TGS 2002: Blizzard befalls consoles

When Blizzard Entertainment told everybody that they would be announcing a new game at the Tokyo Game Show, everybody was a bit confused. After all, the firm's last console outing was StarCraft 64 on a Nintendo platform, and that was some time ago. Was a modern-day port really worthy of all this attention? Was it even a port? It turns out that StarCraft: Ghost, the subject of all this speculation, is being built on the legacy of that immensely popular real-time strategy game by Blizzard in conjunction with Nihilistic, whose previous work includes Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption. SC: Ghost is a third person action game which gives players the role of a Ghost trooper called Nova, a Psionic assassin ninja type - one of the most interesting units in the RTS, as it happens. The Ghost unit will be armed with a C-10 Canister Rifle, a Perdition flamethrower and a number of bladed weapons. Blizzard is also promising vehicles, no doubt influenced by the success of Halo's complement, and Ghost also emulates Halo in thrusting you into conflict as part of a much larger team and offensive. The idea being to give the sensation of controlling a single unit in an interstellar war, as though you were sitting under the mouse cursor of a StarCraft veteran. The target is next-generation consoles, rather than the traditional PC platform, although Blizzard is no stranger to the box under the TV, having produced games for consoles since the days of 16-bit. And some bloody good ones, too. Early screenshots of Ghost are extremely impressive, featuring all three StarCraft races and some spectacular kills, and the premise is decidedly intriguing. We'll be watching this one closely, and for those of you with a greater thirst for info, Blizzard has kindly erected a website full of info and other trinkets. Related Feature - StarCraft: Ghost screenshots