Get the daily SC news wire!

Hot Stories

Battle Report 4 Out Posted 19th Oct 2009 12:01 PM by Leord [26]
StarCraft II Beta Pushed To 2010? Posted 19th Aug 2009 12:43 PM by Leord [24]
In-Depth Lore Interview With Chris Metzen Posted 17th Aug 2009 06:10 PM by moondragon [0]
0

Starcraft # 6

Posted 6th Nov 2009 10:50 PM by Medievaldragon

What exactly is Cole Hickson’s connection to Jim Raynor? Unless the threads of the past can finally be unraveled, the future is looking distinctly truncated. Trapped and surrounded by hostile Zerg insectoids, not to mention a vengeful C.O. and his crack Cerberus unit, the War Pigs might be making their last stand as the Protoss prepare to incinerate the Zerg-infested world the War Pigs are stranded on!

Written by Simon Furman
Art by Federico Dallocchio & Brian Denham
Cover by Federico Dallocchio

On sale October 28 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US



Continue reading...

Filed Under: Merchandise, Comic Book
0

StarCraft @ Igromir Today - NOW!

Posted 6th Nov 2009 03:00 PM by Leord



Ara just poked me about this in the StarcraftWire Irc channel, as a big gaming event is taking place in Russia as we speak, and there will be a StarCraft 2 panel there.

Blizzard Quote: (Source)
Friday, November 6
11:30 – 12:00 – WoW Panel
14:30 – 15:00 – SC II: Hotstreak
15:00 – 15:30 – WoW: Cataclysm leveling contest
16:00 – 16:30 - SC II Panel
17:00 – 17:30 – SC II: Hotstreak
17:30 – 18:00 – WoW: Cataclysm leveling contest


The time is a bit hard to read though, as we're not sure if it's Russian time or some European time. Both the English and German sites state the same info, so we're assuming it's Russian time. That would mean it starts NOW.

More info will be added as it happens!

Continue reading...

Filed Under: Non-Blizz Events
2

Starcraft II Beta Closer

Posted 6th Nov 2009 05:35 AM by Medievaldragon

A few days ago, Blizzard Entertainment announced that all World of Warcraft Accounts must be merged with a Battle.net Account effective November 11th.  Whoever decides not to do so won’t be able to login into the game.  We speculated this was the first phase to enable and integrate the Battle.net friend list—which in turn means ... Starcraft II beta is about to be announced.

The speculation might have some weight after all.  SpikeTV Host Geoff Keighley has posted on his tweeter the following:

“Blizzard is targeting “first half of 2010” for Starcraft II according to Activision earnings call.”

According to him, this was said at the Activision Blizzard Third Quarter Calendar 2009 Results Conference Call.

For those who are still jaw-dropped an unable to catch up, Starcraft II is slated to hit store shelves anywhere between January - June 2010 (which fall into the 2010’s first-half range).  We know it won’t be January or February, but we do know how long beta test lasts.  Considering that range of time—we do know beta is starting very soon. What’s the milestone? November 11th is when World of Warcraft accounts must be merged imminently into a Battle.net account.

Thus, any day, week or month after this milestone is the day you have been awaiting and craving folks. Let’s imagine that the ideal beta test period of time lasted 6 months, beta would have to start minimum on January or earlier.



Continue reading...

3

Some Blueposts

Posted 5th Nov 2009 09:16 AM by moondragon

It is a bit silent now in the StarCraft community but on battle.net it seems that some blue posts made it. Cydra responds to some questions.

Will holding the Alt button show unit/building hit points overhead as they did in Warcraft 3?


Blizzard Quote: (Source)
Yes. And you can change the option on the menu for this.
Normal: Only show when holding Alt
Selected: Selected units only
Always: Show all unit status bars


And now to some radar/sensor tower questions.

