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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

...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.

Thanks for several tips on this.

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!

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.

After much to and fro, Jim Raynor finally got his voice back, and unfortunately, Sarah Kerrigan lost hers, when we really thought it was going the other way around. There has been some rumours on her voice actress, but nothing confirmed.

Now, the German dubbing of StarCraft is obviously being planned, and Xordiah has been asking for the opinions of german fans, which voices they liked, and which they liked… less.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	I would like to catch up another topic in this post, based on the first point [of the first post]: The German dubbing of StarCraft II. I would like to hear your opinion about it. Which German voices did you like in StarCraft and StarCraft: Broodwar and which did you like less? If you think of the StarCraft II units already shown, how do you imagine the voices? What’s in your mind if you see the characters?

Now, not to be starting to blow the beta horn again (in fact, I don’t think we’ll see anything before 11 November, regardless if Medievaldragon was right or not), but it’s nice to see preparations for a dubbing. By the time they dub the game, it will already have all the dialogue and little snippets of sound from units done, so it could be fairly close to release. Since we’re all waiting for Battle.net 2.0 at the moment, perhaps the team is just finishing off any lose ends, and polishing, while waiting for the beta to start…

Either way, nice to see some news popping up!

Thanks SeggsyAra for tip and translate

The Protoss are watching us ...  (<> ( <>  <>) <>)

The second StarCraft Pal givaway is concluded, and new member rock599 is the lucky owner of one of these:



Pretty much a walk over, as we don't have nearly as many StarCraft Pals as we do Diii.net pals or WoW pals. Well, the availability to become a Pal has not been around for that long, so that is just to be expected, but it means current Pals do have a greater chance of getting stuff in draws. Not that all pals are in them anyway...

A new giveaway will be held relatively soon for either more beta keys (of some non-StarCraft game) and/or another Jim Raynor N00B, so keep a lookout!

Now, in case you forgot, our StarCraft Pal subscription is here for fans of the site who want to help it with making sure it STAYS online. Read more about it after the break of this news item.



As a member of Starcraft: IncGamers you’ll hopefully realise the value of all that is on offer, from our well-managed forums to extensive news coverage, and our strategies to the encyclopeadic content on the Starcraft Wiki. All this is produced and provided absolutely FREE!

There is more however.

Through our subscription feature you can become a Site Pal and receive VIP benefits and services, (all listed below). Also, you will be helping to keep Starcraft: IncGamers and the Starcraft Wiki up and running and that should give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Here’s what you get:


Forum Perks

• Banner Free
• Signature (text or graphic)
• Unlimited PMs
• Access to private Site Pal forum
• Much larger Avatar (upload your own or use one of ours)
• Animated Avatar
• Much larger Profile Picture
• Set yourself to invisible
• More formatting options

Other Benefits

• Beta key draws for Blizzard titles where available
• Beta key draws for other games through IncGamers.Com
• Draws for Blizzcon Tickets where available
• Site Pal prize draws for goodies such as merchandise, games and more

We hope this is something you’d like to take up and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that all World of Warcraft accounts must be converted to a Battle.net 2.0 Account effective November 11, 2009.  All players who merge their WoW account with a Battle.net account or who have done so already before this alert will receive a penguin pet in-game.  This is awesome news for a simple reason.

SPECULATION-MODE ON

Starcraft II Beta was delayed a few months ago due to the Battle.net 2.0 platform not been complete.  What does that have to do with World of Warcraft? Blizzard gave us a press kit at BlizzCon 2009 which contained Battle.net interface screenshots.  Basically, Starcraft II, Diablo III and World of Warcraft players will be able to communicate with each other through the Battle.net Friend List.

We could see in these screenshots how the World of Warcraft friends list displayed Starcraft II icons to the side of your friend’s name, and vice versa.  Thus, my two-cents is that this imminent deadline to convert WoW Accounts to a Battle.net Account is an initial step prior to announcing Starcraft II Beta.

• View the 15 Battle.net 2.0 Interface screenshots.
• Starcraft II Social UI
• New WoW Friend’s List (Through Battle.net 2.0 Account .. hmm)

	Blizzard Quote:
	BREAKING NEWS October 12, 2009 12:00PM PST Required Battle.net Account Conversions In 30 days, on November 11, 2009, all accounts must be converted into a Battle.net account to login to World of Warcraft.  Any existing account that upgrades to the Battle.net platform, including ones that were upgraded in the past, will receive a brand new in-game penguin pet starting later this week. Please visit http://www.battle.net to convert your existing account into a Battle.net account or visit the forums for more information.

The Sons of the Storm website has been updated with photos of René Koiter (Twincruiser) posing as Jim Raynor during the costume contest at BlizzCon 2009.  There are many photos of the Sons of the Storm members including Chris Metzen, Samwise, Glenn Rane, Peter Lee (Drawgoon), Mark Gibbons (Red Knuckle), and Trevor Jacobs (Thammer).

Rene and Robert Clothworthy (voice of Jim Raynor) posed together for a photo, as well as Tricia Helfer (Galactica) who is voicing Kerrigan—you know, Rene, that could have been Glynnis Talken instead.

Overall, Rene wrote some funny descriptions on each photo and added links to galleries and videos on most of the descriptions. Go check it out. The Rocktober Blast entry shows many World of Warcraft: Cataclysm concept art images of the goblin and worgen races, and a lower caste earth elemental from Deephome.

	Blizzard Quote:
	It has been well over a month since BlizzCon and if you fiends are interested in our adventures be sure to check out our official BlizzCon ‘09 article. Also, we thought we’d throw you guys a nice art treat on the side…and well before Halloween, HA! Yeah, we bring it like that. Remember though…our eye-candy doesn’t rot the teeth, it spoils the mind! René of Twincruiser

Simon Furman commenced writing the second arc of the StarCraft comic book published by Wildstorm Comics.  Furman teased we will find two of the biggest and baddest characters of the StarCraft universe.  Does that sound exciting? Heck yeah.  Who do you speculate he may be referring to?  Kerrigan? Duran? Ulrezaj? Emperor Mengsk? Can’t wait for the second arc to start.

Do you like the current arc?

Furman: StarCraft-wise, I’m now well into scripting the second story arc, which really ramps up the action and scale, featuring two of the StarCraft Universe’s biggest and baddest characters! And there’s more, of course, but nothing I can talk about right now. Keep watching for updates as and when!

Since beta seems to be still far away and no news in sight then what could be more intresting than going back to the past and look into StarCraft a litle bit, going retro if you like. I wanted to share some StarCraft vods with you guys and why not begin with a match that was recently played between Tossgirl vs Reach. This match is very intresting and the commentators is also doing a fine job of being funny as well.

Next up we have a legendary match between Boxer vs Yojo and according to many people this match is one of the best games boxer have ever played. It just shows why he is the “Emperor” and that he can come back from almost a certain defeat. Watch and enjoy.

I hope you guys enjoyed those vods, i know i have.

 

When there is little light in the StarCraft II tunnel, Kerrigan_ss found us a torch for us to carry while waiting for winter (and hopefully the beta) to begin.

It’s the Battlecake Band playing at the KuroKiiro festival, and it’s a medley of the Terran theme, possibly the best piece of music in the original StarCraft game. As someone comments on the YouTube page: “The fact that most of the audience members are girls makes this video awesome.”

The band also played other videogame classics like Zelda, Megaman 2 etc, so it’s well worth to check out their YouTube profile.

If you’re still bored, check out the Tournament Forum for updates on the second “season” of the SCW Tournament.

Nethaera invites all Blizzard games’ communities to participate in their Twittler Mania discussions, contests and challenges. You should also become a follower to have daily updates on your Twitter account.

	Blizzard Quote:
	Follow all of your favorite Blizzard Entertainment news on Twitter. ( http://www.twitter.com/ ) Just head over to @Warcraft, @StarCraft, or @Diablo for all of the news, events, contests, and more. We’re starting off with a bang, so you can enter contests for each of the franchises: @Warcraft - http://twitter.com/warcraft @StarCraft - http://twitter.com/starcraft @Diablo - http://twitter.com/diablo Check back Daily for more information on the latest activities in Twitter. Daily Discussions DailyWoW to take part in the discussion of the day for World of Warcraft. #DailySC to take part in the discussion of the day for Starcraft #DailyDiablo to take part in the discussion of the day for Diablo Spotlight Discussions #BlizzSpotlight for discussions on highlighted topics from within the community Blizzard Challenges #BlizzChallenge

If you are interested in gaming in general, you should try out the IncGamers podcast.

This the team looks at the latest events in the gaming industry including the layoffs at Transmission Games, changes to the WoW movie name, Funcom layoffs and their move to Canada, Ireland enticing Scottish Games developers, OnLive, the Japanese Games Industry, Rock Band 2 on Wii and more. Our crew also discuss the games they’ve played this week including Operation flashpoint: Dragon Rising, NHL2K, Tekken Six, All Aspects Warfare and of course, WoW.

Check it out over on IncGamers here.

Blizzard have opened a youtube channel where they put up the cinematics for all their games. Karune explains.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Check out our huge archive of Blizzard cinematics and videos around our StarCraft, Warcraft, and Diablo franchises all in one place: http://www.youtube.com/blizzard

Here are two classics.

After 11 years they are still fresh and intresting just like the first time i watched them.

Hope everyone has enjoyed all the BlizzCon news and got a chance at our Twitter beta key giveaway! Everything has settled here in the office after various shows and events we’ve been at, but we are back in the swing of things. If you haven’t been following us on Twitter, don’t forget to do so too, as we will consistently be adding more spotlights, development info, and fun contests on there as we approach beta and throughout the development of StarCraft II.

Check us out here:
http://www.twitter.com/StarCraft

—-StarCraft II Q&A Batch 53—-

1. Computer AI – Does the computer’s online AI vary from its offline counterpart?

No. They are the same.

2. Have you considered allowing a post-game lobby for users to discuss the last game, collectively watch replays, or immediately enter into a rematch?

Yes, we have a plan for a post game lobby. However the details are not finalized yet.

3. Is there any update on additional map features other than the Xel’Naga watch towers, destructible rocks and tall grass?

No. Currently there is no update on additional map features.

4. How many different voice actors are needed for StarCraft II, including the unit sounds and campaign heroes?

There are 58 unique voice actors participating, with some voicing multiple roles, and the number may increase as the game gets closer to release.

5. The terrain types in StarCraft II we have seen so far had names like “Bel’Shir (Jungle)”. Does this mean that “Bel’Shir” is just an alias for jungle and every terrain is just named after a typical planet using it or are there – to stick with this example – other jungle maps with a different terrain set, something like “Aiur (Jungle)”?

We named our terrain sets based on the planets. There are a lot more terrain sets than in the original StarCraft and you will have huge flexibility in modifying the terrain sets (including adjusting textures, doodads, lighting) allowing you to create your own variations of the default maps. There may be other jungle-themed default maps named after other planets.

6. Will there be any chance to have more options on pausing the game? In StarCraft: Brood War every player can pause the game three times, but every other player can unpause it. How about a (user editable) time limit before other players can unpause the game?

We recommend that players communicate with each other in the game to agree on when to pause and unpause during the game. We feel that pausing the game interrupts the game flow and it would be inconvenient for players to be forced to wait for a certain amount of time before being able to unpause. The pausing feature is mainly meant to allow for pausing of the game when all players are in agreement and for which duration.

7. I already knew the map editor would be available to beta testers a while after Beta was released, but this is why I’m asking the bland question, will it also be available to non-participating people?

No, the map editor will only be available during the beta for beta testers.

8. When a unit comes out from a building will there be only 4 exits from the building like in Warcraft 3 or will there be “infinite”
?

It is not infinite, but your units will come out from a building at the closest point on the building to where your rally point is set.

—-End of Transmission—-

Blizzard.com has a new, flash-intensive, modernized look, with everything in collapsible tabs and constantly changing main page images/headlines. (Nothing new has been added to the StarCraft 2 page.) Here’s their news post on the new new:

	Blizzard Quote:
	Welcome to the newly redesigned Blizzard.com! Featuring a brand-new design, this website is the focal point for all official Blizzard Entertainment news, press releases, and much, much more. Games section: The updated games section includes links to our current projects as well as detailed information for all of our previously released games, including trailers, screenshots, concept art, wallpapers, and more. Company section: This section is all about Blizzard Entertainment as a company—it features our company profile, core values, partners, career opportunities, event information, and updated press center. Community section: This is your first stop for all community-related Blizzard Entertainment content, including the Blizzard Insider email newsletter archive, past and current contests, our fan art gallery, and BlizzCast, our official podcast. Explore the new website now.

What do you guys think of the changes? I’m indifferent; the new site looks fine, but it’s kind of soulless and mechanical, to my eye. But then again, I like content, and I’m not a huge fan of new, streamlined, image-intensive, minimal-text, space-age website designs.

An interesting aspect with the site looking more and more like the new Battle.net, is that they might be getting closer to actually releasing the beta?

 

Paul Benjamin will be at the Rogue’s Gallery Comics store in Texas on October 3 signing copies of World of Cars.  If you live nearby, feel free to bring your copy of Starcraft: Frontline # 1-4 for signing. He wrote Weapon of War (Vol. 1), War-Torn (Vol. 3) and Orientation (vol. 4) alongside Dave Shramek.

Rogue’s Gallery Comics (Map)
1601 S Ih 35 # 360, Round Rock, Williamson, Texas
(in Round Rock/Williamson County area, near the Outback Steakhouse)

Phone: (512)279-8888
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Long Beach Comic Con is taking place through October 2-4, 2009 at the Long Beach Convention Center.  The 1-Day-Pass is available online for $ 25, or $45 for a 3-day pass.

Bring your copies of the Starcraft and World of Warcraft comic books (Wildstorm) and copies of Starcraft: Frontline and Warcraft Legends (Tokyopop). You will find the following writers and artists at the Long Beach Comic Con:

• Grace Randolph will be at booth # 20 (writer of NEWSWORTHY in Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 2 and LAST CALL in Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 3)
• Doug Mahnke will be at booth # 14 (artist: Starcraft # 2 cover, August 2009)
• Jim Lee will be at booth # 4-8 (World of Warcraft # 1 cover, Wildstorm)
• Sandra Hope will be at booth # 4-8 (inker: Starcraft # 4 cover, World of Warcraft # 1-7, 10, 18-19)

Long Beach Convention Center (Map)

300 Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90802

Box Office & General Info: (562) 436-3661
Business Office: (562)4 36-3636
Fax: (562) 436-9491

Karune confirmed the Starcraft 2 Q&A Batch # 53 is drawing near.  It’s currently in localization stage and will be available soon. No ETA is available, but at this point it is a few days away.

