starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty posts

For those having trouble with the StarCraft II auto-patcher, the stand alone patch for the v1.2.0 update is available to download for both PC and Mac. The patch includes a number of bug fixes and game enhancements such as race balance changes, editor improvements and additional Battle.net chat channels.A full list of changes can be found on the official website.

Download StarCraft II v1.2 Patch [US] (275 MB)
Download StarCraft II v1.2 Mac Patch [US] (242 MB)
Check out all StarCraft II downloads

Just one more shopping week left until The Big Day arrives. Of course we prefer digital gifts and online purchases over rushing around some huge mall with screaming kids and long register lines but that's just us.

• The latest Bethesda Podcast chats briefly with Todd Howard about they pulled off last week's reveal of The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim without the general public knowing about it.
• Blizzard has a new Raynor design for its Battle.net Authenticator.
• Steam has new automatic updates for Rush (with two new levels added), Left 4 Dead 2, and Star Ruler.
• Steam also has added Winter Voices Episode 2 to its library.
• Check out this cool fan made Fallout trailer. It's spiffy.

So far all of the previous patches for StarCraft II have simply been released by developer Blizzard simply as is to the public. This weekend, however, Blizzard is doing something different by releasing the next patch for the hit sci-fi RTS game via a public test server before its release to all of the game's players. Blizzard says that this will be the way most, if not all, future patches for StarCraft II will be released from now on. You can learn how to participate in the public test program via this FAQ page.

The patch notes for the 1.2 public test patch have already been posted and they include quite a few new additions. It included the long awaited in-game chat for both public and private channels. Customizable hotkey support has been added and there is now an Extreme Graphics option which adds info about abilities and upgrades to the unit help info feature along with ambient occlusion options. There's also a new Master League for the highest tier of StarCraft II players. The 1.2 patch also has a number of game balance changes for some of the game's units along with a lot of new changes and additions for the game's map editor as well as general bug fixes.

StarCraft II was designed to use Blizzard's Battle.net service to be authenticated and played but that hasn't stopped the sci-fi RTS sequel from being found on BitTorrent download sites. The web site TorrentFreak.com claims that one digital copy of the game has been downloaded 2.3 million times in just the last three months. By comparison Blizzard sold over 3 million legit copies of the game during its first month of sale.

While the file itself may be downloaded it's currently unknown how many of these files are actually playable due to the game's requirement that it be signed on to Battle.net to play online. Blizzard recently banned several thousands StarCraft II players for multiplayer cheats and hacks; it's also possible that other gamers could also be banned for playing illegal copies.

StarCraft II may have sold three million copies in the first month of its release earlier this year but in the country of South Korea, where the original StarCraft is a massive e-sports phenomenon, sales of the sci-fi RTS sequel have been slower than expected. According to an Edge magazine article reprinted on the Next-Gen.biz web site, "only two to three per cent of Korean gamers" have purchased StarCraft II a month since the game officially launched in that country, despite a $30 million promotional campaign.

What happened? The article speculates that developer Blizzard has tried to exercise more control over how StarCraft II is used in pro gaming tournaments and in the broadcast of those tournaments in South Korea compared to the original game. That control, plus the 12 year gap in between the two games, may have kept some original StarCraft players from switching to StarCraft II. However the article adds that a number of Korean pro-players have now begun to switch from StarCraft to StarCraft II in tournaments so perhaps the transition will simply take longer than first expected.

Want to make sure your Battle.net account is secure when you play World of Warcraft? This week, developer Blizzard announced that they have added an extra way to make sure your account is safe from being hacked. They have set up a toll-free phone number that can be used to authenticate your Battle.net account.

Basically you will now be able to sign into Battle.net while playing World of Warcraft by calling the number, entering your unique PIN and a one-time security code that will show up when you attempt to sign into Battle.net. So far this service is just for US users for World of Warcraft players although support for StarCraft II could be added later

While StarCraft II fans await the release of all those cool custom maps that Blizzard showed off at last month's BlizzCon event. the sci-fi RTS game just got a new, if small, patch update. The 1.1.3 patch is now available to download via the game's auto-updater.

The patch fixes three specific things. One deals with the Terran Thor unit which will now "prioritize attacking ground combat units over Medivacs" with the new patch. Also, some new game catagories have been added to StarCraft II that "filter Tower Defense and Tug of War custom maps" Finally the patch "fixed a desync that could occur when trying to watch replays that had a dependency on bank files."

StarCraft II was just about the launch of a new sci-fi RTS game from Blizzard. It was also about the launch of the new version of Battle.net and the use of the game's map and mod tools. Ever since the game was released last July there have been tons of new maps and mods made for the game by its fans and uploaded to Battle.net for others to play.

How many new maps and mods are we talking about. During Activision Blizzard's financial conference call today, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that over 65,000 maps and mods for StarCraft II have been uploaded to Battle.net just from North America. Blizzard announced last month at BlizzCon plans to release a number of its own StarCraft II maps and modes over the next several months. Morhaime also spoke briefly about plans to launch the Markeplace feature on Battle.net where players will be able to sell their maps and mods for the game. There's still no word on when this feature will launch.

Activision Blizzard recorded some solid financial numbers for its last fiscal quarter, blowing away its previous expectations. For the quarter that ended on September 30 the publisher said it had $745 million in revenues, up from $704 million from the same period a year ago and beating the company's previous expectations of $600 million.

Profits for Activision Blizzard went up to $51 million for the quarter compared to $15 million for the same period a year ago. The rise was due in part to the sales success of StarCraft II which was released last July. Activision has also raised its expectations its full fiscal year to $4.28 billion

If you bought StarCraft II but then put in a character name for your player account that you later said to yourself, 'Man, that name is dumb.", you now have a chance to make it all right. Developer Blizzard has announced that players of the sci-fi RTS are getting one free character name change.

All you have to do is head to your Account Management page and check out the StarCraft II game license. There should be a Character Name Change button that's accessible. Keep in mind this is a one time deal. If you want to change your character name a second time you will have to wait until Blizzard starts up its name change service which should start in the near future ... and then you will have to pay a fee.