1. Is the proper name Radar Tower or Sensor Tower?
2. What model is being used: Radar Tower, Sensor Tower, or a completely new one?
3. What are the stats? (mineral cost, gas cost, build time, HP, armor)
4. What is the range of the radar?
5. Do cloaked and burrowed units appear as blips within the radar’s range?
6. If yes for #5, will a unit be able to see cloaked and burrowed units that are within its visual range as well as the radar’s range?
7. Does the Tower have any other special abilities besides its radar function?
8. Is the Tower salvageable?
9. Is there anything else you can tell us about the Tower that I’ve missed?


Blizzard Quote: (Source)
1. Sensor Tower
2. Sensor Tower has a passive Radar ability which expose enemy movements within its radar capacity.
3. It costs 125 mineral and 100 geyser gas and it takes 25 build time. Sensor Tower has 200 hp and 0 default armor. You can upgrade the armor of buildings by 2 at Engineering Bay.
5. No. Cloaked and burrowed units don’t appear.
7. No.
8. Yes. you can salvage it for 100% fund.


Very good explonation about the radar and it´s current form. Salvaging the tower is also nice but it remains to be seen how that will effect the balance in the long run.



Continue reading...

0

IncGamers Podcast #24

Posted 3rd Nov 2009 12:12 PM by Leord


A new episode of the IncGamers Podcast is online ready for listening.

Enjoy the usual lively banter between the guys as they discuss the week’s news including Modern Warfare 2 leaked video, Amazon pulling MW2 reviews, MW2 third person mode, news on the Splinter Cell Conviction sequel, Molyneux’s picks for most revolutionary games in the past 20 years, Star Wars: The Old Republic and more.

The team also discuss the games they have been playing including Torchlight, RaceOn, Left 4 Dead 2 and Champions Online. Oh! And don’t forget the “Special Needs Post of the Week” and the “Bullshit Story of the Week”. Not to be missed!

  • Listen here!

  • Note: If you’re easily offended it’s probably not for you.



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Community, Other Games
    6

    Moondragons Friday Fun 2

    Posted 30th Oct 2009 05:10 PM by moondragon

    Once again a new friday which means more StarCraft fun for you guys. Lets begin with something serious. In this first game we have Tossgirl vs Yellow a tvz game. Tossgirl is not considered to be a player that can threat others but can she defeat one of the stronger zerg player?


    Next up we have a game that was recently played and considered to be the match of the year according to the commentators. It is Boxer vs Ncyellow an epic tvz struggle.


    Now we get to a old StarCraft II video that we have seen before but this time we will see it with a twist. A shaky cam and a sarcastic commentator. What more could you ask for?


    This is it for this time guys, have a nice weekend.



    Continue reading...

    0

    BlizzCast 11 Live

    Posted 30th Oct 2009 06:10 AM by Deep.Thought

    Blizzard has released the eleventh official episode of BlizzCast. Check it out here. The episode focuses on a retrospective look at Blizzcon '09. Community Manager Karune discusses the single-player portion of StarCraft II that was playable at Blizzcon:

    Blizzard Quote: (Source)
    It’s a lot more than the talking heads now, there’s a whole bunch of cinematics in between, there’s a lot of options for you to explore and really immerse yourself to the world of StarCraft. I think the fan reaction was really big.

    Additionally, we get some insight from other Blizzard community managers on their experiences at Blizzcon. Although there is no new information about StarCraft II in the podcast, it is a fun look at the Blizzcon from the insider's perspective.

    Continue reading...

    0

    SC2 playable at the IFNG event in Hamburg

    Posted 30th Oct 2009 12:48 AM by Freelancer

    Just a quick notification for those near or willing to goto Hamburg to play some Starcraft 2:

    We will have SC2 playable at the IFNG event in Hamburg on Friday. That will be the BlizzCon build, both multiplayer and singleplayer available. More info on the ESL site: (link)

    The event will be held friday the 29th of oktober.



    Continue reading...

