I've ordered SC2 but it may well be my last Acti Blizzard game. The more I hear about Activision's, and now Blizzard's, attitude towards their consumers, the more I'd rather burn my money than give it to them.
Blizzard used to make top quality games and support them for years longer than their competition, and as a result their games were the most popular and most purchased.
Now, I still believe they make top quality games, and still support them. But Activision has injected a new angle, a new focus on revenue streams and anti piracy that just wasnt there before. The No Lan play is a classic example of this. It makes no sense whatsoever, from a gaming point of view, but makes perfect sense from a DRM point of view. That is, if DRM actually worked, which we all know it doesnt. If they can run cracked WoW servers, then they can run cracked SC2 servers or circumvent the check altogether. Mark my words, it will be done. So in the end, who is hurt? Joe Q Customer, thats who.
That and the nearly 50% higher price than most other new PC games indicates they know how much this cash cow is worth and are willing to milk it. Good business sense yes, kind to the consumer, no. Sustainable? I dont think so. If every Blizzard game is released at this price, but others are cheaper, it wont be long before the popularity of Blizzard games drop. Consumers wont be willing to swallow such a bitter pill combined with nickel and diming and DRM for too long.