Where's Starcraft: Ghost?

Blizzard's long-awaited console title Starcraft: Ghost makes an appearance in force at BlizzCon, Anaheim.

It's been a long time. A really long time.

Finally, we have some idea of what to expect from Blizzard's first next-gen console title, Starcraft: Ghost.

Although there wasn't much said on the single-player (yet), the multiplayer was not only presented by Blizzard, but was available for play in 16-player team capture and hold on the expo floor.

After being handed over to Swinging Ape Studios in July last year by Nihilistic, no one had any idea what to expect from the game. Now, we can say it's looking pretty good, even if it walks in the footsteps of Halo (with a bit of help from Half-Life mod Natural Selection).

Swinging Ape, acquired by Blizzard just this year, has put a lot of work into the game. The biggest addition has been multiplayer, and players will be able to compete as the Terran or the Zerg in frenetic 16-player MP. Bots won't be included, but Blizzard feels the Xbox/PS2 title will be popular enough online that bots won't be needed.

There's no PC port planned and Blizzard is aiming for 2006 as the release date. We're not sure if it will hit next year, but it's reassuring to see a working build in action and stable enough to have playable in MP on the show floor.

Each side can choose from four characters, the zerg playing in a similar way to the aliens in Natural Selection -- by collecting points, players can turn into more powerful creatures, the best being the mutalisk which can fly and pick up humans and kill them in a single hit.

Here are some shots from the presentation (plus a few game shots):


Starcraft Ghost: A zergling doing his thing

Starcraft Ghost: Multiplayer at the expo

Starcraft Ghost: Two guys, a generator and a victory condition

Starcraft Ghost: Explosions by hydralisk

Starcraft Ghost: Jeep, meet zerg

Starcraft Ghost: Starcraft Ghost: Steve Ranck, Ghost Sr. Game Designer Dave Maldonado, and Chris Metzen

Starcraft Ghost: More guys doing Ghost

Starcraft Ghost: By Nova!

UPDATE 1:

Here are some more game shots. Currently screenshots aren't available, so these camera jobs will have to do:


Starcraft Ghost: Terran soldier with flamethrower

Starcraft Ghost: Terran soldier with flamethrower again

Starcraft Ghost: A ghost unit stealthed in a hallway

Starcraft Ghost: Flamethrower soldier running through ruins

Starcraft Ghost: Zergling!

Starcraft Ghost: Zergling looking for food

Starcraft Ghost: Corrupted soldier and hydralisk

Starcraft Ghost: The mighty scoreboard

Starcraft Ghost: Zergling finds ruins

Starcraft Ghost: Corrupted soldier finds explosion

End of updates.