Head coder at BWProgrammer, Ashur, announces that he will stop with coding the BWTV. Along with this the PenguinPlug will be integrated with Battle.net.
- We have BWTV working yes, but this project won't be released to the public again, he says in his departing rant.
After receiving lots and lots of questions about the current status of the BWTV, Ashur finally decided to make an announcement, that said that he is dropping the BWTV project.
BWTV was the ultimate dream with streaming matches to an audience. Originally made by Lasgo and then » revived by Ashur, Brood War Television is a third party program that analyzes a replay file's each command and simulates it into the StarCraft client in any speed just like a normal replay. The program was also available to stream matches live that allowed a massive amount of gamers to live observe finals of events.
"I would like to say sorry to everyone who kept the hope alive. Mainly because few months ago I still had hope that it will happen. Its sad. Its sad even more that with BWTV the SCExtension (PenguinPlug) dies too. " -
Ashur says.PenguinPlug will be integrated with Battle.net
GosuGamers can report, after an interview with Ashur, that the PenguinPlug's features, such as auto replay saver, replay with text and the bug fix with freezed replays, will be fixed as of 1.15 and integrated with StarCraft. However, PenguinPlug, as we know it today, will be disbanded and will not be continued.
Ashur originally wanted the PPlug to be integrated with Battle.net but remaining in control of the development. Blizzard said, however, that because of legal problems and supposedly because Ashur was not an employee, it could not happen. Instead they made sure to include all the things PPlug featured into the next patch and thereafter disband every third party tool. "So the PenguinPlug is no longer necessary, which is very nice and very bad for us", Ashur says. Allthesame, continuing to develop the program would mean it would have to be released as an illegal third party program, something Ashur is unwilling to do. "It would just be like the bad guys did".
There were several other plans that Ashur had where the community can make functions for the code which would then be used in the program. "Blizzard employees liked the ideas, but again it could not happen for legal reasons. And it would take years with Blizzard speed to make it happen themselves. People there are very nice, but terribly slow."
The Brood War Launcher, with its various plugins, will be updated by Ashur for 1.15. This means new antihacks by other programmers can still be made and loaded using the BWL, just like it's been working previously. PenguinPlug, as we know it today, however, will not work anymore. Blizzard's inbuilt Warden anti-hack will still be in place and take care of the most serious hacks out there.
1.15 - When, when, when?
1.15 is the patch that is rumoured to get WGTour started again. Several sources have been saying it should happen any day now for at least a month, but it is rumoured to still be months away.
* Update: This news have been updated several times as new information comes in.
Links
BWProgrammers.com - Announcement
GosuGamers.net - Forum thread
