[slackingoff2017]

Wtf? Who make a "gold disc" for source code?? Wouldn't the gold master be compiled code? And who the fuck makes a "gold source" disc that's also "professionally printed"? That implies they gave the source to somebody to have the CD made. Yeah right. Also, the game takes up most of a CD, the assets would use far more space than that.

There's so many holes in this story, it's obvious bullshit and everyone is soaking it up. 100% chance this is a lame viral marketing stunt to drum up interest in StarCraft remastered. It's clearly paid placement, and frankly a bit sensational to even be possible.

Blizzard is known for quietly paying people for product placement and bullshit stories like this. Don't be sheeple.

Edit: I did some reading and other sources actually name the person and mention he's a game collector (with pictures of some of his collection). Surprisingly, this looks to be legit.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2017/05/03/long-lost-starcraft-g...

[dagw]

Who make a "gold disc" for source code

The company I used to work for always made an archive copy of the exact source code we had compiled for each major release, so that there would never be any doubt about exactly which source code we had compiled to make each version of our game.

And who the fuck makes a "gold source" disc that's also "professionally printed"?

That disc does not look professionally printed. It looks like it was printed on one those cd-rom inkjet printers that where so popular back in the day.

[slackingoff2017]

Fair points, but I don't think CD-R was ever used as a serious archive format. Even back then it was known that the inks were prone to fading.

I just think the likelihood of the source being in this format is extremely low and when coupled with the timing of this article it's all but certain that this is a marketing piece.

Looking at the reddit user that found this disc... He was looking for a job at a "big name" tech employer a few months back, and he's definitely into gaming. He mentioned that blizzard told him the disc was stolen, which would be slightly more believable if returning it prompted an investigation rather than showering him with gifts.

[dagw]

I don't think CD-R was ever used as a serious archive format.

Oh it absolutely was. Maybe we shouldn't have and it might or might not have been good idea, but it was very common.

[mmjaa]

Nope. I still have working CD-R's of my projects from 20 years ago. So, its a bit of a general fallacy.

[mmjaa]

Umm .. I don't know who pissed in your corn-flakes, but your assumption that this is bullshit because you've never seen Gold Source Masters ever being made is highly, highly specious.

I've been in the computer business since 1983. I've made gold master copies of released software in every project since that era. Its a highly common practice, and a good one, because it means that no matter what the resources and assets of the company are protected.

Also, CD's like this were easily made back in the 90's using CD label printers and gold discs designed for the purpose. It doesn't need to be a professionally produced CD like you infer; CD printers were quite common in those days.

So no, I'm sorry, your claim that its 'obvious bullshit' doesn't really ring true. What is obvious, is that you don't really have the experience with best practices of that era. Remember, this was a period of time before "Web-2.0 style source code repositories for all the things".

I am quite certain this is legit.

[ericcholis]

Archival purposes perhaps? I'd like to think that the process for Blizzard to create a CD wouldn't be too difficult.

I'm sure that Blizzard does a ton of paid placement. However, StarCraft is such a world-wide phenomenon; they don't have to do any shilling. The simple announcement of SC Remastered was picked up by every gaming news site imaginable. Hell, the new 1.18 patch & free Starcraft announcement were just as popular.