Blizzard Entertainment has emailed all BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket viewers to fill out their BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream Feedback Survey.
The survey suggests Blizzard is considering to expand the pay-per-view BlizzCon Live Stream to PSN, Xbox Live, and iPad. Sounds like Blizzard is really into coming back to consoles.
The survey also hints at game streaming technology like Gaikai’s, allowing BlizzCon Live Stream viewers to play the same game demos played at the show floor — such as World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Diablo III — straight from your web browser.
Blizzard Entertainment is interested in your feedback on your experience with the BlizzCon 2011 Live Stream Virtual Ticket service. This survey should take 15 to 20 minutes to complete; all responses are completely confidential.
You must be 13 years of age or older to fill out the questionnaire.
We value your opinions and look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you!
Blizzard Entertainment Research
Two of the survey questions are definitely interesting. Blizzard wishes to know if you would like the BlizzCon Live Stream to be viewed in the future in the following platforms:
- iTunes
- iPad
- PlayStation Network (PSN)
- Smartphones (iPhone, Android)
- Xbox Live
- Android-based tabled or smartphone
During the recent Activision Blizzard Third-Quarter 2011 Financial Results Conference Call, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed more than a million online viewers from 144 countries around the world watched the DirecTV BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket Live Stream.
The second interesting survey question is: “Which of the following items would you be most interested in having for future BlizzCon online pay-per-view events? (You may select up to 3 items.)”
The two most notorious options in that question was the opportunity to purchase a Blu-Ray disc of full BlizzCon coverage and to play remotely the games demoed at the show floor.
Who wouldn’t want a Blu-Ray disc to watch BlizzCon panels, Q&As, contests, concert, and tournaments any time in high-definition? Count me in, brother.
Playing the games remotely? That would be totally awesome. How can this be possible? For a couple of years, I have been following the news on Gaikai. Just a few months ago, Gaikai launched their Cloud platform allowing players to test game demos straight from their internet browser.
Among the top games on Gaikai are Crysis 2, The Witcher 2, Mass Effect and Dragon Age II. Go ahead, you can play those games on Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Are Blizzard Entertainment and Gaikai partnering to allow BlizzCon Virtual Ticket viewers a chance to play future Blizzard game demos straight from your internet browser at the same time BlizzCon attendees are playing at the Anaheim Convention Center?
There is no official announcements from either Blizzard Entertainment or Gaikai, but there are certainly breadcrumbs out there online to suggest it might happen.
A year and a half ago, when I heard about Gaikai, one of their teasers to promote their game streaming technology was World of Warcraft on iPad. (May 2010)
About a year later, Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) said: “”Everyone I know here has an iPhone or an iPad so we’re huge fans of the hardware,” he said. “If we could make the right game changes to make that work, it’s something we’d be interested in. It’s not something you’re going to see in the next week or two, but it’s the kind of thing we’re always looking at.”
Something is brewing.
With Gaikai’s game streaming technology you don’t have to worry about elite graphic cards to handle high resolution and Ultra settings. No time-consuming game installations, driver installations. No download. The Gaikai cloud servers do that for you, and stream it into your web browser.
“GAIKAI offers a fully managed cloud platform across a global network that is optimized to deliver high-end video games and applications within seconds to all leading web browsers, operating systems, and devices, even premium destinations and social networks like YouTube and Facebook.”
“To deliver the lowest latency, highest quality experiences possible, Gaikai has designed custom servers and distributed them in data centers across the globe. Working closely with our partners like Limelight Networks and Level 3 Communications our peering and transit relationships are second to none.”
Here’s a 2009 video where Gaikai demonstrates how games like World of Warcraft can be played in the internet browser. The World of Warcraft and Warcraft III icons are in the game list UI.
Unfortunately, you’re getting excited over nothing my friend. They asked that question about demo streaming in last year’s survey (or was it two years ago? oO²), and we didn’t get anything of the sort last month.
The Blu-ray thing seems costly and impractical: everyone doesn’t have a Blu-ray player, and I wouldn’t want to pay for it if I can’t read it.
As for the part about consoles, they’ve been putting their toes in that particular water for a while now, so I guess anything is possible; I wouldn’t hold my breath though, you know how slowly things move at Blizzard. ^^
The fact Blizzard is researching means they wish to know in advance the statistics of how many players wish those options to better focus their manpower and resources in on-demand features.
If a large number of players choose the Blu-Ray and Game Streaming Tech for future BlizzCon Virtual Tickets that’s what they most likely will focus on. Otherwise, there’s no point in even making a research if the intent is to not do that ever.
Concerning the Blu-Ray:
Not everyone has a Kindle. True. But all Blizzard novels are available on Kindle for those who have one.
Not everyone has an iPad or iPhone. True. But the World of Warcraft Armory is available on iPad and iPhone for those who have one.
Not everyone has a Blu-Ray drive. True. But the option in this research is available to those who have one.
The research will give Blizzard statistics on how many wish the BlizzCon coverage in a Blu-Ray disc.
Not everyone has a DVD player either, but the Collector’s Edition provides a few DVDs. I haven’t had a DVD player for about two years since my previous one stopped working. Specially now that I can just download the games straight from my Battle.net account.
I was only thinking of including the Blu-Ray in the usual offer, but you’re right, it could be something you opt into, kind of like how they sell DVDs outside concerts. ^^
The streaming game play question has been on their survey for the last 2 years now.
The fact Blizzard is researching means they wish to know in advance the statistics of how many players wish those options to better focus their manpower and resources in on-demand features.
If a large number of players choose the Blu-Ray and Game Streaming Tech for future BlizzCon Virtual Tickets that’s what they most likely will focus on. Otherwise, there’s no point in even making a research if the intent is to not do that ever.
Concerning the Blu-Ray:
Not everyone has a Kindle. True. But all Blizzard novels are available on Kindle for those who have one.
Not everyone has an iPad or iPhone. True. But the World of Warcraft Armory is available on iPad and iPhone for those who have one.
Not everyone has a Blu-Ray drive. True. But the option in this research is available to those who have one.
The research will give Blizzard statistics on how many wish the BlizzCon coverage in a Blu-Ray disc.
Not everyone has a DVD player either, but the Collector’s Edition provides a few DVDs. I haven’t had a DVD player for about two years since my previous one stopped working. Specially now that I can just download the games straight from my Battle.net account.