    3

    Galaxy Editor Confirmed For Beta

    Posted 29th Oct 2009 07:06 PM by moondragon

    Galaxy editor which is the same editor that Blizzard are using to create the maps and other things will ship with the beta once it starts. Blizzards twitter page confirmes this.

    #DailySC The #StarCraft2 galaxy editor will be available during beta. What are some custom games you are looking forward to?

    Source.


    I remember that during blizzcon 2009 someone from blizzard did hint about that the editor would ship sometimes during the beta but now it is official.



    Continue reading...

    4

    ATI won’t support DirectX 9 cards anymore

    Posted 28th Oct 2009 10:14 PM by Medievaldragon

    Things are getting pretty nasty for all Starcraft players who have either a low-end computer or an old ATI graphic card sold between 2000-2005 or earlier you are out of luck.  ATI has announced they won’t support DirectX 9 graphic cards any more. All these models won’t have support or patch updates under Windows Vista or Windows 7. And if you are acquainted with how Blizzard games work, you need to update to the latest graphic card drivers almost every patch.

    Considering to play Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty? It’s a good time to upgrade your computer with a new video card or start planning to get a 2010 computer system to catch up with current technology to make sure your gameplay won’t be affected in upcoming months.

    AMD has moved a number of DX9 ATI Radeon™ graphics accelerators products to a legacy driver support structure.  This change impacts Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux distributions.  AMD has moved to a legacy software support structure for these graphics accelerator products in an effort to better focus development resources on future products.

    The following products have been moved to the legacy software support structure (including Mobile and All-in-Wonder Variants):

    ATI Radeon 9500 Series
    ATI Radeon 9550 Series
    ATI Radeon 9600 Series
    ATI Radeon 9700 Series
    ATI Radeon 9800 Series
    ATI Radeon X300 Series
    ATI Radeon X550 Series
    ATI Radeon X600 Series
    ATI Radeon X700 Series
    ATI Radeon X800 Series
    ATI Radeon X850 Series
    ATI Radeon X1050 Series
    ATI Radeon X1300 Series
    ATI Radeon X1550 Series
    ATI Radeon X1600 Series
    ATI Radeon X1650 Series
    ATI Radeon X1800 Series
    ATI Radeon X1900 Series
    ATI Radeon Xpress Series
    ATI Radeon X1200 Series
    ATI Radeon X1250 Series
    ATI Radeon X2100 Series


    Note: AMD’s DirectX 9 ATI Radeon graphics accelerators are not officially supported under Windows 7.  If the user chooses to, they can install the ATI Catalyst Windows Vista graphics driver under Windows 7.  Please be aware that none of the new Windows 7 graphics driver (WDDM 1.1) features are supported (as the Windows Vista level graphics driver is limited to WDDM 1.0 level support).  Using the ATI Catalyst Windows Vista driver under Windows 7 is not officially supported by AMD, and as such AMD will not provide any form of customer support for users running in this configuration

    Any customers using a combination of a ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series, ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series, or ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 Series product with any of the legacy products listed above in a single PC system must use the ATI Catalyst 9.3 or earlier driver.  All future ATI Catalyst™ releases made available past the ATI Catalyst™ 9.3 release will not include support for the legacy products listed above or any of the features associated with those legacy products.

    AMD may periodically provide Windows XP and Windows Vista driver updates (for the products listed above) for critical fixes only.  No new features will be provided in future driver updates.  The Linux ATI Catalyst™ driver will only be supported in Linux distributions prior to February 2009 for the legacy products listed above.



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Hardware
    2

    “I love SC” T-shirt now available

    Posted 28th Oct 2009 01:47 PM by Freelancer

    Blizzard have let us know that the official “I love SC” T-shirt is now available in their online store.

    Want to let the world know your plans to zerg rush through the lines for the release of StarCraft II? With our new StarCraft II t-shirts, you can literally wear your heart on your sleeve and show your love for this up-coming Blizzard game.