With all the info released at Blizzcon, it will be one of the most awaited Q&As to either clear up or add up to the topics mentioned at Blizzcon or either to offer new info.  Keep your eyes on our news for any updates.

Karune also revealed the Protoss can cast Proton Charge over the minimap.

	Blizzard Quote:
	In SC1, all abilities that don’t require a target can be cast through the minimap. I’m assuming that this use of the minimap as a target area designation interface still holds true for SC2. But I want to ask specifically: Does this hold true for Proton Charge? Karune: Yup, you will be able to use the mini-map to cast the ability. While this may make it easier in compared to the other 2 races, warping-in with the highest efficiency is much more difficult than having queued units of Terrans with reactors or Zerg with their many extra larvae and all units being built from hatcheries. They are different yet will be balanced

Starcraft fans can find Keith R.A. DeCandido at two public events in early October. Bring your copy of Starcraft Ghost: Nova to be signed, and say hi to the author.

Tuesday, October 6 at 7:30pm
Barnes & Noble Bookstore - Park Slope (Map)
267 7th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718-832-9066

Sunday, October 11 (all-day-long)
Baltimore Comic Con (Map)
BOOM! Studios booth
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201

Keith R.A. Decandido wrote World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred, and Starcraft Ghost: Nova.  On 2010, you will see some of his new work in Starcraft Ghost: Academy Vol 1-2 (Tokyopop)  and Starcraft Ghost: Spectres (Pocket Books).

Blizzcon 2009 is behind us but now we get to see all the final matches that were played for StarCraft, Warcraft III and World Of Warcraft. We also get the exclusive exhibition match for StarCraft II as well.
It is a 2vs2 game and for the first time we can see how good teamwork will be like.

Enjoy your watching.

According to Blizzards main Twitter page the new battle report 4 is in localization process and it is being translated to all supported languages.

Source

A big thanks to Teamliquid for the information. If you have missed the previous battle reports then they can all be found here.

A new gameplay movie have reached internet once again. It is from this year´s blizzcon and it is a match between Skyhigh vs Nada and a classical Terran vs Protoss match.

It is a warm sight in my heart to see that tanks still brings death upon its targets.

Update!

StarCraft Legacy also posted a new video containing single player footage. The video is in polish but i gues the narrator explains the single player aspect of StarCraft II and how different it will be compared to what Blizzard has done in the past.

If you have missed out our own single player preview, don´t forget to read everything about it.

As matchmaking is now done, and the first match already played (woah)

Since the matchmaking have already been made, if there’s a few people out there who feel like they’ve missed this event, we can still allow just a few people in as we’re at this point an uneven number.

So instead of passing this one up, head on over here BUT!! This extra little friendly signup is only open until the first round is done! Which means on monday. So be quick if u’re just sitting there and thinking, and do remember that, you’ll most likely have to play against someone else (duh) so scheduling a time could come hard, but we’ll see that through.

See ya there?

Okay, more Pal giveaways are coming! Last time it was a bit of LoL (League of Legends beta key giveaway), and this time we're giving away Jim Ranor!

Yes, THE Jim Raynor, in "N00Bz" form:



Now, in case you forgot, our StarCraft Pal subscription is here for fans of the site who want to help it with making sure it STAYS online. Read more about it after the break of this news item.

In order to be eligible in the draw of this Raynor N00Bz toy, all you need to do is make one reply in this thread. We'll take names until 5th of October at which point one Pal will be randomly selected. Obviously, since it's a "Pal Giveaway", you need to be a Pal to access the forum.

If you somehow missed how to become a supporter of the site, check out our Pal page, and below you can find more information.



As a member of Starcraft: IncGamers you’ll hopefully realise the value of all that is on offer, from our well-managed forums to extensive news coverage, and our strategies to the encyclopeadic content on the Starcraft Wiki. All this is produced and provided absolutely FREE!

There is more however.

Through our subscription feature you can become a Site Pal and receive VIP benefits and services, (all listed below). Also, you will be helping to keep Starcraft: IncGamers and the Starcraft Wiki up and running and that should give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Here’s what you get:


Forum Perks

• Banner Free
• Signature (text or graphic)
• Unlimited PMs
• Access to private Site Pal forum
• Much larger Avatar (upload your own or use one of ours)
• Animated Avatar
• Much larger Profile Picture
• Set yourself to invisible
• More formatting options

Other Benefits

• Beta key draws for Blizzard titles where available
• Beta key draws for other games through IncGamers.Com
• Draws for Blizzcon Tickets where available
• Site Pal prize draws for goodies such as merchandise, games and more

We hope this is something you’d like to take up and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Richard A. Knaak will be signing books at some bookstores in Kansas and Missouri through September 25-27.  He wrote the story Thundergod in the pages of Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 1.  Those fans of the Warcraft and Diablo pocket books are welcome to bring their copies for signing and to say hi to Richard. Check out the schedule and maps below:

Friday, September 25 Borders Bookstore (Map) 5201 N Belt Hwy St Joseph, MO 64506 (816) 279-6111

Saturday, September 26 Barnes & Noble (Map) Oak Park Mall, 11323 W 95th Street, Overland Park, KS‎ (913) 492-8187

Sunday, September 27 Borders Bookstore (Map) 700 New Hampshire St Lawrence, KS 66044 (785) 331-3226

LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM is not only now out, but is already in a 2ND PRINTING!  First copies of the second printing were spotted only three days after it was released!  Thank you to all those who have told me that they have already picked it up.  There are some great offers out there on Amazon, Borders, Books-A-Million, and others and Borders now often has terrific coupons in the stores themselves.  The omnibus is also available as an ebook for even less!

If you are interested in personalized copies, yes, we are now selling those!  The price for those in the US, including shipping and handling is $21.  Either go to http://www.paypal.com and pay the account (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or mail a check made out to me for the amount to:  5508 Lanshire Dr., Rogers, AR 72758

I am also accepting worldwide orders on LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM!  Simply email me your country and I will let you know the full charges.

WARCRAFT!  STORMRAGE will be released end of February.  Check out the manga anthology WARCRAFT LEGENDS, VOL. 5 for a story tied to the novel, plus an excerpt!  Pocket Book also has another excerpt.  Check out their website for details.

THE WARCRAFT MANGA SERIES IS NOW A NY TIMES BESTSELLER!  Building on the success of the Sunwell Trilogy and the first volumes, the series sees continued success!

SIGNINGS!  For those in the KC area, I will be at the Borders in St. Joseph, MO this Friday—- the 25th—- at 6 pm.  I will be at the B&N in Overland Park, KS on Saturday the 26th at 1 pm and at the Borders in Lawrence, KS at 2 pm on Sunday!

That’s it for now!

Best

Richard A. Knaak

Starcraft # 4 just arrived home, with a couple of surprises.  The War Pigs continue their hunt for Jim Raynor throughout zerg-infested worlds.  Their informant, Denny Houston, died in issue # 3 before revealing which of these worlds to find him.  Extrapolating the worlds visited by their informant in the past three months, they arrive to Turfa Dei’s homeworld ... Planet Agria. Hudderstown Colony.  August 13, 2502.

Agria is one of the planets we visited in our Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty single-player hands-on gameplay at Blizzard’s campus back on July 20th.  Fans had a shot at the single player at Blizzcon, PAX and GameCon too.  The other revelation about Turfa Dei is that he has a high Psi-Index.  In this issue, he was able to resist a Ghost sent by the Dominion, and sensed it.  That places Turfa Dei—one of the members of the War Pigs, as a free Wrangler.

Starcraft Ghost: Nova by Keith R.A. DeCandido introduced for first time the concept of a wrangler (categorized as a Psi-index 3.5), and the recent story War-Torn by Paul Benjamin and Dave Shramek in Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 3 made good use of another wrangler named Randall (awesome character on the chaotic-evil and cynical-sarcastic level).  It will be very useful for the War Pigs to have a wrangler among their own, able to sense nearby Ghosts, or resisting psi-attacks not only from ghosts, but ... from Kerrigan and the Zerg?

It’s pretty good to see the comic book so early introducing planets and plots that tie-in with the Starcraft II single player, echoing Chris Metzen and Micky Neilson’s words of creating a cohesive universe across the licensed products and the game.

I am somewhat wondering why there was no solicitations for December.  I might have answer from DC Comics / Wildstorm on that soon. You can subscribe to the Starcraft Comic Book here

The War Pigs are getting closer and closer to hunting down renegade marshal Jim Raynor, but obstacles and internal conflict continue to muddy the mission waters. Far-from-gentle giant Turfa Dei confronts the ghosts of his past while the team faces off against present day ghosts – the Dominion’s elite and deadly.

Written by: Simon Furman
Art by: Federico Dallocchio and Brian Denham
Cover by: Federico Dallocchio
Variant cover by: Shawn Moll and Sandra Hope

This is how you beat a zerg on Road Runner. Harass the hell and macro to push out mid-late game.

Besides the entertaining play from Boxer and Yellow, notice the map: Road Runner!

This is a heavily zerg-favoured map due to the ridge heavy terrain, so it was logical for Boxer to go mech.

Part 1


Part 2

Until we get news that StarCraft 2's beta is starting, everyone will just have to make do with some good old fashioned Activision Blizzard news.

We have two articles for you today. Both are from Gamespot and good for some light reading.


The first one regards the new MMO Blizzard is developing and how it will target an even larger audience than World of WarCraft. Impressive, if it succeeds with this lofty goal.

You can read the whole story here.


The second one covers points in an interview with the Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick. From Guitar Hero on Facebook to how to instill fear in your underlings employees, this interview has a little bit of everything.

Follow the link for the full article.

StarCraft 2's lead writer gets his turn in the spotlight with this interview from IGN.

Chambers talks about his time at Blizzard and what he's been doing for the past four years.

"IGN AU: What was there story-wise when you came onboard? Did you inherit an outline of where the team wanted the story to go?

Andrew Chambers: Yeah, Chris Metzen had a big overarching storyline that he'd come up with years back, when they were working on StarCraft and Brood War, that was very roughly sketched out, so one of the first things in my job was to take that, and sort of bulk it out a little bit more, and dig in to all the various ins and outs... smooth out that core idea, then extrapolate it out into how that translated into characters, more direct subplots and stuff like that."

You can find the full article here.

Due to almost NO updates on the SC2 Front, I decided to look around on the SC2GDF for a while, just for some kicks and giggles.

And it seems the people on the SC2GDF is even more edgy, than before.

And, apparently this must have been what Cavez (Dustin) meant, with "The Final Stretch":

F - June 2009
I - July 2009
N - August 2009
A - September 2009
L - October 2009

S - December 2009
T - January 2010
R - February 2010
E - March 2010
T - April 2010
C - May 2010
H - June 2010


Quite a bummer actually.

As you know, we were at BlizzCon this year and we grabbed plenty of footage for those of you that may have missed what went on.

The IncGamers team has been hard at work compiling all the best bits from the show, including the dance and costume comps, and some clips from the show floor. Go and check it out over on IncGamers TV now

Today the signups for the 2nd. StarcraftWire tournament came online.

We’re allowing everyone who wants to sign up, have fun and play with some of the community members.

If you wanna tag along, head on over to the Signup-thread and sign up!

The signup-thread closes next Friday (the 18th), so if you’re unsure if you want to or not, you still have a whole week to make up your mind.

Should you happen to be one of the top 3, you’ll get a nifty little medal like this one attached to your account (shown in the link is the gold medal).

Last seasons winners were Troglodyte, Wergild and Obsid - The final thread can be found here.

Last season saw some interesting matches, including Leord vs Epic_Sheep, and some interesting tactics in the match between Troglodyte and me. If you haven’t seen the cool replays, Moondragon is currently making commentated videos about the highlights, which we will see the fruits of soon (hopefully).

But keep in mind, this is a friendly and casual tournament, we hope for everyone who wants to participate that they’ll have as much fun as ourselves.

Karune answered a few miscellaneous questions, and cleared up some issues fans were having trouble with this afternoon. The first relates to Blizzard’s recent twitter 500 Beta key give away contest. As always, questions are in white, with official Blizzard responses in blue.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	I got selected from the twitter contest just today and i was wondering which battle.net account I’m suppose to write? Battle.net 2.0 account is the one you should send. I will let them know to confirm all beta key winner emails. For reference, the ‘new’ Battle.net will continue to be known as Battle.net, and the forums and ‘old’ Battle.net will be known as classic Battle.net.

Next up Karune debunked a rumor that Diablo III would be available before StarCraft II.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	StarCraft II will be available before Diablo 3.

Click on for more!

The last two quotes are about a purely visual Dropship ability. In the current build, massive ground units such as, Thors, Ultralisks, and Collosi are visible underneath the Dropship when they are picked up. A fan had a question about this.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	So I got a chance to see the dropship carry the thor around at PAX this weekend, and it was a really cool visual. For those who don’t know, the dropship can carry a thor, but instead of the thor actually going inside the dropship, it just sort of curls up and literally just gets picked up by the dropship. So you can actually see a huge friggin thor on the underside of the medivac as its flying around. Currently this is a temporary animation as well - I think they are looking at ways of making it even cooler looking than it looks now.

Which then prompted questions about how the other non-Terran, massive units would be carried.

	Blizzard Quote:
	When we’ve figured out a way to display the Colossus and Ultralisk visually I will let you know, but in the meantime there isn’t much to say about it - it is a Medivac carrying an Ultralisk… Currently this is a temporary animation as well - I think they are looking at ways of making it even cooler looking than it looks now.

There was an article over at TeamLiquid that unsettled some Terran/Protoss players who wonder how viable it is to counter 1Hatch Queen strategy to rush Terran and Protoss players. Karune has countered this scenario before and confirms he has seen other people using other strategies.  Don’t despair, it is possible.

