is released.
If Warcraft 3 felt slightly uninspired it was more than made up for by Blizzard’s next hit, the MMO juggernaut World of Warcraft. WOW is something of a anomaly in the games industry. It has been one of the best selling PC games every month since it’s release almost 5 years ago. It currently has over 10 million subscribers worldwide and with regular expansions coming it shows no signs of slowing down.
Some fanatical WOW players lend serious credibility to the concept of video games as an addiction. China has recently instituted a system that automatically kicks players under the age of 18 who play for more than 3 hours at a time. Even more alarming was a recent story about a Korean couple were charged with murder when they allegedly neglected to feed their 4 month old child, opting instead to play WOW at a nearby internet cafe.
Obviously it’s better to be addicted to WOW than say…crack or something, but it’s something to watch out for. Consider yourself warned.
Fortunately WOW is also contributing to the betterment of mankind. Experts are studying the reaction to the now famous Corrupted Blood incident that took place in WOW to gauge how real people might react to a fast spreading plague released in a highly populous area. Heavy stuff.
Currently Blizzard is working on the second expansion for WOW. They also recently announced the long awaited sequel to Starcraft and the very controversial Diablo 3. Some fans aren’t happy with the art direction of the latter, but all 3 are almost guaranteed to sell millions.
There’s a WOW movie in the works as well. We can’t say we’re exactly excited about that last piece of news, but we won’t completely dismiss it before we get some more info. Just don’t get your hopes up for the film yet kids. Remember the Mario Bros. movie.
It’s more or less impossible for a gamer not to feel Blizzard’s effect on the games industry these days. Even those few gamers who have no interest in their mighty stable of IPs have been affected. Former Blizzard employees have gone on to found several well known dev. studios including the now floundering Flagship Studios and famed PSP devs Ready at Dawn.
Blizzard merged with Activision this year to form Activision Blizzard the new largest company in gaming. Although their release schedule seems to have slowed down lately, the future looks bright for Blizzard. The internet seems to grind to a halt whenever they decide to toss fans a crumb and announce some news about their upcoming projects and it’s been years since we’ve seen anything less than stellar from the company. What more can we say? Onwards and upwards stalwart gamers.
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Casual Comments (8)
Leave a comment
Billbo:
August 5, 2008 at 8:01 am
Cool article!! now to go tell all my friends, hehe.
Can’t wait for D3 & SC2
Josh:
August 22, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Nice article. Gotta give props to Blizzard; that is one great team. Interesting to see that they had been so great from the start– The Lost Vikings was always a favorite of mine as a kid, and I still have my copy to this day. I still remember making my way through to the very last level and never being able to finish it… heh. I was surprised, years later after becoming hooked on Starcraft/Diablo II/Warcraft III, to find out that it was Blizzard who wrote The Lost Vikings. Blizzard deserves much respect for these great games.
Level: 4
September 8, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Interesting
Level: 5
October 1, 2008 at 11:56 am
Starcraft is the one I like to play haven’t been able to play any of the popular stuff like Warcraft though.
Level: 5
October 12, 2008 at 5:42 am
I remember these games.
They were actually some of the most time-consuming and addictive games ever.
Level: 5
October 16, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Starcraft is still fun. No matter what changes in gaming, that game will never be not fun. Instant classic, that one.
Subtetly rogue:
November 6, 2008 at 2:39 am
Nice history about blizzard lets continue with this
Level: 1
November 10, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Starcraft Warcraft and maybe Diablo RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!