Battle.net is Blizzard's online match-making component for several of their game franchises. The network features both PvP and cooperative play for multiplayer. It will soon be upgraded to Battle.net 2.0.
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Description
Battle.net is supported for Diablo I, StarCraft, Diablo II, WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition and WarCraft III, including expansions. It is announced to also support StarCraft II and Diablo III when those games are released. The network will get a complete overhaul with the release of StarCraft II, and games media are anticipating a great range of features.
- Battle.net Main Page
- Battle.net Diablo III Section (Arreat Summit)
- Battle.net Forums
Current Status
Already, Battle.net is quite popular, but Diablo II players are on average 1.2 players per game, meaning the overwhelming majority of games are really net-based Single Player experiences. Blizzard is putting focus on making sure people will have a good time alone, and an even better time in groups.
Cheating
Jay Wilson said this about cheating:
- The way we handle cheating is almost the same across all our games. Battle.net is the same group for all of us except WoW - but they have representation there as well. Can I give specific examples? Not really, because it's kind of technical and I'm not very technical. But the same group that work on Diablo 2 worked on WoW; worked on StarCraft; worked on StarCraft 2 - Security is their obsession. I would hazard to say we have the most security conscious and experienced staff in the world at solving this problem and that's what they will focus on. It's one of the reasons why the online group is a common support group for all us - we all benefit from the experience of all the previous games.
Details
Diii.net have an article series about Battle.net and Battle.net 2.0 in their articles section that handles all known features of Battle.net 2.0:
- Battle.net 2.0 - The Next Generation Gaming Network
- Definite Battle.net 2.0 Features
- Rumoured Battle.net 2.0 Additions
These are also mirrored over at StarcraftWire.net.
You can also find more general information on the Diablo 3 Basics page.
Cost
It is not an current priority, to make the Battle.net 2.0 subscription free of cost.
- In terms of the financial model, our ideal, our goal has always been to make the game first. You know, what’s going to make the best game? And then we’ll figure out what we need to do to support that on a financial model side.Gamestar Interviews Leonard Boyarsky