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Community, Contests, StarCraft 2
    0

    Dustin Browder Interview

    Posted 26th Oct 2009 07:08 PM by moondragon

    Gamasutra have interviewed Dustin Browder about the design and all the challenges that involves to recreate one of the best RTS of all time. We both learn about his past and his philosophy about gaming design and how to bring back old players as well as new.

    Read the interview.



    Continue reading...

    0

    Starcraft # 5 Preview

    Posted 22nd Oct 2009 08:54 PM by Medievaldragon

    Wildstorm Comics released preview scans of Starcraft # 5 and it doesn't look good for the War Pigs. They land on Urona Sigma for clues on Jim Raynor's location after hunting for him for weeks when suddenly they detect Sons of Korhal dropships. They sneak on foot wearing their Marine suits, but don't see any sign of the dropships. Just land and sea miles around. Suddenly, they get a zerg rush with Mutalisks raining down on them. When everything looked like they had the situation under control ... yikes, zerglings, hydralisks and Ultralisks unburrow around the War Pigs, surrounding them. Will the War Pigs survive this unexpected ambush? I ain't know, but when Hickson says: "Only one thing to do, only one way to go" -- things look even grimmer. Is Nuura betraying the War Pigs, or is Hickson hiding something other than a secret beneath his scarred skin?

    On a zerg-infested world, the War Pigs come face-to-face with Jim Raynor, but it's becoming painfully clear that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man who brought them back together for this do-or-die mission – Cole Hickson. Prepare for revelations, shocks and cover-to-cover action! Plus, a peek at Nuura Joss' troubled past! This one has it all!

    On Sale October 28, 2009
    Wildstorm, 32 pg, $2.99 US

    Written by Simon Furman
    Art by Federico Dallocchio and Brian Denham
    Cover by Federico Dalloc






    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Merchandise, Comic Book
    3

    Official Battle Report 4 is online

    Posted 21st Oct 2009 10:02 PM by kuangtu

    The official Battle Report 4 page is now online. The 720P high-definition movie is 528mb, same as Battle Report 3. This time the map is remake of well-known, classic Lost Temple (Click on the image to enlarge the map). Also it’s the first time that Terran Nuclear Missile has been used in a battle report.

    VS

    Yeon-HoLee (blue team) VS David Kim (red team)

    The Battle Report 4 has been “leaked” for couple of days, but if you still haven’t seen it, just click here to download it from the official site or click here if you are a Mac user.



    Continue reading...

    0

    Win ‘Grunty’ the Murloc Space Marine!

    Posted 20th Oct 2009 04:14 PM by Leord

    A little heads up for all non-WoW-players: Our sister site WorldofWar.net is running a Murloc Space Marine giveaway at the moment (and has been for the last week), and YOU can be the proud owner of one if you play WoW. These little rascals even fight your friends' zerglings if they have one of those (no workd if it can fight the mini Diablo).

    Some exciting news; As a thank you to our site supporters, we have five Grunty the Murloc Space Marines to give away. These cute little armour-clad baby murlocs were given to BlizzCon attendees this year, along with people who paid to watch the event on Direct TV or by streaming over the net. Needless to say, they're quite rare and many people are yet to see one in-game.


    This giveaway is set up for WoW pals, and you can get more information about it all here, where you also can find more information about the pet itself. The givaway closes tonight (Tuesday 20 October) at 23:59 GMT.

    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Community, Other Games
    0

    Starcraft # 8

    Posted 19th Oct 2009 10:52 PM by Medievaldragon



    The War Pigs mourn the death of one of their own, aware that their own days are now meagerly numbered.  There’s no way forward and no way back, and an all-out suicidal tilt at Tamsen Cauley seems teh only remaining option.  But, behind the scenes, a powerful enemy of Cauley is making his own move.  And the War Pigs are a resource “Ghostmaster General” Leonid Celsus could sorely use right now!