	Blizzard Quote:
	Archerofaiur: Teamliquid recently release a article that claims that 1 hatch queen is almost impossible to beat do to the economic advantage and denying scouting. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=101195 We were curious how Terran or Protoss should deal with a zerg 1hatch queen build. Karune: There is also an article here which states a few of my thoughts: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=101510 Additionally, the 1hatch queen build is strong, but relatively easy to stop if you know this is a potential strategy on the field. These are just a few strategies I use and by no means the only strategies I’ve seen used: With Terran, you will naturally want to block your choke point. This in itself will easily stop fast Zerglings, as you can use Marines to fire upon enemies from a cliff (since they don’t have LoS, just make sure you keep those pesky Overlords at bay, which is relatively easy as well). SCVs do an excellent job of repairing much faster than Zerglings can do damage at this early of a stage. Hydralisks on the other hand pose a bit more problems, but can still be handled by a group of Marines behind supply depots or even a bunker if it is needed. Terran choke points are quite difficult to break at the moment and while your enemy expends resources determined to break it, I would hope you would be teching either to Banshees or Reapers for harassment, then putting them into the defensive and taking you into the mid-game, where arguably at the moment Zerg is forced to be at a defensive if they did do the 1hatch queen strategy (key point being the 1 hatch or late expand). With Protoss, the proposed Zerg strategy is a bit more viable and it takes a little more skill to defend against it. For me, I often block my choke point with 2 gateways or 1 gateway/1 cybernetics core (if I am teching), leaving one cell open for an easy single Zealot block. Breaking that choke point for a single Zergling hitting that Zealot at a time, is an easy block, and quite cost effective for the Protoss player. For a determined Zerg player, they would either start attacking the gateways or tech to Banelings to take out the Zealot(s). Timing-wise, you will be able to get your second Zealot out in time well before the Gateway is even at half health, which is usually enough to push off those initial Zerglings. When your Cybernetics Core is up, this opens up Nullifiers, which is a must used unit in my opinion against Zerg. At this time if the Zerg player has converted to Hydralisks (or even straight teched to Hydralisks), you should have at least one Nullifier up, which are excellent at both killing Hydralisks (with even 1 Zealot tanking) or even better, cutting a Zerg force in half while they push up the ramp, easily allowing your Zealot to hold the choke while your ranged units like Nullifiers and Stalkers annihilate half the force with ease, putting the Zerg on the defensive now, and opening up mid-game options. Of course both strategies require micro, which is intentional - with an Overlord scouting and giving LoS, Hydralisks can be very potent. The 1 hatch queen strategy is quite capable, but not overpowering. Hope this was useful - though you can expect lots of things to still change and be changed throughout beta. Zerg’s were mentioned as the ‘weaker’ race in a developer interview not because of their early game, but their mid game. In current builds, it is much more balanced with recent changes to make Zerg a bit more threatening in mid-game, such as Roaches moving while burrowed as one example.

IncGamers has teamed up with Riot Games to give away 500 beta keys for the upcoming MOBA, League of Legends.

What’s a MOBA? It’s a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, which plays very much like DotA (in fact, it’s made by ex-Blizzard people who also worked on DotA Allstars). If you’d like a chance to take part in the beta of League of Legends, send your name and email address to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with the subject field marked “LoL”.

If you are a site Pal on this site, the Diablo or World of WarCraft sites, simply sign up in the relevant thread on the forums to receive a pair of keys, one for you and a friend, guaranteed. See the respective StarCraft, Diablo and WoW threads.

Get your emails in to us by 12 noon British Summer Time on Monday 14 September, and we’ll randomly pick the winners.

Check out IncGamers TV to see a League of Legends walkthrough trailer, and get a better idea of the game.

Blizzplanet and Starcraftwire.net will have a live chat open to all our fans and visitors to talk and interact with the Tokyopop writers involved in Starcraft: Frontline Volume 4.

As you can see in our Starcraft II Single Player Press-Hands-On Coverage, I interviewed Chris Metzen.  He elaborated on the tie-in between the novels, the Starcraft: Frontline manga series and the single player.  All the stories of the manga were already part of the single player lore rather than the other way around. In short, it is highly recommended to get your hands on these manga stories to get acquainted with the single player plots.

You will have the opportunity to interact with six writers and the editor Hope Donovan.  It is not confirmed yet, but we might have the grace to have Chris Metzen along (I will have a definite answer in a few days, so stay tuned).  Chris Metzen is one of the writers in Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 4 with the story titled: Homecoming—which tells the story of Jim Raynor’s return to Mar Sara prior to the events of the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty single player.

Watch Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 3 Sneak Preview here and Vol. 4 here.

Order the Starcraft: Frontline series here.

We will talk with the following writers:

Paul Benjamin
David Shramek
Josh Elder
David Gerrold
Chris Metzen (?)
Grace Randolph
Ren Zatopek
Hope Donovan

Date: September 9th
Time: 1pm PDT (California) ——

EUROPE:

UK London 9:00:00 PM UTC+1 hour BST
Paris timezone is 10:00:00 PM UTC+2 hours CEST

The countdown below is set so that anywhere in the world you are, when the countdown reaches 0:000 that’s when the chat will start.

 

GameIndustry.biz interviewed Michael Ryder (VP & Exec. Managing Director, International Operations) to discuss the status quo of the company with the successful World of Warcraft nigh reaching its 5-years anniversary, the Cataclysm announcement, and the delay of Starcraft II due the Battle.net 2.0 platform incomplete state.  Regardless, investors aren’t uncomfortable, and in fact the share price has increased by 6 per cent since the announcement of the delay and the revelation of further details about Battle.net 2.0 as a social-networking platform.

	Blizzard Quote:
	The expectation of quality must be tough - and maybe the company’s reputation leads to unrealistic expectations: Starcraft II is, at the end of the day, an RTS game but following the level of success Blizzard’s enjoyed in the past five years are fans expecting more? Michael Ryder: It’s an interesting question. I don’t get the sense when you’re walking around within Blizzard that people have the weight of the world on their shoulders. I think that the atmosphere in the company is a very positive one, I think people are enabled to do what they want to do. We have a lot of great development talent, a lot of people across the board in all the different functions of the company, and everybody is proud to be part of a company where the cultural norm is to try to achieve excellence in all the things that we do. So I think it’s the opposite - I think people are pretty happy working at Blizzard, and there’s a confidence that we all work together and do the things we’ve done in the past, make sure we’re focusing on the right things, and making sure we get it right. Starcraft - it’s a great tradition, there aren’t too many games that shipped ten or eleven years ago that are still on the shelf. So it’s time for Starcraft II, I think we’ll build on the success of the first one.

G4TV talks to StarCraft II art director Sam Didier which gives his take on the artistic feel and style of the game and shares his vision on the matter. We also get some impressions from the single player campaign.

If you are not up to date with the single player campaign then it is a good time to check out our own preview.

Battle.net head Greg Canessa told Gamasutra that his work on Xbox Live only “scratched the surface” of what Blizzard’s online service is planning with achievements, metagame rewards, avatars, and ladders. Greg Canessa was formerly head General Manager of Microsoft’s Xbox Live and self-proclaimed creator of Xbox Live Arcade.  He later became VP of Video Game Platforms at PopCap Games.

On May 2009, Greg Canessa joined Blizzard Entertainment to take lead as Head of Battle.net 2.0 when Rob Pardo proposed him the following: “What if you could build an online game service that had that level of sophistication or greater, but you weren’t bound by the constraints of being a platform provider? You could come out of it from a perspective of, ‘What you could you do with those online game services by deeply integrating them into specific games?’’ —read the full interview

Looks like the wait on Starcraft II due to delay behind Battle.net 2.0 will pay off big time and be worthwhile. Check out 15 screenshots StarcraftWire.net acquired from Blizzard’s Press kit CD which shows screenshots of some of the features interface.

	Blizzard Quote:
	We just scratched the surface with Xbox Live of what you could do with achievements. Wow, you can earn achievements. Great. But what if you customize those achievements really deeply and build really compelling meta-game scenarios around unlockable rewards, or decals and avatars, and ladders and leagues for StarCraft II? Those things would be really hard to do for Xbox Live. Believe me, I was on the other side. We would have loved to do that stuff, but we couldn’t do it because we couldn’t integrate it. Some games, it applies; some games, it doesn’t apply. You can’t do that sort of custom stuff.”

Ghost Academy chronicles the early years of six StarCraft characters all destined for greatness—and tragedy. Five teenaged fourth-class Terrans (Nova, Tosh, Aal, Kath, and Lio) are rough-around-the-edges Ghost cadets in training—and they are forced to deal with everyday teen issues such as crushes, physical and emotional pain, addiction to drugs and their own budding telepathic abilities.

Publisher: TOKYOPOP
ISBN-13: 9781427816122
Format: Paperback: 192pp
Pub. Date: January 05, 2010

Writer: Keith Decandido
Artist: Fernando Heinz Furukawa

Thorshammer was one of the three StarcraftWire team members we sent to BlizzCon this year, and he wrote a preview about the campaign mode, that I unfortunately took a few days to proof read (sorry, Thorsy).

Thorshammer continues where Freelancer and Medievaldragon left off, giving you further insight into the single player aspects of StarCraft II. Just continue to the actual single player content here.

The Love of a Game

Over a decade ago Blizzard Entertainment released a game that had taken them a little over 3 years to develop. It had already gone through such a massive overhaul that it hardly resembled the original iteration. I am sure no one at the time knew the heights to which that game would reach. That game was StarCraft, and it has since captured the hearts of millions.

A year later, Blizzard released an expansion named Brood War to the masses. This continuation of the events in the Koprulu Sector upped the ante, in terms of both gameplay and story; turning the saga of StarCraft into one of the most beloved and cherished stories in video game history.

Blizzard is now poised to write history again, where success will cement them as the most popular weaver of tales in PC gaming history and failure means… let’s be realistic here, Blizzard just doesn’t disappoint when it comes down to released games. What’s different this time is the way the story is told. No more boxed-in heads, talking to the player or between characters. Now we will see the characters in a movie-style format, interacting with each other as they would in real life. The difference between StarCraft 2 and a movie is that this box office has you behind the camera, calling the shots.


BlizzCon 2009 Thoughts and Impressions

Sadly there were only two levels of the campaign for StarCraft 2 available to play at BlizzCon, but the two that was available were great fun. What made the levels most interesting was the ability to customize your forces in between missions while still aboard Jim Raynor’s flagship, the Hyperion. Upgrades are available for both units and buildings, making for more choices than you can actually afford with the available credits.

Some of the upgrades available for units will only be available in the campaign space. These units were too hard to balance in multiplayer, yet just right for the new single player experience. A returning favourite was the medic, with available upgrades for both increased healing speed and increased healing radius.

It's nice to see the team making otherwise old, obsolete, units viable again. I imagine that a conversation with a friend could go thusly, “Why would I want a medic when I can get a flying Medivac Dropship?” To which you might respond, “Because now my medic not only heals faster, but she heals more than one unit at a time.” Blizzard is not putting old units in just for the sake of nostalgia, but actually making them really useful for players.

Another great thing about these upgrades is that once they’re bought, they’re immediately available for use. No spending time and resources during the next mission to research the upgrade, the units and buildings start out with the purchased tech at the beginning of the next level.


Concerning the two playable missions, they seemed to be just a small taste of what’s to come (if you want to find out more about the other known single player missions, you can find a great article on them here). Keeping their promise of a non-linear story arc, Blizzard allowed either mission to be played, in the order you wished to play it.


The First Mission

One mission was the Evacuation of Agria. You start out with some firebats and medics, two classics from the original StarCraft, and must make your way past a small Zerg force to an underdeveloped base, of which you get to assume command.

I recommend getting marines to complement you firebats as Zerg roaches seem to be resistant to the flamethrowers. There will also be overlords spewing creep, making it impossible to build bunkers, and granting a speed bonus to Zerg units. Marines are your only available unit able to attack air in this mission, so they are necessary to eliminate the overlord threat.

Not too long after you take control of the command center and it’s SCVs, a convoy from the nearby colony starts out, making its way up the road to a spaceport. You must defend the convoy until it reaches the spaceport, once it does you can return to your normal routine (at least until the next convoy takes off). This will happen multiple times until the specified number of colonists are safe, at which point the level is successfully completed.

One of the more memorable aspects of this mission is that as the level progresses the Zerg obtain new ways to get behind the defensive lines you have set up along the road. As mentioned earlier the number of colonists needed to evacuate is specific, so if you let a convoy or two get wiped out, the level will take you longer to complete. As time goes on the Zerg forces become more numerous, and better able to completely bypass any defences you may have made.

So you have a choice, let some convoys die if you need more time to complete the bonus objectives (and the bonus objectives will be worth it, such as collect so many of such-and-such, and all of your infantry will receive a permanent +1 to their damage), thus making the level harder at the same time. Or make sure all the convoys get through, ignoring the bonus objectives, and complete the level faster and easier.

While there has been no indication that purposely letting a lot of the colonists die will have any effect after the mission is completed, it is something I would like to see happen. Maybe the good doctor who sent out the distress signal is pissed that you let her friends die and wants nothing more to do with you, consequently she demands to be let off on the closest safe world. Maybe Matt Horner (Raynor’s second in command and sometimes conscience) is disgusted, and missions that he could have opened up for you are now closed off. On the other hand, Gabriel Tosh, a man who understands about taking care of number one, now has otherwise unavailable missions for you to take. The choices you make in missions should have a lasting effect on the rest of the game, not just the current level. Whether anything like this will happen is yet to be seen, but StarCraft 2 did just get pushed back to the first half of 2010, leaving more time for Blizzard to implement new ideas.


The Second Mission

The other mission was brought to your attention by Tychus Findlay, the big marine seen being fitted into his armor in the announcement video. He has some contacts with a group called the Mobius Foundation. They collect alien artifacts and are willing to pay those who will “acquire” them for the foundation.

Playing this level will pit you against a group of rouge Protoss who guard the artifact, and against Kerrigan’s Zerg as well (we’re not told why Kerrigan wants the artifact, she just does). So it’s a race as to who will get to the artifact first, you or the Zerg.

