Blizzard continues to tease and taunt us with new screenshots from their long awaited RTS sequel Starcraft II. This time the shots concentrate not on a unit but a location, specifically from the planet Mar Sara, a Terran settled world that was first featured in the original Starcraft game.As you can see from the shots, Mar Sara looks an awful lot like the American West complete with some retro-style buildings. There's no word yet no how the planet will be used in Starcraft II. Come to think of it we don't have a lot of info on Starcraft II period, including when the game will be released. Darn you, Blizzards with your screenshot teases....

Blizzard is famous for sticking to a "when it's done" philosophy when announcing new games in development and won't hesitate to delay a release to ensure a high level of quality. It's been ten years and counting since StarCraft graced our computers, and gamers still have a long wait before seeing StarCraft II. Don't hang on to any hopes of Diablo III coming our way soon, even though it's been eight years since Diablo II came out. Coincidentally, Ubisoft recently announced that it would opt to space out future Assassin's Creed releases instead of putting out a new game every year. The declining sales of the Prince of Persia sequels were proof that gamers can grow wary of game franchises. Technical issues are often blamed for Spore's numerous delays. It's a slow progression, but development companies are coming to the realization that slow and steady wins the race, while dashing out to milk a franchise for all its worth doesn't always work. Can games afford to stay in development indefinitely? How long does it take before interest starts to fall? Does it always have to be a choice between quality and timeliness? Sound-off after the jump....

Blizzard is not ignoring its upcoming sci-fi RTS game Starcraft II during its Worldwide Invitational event. The publisher has released new screenshots from the highly anticipated game, showing off more action from the sequel that was announced more than a year ago.As we previously reported, it looks like we won't get a release for the game until sometime in 2009 at the earliest but we are still holding out hope that some kind of multiplayer beta release will be coming out before the end of this year. In the meantime, the new screenshots should keep you busy....

Welcome to MacMonday, a weekly column where we'll talk about issues related to gaming on Apple's platform beyond "Why isn't PC Game X coming out on the Mac?" In this inaugural edition, let's discuss Spore, Will Wright's latest masterpiece.At this point in time, the closest we can get to playing Spore properly (until its release in September) is to download the Creature Creator demo. Like any downloadable, the first thing you'll want to do is check the required specs to make sure your box can run the game properly. When you come to that, however, you'll see that the specs make two requirements upfront: an Intel Core Duo Processor, leaving PowerPC Macs out of the loop, and OS X 10.5.3 Leopard. Let's take a look at what this means for Mac gamers....

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours. Call of Duty 5 news reveals "new" military theatreComputer and Video Games has become the first web site to reveal the first details on the next game in Activision's Call of Duty shooter franchise. The game is subtitled World at War and as expected is being developed by Treyarch. It uses the Call of Duty 4 engine as created by Infinity Ward. While Activision had stated the game would be in a new military theater the story states that's isn't exactly true; the game will go back to the familiar WWII setting but will take place in the Pacific theater of war (with a side trip back to Europe to see the fall of Berlin by Russian forces). Alone in the Dark completed, hits shelves later this monthAtari and Eden Games' Alone in the Dark has gone gold. All work on the game is finished, and the discs are being pressed. It will be available at retail on June 20th in Europe and June 24th in North America. The extravagant limited edition package will be released on those days as well. Shipping this week: Hulk Smash!While releases this week are lighter than usual, a smashing new title is hitting PC (we get paid per lame joke here apparently). Based on the new film surrounding the popular Marvel character, The Incredible Hulk hits PC on Tuesday as well as the rest of the week's releases that include the first downloadable episode of GameCock's film noir style action adventure game, Insecticide and a free content expansion for EVE Online. Achievements coming to World of Warcraft?One of the Xbox 360's biggest innovations is the use of "Achievements", those cool goals in every Xbox 360 game that can be made with points added to a player's Gamertag score. Valve has added similar achievements to Team Fortress 2. Now comes world that Blizzard might be planning to add something like Achievements to its hit MMO World of Warcraft. ...

While Xbox 360 and PS3 users have worked themselves into a veritable tizzy over downloadable content, PC users have been accustomed to having the lifeline of their favorite games extended far past their in-the-box values since the days of Doom - and even before that. What's more, we're used to downloading new levels, weapons, characters, and entire new episodes absolutely free of charge.Big Download understands that a five-hour game can be extended by hundreds of hours via total conversions, brand new monsters, and weapons you've always wanted to see in your favorite title. MODvelous Monday, our newest recurring column, celebrates the best mods for games new and old. Half-Life and Half-Life 2, StarCraft, WarCraft III, Diablo II, Doom and more will all be represented here - and that's where you come in. Interested in mod coverage for a particular game? Leave comments in each MODvelous Monday's comments section and tell us what games you'd like to see represented here. You suggest it, we'll cover the best mods for it.This week's MODvelous Monday column looks at two custom maps for StarCraft, Blizzard's forever-popular RTS. ...

If you just can't get enough of those super-cute Zerg, then let us direct your attention towards the newest Blizzcast where lead designer Dustin Browder gets chatted up on everyone's favorite carapace menace. Specifically this discussion starts out being all about the Zerg Queen unit and how when playing with her it feels a lot like a game of cat and mouse. Dustin goes on to say that you can think of her as a classic science fiction monster.Then the discussion moved onto the Ultralisk unit, which is still in a state of flux. It seems like the dev team hasn't quite figured out just what they want the unit to play like and that's to be expected for a late-game unit that doesn't see as much playtime as the rest of the Zerg. There's quite a bit more beyond even that, so if you're a diehard Starcraft II junkie we'll just point you to the page so you can listen in for yourself....

