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It's time for our now daily StarCraft II news post. Today we offer up something that we know will be of interest to the hardcore fans of Blizzard's upcoming sci-fi RTS sequel. Yes indeed . . .you guessed correctly. We have some visuals showing off the technology trees for all three of the game's factions (Terran, Zerg and Protoss).

Of course, these images (as supplied by the Giant Bomb web site) cannot be considered final since we haven't even entered the real beta test for the game. As such, these tech tree configurations could (and most likely will) change before the final game comes out (please, oh pretty please let it come out this year, Blizzard). Still if you want to know what you have to do to get to the Terran Battlecruiser, you now know what Blizzard is thinking at the moment.

Most of the time we really don't care about new trademarks filed by game companies. Quite frankly, filing trademarks is easy; it's making the games that's the hard part. However we will make a small exception for this mention of a new trademark from Blizzard Entertainment who seems to milk its previous IPs (Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo) for all they are worth (which is quite a bit actually).

According to game trademark-hunting web site superannuation, Blizzard has put in a trademark for "Catalysm" that will cover "computer games, paper-based products, and online games". Our sister site WoW.com hints that the name could be used for an upcoming World of Warcraft expansion pack or it could be used for . . . something else. Anyway, as we said, it's not the title that's really important . . is it?

Remember how there was a minor issue with StarCraft fans over the fact that two of the original game's voice actors would not be returning to voice those same roles for StarCraft II?

Well those folks can rest easy now as one of those voice actors, Robert Clotworthy, has confirmed with Starcraftwire.net that he will indeed return to handle the voice acting duties of Jim Raynor for Blizzard's long awaited RTS sequel. Clotworthy states, "I'm looking forward to the release of the game and I hope that StarCraft players will enjoy going into battle with Jim and following his adventures throughout the galaxy." Now those fans can go back and continue to protest the lack of Glynnis Talken's acting in the role of Sarah Kerrigan . . .oh, and that whole lack of LAN support in the game.

Blizzard has said that they are still targeting the release of their sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II for the end of 2009. However Gamasutra is reporting that one analyst believes there are signs that the game could be pushed back to 2010.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey is basing those thoughts on a comment over at Kotaku where StarCraft II's lead designer Dustin Browder stated that the beta for the game will last "four to six months" Since the beta has yet to begin that time table will make a fall/holiday 2009 release for the full game very close indeed for publisher Activision Blizzard. Because of this, Hickey claims, "We find it increasingly probably that the game will be released in [Activision's] fiscal '10 period."

Hickey even sees weakness in Blizzard's huge MMO hit World of Warcraft, saying, "We view looming competition in the West from new MMORPGs as a greater threat to WoW's future."

It looks like once you are a Horde or an Alliance member, you are not one of them "all the way", at least not after Blizzard makes some changes to their hit MMO World of Warcraft. Our sister site WoW.com has posted up word that Blizzard is planning to offer a service in the future that will allow players to have their characters switch factions.

Blizzard is giving players an early heads-up on this new feature because "you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward." However Blizzard admits that this feature may be a ways off from being implemented because "we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out." We are betting that this feature will also cost some extra cash but so far there's been no official word on that from Blizzard.

Folks who like to go to LAN parties or just play games on their corporate or college network may be disappointed by this bit of news. According to an IncGames story, they have supposedly confirmed with Blizzard that there are no plans to support offline LAN multiplayer in their upcoming sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II.

Details on why such a simple feature would be excluded are scarce, however, with the article quoting a Blizzard spokesperson as saying the reason "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net." More info on this unnamed technology is supposedly coming later but it's a shame that StarCraft II gamers will have to use Battle.net for multiplayer even if the people in the match are sitting right next to each other.

Update: Big Download got an update from Blizzard's PR folks which gives more color on their decision:

"We don't currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy. Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we're encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We're looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future."

Blizzard is getting ready (we hope anyway) to unleash the StarCraft II multiplayer beta test "soon" but in the meantime they recently invited a number of media folks to check out a new build of the long awaited sci-fi RTS sequel at their offices in Irvine, CA. Our sister site Joystiq made the trek and brought back some hands-on impressions.

They also got a tour of Blizzard's campus and received a new seven minute multiplayer vdeo showing off more StarCraft II gameplay. You can download the HD version of the video right here at Big Download. Newly released screenshots from the game have also been added to our gallery. Finally Joystiq has a extensive chat with StarCraft II producer Chris Sigaty.

Alas, it seems that plans to check out the game's single player campaign were cut at the last minute but there will likely be more press events to show off StarCraft II before it's planned released before the end of the year (fingers crossed).

Blizzard's annual BlizzCon event sold out quickly but if you are not one of those heading to Anaheim, CA on August 21-22 you can still get some of the feeling of the event from the confort of your office chair or couch. This week pre-orders are being taken for the live Internet streaming video for BlizzCon 2009.

The video will come from the DirecTV coverage of BlizzCon which will have 16 hours of coverage of the event for its subscribers. While DirecTV owners will get that video in HD, those of us that don't have the satillete TV service will still be able to see the event via the$39.95 Internet streaming coverage. World of Warcraft players will even get the BlizzCon in-game Murloc Marine pet when they purchase the BlizzCon streaming services.

Blizzard is keeping us up-to-date on the development of StarCraft 2 with this latest Battle Report shoutcast. In this Zerg vs Protoss matchup, Yeon-Ho Lee plays against David Kim. This video demonstrates many of the factions' abilities and units in multiplayer.

Download HD StarCraft II Battle Report #3 (517 MB)
Check out all StarCraft II downloads

People waiting to see if they have been picked for the StarCraft II multiplayer beta test can get a taste of the action via the new Battle Report video that was just released . . . by someone. Apparently, either deliberately or through an actual leak, the new Battle Report (the third in the series) got leaked onto the Internet before its release by Blizzard on the game's official web site

The Battlle Report has two pro StarCraft players on an unusual map as the Zerg and Protoss try to take each other out. You can see the second part of the two part video after the jump. Of course we will have the HD download of the third StarCraft II Battle Report available here at Big Download whenever Blizzard decides to release it.

[Via Starcraftwire.net]