Once you have broken through the protoss defensive lines, there are four massive stone Zealot statues guarding the actual artifact, so it’s best to have a lot of marauders with medics for backup to take them down. After defeating the guardians and securing the artifact Kerrigan pops up and asks Jim if he’s still trying to kill her. He reminds her that he is a man of his word (play the Broodwar mission “True Colors” of the Zerg campaign for a refresher), he will take her down. Kerrigan ominously tells him to hurry; time is running out for everyone.

This struck me as a happy go lucky conversation, compared with what it could be. What if Jim had completely wiped out Kerrigan’s base on his way to the artifact? Wouldn’t she be a little more pissed than if Jim had just won the race? What if you destroyed her bases over multiple missions, instead of just completing a main objective and leaving her bases as untouched as possible? Wouldn’t she begin to see you as a bigger threat, seeing as you're having your way with her? Now any future levels against the Zerg would be harder, for Kerrigan is taking you more seriously (lucky you). This line of logic would work for any enemy you fight against, including the Dominion.

Your play style could have an effect over the course of the campaign as well. If you were really good at keeping units alive, your reputation in this area would grow. People from across the sector would flock to you because of the assurance that your defences and tactics provide. This could be shown in-game by lower unit costs, or an additional number of units to start the next mission off with. Conversely, if you got a lot units killed, your troops would start costing more, for it would become harder to find troops who are willing to fight for you.

Maybe the dev. team is already testing systems similar to this, or maybe they’re not. We’ll find out in the months to come. However, these ideas are not mine by themselves, but logical progressions of known ideas already implemented in StarCraft 2.


Cool Stuff You Should Know

Both James Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk will have their original voice actors returning in StarCraft 2. Raynor is voiced by Robert Clotworthy, while Mengsk is voiced by James Harper. Zeratul’s voice actor has passed on since the original game was made, so a new one had to be found. Zeratul's new voice actor is Fred Tatasciore. Sarah Kerrigan’s original voice actor, Glynnis Talken Campbell, is alive and well. A petition was started when it was earlier found out that the original voice actors for Kerrigan and Raynor might not be returning. While it appears to have helped Raynor get his voice back, Kerrigan had no such luck. Tricia Heifer of Battlestar Galactica will voice Kerrigan in the second instalment. No reason has been given as to why the change in voice actors was made.

There are tons of fun little places to check out aboard the Hyperion. In the lab a you find a technician with a piece of toilet paper on his face; maybe he had a bad pimple? This space is where you get many of your side objectives, letting your forces obtain permanent bonuses.

One of the many uses of the Cantina is that it is a gathering place for a multitude of individuals, including a man who can let you hire mercenaries. Mercenaries are units that have increased health, armor, and damage. The Cantina also has a holographic dancer who is disturbingly hypnotic. Don’t let your wife see that one!

One of the most important rooms on board the ship is the Armory, where the before mentioned upgrades are purchased. It has a complete viking in the close background, and it looks like you could hop right in and start piloting it.

StarCraft 2’s game engine is used to depict the Hyperion and its crew, and between its power and the skill of the Blizzard cinematic team, the visuals are stunning. Blizzard defiantly made a good call by letting these guys work on other areas of the game; not just the movies.

Look for StarCraft 2 to hit retailers in 2010; but before you get too excited remember this: it’s done when it’s done.



We also covered a lot more single player material on our trip to Blizzard HQ in July. Don't miss a thing!

It's time for your monthly StarCraft funnies again. Just two entries this time, which is a lot less than in the past. Fortunately for us they're both good ones. One is from the last Terran Mission in Brood War, where the Terrans subdue the Overmind. The other plays off of a new Zerg unit, the baneling. This unit can explode, which has one of the marines a little concerned. Find them both below.

Games.On interviewed Dustin Browder about the Starcraft II Matchmaking system.  It does reveal some features and mini-sneak peeks of what we should expect.  The system will match players of the same rank and skill level.  One of the ranks mentioned is the Copper Division (i.e. Copper-72).  That’s an interestin way to see things rather than rank 17,892.  That number may mean nothing, or make players feel frustrated.  This new system is more enthusiastic, encouraging you to work hard to escalate from Copper Division to the next Division, and the next.

The initial division seems aimed to noobies who start to learn the basics of Starcraft II multiplayer strategies.  These division has its own set of maps available on melee and UMS channels designed to slow down things in a way that people can build their armies and clash them rather than rushing.  It’s slow paced, but fun, and encourages strategies and coordination. These maps are known as Practice League.

• Matchmaking will match players of the same ladder skill level
• The initial Ranking system is divided like this: Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Pro rankings
• No more Smurfing through noobs to get a high rank by rerolling
• Battle.net 2.0 Marketplace allows map-makers and modders to sell and protect maps
• Galaxy Editor will be available some time after beta launches
• Game connection among players goes peer-to-peer rather than to and from Battle.net 2.0
• There will be ways to keep track of everyone’s latency and who’s slowing you down

Read the full interview over at Games.On

IncGamers fansites have always had a "Pal" subscription system that not only help the sites stay online, but also gives the subscriber a few perks as well. If you are a fan of Diii.net, WorldofWar.net or Guild Wars IncGamers, you know what I am talking about.

StarCraft IncGamers has so far been on the waiting list to get this implemented, and I have actually had quite a few people ask me about it. Today, it's in, and we're served the new, modernised version Diii.net got recently.

The previous tariff, unchanged since its inception some 75 years ago, was quite convoluted with different groups of bronze, silver, gold, platinum (why keep it simple?!) but now we have a single group. We have also added a 12 month subscription period to the 6, 3 and 1 month of the previous tariff and also the ability to have it automatically re-subscribe (or not) which some of you have requested in the past but I didn't know it was capable with our system. You can read about the benefits here, which you can also find in your profile (look at the picture to the right).

This is a perfect opportunity for us to thank the Site Pals for their support on our sites over the years which has and continues to help keep all our fansites online. We couldn't have done it without you!

Perks and more after the break.

As a member of Starcraft: IncGamers you’ll hopefully realise the value of all that is on offer, from our well-managed forums to extensive news coverage, and our strategies to the encyclopeadic content on the Starcraft Wiki. All this is produced and provided absolutely FREE!

There is more however.

Through our subscription feature you can become a Site Pal and receive VIP benefits and services, (all listed below). Also, you will be helping to keep Starcraft: IncGamers and the Starcraft Wiki up and running and that should give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Here’s what you get:

Forum Perks

• Banner Free
• Signature (text or graphic)
• Unlimited PMs
• Access to private Site Pal forum
• Much larger Avatar (upload your own or use one of ours)
• Animated Avatar
• Much larger Profile Picture
• Set yourself to invisible
• More formatting options

Other Benefits

• Beta key draws for Blizzard titles where available
• Beta key draws for other games through IncGamers.Com
• Draws for Blizzcon Tickets where available
• Site Pal prize draws for goodies such as merchandise, games and more

We hope this is something you’d like to take up and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Joystiq cornered Samwise Didier right before he opened the show for Ozzy Osbourne with his .  The interview is focused mostly on his work on Starcraft II artwork and UI.  Samwise reveals at least three new planets I didn’t see during our hands-on gameplay at the Blizzard campus. He also shares his view on what he thinks people feels about releasing the game when it is ready.

[BLUE]Will you go entirely back to the drawing board completely with the next expansion?

Yeah, but the thing that is kind of fun about it is, it is going to let us take a break from the typical Terran grit and grime and chunky heavy metal kind of stuff. We are going to be able to embrace this more fluid, organic, spiky kind of horrific-looking vibe. Now who knows where Kerrigan will be standing watching the news if that is even part of it. But we can go from a TV screen that is all infested over or something that is more organic. It is still kind of open. I am kind of looking forward to jamming on those ideas and seeing what we can come up with. We really don’t have a lot of that done right now.

We have ideas, but it is a lot cooler to just kind of wait until we are ready to start jamming on that than to start working on something and then it either gets put in and everyone is like, “Oh yeah, we have a better idea,” so that was kind of wasted. I want to focus all the guys, what they are working on now, on getting out the Wings of Liberty. If we have three more weeks, then I want three more weeks of art put into the single player missions to make planet Kastenar that much more different than Valhalla and Altheon and stuff like that.

Paul Sams widened everyone’s knowledge on what exactly Battle.net 2.0 is and why it caused the delay of Starcraft II release date.  The social aspect of Battle.net is not complete, and there is much more Blizzard hasn’t talked about concerning cool features.  Battle.net 2.0 is going to be similar to facebook in some ways, keeping friends together across all Blizzard games.  If you missed our 15 screenshots of Battle.net 2.0 features, there are two images of how the chat interface looks like.

Read the full interview at GamesIndustry.biz

	Blizzard Quote:
	What do you see as the cross-company and cross-product benefits of the Battle.net platform? Paul Sams: Well, first of all, from a player perspective, you’re going to be able to communicate with people that are on Battle.net. Right now, if you’re on WoW, and your friend’s playing Starcraft or Diablo or whatever, you’ve got to figure out where they are through different communication means. And so you’re in a situation where you’ve almost got to come out of the game to be able to do that. We’re going to integrate the games so you’re going to know when your friends are on and be able to create all sorts of play dates, so to speak. It’s such a huge element, social networking, I don’t know about you - if you have a favourite social networking site - I’m traditionally not that guy who does that sort of stuff. I like to go old school and pick up the phone and talk to friends. I might text a little bit here or there but, at the end of the day, I like to hear my friends voices. In the last six months I’ve gotten into Facebook, and it was because I wanted to do some research related to social networking because of the stuff we’re doing with Battle.net. And what I found was, all these people that I’d lost touch with found me and I started talking to them and seeing what they were up to. With Battle.net, there will be a lot of these types of elements. Beyond that though it’ll be friends that I’ve lost touch with that are also into the same thing as me, which is games. And into Blizzard games at that. There are a lot of cool features - the developers are much better at describing all the cool interconnectivity between all the games, but I feel like - knowing what that feature set is - it’s going to be an awesome experience. It’s something that I think we’re going to be able to view unlike any other games companies out there.

Thanks, Bluesnews

Karune broke internet silence today and responded to a few questions fans were having about the game. The first question addressed, pertained to the bread and butter Protoss spellcaster, the High Templar. As always, questions are in white, with official Blizzard responses in blue.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Just a direct question: Did the HT get back that Phase Shift ability at BlizzCon or does he have now the other ability like a small time bomb? The High Templar currently has the Phase Shift ability in addition to Psi Storm and Archon merge. The Phase Shift ability is a single target banish ability and it looks like the design team is pretty happy with these abilities until beta starts. At that point, I think anything is possible for changes.

A fan showed concern over whether or not battle.net 2.0 would actually be free as had been said previously.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Is B.net 2.0 free of charge? And the only charges is for extra features that is not really necassary… As mentioned before, players will be able to use Battle.net for free when they purchase the full version of StarCraft II. There have been no changes to this.

This caused confusion among fans which led to a follow-up by Karune.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	More of that careful wording. Can you please clarify? If Blizz doesn’t think you “purchased the full version of StarCraft II” (however you determine that - how you determine it is another question you can consider asked), what happens? Or is there some more complex thing I’m missing? lol- here is one simple scenario: When you buy StarCraft II from the store, you will be able to play on Battle.net for free. This is not a temporary trial of Battle.net. Not purchasing the full version would include any illegal method of attaining software. In that case, you would not be able to get on Battle.net.

Another fan had questions about information that was released at this year’s BlizzCon.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Will there be an ability to add stat tracking for custom maps both free and premium? Such as personalized ladders for maps and their updates perhaps? Will a premium map need to have a specific set of requirements to become a premium map? IE. must have unique models. Do you think it would be possible to make a 2d fighter such as Street fighter with the editor? Stat tracking and personalized ladders for maps will be possible, but may not be at launch of the game. Premium maps will have requirements, but those are still to be determined. Sounds like you are going to make StarCraft Street Fighter…which you could definitely count on me downloading.

Probe Damage Confirmed. =p

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Probes deal 2 damage and I was bit shocked. Can I get an confirm on this? Because I am not 100% sure. Probes attack for 5 damage.

And finally there was a question about how the balance between the races is progressing.

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	So in the past I’ve heard Dustin saying that zerg were the weakest in-house. So I wonder, in your opinion, has my favorite race made a comeback in terms of balance? I realize getting a few hours of play at Blizzcon is no way to make accurate balance judgements. Hence, I now ask you. The balance in which the developers are referring to is very relative. 90% of players probably will not feel the game is unbalanced. At the higher levels, we are continuously trying to balance the game further, but most of that will happen during beta when we have a large pool of players to test the game. In short, don’t worry We’ll get this thing balanced with the community’s help as well.

EDIT: He’s really going for it today. Here’s another one…

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	There have been recent rumors on another site that the roach is now able to move while burrowed. Confirm/Deny? The development team is currently experimenting with Roaches that can move while burrowed. The Roach will also have a speed upgrade as well, which will make its base speed (close to a Zealot without charge) increase to a speed slightly slower than a Stalker. At the moment, Roaches while burrowed move roughly half the speed as it would above ground. This new mechanic should open up some pretty cool micro strategies in positioning for the Roach, since essentially the best role it currently plays is as a tank, soaking up damage from the enemy.

Stay tuned to StarCraft Wire for your continued feed of all things StarCraft.

Karune responds to a fan regarding high templar´s current status.

Just a direct question: Did the HT get back that Phase Shift ability at BlizzCon or does he have now the other ability like a small time bomb?

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	The High Templar currently has the Phase Shift ability in addition to Psi Storm and Archon merge. The Phase Shift ability is a single target banish ability and it looks like the design team is pretty happy with these abilities until beta starts. At that point, I think anything is possible for changes.

Very intresting changes to this very important unit. Perhaps the high templar will be more of a use than simply for psi storms.

The excerpt of Starcraft: Heaven’s Devils is now available.  We get to see in this book an 18-years old Jim Raynor having fun with his friends Harnack and Kydd at a bar in Mar Sara.  Things aren’t simple for these guys as they constantly get in trouble and end up usually in jail for their deeds.

The book will reveal how Jim Raynor and Tychus Findlay met and became best friends, their days in the Heaven’s Devils team.

For the time being, here we have the excerpt.