There is a tendency among the hardcore to think of casual games as the trite, twee younger sibling of more "serious" games -- your Tomb Raiders, your X-coms, your Starcrafts of the gaming universe. This perception stems from the idea that a simple game must be simple to create, and therefore reaches an equally simple audience. This, in turn, relies on hewing to old stereotypes: women and older people don't play games, therefore if that demographic is playing a game, it must be easy, right?Without trapping ourselves by making our opponent's argument -- after all, the hallmark of the casual game is that it is easy to pick up and learn -- we can instead focus on why it is that hardcore games do not attract that market, and what it is that casual games offer instead. To sum it up in a word, it's depth. But wait, isn't depth what people usually say these games lack? To answer that, we need to revisit what "depth" in games really means....

Continuing their long line of Q&A sessions, the developers over at Blizzard have revealed some more information concerning the map-making and modding capabilities of the Starcraft 2 editor. Before answering the questions, they came right out and said "anything you can do in Warcraft 3's editor, you can do in Starcraft 2's editor". With that disclaimer, let's take a look at all the new features! You can blend attributes of races, such as making Terrans regenerate or Zerg have shields Custom races will be able to be loaded in melee as long as the mod that runs them is currently on. In other words, you will no longer have to join a team or choose at the start of the round through an in-game selection to obtain a custom race in a map. You can do it in the lobby! Elements from third-party editors will be added to the official editor Custom data files will be completely supported All database files will be completely available for modders and map-makers to utilize This is some awesome stuff, especially since Warcraft 3 has a such a large modding community. Check out the Q&A on the official forums....

The other day, Spanish gaming magazine Micromania leaked what it believed to be official minimum and recommended system specs for Blizzard's highly anticipated StarCraft II.The specs called for a Pentium 4 or better processor, 2 GB of system memory, and a GeForce 7/8 or Radeon 1000/2000 series video card with at least 256 MB of video memory. Those specs were arguably steep for a Blizzard game; traditionally the company has kept the entry level very low for its products, so as many people as possible could buy and enjoy them.Blizzard has since contacted various media outlets and denied that the specs are official, saying: "Blizzard has not released final, official system requirements for StarCraft II. The numbers you're seeing are a result of independent speculation from a Spanish game magazine." This should come as a relief in particular to Blizzard enthusiasts who are gaming on low-end or mid-range laptops....

We were wondering if Blizzard would be holding a Blizzcon event this year (they did skip 2006) but today the official word is out. Blizzcon 2008 is a go for October 10-11 and it will be held once again at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. This year's dates thankfully don't interfere with any other major US gaming convention (last's year's BlizzCon was held the same weekend as QuakeCon and Sony Online's Fan Faire events) in the first week of August). Blizzard's press release states that this year's event will be held in three of the convention center's halls rather than just two halls to accommodate more fans.As usual, Blizzard fans who purchase the $100 ticket to attend will get to participate in evens like panels, tournaments for all of Blizzard's game, costume contests, silent auction and of course the chance to play some upcoming Blizzard titles. There were no specifics but of course you have to think both Starcraft II and the next World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King will be available. But will there be a major new game announcement made, perhaps one that starts with a "D" and ends in a "iablo 3"? We will have more info on the event as it drawn near....

As long as there's been Starcraft there's been famous (and infamous) opening tactics in multiplayer matches. From Creep Jacking to the legendary Zerg rush, the original Starcraft has a plethora of different opening tricks. Even if you're not familiar with the venerable sci-fi strategy game, we'd still recommend checking this recent feature on opening tactics out. The reason being that the feature also covers which of these tactics will work in Starcraft II. Of course, to save some of you the trouble of worrying: Zerg rushes are completely unchanged, so don't go worrying your little Zergling heads off.We'd be lying if we said we weren't jealous of the 1UP crew for getting to play as much of the new game as they so obviously got to play. Maybe we should start sending big Zerg-themed heart-shaped valentines cards to Blizzard, because the regular heart cards don't seem to be working....

We all know that Blizzard puts more time and effort than just about any other developer into making their games perfect. This recent 1UP interview with Blizzard's senior art director Samwise Didier (who has been with the company since 1991) gives us a prettty good look into that process, specifically for Starcraft II. Of course the interview does go off on a couple of wild tangents, but we'd have a hard time not talking about everything we possibly could if it were us in the interviewer's seat.Well, most likely we'd meekly ask -- in a shrill, deathly voice -- why the Terran Firebat seems to no longer be with us, to which Blizzard would probably say, "We are Alpha and Omega..." before slapping us to the ground. At least that's how we see it going down....

Starcraft II producer Chris Sigaty sat down with two editors from 1UP and discussed the changes in Blizzard's upcoming sequel to their ultra-popular RTS franchise. Surprisingly, there have been a lot of changes in how the three races play, but all of their core units are still intact. The end results seems to be that each race has tons of new tactics and strategies to employ while retaining some core basics, such as Zerg rushes. It sounds like new and old players alike are in for a treat with Starcraft II, as Chris Sigaty points out that the game is in constant flux from week to week in order to make sure everything works just right. We know Blizzard has a "when it's done" mentality, but we're starting to get really impatient on this particular title. Whenever the game does drop, we're certain it's going slap our lives like a surprise Ghost nuke....

Stop whatever you're doing (unless all you're doing is breathing) and go read this 1UP Starcraft 2 preview where EGM Editor-in-Cheif James "Milky" Mielke and 1UP's PC Games editor-in-chief Jeff Green face off in seven matches over the course of several hours. That's right, these guys spent six hours playing a game that most of us haven't even spent a minute playing. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.Thankfully, they went ahead and produced four pages of gold for everyone to read. Everything from Jeff's sad seven losses in a row to discussions of what they think about all the new changes, additions and subtractions from the game. It's all worth reading so sit down, strap in and get your flamethrowers ready: the zerg rush of information is about to begin....