Jason Brown Editorial Intern	Now Playing: Battlefield 1942, Icewind Dale II, Mafia All-Time Favorites: Starcraft, Planescape: Torment, EverQuest, Unreal Tournament, Dune II What I Want to See From Blizzard, and Where: 1. Starcraft 2, on the PC 2. Something new, on any console 3. RPG expansion for Warcraft III, on the PC

Why Tokyo Instead of ECTS? Is Blizzard Going Console?

It's fall. Blizzard Entertainment is on the verge of announcing its next big project. Millions wait in anticipation. Everything is normal. Right? Not quite.

This year, Blizzard chose the Tokyo Game Show as the venue for its annual big announcement, instead of the earlier European Computer Trade Show (ECTS), as has been the company's tradition for the last several years. This begs these questions: Why the change? What does it mean? Is it just a scheduling thing, or could the change of venue hint at large changes for Blizzard?

They probably won't announce Warcraft IV...

Or, take the dead-simple explanation: Blizzard just didn't have anything ready to show in time for ECTS. The developers knew they'd need more time to work, and so instead chose Tokyo. But there are only three weeks between ECTS and the Tokyo Game Show. Since we know Blizzard has been working on this project--whatever it is--for at least a year, it seems illogical to think that three weeks would make much of a difference in the Blizzard timeline. On top of that, since we can bet the announcement won't be much more than a tease, Blizzard doesn't actually need much to show.

They probably won't announce Starcraft 65...

Another, perhaps more plausible explanation is that making the announcement in Tokyo could be a strategic choice. If this is the case, what would strategic advantage would Blizzard seize by choosing Tokyo over London? The obvious answer is that Tokyo, the console Mecca of the world, is the place to highlight console games. So if Blizzard chose Tokyo for this reason, Blizzard could have been looking for the ideal place to announce a console title. This would obviously be a huge blow to PC gaming and a major shift for Blizzard, which left consoles long ago for PC development, where the company found unparalleled success with Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft and has become arguably the strongest of all computer game developers.

If Blizzard is indeed developing a console game, announcing in Tokyo could mean either that the move is targeted to help or hinder the Japan-based console makers, Nintendo and Sony. It could be that Microsoft has commissioned the help of Blizzard and is setting the announcement in Tokyo to take some steam out of the competing consoles at the show. The Tokyo choice could also mean that Blizzard has gone to Sony and is developing for the PlayStation 2, and it has opted to make its announcement where the interest in the PlayStation 2 is strongest. Of course, Nintendo is a possibility as well, but the GameCube's image just doesn't seem to mesh with Blizzard's style. It's worth noting, though, that the Nintendo 64 got its own version of Starcraft, so a relationship between Blizzard and Nintendo isn't unprecedented.

Unfortunately, they probably won't announce Blackthorne II, either.

As it stands, different gaming press outlets are probably trying to decide--on short notice--whom to send to the Tokyo show. Usually, a Blizzard announcement is big news only among PC game players. So, all of a sudden, Blizzard's announcement is dragging PC journalists across the world to attend a show that console journalists had already planned to cover. Those PC journalists wouldn't attend the Tokyo Game Show otherwise, simply because the focus is clearly on consoles. If the announcement is geared toward both PC and consoles, Blizzard would have everyone in one place.

If the aim is to get the PC and console press together, then most likely, the truth is an amalgam of the above hypotheses. Maybe Blizzard is developing a multiplatform game for consoles and the PC. That would explain the change--to get all the journalists in one place, but to use the console-focused Tokyo Game Show to accentuate the console aspect of the announcement and play to the favor of whomever Blizzard has signed with. As long as the game is for multiple platforms, the choice makes a lot of sense.

Of course, the popular hope is that the announcement will be Starcraft 2. Though we'd love to think that's true, if the hypothesis is correct about Blizzard going to consoles, it would not make sense for the new product to be a strategy game. Strategy games just don't translate well, and RTS games are definitely a PC trademark. Instead, it could be either Diablo III, which could easily play well on both PCs and consoles, or an extension of a current license, like what Blizzard previously tried with Warcraft Adventures. Creating a console or multiplatform offshoot of a current Blizzard world would broaden its popular franchises to new gamers, like what Sony is already doing with EverQuest Online Adventures, the EverQuest offshoot for the PS2. If the offshoot were a first-person shooter in, say, the Starcraft universe, Blizzard would be setting itself up perfectly for a multiplatform strategy, as action games translate well to every platform these days.

What is truly going on at Blizzard? We'll all find out on Friday, September 20, when, for better or worse, the news will come direct from Japan.