Those who attended Blizzcon 2009 should check out the back of their badge to get their Grunty the Marine Murloc pet card.  It contains a scratch code that you can enter at http://www.blizzcon.com/pet to redeem a World of Warcraft in-game pet.  This thing is cute and cool.  It has a few sub-routines: The most common is that he will move left to right to search for a target.  Sometimes he spins his weapon.  There is a semi-rare subroutine where he starts shooting upwards, rising his gun.  The rarest is when his weapon makes a charging sound and unloads a grenade barrage that can be seen going outwards pretty far.

The most cool subroutine?  If another player has a Zergling pet from the WoW Collector’s Edition, both will duel like the Mountain Dew Battlebot.  Either the Zergling kills Grunty the Marine or viceversa.  You will have to summon him again for another duel match.

Pocket Books invited me to witness their Blizzcon 2009 book signing event on Saturday at 4pm where Jaime Costas raffled 40 copies of the World of Warcraft: Arthas Collector’s Edition.  I brought my video camera and captured most of the event.  There were a large amount of fans awaiting to win one of those, but also to get their own merchandise signed by Christie Golden.  I could see some World of Warcraft: Arthas (Normal Edition) and Starcraft: The Dark Templar trilogy brought by fans to be signed by the author. The place was crowded with fans that were excited to meet her.

If you recognize a friend in the two videos, let them know the link to this page.  It’s available to all attendees as a memento. I was glad to be there.  I realized I haven’t taken photos of myself with the authors in all the events I have been attending.  This time I had the chance to take a photo with all the publishers and book writers. I have been in contact with all of them quite often.  It feels like family already. Watch video # 1 below, and video # 2 here.

So you couldn’t see squat in the DIRECTV’s Blizzcon 2009 stream coverage when the Starcraft II panel revealed the Battle.net 2.0 UI Features?  No sweat, Blizzard provided us 15 screenshots of the Battle.net 2.0 UI for you to behold in more detail.  Find out how the login page looks like.  The Matchmaking, achievements, Social / Friends List, Game Lobby, Create Game, and much more.

The Battle.net 2.0 features and screenshots were officially released at Blizzcon 2009 by the developers. In this revamp, Blizzard aims to integrate all friends across all the Blizzard games into a single monster-sized community where you can keep track of friends playing WoW, Diablo III, Starcraft II and other games; and communicate with them either by text or voice-chat.

Blizzard provided us a Press Kit CD with the official FAQ and fifteen screenshots of each of the features we may find in Battle.net 2.0 platform. I will attempt to describe for you what you may find in each of these screenshots in case you overlook something.

LOGIN SCREEN

In the first screenshot, we can see the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Login Screen.  It’s pretty simple and resembles the way World of WarCraft’s Login Screen is set up.

Here you enter your Battle.net Account and password, rather than your old StarCraft screen name, and press the login button.  Below the login are two options: Remember Account and Remember Password.  Very convenient to save you time if you want to get straight into the action without hassle.

On the right side, there are three buttons: Play As Guest, Manage Account, and Options. In the background, you can see a space view with a Saturn-like planet to the right. A Battlecruiser is slowly crossing your view and will suddenly go into warp-speed and disappear over the planet’s horizon. I saw this at the Blizzard campus back on July 20, 2009.

DASH BOARD

The Dashboard can leave you speechless. Not only is the Terran-themed UI looking awesome in 3D with all those gadgets and cables keeping everything together, the amount of info we can discern at first glance is breathtaking.

On the top-right frame, is your account avatar, screen name (EnoyIs) and your achievement score (9001).  There’s another option there that isn’t known to me. Below, is the Battle.net logo and the details of how many users are playing, how many games are played, and how many gamers are on Battle.net. Your last login is displayed here too.

Beneath is the Starcraft II News feed straight from the website showing the latest headlines and the community headlines (Q&As, Patch Notes, Race changes, etc.)

On the bottom strip, to the left we see the menu button, and to the far right we see the local time (8:23 AM), followed by a microphone icon indicating voice chat and a man-icon with the number 12 (which is probably 12 friends online that you can voice chat with by clicking on this icon and browsing their names). Kinda nifty.

Now the content on the top-left of this dash board is interesting. You see two green icons: Single Player and Multi-Player.  When hovering over the Single Player button you get a small window displayed below with the following info:

“Campaign.  Start the single player campaign for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty” followed by the Start button.

Why is this amusing?  Because in contrast with old Battle.net, you no longer need to logout to play the single player.  As we commented a month ago during our single-player hands on preview, even if you are playing single player you can still voice chat with your friends in WoW, Diablo III or Starcraft II.

I do not know what all the icons beneath the Single Player and Multi-Player buttons are, but some are user-friendly.  The film icon probably means you can access the cinematics there.  The ladder, chat channels, the star icon means Achievements, and your character profile.

SINGLE PLAYER SCREEN

In this screenshot you can see the single player campaign screen which gives you a bit of lore about Mission 3: Zero Hour. You can create a new game or load a saved game.

A very interesting feature here is the “continue” button which allows you to pause a game and move back to the Battle.net UI to access other features, before resuming your single player game.

The game tracks your current campaign achievements, and gives you access to special single player features such as Skirmish and Challenge modes.  Both offer separate Achievement-tracking, increasing the value of playing the campaigns and maps more than once.

Note that on the upper-left corner you still have access to Battle.net features such as ladder, general chat, achievements and profile.  Voice chat may be found on the lower corner where it says 12 friends are online.

FRIENDS LIST

On the bottom-right in this screenshot you can see the Friends List within a Starcraft II game.  You can browse up and down, and by the looks of it you might be able to stretch the window’s height. The microphone icon can be seen on the bottom of the Friend List.

REPLAY UI

The Replay UI offers an interesting extra info: you can see in real-time within the Units tab each of the players represented by colors (in this screenshot: yellow, orange, blue, and purple) and the units they have currently and the amount of each unit.

For example, in the screenshot to the side we see that the yellow player has 8 SCVs.  Orange has 7 SCVs.  Blue has 1 zerg egg, 2 larvas, 8 drones, and 1 overlord.  Purple has 8 SCVs.

On the lower-right corner we have two frames. The first one allows you to pause, rewind or fast-forward the replay. To the right the Plus and Minus signs are to decrease or increase the replay speed.  You can see the full length of the replay (12:45 minutes) and the minute the replay is currently playing (5:30 / 12:45).

The frame underneath seems to indicate you can change the video settings and audio volume levels of the replay.  You can also choose to see everyone in the replay, or specific players only using a drop-down menu.

ACHIEVEMENTS UI

This screenshot is going to blow your mind with all the info it contains about your gaming.  There are six tabs on the left edge of this screenshot: Summary, Achievements, Statistics, Match History, Avatars/Decals, and Player Maps.  The summary gives you a shortened view of all those at once, but clicking on those tabs will give you a much longer list of statistics.

In this Achievement summary page, you get the Statistics - Multiplayer 1v1 (this seems to indicate this is the match you have most played).  Career Wins 132.  Most Wins as Zerg, Most wins against Protoss.  Most Successful map: Lost Temple, Highest Rank Achieved, Current highest rank achieved.

Under Match History there are two icons. The Trophy (Win) or the Blue skull with crossed bones (Loss).  In the screenshot you see 1v1 Defense of the Ancients (trophy) match date 5/25/09.  2v2 Lost Temple (Skull) match date 5/25/09 and so on.

The Achievements list on the right edge gives a comprehensive list of info: Overall progress (390/670); Campaign (51/55); Skirmish (53/72); Challenge (18/95); Multiplayer (72/80); MODS (6/42); and Combat (75/200).

Recent Achievements reveals that each achievement you complete has a specific artwork icon to identify them. This is the achievement list that everyone will be able to see online on the website.

PROFILE ACHIEVEMENTS

The very same icons you saw displayed horizontally at the bottom-right in the previous screenshot can be seen here with more comprehensive info.

• Zerg Temple Grunt: Win Zerg Temple skirmish on easy mode.
• Negotiations Terminated.: Destroy an enemy players base.
• You and What Army?: Build 100 Marines.
• I Hates Ta Read!: Shoot a book many times, especially the letters “A” and “B”.
• Get Lost: Use a poorly constructed compass to get lost and then find your way back before starvation sets in.

Each achievement displays a laurel-wrapped star icon with the amount of achievement points gained (in this case 10 points) and the date the achievement was obtained on.

On the far right, there’s a button to compare your achievements with a friend’s.

IN-GAME ACHIEVEMENT UI

The previous one showed you how the Achievement UI looks like when accessing it through Battle.net, but not how it looks when you want to access it from within a single player game.  This screenshot shows you the amount of total achievement points you got at the top (In this case: 3,125).

Whenever you have accomplished a new achievement, you will see it pop in real-time onscreen the very same way that happens in World of Warcraft when you complete one.  In Starcraft II it looks pretty cool, and may come accompanied with a loud sound clip to alert you.

AVATARS / DECALS

I might be wrong on this one, but here goes my interpretation:  From the Achievement Profile in Battle.net you can access the Avatar / Decal page.  It displays hundreds of avatars that you can set as your avatar. All races avatars are displayed here at once.

However, the Decals tabs seem to separate them per race.  So you can click on the Terran tab (Sons of Korhal insignia), the Protoss or Zerg Decals tabs to access race-specific avatars.

Now what makes me curious is that when you click on an avatar, you can see in the screenshot a blue-text that reads: “View Achievement”.

What we can extrapolate from this is that all the greyed out avatars after Zeratul need to be unlocked by earning achievement points or completing specific achievements.  It’s a way to get ranks and set yourself challenges. If you wish to use a specific avatar, you will have to work hard to earn it, and then set it as your avatar (with bragging rights).

One of them is a Marine with a panda on its visor (Warcraft easter egg).  I can see Kate Lockwell (the reporter), the Adjutant, and Dr. Hanson among the avatars.

This screenshot in particular reveals something cool that you don’t get to see in the original Starcraft.  There are three tabs: Korey, DreamX and Flywheel.  Apparently you can open separate windows for private messages, minimize them, and browse through them.

MATCHMAKING UI

I’m sure everyone wanted to find out how this looked like, eh?  Here you can use Battle.net 2.0 Matchmaking to find opponents of a comparable skill level for ranked online matches.  No more noobs getting owned by veterans pretending to be noobs (smurfing) and no more Veterans wasting hours fighting noobs.  This matchmaking system will be setting you up with players that are at your skill level.

Choose a Game Type: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, or Free For All.

Choose a Race: Terran, Protoss, Zerg or Random.

You can set up your map preferences for this matchmaking: i.e. 2v2 Silver Leagues.

Estimated Wait Time: 02 minutes.

Start Search button.

On the far right there are two boxes. You can choose to play Co-op Skirmish (Play a non-ranked skirmish game with others); or Play Custom Games (User Map Settings.

Something in this screenshot that we haven’t seen before is on the top-right to the right of your avatar. You can see the avatar of your party members and their name.  Kinda cool. (i.e. EnoyIs as Zeratul, and Flywheel as Adjuntant in the screenshot)

JOIN CUSTOM GAME UI

ZOMG !!!!  Can you see in this screenshot the REFRESH button?  Do you know how annoying it is to wait 20 seconds or longer for the list to auto-refresh?  Now you can refresh the list yourself in Battle.net 2.0—and that’s not the only cool thing.  See the Only Show New Maps checkbox? And the Popularity bar? You can actually see how popular your map is.

The Genre drop-down menu might make you curious.  It is set to ALL in this screenshot. If you look at the Genre column—that means: Hero Defense, Tower Defense, Co-op Skirmish, Melee Versus, Other (Racing), Other (Snake), Other (Bomber), Other (Frenzy), Hero Arena, etc.

One of the games listed there is SC Grand Prix and DOTA Allstars .... (Drools!)

CREATE CUSTOM GAME

This screenshot shows you how big the list to choose a custom game is. No longer a tiny window that you need to browse patiently to find your wished map among hundreds of maps.

Additionally, you can filter the maps by Genre or by Type when you are on the Create Game UI.

On the right column, above the Create Game button you have some nice options there.

• Genre: Melee Versus (dropdown)
• Type: 2v2 (dropdown)
• Speed: Normal (dropdown)
• Popularity (LED bar)
• Lobby: Public or Invite Only (checkbox)

GAME LOBBY UI

The Game Lobby got a complete overhaul.  First, you can see the button [Open to Public] displayed in this screenshot.  The Game Lobby is set to Private. Since you are the one who created the game, this is what you see.  You can probably toogle the game to be public or private by clicking that button.

You can see how teams are set up by reading on the right: Team 1, Team 2 and Team 3.  In Team 3, the sockets are empty.

See the microphone icon on EnoyIs?  He is the one talking. Everyone else: Flywheel and DreamX are listening (Speaker icon).  Gawd’s icon probably means he is not using Voice Chat.

It’s a very simple Lobby Room. You see the map image, Host, Genre, Type, Speed.  Beneath is the Game Lobby Chat, and where you input text.  The Quit and Start button (take in mind this is the UI for the one who is creating the game).

BATTLE.NET 2.0 SOCIAL UI

Remember when the developers said they wanted Battle.net 2.0 to be a social hub for all Blizzard gamers?  Well, Holy cow. I bet you weren’t expecting this.  In this screenshot there are a lot of nice things going on.

At the bottom-left, Dustin Browder has just come online.  You get instant popup alerts letting you know which friends are coming online.  You can create multiple channels (minimize and max).  You can create separate Private Message windows and as seen on the screenshot you can drag them around the screen (Minimize or max).

The party chat let’s you see your friend’s avatars.  The green icon now I noticed means that person is active. The yellow clock icon means that person is idle.  A red circle icon probably means that friend is playing a different Blizzard game other than Starcraft II. Someone offline will show up as grayed-out or semi-transparent in your Friend List (as is the case of Avin in the screenshot).  The party and private message windows are brown-reddish.  The Friend List window is orange-light-brown. Am really loving this UI design.

As seen in the Friends List, there are two interesting communication features.  Dustin Browder is asking: “Anyone up for some heroics later in WoW?”—that message oddly shows up as a bubble chat coming out of his avatar. It adds the time-stamp in gray at the bottom of the bubble chat.

What’s so intriguing about it?  It didn’t show up in any of the private messages nor in the public chat—it appeared on the Friend List itself.  Global Friend List messages without a chat window?  Now that’s some serious business Friend List.  Finally it’s not just a list, but an interactive UI to communicate globally with all of your friend list at once!

