starcraft-2 posts

Things certainly picked right up in terms of PC gaming news today ... and we also heard news about some online issues happening to some console? We are not sure:

• Steam has new automatic updates for Fate of the World, Homefront, and Left 4 Dead 2.
• StarCraft II has a new beta patch that's available in the public test server.
• iBuyPower has announced it will sell custom gaming PCs on Wal-Mart's web site.
• You can now buy a plushie doll that look like Portal's 2 turrets.
• Turbine will take over the operations of the European servers of Lord of the Rings Online starting June 1.

Blizzard has never been shy about announcing when it has banned groups of players from its games. Today the official StarCraft II web site has announced that it has made the decision to either suspend or ban a new group of players from accessing the multiplayer portion of the 2010 released sci-fi RTS games.

As it usually does with these announcements, Blizzard didn't reveal how many player accounts were affected by this latest round of suspensions and bans, saying only that those players, " ... were in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs while playing. "

Blizzard has been keeping info on its next StarCraft II game, Heart of the Swarm, mostly to itself but that may change in May. Kotaku reports that it has received an invite to see the expansion sometime in May.

The report claims that the press event on the expansion, which will center on the Zerg faction in the sci-fi RTS game series, will show off a small part of its single player campaign. The press event won't include or have info on any possible multiplayer additions in Heart of the Swarm. It's likely Blizzard is saving that info for BlizzCon this October.

For those that prefer not to use the auto-updater, this stand alone patch for the US release of StarCraft II updates the game to v1.3.2. The patch includes some minor bug fixes for both the game and Editor. A list of changes can be found after the jump. The playable demo can be downloaded here.

Download the StarCraft II 1.3.2 Patch [PC] (381 MB)
Download the StarCraft II 1.3.2 Patch [Mac] (383 MB)
Download the StarCraft II Demo (1.5 GB)
Check out all StarCraft II downloads

StarCraft II players now have access to the final and official versions of the custom mod maps that were first announced last October at BlizzCon. The maps, (the cooking themed Aiur Chef, the horror themed Left 2 Die, and the puzzle themed StarJeweled), each have their own special gameplay modes and rules. You can get info on all three maps at the official Maps and Mods web page.

All three maps have been able to be played in beta form for some time but today they are available to all players with a number of improvements and more importantly new official achievements to unlock for players. A fourth custom map that was shown at BlizzCon, Blizzard DOTA, has not yet been released.

Rumors with a little bit of evidence have hit the internet that seem to indicate that gaming media company IGN may be planning to launch its own professional gaming league, with Blizzard's sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II at the center of it.

Starcraft-themed web site TeamLiquid.net reports via Korean-based web sites that IGN will launch such a league with a prize pool of between $150,000 to $200,000. In addition there is a IGN Pro League web site already set up that seems to be counting down towards a launch around midnight Eastern time on Tuesday.

If true this would be the latest attempt to launch a US-based pro gaming league. At the moment only Major League Gaming has been successful at staying afloat with other ventures like the Cyberathlete Professional League, the Championship Gaming Series and the World Series of Video Games all closing up shop in the past few years.

So we know that Blizzard is at least thinking about making games for consoles again but this newly released April Fool's Day 2011 video shows that the company is further along than we might have thought. Yes, StarCraft II is coming to consoles and yes it has Kinect motion sensing support.

Seriously this video shows how people who play games with this motion controller look, well, rather silly. It goes to the extreme in this parody video where ... well that would spoil the final surprise. Let's just say that playing with a motion sensing controller can cause some physical issues.

Just a few days after releasing its big 1.3 patch for StarCraft II, developer Blizzard has gone ahead and released yet another, smaller patch for the hit sci-fi RTS game. This 1.3.1. patch, available via the game's auto updater, fixes a few smaller bugs that have popped up after the big 1.3 patch was released.

The patch notes have more info on the those bug fixes which include dealing with an issue where some players were not notified if they got a game achievement. Another bug that was stomped fixed an issue where the new 1.3 patch added observer UI features would not function correctly on custom maps for the game.

StarCraft II is now officially invading the many cyber cafes in China. The sci-fi RTS game from developer Blizzard and its Chinese publisher NetEase has now entered into open beta testing in that country and that it will get its official launch just a few days later on April 6.

The game will be sold in 30 day increments for the Chinese market which gives players access to both the multiplayer modes and the single player campaign for the equivalent of $3. The Chinese launch comes several months after StarCraft II was released in much of the world in late July 2010.

[Via VG247.com]

For those that prefer not to use the auto-updater, this stand alone patch for StarCraft II updates the game to v1.3. The patch includes a list of gameplay and balance changes, UI enhancements and bug fixes. A detailed list of all changes can be found on the official website.

Download the StarCraft II 1.3.0 Patch [PC] (339 MB)
Download the StarCraft II 1.3.0 Patch [Mac] (293 MB)