starcraft-2 posts

During Activision Blizzard's financial conference call. Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that they are currently targeting the long awaited sci-fi RTS sequel StarCraft II to release sometime in the first half of 2010. Previously Blizzard would only admit to a release of the game sometime in the 2010 time period.

While Morhaime stated during the conference call that the development team is working towards the game's beta test launch, he would not confirm any dates on when the beta will actually begin. Last June at E3 the company stated they hoped to have the beta launch during the summer but had to retract that plan when their plans to release StarCraft II changed from their previous fall 2009 date.

In the newest StarCraft II Battle Report, David Kim, one of the StarCraft II team's associate game balance designers faces off against Blizzard's Yeon-Ho Lee in a head-to-head match. This Protoss vs Terran match takes place on the Lost Temple map, a classic StarCraft multiplayer map updated for the sequel.

Download HD StarCraft II Battle Report #4 (557 MB)
Check out all StarCraft II downloads

While all of us wait patiently for Blizzard to light the candle on the StarCraft II beta test (remember when they said it was going to happen last summer? Good times) we check out any info we can get on the upcoming sci-fi RTS game. Recently the game's official forums posted up the latest fan Q&A about the game (the 54th, in fact).

The questions, as usual, get extremely specific (these are die hard StarCraft fans who are asking these questions to Blizzard after all) and deal with issues like Zergling vs. Zealot ratios, being able to dodge an EMP attack in the game and allowing maps and mods for StarCraft II to have their own launcher. Meanwhile we wait for the beta test . . . and wait . . . and wait some more.

Hey, do you remember any news about an upcoming RTS game called . . . StarCraft II? Why sure you do. Yes, we are all very upset that Blizzard won't deliver the long awaited sequel by the end of this year but that doesn't mean we should be bitter. Just think of it as an excuse to learn more about the game before it comes out.

And one of the ways to do just that is with the latest StarCraft II fan Q&A on the Battle.net message boards. The developers answer a few more of the fan questions like how many voice actors worked on the game (58), any word on additional map features (Nope) and a question about terrain sets (terrain sets are named after planets and there will be more flexibility to modify terrain sets in the final game). Now you know and knowing is . . well, you get the idea.

During out BlizzCon 2009 coverage last week we checked out the Pocket Books booth where they were showing off their previous and upcoming novels based on Blizzard's games. Among the books featured was StarCraft: Heaven's Devils, an upcoming hardcover prose novel from author William C Dietz.

Now Pocket Books has posted up an except from that novel on its web site. Designed to be a prequel to StarCraft II, the novel will be tell the story of the first meeting between Jim Raynor (hero of the first StarCraft game) and Tychus Findlay (the space marine that's the subject of the first StarCraft II CGI trailer). The novel is due in stores in mid-December.

Blizzard seems to be sticking to its guns for the most post on the subject of not offering a traditional offline LAN multiplayer mode for StarCraft II. While lots of players would like to see it happen, Blizzard wants the sci-fi RTS sequel to link up more to its Battle.net service.

However, it does look like that Blizzard is at least thinking about ways to give a LAN-like experience while not doing away completely with the online Battle.net connection. Chatting with Shacknews, Blizzard's Greg Canessa states, "Maintaining a connection with Battle.net, "I don't know if it's once or periodically, but then also having a peer-to-peer connection between players to facilitate a very low-ping, high-bandwidth connection.. those are the things that we're working on." Whether or not fans will be happy with that sort of compromise remains to be seen.

Well, BlizzCon 2009 is winding down for this year and Big Download has been very impressed with how Blizzard has handled the event. Having 26,000 Blizzard fans gather in one place but everything seemed to run like clockwork. All the panels and events started on time, the lines were full to play the new and upcoming games from the company and lots of unique stuff was sold at the Blizzard story, with lots of sell-outs of items

We have some pictures we took from today's events at BlizzCon to show you and that will in fact be our concluding port directly from the event. Make sure you check out WoW.com's continuing coverage of BlizzCon 2009 (including photos from Sharon Osbourne's husband's concert).

Blizzard's final StarCraft II panel at BlizzCon 2009 was on gameplay. Here are just some of the highlights:

StarCraft II's single player campaign will feature more story and go deeper into the characters than previous Blizzard RTS games. There will also be more choices in terms of which missions to take on and what upgrades and weapons you can take with you. There will also be more unique missions with different kinds of goals and challenges.

Mine Your Own Business is the name of one of these missions, set on a volanic and hostile planet. The map will have some of the new features of the game's engine and map tools such as two distinct cliff types, some new water tools (used to rise lava levels) and new lighting tools to make the map look more realistic.

Check out the jump for more info on the panel:

As we reported earlier, today's BlizzCon's so-called "StarCraft II Lore panel" was actually a StarCraft II voice actor panel, where it was revealed that Tricia Helfer will voice Sarah Kerrigan in the sequel. Robert Clotworthy was also on the panel talking about returning to the role of Jim Raynor after voicing the role in the original StarCraft over 10 years ago. Chris Metzen, Blizzard's VP of creative development, moderated the panel.

Other actors on the panel include Fred Tatasciore, a veteran voice actor who plays two roles in StarCraft II (Zeratul and Swann). Next on the voice actor panel was Neil Kaplan, the gravely voice behind Tychus Findlay in the game. Dave Fennoy was up next; he plays the new character role of Gabriel Tosh. Finally James Harper, a veteran of the original game, returns for StarCraft II in the role of Arcturus Meigsk. As we previously reported, well known Warner Bros. Animation voice director Andrea Romano has those duties for StarCraft II

Check out the jump for more on the panel

The BlizzCon 2009 panel on "StarCraft II Lore" was in fact a sneaky way to introduce the main voice cast for Blizzard's upcoming sci-fi RTS game. Members of the voice cast were introduced and brought up to the panel one at a time but it was the last reveal that will certainly get the fanboys talking. Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer (yep, Number Six herself) will be portraying the key role of Sarah Kerrigan in the game.

As previously announced, Robert Clotworthy will return to voice the role of Jim Raynor in StarCraft II. In addition, the voice work is being directed by Andrea Romano. She is best known for the work she has done directing the voice cast for a ton of Warner Bros. animated TV shows and movies including Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League and the recent DC Comics direct-to-DVD movies. Stay tuned for more info on the panel later today.