Another thing you can get out of that screenshot is that Greg Canessa is playing World of Warcraft, Dustin Browder is playing a Starcraft II 1v1 Match, Flywheel is probably sitting on a Battle.net chat, and DreamX is probably playing Single Player (In-Game).

WORLD OF WARCRAFT FRIEND LIST

To wrap up the description of each of the 15 Battle.net 2.0 screenshots provided to us by Blizzard Entertainment, here you have a screenshot of how the World of Warcraft Friends List is going to look like once Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty hits the airwaves over Battle.net 2.0.

Dustin Browder (Daedoo) appears as playing a Starcraft II 1v1 Match.  Greg Canessa (Silver) appears as playing in WoW - Dalaran. Jack Sterling shows up as playing in WoW: Archimonde - The Barrens.

The World of Warcraft Friends List doesn’t look much different.  Makes you wonder if it will get an overhaul later on. I dig the looks of the Chat UI in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty a lot. Did you like how Battle.net 2.0 is shaping up?  Make sure to bring a towel with you before answering, please. (for excess drool)

After being under wraps for quite some time, Blizzard finally unvealed Battle.Net 2.0 during blizzcon 2009 and told us why the service will be the next step in gaming and how it will bring the community together. They have released the official FAQ that explains a lot of questions regarding it´s possibilities and features.

The official battle.net 2.0 FAQ

In order to get the idea what the thing is all about, Rob Pardo demonstrates during Blizzcon show floor how it all will work out.

During BlizzCon 2009 a lot of information came out but one of the more important one concerned Battle.net 2.0 and blizzard showcased it for the first time to the public. It has been under wraps for quite some time but now we get a FAQ which details the new batte.net features in detail.

	Blizzard Quote:
	What is the new Battle.net? We are building the new Battle.net to be the premier online gaming destination. The new Battle.net experience is a full-featured online game service designed specifically around Blizzard Entertainment titles, and will include a complete set of around-the-game features including a state-of-the-art matchmaking system, achievement system, social networking features, structured competitive play options, a marketplace, and much more. Our vision is to create an environment where gamers can compete online, develop an online persona, and stay connected to friends and the rest of the community while enjoying our games. In doing this, the new Battle.net will deliver the ultimate social and competitive experience for Blizzard Entertainment gamers everywhere. What is the history of Battle.net? Battle.net was the world’s first fully integrated matchmaking service, which we launched in 1996 with the release of Diablo. Battle.net evolved over the years to fully incorporate online gameplay for StarCraft, Diablo II, a re-release of Warcraft II, and Warcraft III. The Battle.net system has been in its current form, without major changes, since 2003. How much will Battle.net cost? The new Battle.net will be offered free of charge for players who purchase and register the full version of StarCraft II. What will be available to players in the StarCraft II Marketplace? After the launch of StarCraft II, we aim to add the StarCraft II Marketplace to Battle.net, which will create a vibrant ecosystem of user-generated content, including multiplayer maps, single-player scenarios, challenges, themes, and more. How will Battle.net affect my multiplayer StarCraft II experience? We’ll be implementing a new auto-matchmaking system, with advanced skill tracking to allow players to be matched with other players of similar skill level. This will help players consistently face evenly matched competition. We’ll also be implementing various leagues and ladder systems to allow a more competitive StarCraft II landscape. What is the Real ID feature? Real ID is at the forefront of online gaming as it will allow you to easily connect, communicate, and play with real-life friends. Connect with old friends and current guildies, and make new friends with the integrated Battle.net social networking tools. Beyond simply seeing your friend’s character names (e.g. “Gorlac” in World of Warcraft or “Snip3r” in StarCraft II), and having to remember which character name goes with which friend, you will be able to see your Real ID friend and chat with him or her across Blizzard games. What’s more, Real ID is totally optional—the options are there for you to build your Blizzard Entertainment social network however you see fit. What are some of the communication tools available in the new Battle.net? Our vision is for the new Battle.net to become the ultimate Blizzard Entertainment social network, in addition to its matchmaking foundation. Simply logging in to Battle.net will make it easy to find and chat with your friends across World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and future Blizzard Entertainment titles, including Diablo III. Keep track of all your buddies in your friends list, view their online status and presence information, voice chat, send out party invites, and broadcast messages to your friends. Detailed character profiles let players keep up to date on friends’ progress and achievements. What kind of Battle.net features will be available to allow player-made customizations? Over the years, we’ve learned how incredibly creative the Blizzard Entertainment community is, and that they excel at creating new ways to play our games (such as DotA). This has served as the inspiration for us to create a rich set of content authoring and publishing tools in Battle.net for gamers to create the next big game type in StarCraft II. When will I be able to start utilizing map maker tools? How will Battle.net interact with custom maps? The StarCraft II Galaxy Map Editor will be available to players during the StarCraft II beta. Players will be able to play these maps on the new Battle.net. Will classic Blizzard Entertainment games be supported on the new Battle.net? We do eventually plan to update all classic Battle.net games to take advantage of the new Battle.net accounts and server infrastructure. Beyond this, we do not have anything to announce today regarding legacy Blizzard Entertainment titles and the new Battle.net experience. Will parental controls be improved on Battle.net? We will be revamping the parental controls and time management features for the release of Battle.net. The parental controls will allow parents to regulate how and with whom their children communicate, and they will provide parents with a multitude of other tools to promote responsible gaming for their children. Will a forced migration to Battle.net occur for World of Warcraft players? Yes, sometime in the near future, it will be necessary for all World of Warcraft subscribers to transition their accounts to the new Battle.net system. Those players who have already converted to the new system will be able to take part in the new Battle.net features soon. What will change in World of Warcraft after the forced migration? The core gameplay experience will remain unchanged as a result of the migration. However, you’ll be able to take part in all of the new Battle.net features, such as cross-realm, cross-faction, and cross-game chat. What features will be available for Diablo III on the new Battle.net? We don’t have any specific features to announce at this time, but we will be building directly from the new Battle.net platform delivered with StarCraft II, while tailoring features and options to specifically suit the Diablo III game and community.

Blizzcon 2009 has come and gone, and as we continue to collate our data its clear that the whole StarCraft II project is coming along very well.


Something that I’m sure a lot of you are excited about is the map editor, and though Blizzard has done their best during the Q&A Batches to emphasis on just how “flexible” this important tool is I don’t believe any of us were as prepared for what was shown a few days ago.


Below is the first of the three examples of what I hope is a taste of things to come from the many talented map makers among us (the other two are after the jump)!


The Uberlisk!

Here we have a custom made unit featuring an Ultralisk with several Spine and Spore Crawlers attached to its back.  The Spine Crawlers proceed to attack the surrounding ground units while the Spore Crawlers pick off incoming air units (such as the “flying” Banelings at 0:20).

It can also do an earthquake type attack that affects the terrain in front of it and damages units in its wake.  Towards the end we can see the Uberlisk’s death that results in a massive explosion.

StarCraft: Ghost v2

This video shows our favorite blond-haired Ghost - Nova - in a third-person remake of the delayed (but not canceled) StarCraft: Ghost.  Support is included for both the keyboard and mouse and it’s also mention that the player can enter buildings and underground levels, and also converse with the locals.


The Lost Viking

The aptly named title shows a lone Terran Viking fighting some Protoss airships from a top-down combat view - not dissimilar to Aero Fighters for the SNES.  With a little tweaking it might also be possible to turn this into a side-scroller like Gradius.  One can hope.

Blizzard Entertainment dropped the bomb upon fans at Blizzcon 2009.  Glynnis Talken won’t return as Kerrigan the Queen of Blades.  And as hinted by Karune in Leord’s forum thread, Karen Strassman was not necessarily the final choice.

The new Kerrigan Queen of Blades is Tricia Helfer (Battlestar: Galactica).

I am not going to comment much on this, as a silent protest.  I am an unconditional Blizzard fanboy, but I don’t take everything up the intake.  And this is probably the biggest one I have been against in all the seven years I have been reporting news to the community.

I’m thankful for the return of Robert Clotworthy, even excited.  But I do not approve the dismiss of Glynnis Talken.  She wanted to reprise her role as Kerrigan.  It is not as if she went Diva-mode and doesn’t want to. All my fan-love and support goes to Glynnis.

/Transmission over

The team sat down in the early hours of this morning to put together the IncGamers BlizzCon Podcast Special which covers just about everything from this year’s event including WoW, Diablo 3 and StarCraft 2. Maticus was on hand to discuss WoW along with Jeff Hollis, Flux from diii.net  and Tamer Asfahani from IncGamers. Tune in now!

The IncGamers Podcast runs every week on a Friday and you can find previous shows here.

All of us here at IncGamers have been super busy with BlizzCon coverage and racing around the show. If you’re trying to follow all the BlizzCon news and articles for all Blizzard titles, the main IncGamers.com site has a nice index page where everything is linked to for all our sites. This is being updated as we add more BlizzCon content so keep an eye on it.

Blizzcon is in full swing and a lot of media and information is getting released. Over at Gamespot they posted a video where Rob Pardo is showing the new Battle.net 2.0. since StarCraft II will be focused on multiplay, this feature is very important. From Matchmaking to pure design. I am wery impressed by it.

New Battle.net 2.0 presentation

Also, don´t forget our live blog to keep you updated on what is happening from Blizzcon show floor.

StarCraft II continues the epic saga of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. These three distinct and powerful races will clash once again in the fast-paced real-time strategy sequel to the legendary original, StarCraft. Legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types will do battle across the galaxy, as each faction struggles for survival.

Featuring a unique single-player campaign that picks up where StarCraft: Brood War left off, StarCraft II will present a cast of new heroes and familiar faces in an edgy sci-fi story filled with adventure and intrigue. In addition, Blizzard will again offer unparalleled online play through Battle.net, the company’s world-renowned gaming service, with several enhancements and new features to make StarCraft II the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game.

Features:

• Fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the magic of the original game
• Three completely distinct races: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg
• New units and gameplay mechanics further distinguish each race
• Groundbreaking single-player campaign offers replayability by giving players choices in mission path and technology
• Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive army sizes
• Full multiplayer support, with new competitive features and matchmaking utilities available through Battle.net
• king and scripting tools to give players incredible freedom in customizing and personalizing their gameplay experience

TBlizzard issued a new official FAQ for the game at BlizzCon today so in case you need to know the official line on the game read on and check out the FAQ.

What is StarCraft II?

StarCraft II is the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, and the sequel to the hit original, StarCraft. The game will include three completely distinct and balanced races, the protoss, terran, and zerg, which have been overhauled and re-imagined with a number of new units for each, as well as new tricks for some of the classic units that are returning.

When is the game coming out?

Our release target for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the first half of 2010. As with all Blizzard Entertainment games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible.

When will you begin the beta test for StarCraft II?

We’re not ready to give an exact date, but we’re working hard to release the beta as soon as possible.

How will StarCraft II be different from StarCraft?

StarCraft II will run on a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine capable of rendering beautiful landscapes as well as massive army sizes. The speed, responsiveness, and epic-scale battles that made the original StarCraft such a memorable game are all realized in 3D with this brand-new engine.

We’re also introducing a number of distinct new units to the protoss, terran, and zerg, and some of the familiar units that return in StarCraft II will have new tricks up their sleeves, which will give the game its own unique flavor. The maps themselves will also offer new interactive elements that enhance the strategic nature of the game and create more tactical points of interest for players to contest. One example of this is the Xel’Naga watchtower structure—when captured, it reveals line of sight over a large area of the map, creating an advantage for the player in control of the tower.

In addition, Battle.net will be overhauled with some new and exciting features to enhance online play and competition, while the single-player campaign will also offer some unique aspects for players to enjoy. The single-player campaign in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty features branching missions and the ability to customize your army by purchasing special units and upgrades that persist between missions.

How do players customize their army in the single-player campaign of Wings of Liberty?

The campaign offers players different ways to customize their armies to suit their playing style and better tackle the challenges within the missions. Credits earned from completing missions can be used to buy the services of mercenary units that players can deploy in battle. Mercenaries are more powerful versions of standard units in the game; for example, Kel’Morian mercenary marines have higher armor and damage output than a regular marine. Any skilled mercenaries that players opt to unlock can be built from the merc haven structure within each mission.

Additionally, players can opt to buy campaign-only technology upgrades for their units. Examples of upgrades that might be available for purchase include improved bunkers with gun turrets and upgraded flamethrowers that allow firebats to attack a wider radius.

How do missions work in the single-player campaign?

As players make their way through the campaign, they’ll interact with a number of different non-player characters (NPCs) who will offer a variety of missions. In many cases, players will choose from a few different NPCs at the same time. Some of these missions will advance the main story, while others lead to interesting subplots. Players will be able to view briefings that detail mission objectives, show how many credits are rewarded for completion, and tell you which new unit, if any, is unlocked by taking on the mission.

More than 25 missions will be available in the Wings of Liberty campaign, and each mission will offer different objectives and gameplay elements. For example, one mission will have players roving around a map to intercept and rob Dominion cargo trains moving along different railroad tracks. Another mission will take place in a volcanically unstable area. Lava will periodically flood the lower elevations of the map, requiring players to exercise extra caution in their mining operations and troop movement.

Many missions also offer optional research objectives, such as exploring maps to find lost protoss artifacts or a hidden zerg chrysalis. When players collect enough of these research objects over the course of a few missions, they can earn upgrades and improvements for their units that carry over for the rest of the campaign.

How will players interact with NPCs and explore in between missions?

In between each mission, players will be able to explore various sets within the game. These include the bar on Mar Sara and the Hyperion battlecruiser that acts as Raynor’s flagship. Players can click on different characters in these environments to converse with them and get additional details about the story. These conversations are fully voice-acted, and the characters and sets are animated in detail in the game engine.

Sets will also contain interactive objects that players can click to receive extra information and story details. Televisions, for example, will show news reports that detail happenings around the galaxy. Console units, such as the one in the armory on board the Hyperion, allow players to access the tech-purchasing interface. The star map on the bridge of the Hyperion lets players choose from various mission briefings.

All of these elements are designed to help bring players closer to the characters in the game and offer additional story avenues for those who wish to immerse themselves in the game’s epic plot.

