Butts makes an interesting point about people buying stock in a game just cause they like it. However, he fails to realize that games with hordes of fanboys, sell boatloads of copies. He links to Super Mario Galaxy- does anyone doubt that Galaxy will be a commercial hit?
Similarly, yes, SCII has many fanboys. Thats why it will be huge.
Hmmsphil: Going along with what Butts said, the idea is prediction. While there are a lot of people who "game" the site and are just trying to daytrade without actually caring that 1DKP=10K units sold, the real point is to buy and sell to make predictions as best you can. When your prediction is right, you earn more DKP so you can make more good predictions.
If you think this will not sell well, short it and then buy it back later as your form of predicting that the current price is too high.
Here are three things you should consider before buying any stock on this site, so you can start using your own deductive skills rather than relying on the words of others (who may be trying to manipulate you into a buy/sell position based off their own):
1. This site, as much as it holds dear to the idea of the market, only gains extremely accurate measures over time. As the game comes out and sells/does not sell, the price is adjusted accordingly. While the market might be more accurate than a paid analyst, it can only be more accurate once before the numbers come out on the game. The analyst isn't allowed to change his mind on his original prediction.
That being said, there are often hopes and dreams (irrational ideas) that many of INSERT FAVORITE UPCOMING GAME HERE will sell more than other games, and so people will buy into the game ( http://www.thesimexchange.com/stock.php?id=83 ).
Some observations can and do hold more water that others (attach rates on games, when a stock is far under/overvalued based off sales of the previous game) but it does not indicate whether or not the game will be better or sell more. Look at Halo 1 to Halo 2 or GTA2 to GTA3 for different examples of this in action.
2. Over time until the games release, if the game is a big name with a large fanbase, you can rely on these people to push up the price of the stock price so that some profit can be made in the short term.
Just as many stock prices are not direct correlations of their price/earnings ratio (look at Google or Coca-cola, their stock prices are not bound to the actual revenue they make, but a multiplier based off other factors such as brand strength and market percentage), many share prices on here are large oversellings of what the game will realistically sell.
I want to buy this stock but i'm hesitant. The original only sold 9mil. I thought the buzz for this game would be out of hand but i'm not so sure if I should invest in this. Any expert advice?
Wow, guys. I can't believe you're actually talking mechanics right now. And Baron, for someone who is in 21st place, comments like that are pretty shocking. I'd guarantee if they showed the Zerg first, someone like you would be saying the exact same thing about them.
Guys, need I remind you, this is Blizzard... They have an almost infinite budget to get these things right. Was Starcraft imbalanced? No. Was Warcraft 3 imbalanced? No.
Seriously, stop talking mechanics and balance after seeing the first small teaser Blizzard decides to release. You're just embarrassing yourself.
I'm not sure how you can dismiss Starcraft 2 for a lack of depth and imbalanced gameplay based on incomplete information on demos of a game which nobody outside of Blizzard has played. We haven't seen all the new units yet nor have we seen all the new abilities that old units may have acquired.
It may seem like the Protoss are way overpowered right now because we have only seen a lot of their new stuff, but do you really think that Blizzard gave them all the new toys?
I agree tt will take time to balance all the such unique new units, but likely balance will be a never ending mission as players discover new strategies with the game receiving patches long after Starcraft 2 is initially released.
I believe Blizzard definitely has balance in mind when they designed SC2 and many your concerns have already been addressed. I will try to match you point for point.
1. They now have units called "immortals" with super powerful shields. These units are now able to withstand 5-6 siege tank shells.
--These shields are only activated by a very powerful attack, like Siege Tank fire. They are still very vunerable to infantry.
2. Buildings no longer need pylons to run.
--Untrue, the Protoss buildings still need the power field from pylons to operate. However the Protoss have a new unit called Phase Prisms which seem to be flyers and can generate a portable power field.
3. Units can teleport to various parts of the field and can even teleport while strafing and chasing.
--So far only one unit has shown this "Blink" ability, the Stalker. It is also likely that this ability will only be able to be used a limited number of times before the unit has to rest and recharge, much like how the Templar cannot constantly use their Psi-storm ability.
4. Protoss units now have a mothership which can not only withstand and assault by 5 or more terran battlecruisiers, but can even create blackholes.
--Yes it's a powerful new unit, but Blizzard has already stated that the Protoss will be limited to a single Mothership at a time and that it will take signifigant resources to bring one into play. Furthurmore like other units their special abilities will not be unlimited.
5. You no longer need a shuttle to capture the highground.
--You never "needed" a shuttle to capture high ground before, but it helped. Are you saying you don't need a shuttle now because there are now some land units which can move freely from platform to platform ignoring the walls? Not every land unit can do this, additionally there were units that ignored walls in the original Starcraft, for example all the aerial units.
Ultimately this is a work in progress and we won't know if Blizzard will succeed in balancing the races and all the new units till we actually play Starcraft 2. But I believe Blizzard is one of the few companies that actually emphasizes balance and depth in their games. Their track record speaks for itself. People wouldn't be playing the original Starcraft competitively a full decade after it's release if Blizzard didn't know how to balance games correctly.
Baron- I posted an article called WC3 vs. SC2. One of the points it highlighted was that SC2 was all about rushing. Instead of concentrating on special abilities and supercharacters like WC3 it was going to concentrate the efforts on rushing the opponents.
it is a quick read and worth getting into the heads of the designers.
Did you bother to watch the game footage? Immortals can be quickly wiped out by Terran infantry (don't activate shields).
Nevermind how being shown a couple new units for one race doesn't mean you know what they'll all possess. If all you knew about the first game was that Terrans have cloaking and siege tanks, you'd say the same things about them.
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Similarly, yes, SCII has many fanboys. Thats why it will be huge.