StarCraft 2 designer discusses Wii U, PlayStation Move challenges

StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder talks about the company's experiments with console ports, as it relates to its philosophy of ease and simplicity.

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Blizzard is traditionally a PC stronghold, but it never hurts to check into diversifying. The company has dropped various hints that it was toying with the idea of putting Diablo 3 on consoles, and it seems that Blizzard has been thinking about how StarCraft could work as well.

StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder says the team isn't actively working on a console port, but once in a while they take notice of new technologies. Sony, for example, came to show them how it could work with the PlayStation Move. "And when I tried it, I wanted to kill myself," Browder told Kotaku. "I found it very difficult to make it work. And for us, control is king, and it's so critical. Everything's gotta move when you tell it to move. It's gotta be really tight. You can't feel like you're battling the interface."

Browder also remarked on an interface like the Wii U, but even then said it would be missing a key element. "If I can control a cursor on the television with my hand on the touchscreen, that might be able to work," he said. "[But] because of the hotkey scenario, it's not like players actually play StarCraft with the mouse only—they play with the mouse and keyboard." He says the keyboard is necessary for "serious" play.

If StarCraft ever does make it to consoles, he says it will need to convince Blizzard of a "high quality level of control" to make it happen. "So [a console StarCraft] would have to be just an awesome experience." So more likely, a console version would be custom-fitted for the system. "Whatever it takes to make it feel really tight, really clean."

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  • reply
    June 19, 2012 9:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, StarCraft 2 designer discusses Wii U, PlayStation Move challenges.

    StarCraft 2 lead designer Dustin Browder talks about the company's experiments with console ports, as it relates to its philosophy of ease and simplicity.

    • reply
      June 19, 2012 9:38 AM

      Sony, for example, came to show them how it could work with the PlayStation Move. "And when I tried it, I wanted to kill myself," Browder told Kotaku.

      HAH, I love the brutal honesty.

      • reply
        June 19, 2012 9:40 AM

        yeah lol. its suprising to see something so honest from a giant dev like that. i like it.

        • reply
          June 19, 2012 9:51 AM

          I expected the same old, "Ohh, you know, it is what it is, but it's not a good match for our current spectrum of blah blah blah blah.." Nope. Get's right to the point. Man to be in the room when that went down, with Sony there and everything trying to show them and impress them perhaps with the Move setup.

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