How many races are in StarCraft II?

In StarCraft II, players will see the return of the protoss, terran, and zerg races. Our goal is to ensure that all of the factions in the game play even more distinctly from one another than in the original StarCraft, while still maintaining the fine balance that helped make StarCraft a classic. We’re also introducing a number of new units to each race, as well as modifying some of the familiar units returning in StarCraft II. With these design refinements and the new features we have planned for the single-player and multiplayer elements of the game, StarCraft II will offer a next-generation StarCraft experience.

Can you give some examples of the newest changes in StarCraft II?

The most significant changes we’ve made recently are some new game mechanics that impact the economic efficiency of each of the races. The protoss can create a structure called the obelisk with a “proton charge” ability, which temporarily speeds up the rate at which probes can harvest minerals. If used properly, this ability can noticeably increase the protoss’ income.

The terrans have a new unit called the mule, which can be summoned from the orbital command building. Mules harvest minerals much like SCVs, but at a much faster rate—however, they only last for a specific amount of time. Since the ability costs energy, terran players must decide how much of their energy to spend calling down mules and how much to save for the orbital command’s other ability, the comsat scan.

Finally, the zerg can boost their production capability by using the queen to spawn extra larvae periodically in hatcheries, allowing them to quickly field large armies.

It seems like there are sweeping balance changes almost every time I read about StarCraft II. What are the reasons for the changes?

As we go through various testing stages, the development team experiments a lot with the game balance. This can include adding, removing, and/or modifying various units, buildings, and special abilities within the game. Frequent changes to units and abilities are a natural part of our iterative development process as we strive to make StarCraft II as balanced and fun as possible.

Battle.net

Will Battle.net be overhauled? Will there be new features?

There will be some exciting new changes and features to Battle.net that will help us ensure that StarCraft II will be the ultimate competitive online real-time strategy game. Some of the areas we’re working on include features that support online tournaments, eSports, and enhanced communication between players.

What steps are being taken to prevent cheating in multiplayer games?

We don’t want to tip our hand to the people who may try to cheat on Battle.net, so we can’t go into too much detail, but rest assured that security is one of our top priorities as we redesign and overhaul Battle.net, and we will take every precaution to ensure fairness in our online games. We’ve taken an aggressive stance against cheating in all of our games, and our players have overwhelmingly supported us in that, so we don’t have any intention to make any changes in that regard.

Technical Aspects

What are the system requirements for StarCraft II?

We’ll have more details on specific system requirements closer to the release date. For now, we can say that the game will require a graphics processor that is Pixel Shader 2.0 compatible.

Will StarCraft II include a map editor?

Yes, it will. We’ll have more details on the features of the StarCraft II map editor at a later date.

Will there be a console version of StarCraft II?

StarCraft II is being developed for Windows and Mac. We have no current plans to bring the game to any console platform.

We have a new article about the Blizzcon 2009 Starcraft II Art Panel written by our contrib 1Thorshammer.  He describes in-depth what the developers revealed about their work in the past few years: death animations, tilesets, buildings, and easter eggs.

• Blizzcon 2009 Starcraft II Art

Most of the StarCraft 2 art panel for BlizzCon 2009 focused on one thing: destruction.  With most of the units decided upon, and the main artwork done, it’s touch up time for the art team.

Multiple death animations for each unit, from regular dismemberment to being reduced to ashes are what the art team has been working on.  How many ways can a unit blow up?  An average of five seems to be the norm.  Even the carrier’s interceptors don’t fall the same each time, for physics has been integrated into the game’s engine.  Buildings are not being looked over either in this strive for destructive perfection.  I saw a Protoss gateway blow up in two different ways, with different pieces of debris falling each time.  Once again the physics kicked in and the left over parts went flying around like a rag doll in the jaws of a rabid canine.

The artists are not only focused on death though, they are creating up a storm in single player space.  Unique tile sets that won’t be found in multiplayer (due to balance issues) will help to immerse the player in the StarCraft universe.  The city tileset for Korhal, the Dominion capital world, is amazing.  Soaring skyscrapers right next to what appears to be parts of the lower city create stunning depth.  Zerg infested buildings are immediately recognizable at a glance.  Reactors that explode and kill everything around them (once again, bad for multiplayer, great for single player).  Protoss temples that rise out of the ground and assemble before your eyes (yes, they also explode).  Weather effects with day and night cycles add much needed variety to make you feel like this is a real world you’re playing on.  The new game engine is amazing, and with the final touches being put on the artwork, the game engine looks almost new when compared with the 2007 WWI original gameplay video.

One of the things mentioned by the art team that they want to work on is buildings for different tilesets.  Those of you who played WarCraft 2 remember that many buildings had snowmen or Christmas lights in snow tile sets.  The team wants to do this for StarCraft 2 as well, but this all depends on how much time is left until release.  So if you hate waiting for the game to release, but you love the little details, at least the waiting is not in vain.

Easter eggs.  What do they have to do with StarCraft 2?  For those of you who don’t know, Easter eggs are little secrets that don’t fit into the StarCraft universe.  One example is that you might find a Blood Elf on a specific single player level.  It doesn’t belong in StarCraft, but it’s a nod towards WarCraft.  The developers and artists find them fun to make, and most fans agree that they’re fun to find.  So when Samwise (one of the head artists at Blizzard Entertainment) was asked about Easter eggs, he said there were enough in StarCraft 2 to fill a henhouse, or a bunny house.  He wasn’t sure.  But one thing is for sure.  The art team has made StarCraft 2 look amazing.

Thursday was a fun day for all fansites who attended the Fansites Summit at the Blizzard Entertainment campus.

All fansites waited together at the Marriott Hotel’s lobby awaiting the arrival of the bus. Bashiok took the lead and gave everyone their NDA sheets, and some free Breakfast tickets for the local Cafe del Sol restaurant.

From there we traveled to the campus where the awesome Wolf Rider statue welcomed us.  We immediately moved to the Theather room where no recordings or photos were allowed as said by our NDA—so if you get to see any photos of that, someone is in trouble.

You can check out what we saw in the Diablo III presentation at our sister site Diii.net.

After the Diablo III demonstration, we separated into groups for Franchise specific tours.  We walked throughout the World of Warcraft team offices.

Then we had lunch at the cafeteria with developers from each game who were open to questions.

From the Diablo III team Nate Bowden (Environment Artist), Dave Adams (Lead Level Designer), and Chris Haga (FX Artist).

From the WoW Team was Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and Patrick Magruder (Lead Gameplay Programmer).  And some of the Starcraft II developers too.

Back at the Theather room, we witnessed the upcoming Battle Report before you guys (senses a wave of jealousy coming my way), but we can’t talk any of what happened there.  I can say this was the best Battle Report ever to date.  The micro was spectacular.

Here we got a lot of photos from today’s Blizzcon 2009 Fansite Summit.  I got photos with Nethaera, Karune, Ghostcrawler, and Patrick Magruder (WoW Lead Gameplay Programmer).
http://wow.incgamers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=620

Blizzcon 2009 is almost here and StarCraftwire will cover it all. Player_72985 is StarCraft wires own representative at the Blizzcon 2009 show floor and he will report everything that is StarCraft II related. He has created a forum blog which he will update constantly with new information so keep an eye on it.

To make sure that you don´t miss anything from blizzcon, check out our live blog which will be updated non stop with the latest news as soon as they are known.

This is Thorshammer live from BlizzCon!  I am also here with Player, and we are currently in the pressroom awaiting the commencement of the opening ceremony.  There are stations all around with the latest builds of StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3.  We’ll have an oppurtunity to play these awesome games later, and will report everything you need to know about StarCraft 2.  Player and I will continue to give updates throughout the day.

The opening ceremony starts at 11:30, so stay tuned.

 

Following on from the new video at this years Gamescon event there has also been a steady flow of new screenshots for the single player campaign.  They all have an amazing level of detail and really show off the charm that will be with the campaigns.

There are two images that really stand out.  The first is the re-appearance of an old Terran unit, the Cobra (albeit with a slightly different attack animation) as seen in the 7th screenshot.  Also close by is a mech, perhaps the Viking or Goliath?

The second screenshot of interest is the 3rd one that shows a small Terran contingent attacking an unknown Zerg unit.  There are also some strange claw-like structures for the Zerg here too.

A big thanks to ElemenT of StarCraft2.net.pl!

A new single player video for StarCraft II emerged from Gamecon 2009 in Germany. It is in Italian but a lot of never before seen footage is shown with other interesting details.

The first thing that we see is the briefing from mission 4a: The Evacuation of Agria and the introduction of a new character named Dr Ariel Hansson which will tell you what to do in this mission.

The potraits of characters are pure awesome, lips and expressions really impresses me.

We also see Firebats which is also a technology you gain by choosing this mission. Another interesting detail is the tutorial window, which describes both units, buildings, minerals and much more. This is a great move by Blizzard to help new players to learn as they play the game. 

It’s almost here everyone! BlizzCon is just a day away and the IncGamers team is making their way to Anaheim as we speak. Maticus (of WorldofWar.net) should have landed now in the U.S and Medievaldragon is already at the hotel according to Diii.Net’s Flux who has also arrived.

1Thorshammer and Player_72985 are two darn lucky StarCraft Contributors who have earned their spot with the IncGamers team, and they will make sure we miss nothing!

Sadly this is the second BlizzCon I have missed due to other commitments so I am as excited as all the readers who can’t make it to find out what’s in store. Over the coming days we’ll have a ton of news and information across the IncGamers network and all the StarCraft coverage will be happening right here.

Readers who were with us for last BlizzCon may remember our live chat sessions throughout the show. We are reporting direct from the show floor, have camera crew grabbing unsuspecting Blizzard employees for interviews and also joining in the live feed chat throughout the whole show where WoW, Diablo 3 and SC2 will be discussed. If you have questions about anything you read or hear our team will attempt to answer them, and if they can’t, find someone from Blizzard who can

Keep this story bookmarked and join us as soon as the show opens! This chat will run 24/7 over the 2 days.

Hi and welcome to the new facelift here at StarCraft IncGamers. We have mixed things up a little, giving more focus to the community on your first page load.

While we all obviously are a bit unused to the new layout, feel free to post a comment in the forum thread!

Coverage: Single Player Reveal >> Single Player Interview With Dustin Browder



StarCraft IncGamers' Freelancer got the opportunity to sit down in a one-on-one interview with Dustin Browder, the Lead Game Designer of StarCraft II, who shared a lot of information on the development and details of the game.

If you want to read about single player, check out our StarCraft Single Player Reveal Coverage as well!