    On sale January 27, 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
    Written by Simon Furman
    Art by Mike Miller
    Cover by Carlos D’Anda



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Merchandise, Comic Book
    26

    Battle Report 4 Out

    Posted 19th Oct 2009 12:01 PM by Leord

    Battle Report 4 is out, even if the official page is not showing it yet.

    Whether if it’s leaked or not is unknown at this point. Last time we thought it was leaked, it was actually an exclusive blizzard had given to a European gaming site.

    The BR has been close to publication for quite some time, and was originally dated for September, but better late than never!

    We have currently downloaded the film, and we are uploading it to IncGamers.tv. It will be available here on the StarCraft site, as well as here.

    Update: Embed in progress! If you’re having problems seeing the video, try reloading the page with CTRL + F5.


    Some notes from BR4:

    1. Siege tanks is used for the first time and we see how important the high ground really is in StarCraft II
    2. Psi storm in action for the first time.
    3. Dropships in action and use of high ground.
    4. Nuclear warfare in its full glory.
    5. Reapers and stimpacks used in full effect.
    5. Hellions are used to full advantage for the first time.

    More info coming soon!

    Update! Seems like it was not at all a leak, but a Gamer.nl 24 hours exclusive:

    The Starcraft 2 Battle Reports show a complete match in the upcoming RTS game show. In the fourth episode, in Netherlands 24 hours long Gamer.nl exclusively at shows, you can battle between the Protoss and Terran behold.

    Also thanks StarCraft2.net.pl among other for the tips.



    Continue reading...

    0

    StarCraft IncGamers Love World of WarCraft

    Posted 19th Oct 2009 11:30 AM by Leord

    ...or at least WoW CM Wryxian at WoW-Europe.com!

    Medievaldragon’s awesome Battle.net 2.0 guide was highlighted on the WoW boards. The rest of the posts have little to do with REAL games (meaning StarCraft II, you dimwit), but this is a pretty good opportunity to highlight the great work MD put into the article in the first place.

    Blizzard Quote: (Source)
    Did any of you check out WorldofWar.net’s feature about Battle.net 2.0? Even though it focuses on Battle.net’s integration in SCII, there’s some intriguing screenshots there:
    http://starcraft.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzcon-2009-battle.net-2.0-screenshots-preview/

    Notably this one:
    http://starcraft.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2938&cat=547

    Not a keylogger no, it’s one of our official fansites. wink

    Thanks for several tips on this.



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Battle.net, Blue Posts
    0

    Jim Lee @ Big Apple Comic Con 2009 in New York City

    Posted 15th Oct 2009 10:51 PM by Medievaldragon

    The popular artist Jim Lee (Wildstorm Comics) will be in New York City attending the Big Apple Comic Con this weekend.  Do you wish to ask questions about the Starcraft comic book series or the World of Warcraft comic book? You have a shot at a response during his live Q&A on Saturday, October 17th at 2:00pm in Room A.

    The Big Apple Comic Con is located at Pier 94— 711 12th Ave and W 55th Street in Manhattan, New York. (map here). Tickets may be found online here. One day tickets range between $25-30. Three-day ticket pass $45.

    FRIDAY
    1:00pm-2:00pm – Special Signing @ Wizard Booth

    SATURDAY
    1:00pm-2:00pm – VIP Signing @ Wizard Booth

    2:00pm-3:15pm – Jim Lee Q&A @ Room A
    The superstar artist and WildStorm founder takes fan questions on everything from his start at Marvel to the formation of Image and his current role at DC Comics drawing Frank Miller’s All Star Batman & Robin!

    7:00pm-8:00pm – 100% Cotton Featuring Joe Quesada & Jim Lee @ Room A
    Come see Wizard Editor Mike Cotton dish with Joe Q. and Jim Lee! Please be advised that we can pretty much guarantee that this panel will not be suitable for all ages!



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under: Merchandise, Comic Book
    5

    Starcraft II Q&A Batch 54

    Posted 15th Oct 2009 07:25 PM by Medievaldragon

    Starcraft II Q&A Batch 54 has been released with some gameplay questions concerning zergling vs zealot ratio, immobilization abilities, the mothership status, the infestor’s role, is EMP dodgeable, and a couple questions about Mods/Campaigns.

