During a presentation at GDC08, given by Rob Pardo, Blizzard’s Senior Vice President of Game Design, the audience was treated to a picture of a new Zerg unit:

There’s little doubt to the identity of this unit, which obviously resembles the infamous Ultralisk of StarCraft 1. Blizzard had already mentioned plans to bring back the Ultralisk in StarCraft 2:

The Ultralisk figures heavily in our current plans, but as with everything else relating to units and balance, this is subject to change.

Is this a sign of things to come? Blizzard must have known that fans will take note of any new Zerg related information, even if so cleverly hidden inside a game-design presentation.

Other notable slides in the presentation include the following, which deal with the UI:

When discussing balance, Blizzard takes the opportunity to remind us about the inevitable beta, which will help them perfect the game:

Rob also took the time to answer a few questions regarding game design across all of Blizzard’s games:

Q: You were saying about not letting super-weapons into the game…

 

A: In a competitive player versus player game you want to avoid weapons, skills, tactics, that one player can get that the opposing player doesn’t feel they can realistically stop. As an example, in Descent 2, they introduced powerful weapons — a new player could pick up a power-weapon and one-shot you. You don’t want that.

Check out the rest of the presentation, which deals with Blizzard’s approach to MMOs, over at WOW Insider.

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26 Comments to “Ultralisk Launch Detected; Blizzard at GDC08”

1. Lipton — February 21, 2008 @ 9:20 am
   

   My new fav Zerg unit! He kinda reminds me of my pet hermit crab only a million times bigger lol!

2. Reader — February 21, 2008 @ 10:05 am
   

   Starcraft 2 the last faction, Zerg’ll unveil at South Korea on 10, March. Blizzard Entertainment announced on 20, Feb.
   Also, they’ll give chance to play these three races by the world’s first to attended people. It’s not a rumor. You can read it on Website easily. I hope they’ll give the chance to play the Beta until summer.

3. Dill — February 21, 2008 @ 11:57 am
   

   Where was this announcement made, out of curiosity?

   (If true, Iit does make my prediction of “1-2 months or so” made in januaary/February right, though it was a wide range prediction.

4. SteelVelocity — February 21, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
   

   Here comes the sun…. Here comes the Beta….

5. Johan — February 21, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
   

   I love the new unit.

   it look likes an mutation of a crab.
   an evil shit.

6. Ken — February 21, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
   

   Quoting Johan:

   “I love the new unit.

   it look likes an mutation of a crab.
   an evil shit.”

   hahaha. I laughed out loud on that one!

   Anyway, If that is indeed an ultralisk, its got effin’ huge tusks, like it could decapitate 5 marines in one swipe!!! intimidating!!! Plus its got an evil grin on its hideous face like its gonna rape a medic or something!

   Thank God for this hint of a Zerg update! I could have died waiting for Zerg updates since November 07. Alleluya for this!!!

7. THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — February 21, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
   

   Other depictions of the ultralisk have always seemed a bit weird when compared to the 2d in-game pixelation. Look at the ultralisk in the scghost trailer:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVsTrLW_04U&feature=related

8. Dill — February 21, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
   

   since it does seem that this description is real, it means in a few weeks we can actually have something to talk about for awhile instead of spinning our wheels on starcraft 2 related sites.

9. Dill — February 21, 2008 @ 6:32 pm
   

   To add to the comment above, hopefully we’ll get to see zerg units introduced by showing all three races in a big battle.

10. Johan — February 22, 2008 @ 2:52 am
    

    Quoting THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC:

    isnt that the hydralisk? in the movie? or have I missed the ultralisk.

11. George — February 22, 2008 @ 5:55 am
    

    Who said the announcement is real? What’s the source?

12. home_run758 — February 22, 2008 @ 6:05 am
    

    from an official blizz slideshow from rob pardo. looks nice, maybe all the armor is from after its Chitinous Plating upgrade?

13. George — February 22, 2008 @ 7:16 am
    

    I’m talking about the Zerg on March 10…

14. Reader — February 22, 2008 @ 7:37 am
    

    Check it.
    http://teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=66850
    But, this is not the source.
    ZDNet, gamemeca, thisisgame (TIG), Newpaper websites…
    many Korean websites reported this issue. (Do you remember the new 3 screenshots from Korea?) As you know, It’s just a conference in Korea. I think there’s no reason Blizzard announce it to everyone.( It’s not a big event like Blizzcon, WWI) Maybe, Blizzard Korea send this information to related sites.
    Please, don’t ask me why do you think Zerg announcement is not the big event. ^^
    However, I’m not sure they’ll announce or not. After conference or before, they’ll give some information to you.
    It doesn’t matter you believe or not.
    I’m just writing the topic I read.
    I hope this information is worth for you.

15. WayneInc — February 22, 2008 @ 7:59 am
    

    Ur right if u say this thing doesnt look like the SC:Ghost Ultralisk.
    Because of its form I would say this could be a completely different unit – maybe a Torrasque?

16. George — February 22, 2008 @ 8:21 am
    

    Thanks Reader.

17. Lonia — February 22, 2008 @ 10:31 am
    

    It is real, George.
    March 10th. Blizzard will have press conference for announcing Zerg in Korea.
    Mark the day:)

18. Anonymous — February 22, 2008 @ 11:23 am
    

    THE NEW ULTRALISK DESIGN IS BADASS.

    nuff said

19. §t4lk3r — February 22, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
    

    Despite its cartoonish look, it still looks great.

    I hope to see that the models changes, grows some spines, and looks more armored when the Ultra gets the armor upgrades.

20. i luv guardians — February 22, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
    

    yeah torrasque rules. IF it were buildable, it wuld be great against the thor. Juz reminscing the good old times wif that bad ass, slashing the hell outta tanks

21. Guy — February 22, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
    

    I like how the Ultralisk was presented in this picture, with the zergling at its side. I really like the size difference – it makes the zergling look like a ‘cute little thing’. I also believe that the amount of ‘player’ color put into the zergling is too much – The whole of his body is purple.Zerg is lookin good… !

22. THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC — February 26, 2008 @ 7:58 am
    

    In the Ghost trailer video, you see the ultralisk at time values: 4:18-4:28. You know…? That big thing with four legs and two sizable tusk arms? I am not referring to the other witness-able hydralisks in the film — Look at the ultralisk seen in this segment of the movie.

23. verd — February 27, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
    

    http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=sc2-general&t=572638&s=blizzard&tmp=1#blizzard

    Karune
    Nice find This IS the new Zerg Ultralisk and you will be learning more and seeing more of it relatively soon. Also, the purple coloring shown on the Ultralisk’s back are team colors and will change accordingly.

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26. Gangster72 — October 13, 2009 @ 1:58 am
    

    I shall look on the bright side. ,