StarCraft II closed Beta goes live
Stating in a press release, Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, has begun.
“Gathering concentrated feedback from our players is an important step for us as we head into the final stretch of development for StarCraft II and the new Battle.net service,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to having our players’ help in polishing the overall experience and preparing for launch.”
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types.
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Tricia Helfer Six-ing up Starcraft II
BlizzCon 2009: With the Wings of Liberty beta test expected this year, Blizzard discusses the background story behind its popular sci-fi RTS; Battlestar Galactica star to lend voice to game.
ANAHEIM, California–BlizzCon 2009 has thus far been an eventful one for fans of Blizzard Entertainment. The biggest announcement thus far pertains to Blizzard’s massively popular massively multiplayer online role-playing World of Warcraft, with the game maker announcing the game’s third full expansion Cataclysm. As part of the opening ceremony, Blizzard also unveiled the monk class as the fourth that will be playable in its action role-playing game Diablo III.
Starcraft II fans haven’t been left out in the cold either. Blizzard has confirmed that the sci-fi real-time strategy’s eagerly anticipated beta-test period is expected to begin before the end of the year. Earlier this month, Blizzard said that the first installment in the Starcraft II trilogy, Wings of Liberty, is now expected to launch during the first half of 2010 alongside a revamped Battle.net, which executive VP of game design Rob Pardo discussed in detail during a panel yesterday.
With so much attention already paid to Starcraft II’s lauded multiplayer component, the company has also begun to pull back the curtain on the game’s single-player campaign. As previously announced, Wings of Liberty will largely follow the travails of the human faction, focusing primarily on the travails of Terran marine Jim Raynor, who has gone rogue and must grapple with human Emperor Mengsk from the first game as well as his ongoing conflict with one-time love interest and Zerg hive queen Kerrigan.
To delve deeper into the game, Blizzard now holds forth to discuss Starcraft II lore, as well as maybe just maybe reveal a few surprise for the upcoming game.
Full Story: GameSpot
Blizzard removes LAN Multiplayer on Starcraft II
Without a doubt, Blizzard’s upcoming sequel Starcraft II is one of the most anticipated games in recent memory. The first Starcraft created such hardcore fan appreciation that up to this day — 11 years after it was released — thousands of people still play the game. That is unprecendented and anyone would be hardpressed to think of any game that gains this level of longevity.
One of the reasons for the fans’ continued support for Starcraft, aside from the deep, strategic gameplay is the fact that you can play it with your friends and mount frenetic multiplayer battles during LAN parties. Nothing beats having a heated game in a room with all the trash talking going on between two competitors.
But if Blizzard’s plan for Starcraft II does push through we won’t see those cool Starcraft LAN parties anymore. Blizzard confirmed what many are speculating about Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. The game will be launched for the PC at about the same time the newly revamped Battle.net online network service, which is at the last part of 2009. Unfortunately, the game will be releaed without any LAN multiplayer option.
Full Story: Forever Geek