    Blizzard Quote:
    [SC2 Forum]
    1. Does the Zergling vs. Zealot ratio remain at 4:1 or has it changed in the latest builds?


    One zealot can usually take out two, and sometimes three zerglings. However, the ratio is mainly based on positioning and micro-controlling. As the number of zealots grows, it will take more zerglings to win the fight since the zealots can clump up and reduce the attacking surface area. Smart use of terrain, such as a choke or backing up against a wall, will also help a protoss player reduce this attack area. Zerglings have to secure a good surround around the zealots to keep the ratio close.

    [SC Legacy]
    2. In World of Warcraft pvp they found an issue over time that it was “very unsatisfying” to the player when they lost control of their character as it limited their ability to do their job or role. There is a noticeable increase in stuns and immobilization in Starcraft 2, which was barely present in Starcraft 1. From your experience in testing, do you feel abilities, which limit unit control, provide more dynamic game play so far or are you noticing more concern?


    First of all, there were actually some abilities in the original StarCraft that could cause players to lose control of units. These abilities include the ghost’s lockdown, the corsair’s disruption web, and the dark archon’s mind control. It may be premature to suggest at this point that there’s a “noticeable increase” in stuns and immobilization in StarCraft II.

    To address the comparison anyway, in World of Warcraft, you control a single character, unlike RTS games where you manage multiple units and bases. The difference in the World of Warcraft is when you lose control of your character you simply have to wait it out, assuming you don’t have any control breaks. However in StarCraft, when units in your army are being controlled, you can still issue orders to the rest of your army, manage your base, build new units, etc. There are a lot of options and we happy with the diversity it brings to gameplay at this point.

    3. What is the current status of the Mothership? What niche does it fill at this time, and if the unit were removed, would there be a reason to fill that niche with a different unit or would protoss still be fine?


    Currently the mothership has a passive cloaking field for nearby units and buildings, wormhole transit, temporal rift, and vortex as its abilities. We are happy with the state of the mothership at this time, and would like to hear feedback from the players once beta starts.

    4. What is your overall goal for the Infestor? The units have had and removed so many abilities, are you trying to focus into a support role, or disruption and harassment, or just to have a wide variety of spells so it can be a quick response unit?


    It is intended to play more of the disruption/harassment role. They are meant to burrow and move up ahead of the swarm to soften up their opponent’s forces.

    5. Is EMP dodgeable, or there’s some sort of indication that it’s going to be launched? And does this cause a problem with Immortals?


    It’s possible to dodge EMP, but it is difficult to do. Your options include anticipating your opponent will be casting an EMP by seeing the ghost or its shimmer and predicting it; being near the edge of the EMP range and moving out quickly; or using the stalker’s blink ability.

    [Vile Gaming]
    6. Map/mod to site communication – Will there be support for map/mod makers to bridge a connection between their map/mod to their site? For example, if a person wanted their map/mod to submit scores/results to the site, and vice-versa the map/mod could pull the highest scores from the site and display it in the game.


    It is possible for players to make their own custom score screens but there are no specific plans to bridge map data to web sites via Battle.net.

    7. Launcher support – Will maps/mods be able to have their own “launcher” (ala WoW’s launcher), as in shortcut or start icon from the computer outside of StarCraft, and have their own screens, after a Battle.net authenticating screen (ala Twitter’s, or Facebook’s, application authentication).


    There are no plans to allow maps and mods to have their own launcher. However, making a loading screen or launch screen is still possible.



    Continue reading...

    Filed Under:

    Search StarCraft IncGamers

    We are Here Where are You?

    - StarCraft Videos

    Loading...

    StarcraftWire's Friends

    SC2p.com

    (view more)

    Link to StarcraftWire with this image:

    Syndicate