	Blizzard Quote:
	Q: Will the units we have in single player differ from the ones we have in multiplayer? A: No, you will see the same units you have seen in multiplayer, in single player. But throughout the campaign you get to buy upgrades so they should be a lot more epic down the road. Q: Will they have special abilities for instance? A: Maybe have to teach every special ability we put in the game which can be a real pain in the but at some point. Like we are teaching a new unit a new mechanic. Oh by the way, the mercenaries have a new ability as well. So we have to be really strategic when we add new abilities to make sure they are really awesome and they are not to much, but it is a possibility. Q: From what I understood from playing through the single player campaign, playing through it at hard gives you one extra mission? No, if that is the case then that is a bug. It shouldn't be the case no. Q: Something else I noticed from playing the single player build is that it allows you to record your games. Not only in terms of replays, but also generate normal video output you can put on YouTube and stuff? I have been asked that several times. Actually I don't know if we plan on supporting that. I don't think we plan to support that. I know that we do it to capture some videos like our briefing video with video controls. You can ask Chris Sigaty. If you have interviewed him or if you have a chance or you could just interview this guy and find out. I don't know what our plans are for that. I don't think we are planning to support that but I could be wrong: to be continued! Q: It would be an amazing feature you know! A: I agree! Don't get me wrong, I just know that it slows the machine down to a halt when you do that, so we couldn't do it live. Maybe there are plans I don't know about, but we could find out for you though. Q: If you play through the campaign, the first thing you got to see in that past was the screen with all the planets in it, is it still in? A: We are doing a whole different UI for the planets. Q: There are a few questions about multiplayer as well. Concerning replays: what are your plans with those except for the new forward/rewind functionality you have revealed already? A: We have the rewind and fast forward functionality right. We also have the ability to see stats sort of happening live. So you can see what his human resource count is, you can see what units he has in the world, you can see what upgrades he is building. But those are our plans for the in-game replay functionality. Q: How about watching replays with multiple viewers? A: Yea, we are still working on a lot of that stuff. I don't know what's going to happen or not. We would love to do it. But if we are going to be able to get to it in time is hard to say. Q: How about the observer: does he have any extra freedom with the camera? You mean if he is watching a live game? Yea, its just like observer modes in other games. You can watch anything you want to see. You are not allowed to talk to other players, that's the biggest restriction for obvious reasons [laughs]. Q: How will the replay features be handled on Battle.net? I can't answer that question. We are still working on that really hard. Things like this change quite a bit, sometimes on daily basis so anything I would tell you would be a lie. Its work in progress. Q: the thing is, pro-gamers don't want anyone to see these replays, but everyone else loves to get their hands on them. Yea, the pro-gamers got lots of things. We had the same reaction when we put the [World of WarCraft] Armory up to for a while. When we first brought up the Armory they were like: "AAAH! Everyone is able to see my spec! NOOOOWOWO! No! That's my secret! MINE!" [funny voice]. I know they don't even want it. But we still feel… I understand that feeling, I really do but I think it is valuable for the community at large to have that kind of exposure so we definitely looking to protect people in that respect. If we can find ways to get these out for people to see we will definitely do it. Back to SP: (* Freelancer, did you say this, or is it just a note?) Q: What kind of innovative things did you do with single player? A: Well, I think the biggest thing for us is the ability for you to choose missions as opposed to on a single rail right and the ability to customize your technology. I think those two things are the biggest things that allow the players to have a different gameplay experience then a lot of other RTS'es have given in the past. Certainly better then the RTS'es we have given in the past. Because a lot of other games are straight on a rail and its fun, but its on a rail. In this case you sort of customize what you want to play with, what you don't want to play with as much and the kinds of missions that you want to take. I also think the ability for the player to determine how much of the story they want to get into allows the players that are really fanatical about the lore to get very deep into the story. And players who don't really care as much about the lore, that just want to play the missions, they can get the service level information and move on. I think it makes the game a lot more fun. Q: What about downloadable content? Especially for single player? We have always done multi player stuff before. We have had downloadable content since 1996, 1997 with downloadable maps. I am sure will continue this with some sort of project like that. Well, there is also a bunch of stuff that I am sure will occur on Battle.net in terms of feature improvements for the core game itself that will not be quite worthy enough for one of our expansion products, but we want to do it now. So I am sure there will be stuff in between. Q: About map balance and racial balance: how do you guys handle that? There are maps that favour one race over the rest. How do you plan to handle that? It is a HUGE problem. So generally speaking we look for games that are pretty fine. I mean when we finally do get the beta out we will have a limited set of maps in it, right? We will have example maps. This kind of map seems fun [hand movements indicating pointing at a map] to us and so does this kind [pointing elsewhere]. That are very different and so is this kind [pointing at a third place]. So let's test the balance on these kinds of maps and see how it effects the balance and we also get to see to which maps players gravitate to and enjoy the most. So it has definitely been part of our strategy the whole way long, and we are very aware that the map control does control the racial balance in a fundamental way. We have had some rules for map development that we have been sticking to pretty closely that contain a consistency across all the maps. There will always be maps that favour certain races and we accept a certain amount of that. It can't be to much. Q: You have removed LAN from the game. Does this mean you will facilitate things like ladders and leagues in a different way through battle.net? I don't know yet, we are still working on that. You'll definitely play with your friends pretty easy if that is what you want to do. Q: Which part of single player are you most proud of? I think I am most happy with the diversity of missions. I think this is one of the things that makes all "-Craft" games [WarCraft, StarCraft] really good, but I think we did a really great job with this so far in this game. At least in this first part of this campaign. It makes sure that each mission is its own little mini game. Each mission is unique. Each one of these mission could be a mechanic for a whole game, right? But we make it just for one mission and then we are like: "Ok, we are done with that and then we make another one! Ok that's cool!" [really excited]. We want to make each one really unique so in each of these missions you are not just playing "Kill Protoss now". Its "I've got to kill the Protoss now, but I have got dupe for the Zerg dude". Or: "I got to kill the Zerg before the Lava gets me". There is always something that keeps you on your toes and keeps you thinking creatively and thinking differently when you come to each mission. Q: Awesome! How about the achievements? There are like 3, 4, 5 per mission? Yea, it might be a little bit much but we are still looking at the details on how we want to implement that. Q: How will these be stored? Is it on Battle.net? Yea. And you will have to be connected to Battle.net to earn them. It makes them much more valuable if they can only be obtained through actually earning them in a legit way. Q: Is an easy campaign different in any way from a hard or insane difficulty mission? Well it will change the achievements you unlock, you get more achievements for higher levels of difficulty. And it changes the fundamental difficulty of all the missions as well. We change the AI, we change the unit mixes, we change times on how often things happen. You know, in some missions there is like a timer element that's going to be MUCH faster on a hard or insane level then it is on normal. Q: How about the structure of the story/missions? Will you be able to play everything in one go? Almost. There are a few missions where we ask you to choose. Where one character is like: "HELP ME!" And another character is like: "No! HELP ME INSTEAD!" And you will have to decide which character you decide to help. Once you decide that the other mission is gone. But it only happens in a few places. Q: Will the result of such a decision carry over in the future missions? Yes, sometimes it will. Sometimes it's an ending for some characters and sometimes its actually what's going to happen in the next mission. Q: So how many times would it take, if you really try to play through all missions? Well, in order to prevent players from… You could technically do it, its always an A or an B split, its always a choice. You could do it if you play the whole game twice and see everything. But we have a Battle Report screen I think is enabled in the build you are playing right now. Its in the console in the upper left in the bridge, where you can see a whole list of the movies you have seen and a list of missions that you have played so you can play them at will. We play them for achievement points, that primary reason why we play those missions, but if you choose A we also put B in that list for you. So if you just want to play the mission for the fun of it, it won't be in continuity: it's not what REALLY happened, right? You choose A and sided with the Protoss and that's what happened [laughs]. But if you just want to see the content and finish A we just put B in that list for you if you want to play it right there. So you don't have to do like some "save game shenanigans," where you save, choose, play, load. So it's just: whatever. Put it out there. So if you really want it you can do it in one play through. Q: How about the Armory. You can purchase technology there right? Yes. Q: Is there any way to undo a choice you make? Respec if you will? Not currently and we are still discussing that. There is all kinds of reason not to do respeccing. One of the big reasons not to do respeccing is that at that point you have to respec at every mission right. Like what's the load out for this mission? I will just sell everything off and buy it all back! That feels like: "ugh, what a pain in the ass." So we have kind of avoided it for that reason but at the same time, if you actually make a mistake you may want to get rid of it. So there is not a clear answer as to which way is better. We are kind of looking for that clear answer. So once we figure it out, we will go with it, but we are still debating it. Q: I noticed the build we played featured voice chat? Will this be in the final game or is it experimental as well as with the video capture feature? No I think we are planning on doing it. Q: What have you done in StarCraft II single player that you would never have been able to to in StarCraft I? I think it's actually the ingame cutscenes. To get a lot of details of the story we couldn't have done back in the day. There was no 3D technology to support an in game cut scene. You either had to do a full pre-render or you had to do an "in-mission cutscene" which didn't look very good and limited the kind of action you could do. There is a lot of background and a lot of action which we can see in these characters because we can do these ingame cutscenes. It gives us a lot more freedom to tell a lot more story then we ever could before.

Our parent site, IncGamers.com reports the StarCraft II beta might not start during/after BlizzCon, as we have speculated.

StarCraft II will be delayed to 2010, and the beta has a chance of getting delayed as well.

When we went to Blizzard HQ to get some hands-on time with StarCraft II single player, and talk to the developers, there was more gaming media there as well. In such an interview, Chris Sigaty told Shacknews "honestly, the best I can say right now is that we'll get the beta out when it's ready," about the "summer beta ETA".

After last month's multiplayer press event, Blizzard is listening to fan feedback and "there are things we identify that we want to take care of, and we're trying to address them as quickly as we can."

This means the beta is not necessarily released this "summer", or even this year. Blizzard said "four to six months" of beta testing and if StarCraft II is released in mid-2010, that could mean beta will start in January-March 2010 in a worst case scenario.

However, the main delay for the game and beta is Battle.net, and Blizzard would be more than able to start a beta period with a less than a fully integrated Battle.net.

Thanks Analyzer for the tip!

Coverage: Single Player Reveal >> Single Player Interview With Chris Metzen



StarCraft IncGamers' Freelancer got the opportunity to sit down in a one-on-one interview with Chris Metzen, the Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard. Also known as the "Loremaster", Metzen shared a lot of details about the new game with us. Both lore and regular single player stuff. Here is a short snippet:

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Q: Is it possible to undo a hybrid? Reverse the process without killing the "host"? This is why I don't want to answer the hybrid questions, because it takes a very specific shape... Q: I am asking about this because of a specific art of Kerrigan, I believe: An art piece that was released during the WWI in Seoul? I know which one you speak of [grins]. Ehm, yea I am going to take the Fifth on that one. Boy am I going to dodge that [laughs]. I know what you are talking about... NOTE: at this point the PR guy who is monitoring the conversation jumps in and tries to move the conversation away from this subject. I was not allowed to ask about elements that "link into the larger plot". Its just, I can't answer this for you in a satisfying way so I'm just going to dodge it! [Laughs] You know what I mean, because it will be bitching when you figure it out!

You can find the whole interview here.

If you want to read about more lore, you can also check out Medievaldragon's Metzen interview, and find a whole load of stuff in our StarCraft Single Player Reveal Coverage as well!

Coverage: Single Player Reveal >> Single Player Interview With Chris Metzen



StarCraft IncGamers' Freelancer got the opportunity to sit down in a one-on-one interview with Chris Metzen, the Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard. Also known as the "Loremaster", Metzen shared a lot of details about the new game with us. Both lore and regular single player stuff.

If you want to read about more lore, check out Medievaldragon's Metzen interview, and you can find a whole load of stuff in our StarCraft Single Player Reveal Coverage as well!

	Blizzard Quote:
	Q: About the story... It's an interesting start... It's a funky start right? Q: Yea it sure is. It's a strange thing. We've always wanted to construct something that wasn't, well for my part, wasn't like the typical video game intro. I wanted you to get a slow start in these characters. Okay this isn't the same old same old thing, you know? The expectations are always.. It's a very fine line. Usually any good video game you've ever played you blow something up, there is an action component. So it's an experiment to start of a little slower. It has been interesting to see the reactions. Q: Slow? You start off with Battle Cruisers? Bang bang and this is StarCraft! What? What? I'm a cowboy in a bar? Definitely a different vibe than I am sure a lot of where expecting to see, yea. Q: Well I think it's awesome so far Awesome! I love to hear it! Q: One of the first things I think we ran into are the hybrids? What kinds of hybrids are we going to see? I'm not sure if I want to answer that... Q: The books speaks of Protoss-Zerg, Human-Protoss and of course the Human-Zerg ones... To one degree or another all of those little elements will play out over the three chapters of StarCraft II. I am not sure how to answer your questions. It definitely plays to the heart of the story. Its kind of tied in with the bigger, mythical cycle of what StarCraft is and why this conflict is even happening at this time in history. I don't want to say to much about hybrids at this point but definitely that's in the DNA [dry "very funny" kind of laugh]. Q: Is it possible to undo a hybrid? Reverse the process without killing the "host"? This is why I don't want to answer the hybrid questions, because it takes a very specific shape... Q: I am asking about this because of a specific art of Kerrigan, I believe: An art piece that was released during the WWI in Seoul? I know which one you speak of [grins]. Ehm, yea I am going to take the Fifth on that one. Boy am I going to dodge that [laughs]. I know what you are talking about... NOTE: at this point the PR guy who is monitoring the conversation jumps in and tries to move the conversation away from this subject. I was not allowed to ask about elements that "link into the larger plot". Its just, I can't answer this for you in a satisfying way so I'm just going to dodge it! [Laughs] You know what I mean, because it will be bitching when you figure it out! Q: Yeah well, okay then, let's talk more about the elements that link into the larger plot then [grins]. Let's discuss the relic collection in the game. Is it all just collect and return type missions, or? Again, its in ways tied into that overarching thing and I don't want to say to much about. It looks like a simple job up front you know. A way to make some money, or whatever, but let's say that nothing is ever that simple. Q: Yea, but haven't we already kind of seen this already? I think it was mission two [Mission 4b: Tooth and Nail] where you have to steal a relic from a bunch of fanatic Protoss? Is it the first Tychus mission? Is it Tooth and Nail? As the Zerg are marching on the top of the map? Q: Yea exactly and you end up at the crystal with the four sentinels that guard the item you want. Hmmm, yea, it's possible. There is a number of those items scattered across... How they play into the overarching story I'd rather not say. But yea, let's say they become significant. Q: Okay. Well, I'm not sure who said it earlier today but one of the main focus points for StarCraft II was to create a great diversity in the missions. Is that something that was inspired by the story as well? It was more of a reaction to WarCraft III, honestly. We had finished WarCraft III and its expansion set and the story of WarCraft III was embedded on those missions. As you played through and went through the mechanics of it all of the character stuff is happening in, real-time as you are moving through the map in a very linear fashion. So we took a few steps back looking as we built StarCraft II. We identified pretty early that we wanted the feel different. We wanted the maps... If we are going to build the system by which you can choose what mission you want to do when, then its important that their context not be as story immersed. They certainly all have context and story playing out but we wanted the mission dynamics, the mission objectives and the amount of story happening to feel distinctly different from WarCraft III. That's why we built the story mode in general, to try and pull a lot of character interactions out of the map experience and put them in their own space, so that the game would have a bit of own sense of self: its own vibe. And feel, in some ways, a little bit more retro than WarCraft III, which felt a lot more like an RPG. Actually its funny, [StarCraft II] had a little bit of that to. Its interesting to see what you guys say, but it's a little more like adventure gaming to a degree. It's a little more ambient. You can click on objects and get information about the characters, the history, without it being this linear game play in front of you. So in that way it builds a very different world. A sense of world and that was attractive to us. So we are still trying to nail it in and figure it out. A strange experiment, so we are still kind of: "Whoo, please work!", you know? But it has been a lot of fun. Q: So, I was told that the heroes play a relatively small part in most missions because a dead hero is a useless hero and a hero you will have to keep alive is useless as well? Yea, if you have got to hide Raynor in the back of your base it's not cool. Q: And, well a sacred shrine which is used to revive heroes is not really a good option either. So, how does it work in mission where you do get a hero? I am trying to remember but I think for the most part... I don't remember in every instance but generally if you do have a hero on a map he has got to live you know. Its about that simple. Or we allow with a gimmick: instead of letting him just blow up and die he takes a knee, he's hurt, and you got to get a Medic there to get him back on his feet. There are a number of different things we have conjured that aren't as cumbersome as the Altar of Kings or whatever in WarCraft III. We have tried to make it as organic and plausible as it could feel. We have tried to fade away from the hero-based mechanics, but there is a few of them there that are really cool. Dungeon robbing type scenarios are pretty cool. Q: Are all those heroes going to be main characters like Raynor or do you also get to use side plot heroes? Tychus has a few missions where he is causing some trouble. And.. OWH, I can't give it away, I don't know what they have said... There is a mission where a... Have you heard about "the Thor mission"? Probably not, then I won't tell you. I won't be the guy that gets caught The Thor in multiplayer is like the big guy, like the siege unit. There is a map that features a Thor in a very creative way. Our friend Tychus might have something to do with that. There are ways of interacting with the characters at the map level that are pretty cool, that I am really existed about. Even some of the really random characters come out and have a chance to play. You actually have a new representation on some maps. It's a lot of fun. But it is definitely a different paradigm than WarCraft III. The missions are a little more... I wouldn't want to say "dungeonesque" because they are not a dungeon necessarily but they are not "build-up mission", but more tactical, I guess that is what it means. Q: How about the lab missions? They still felt somewhat experimental. Are you planning to do more with them than just "collection quests?" There is a pretty good system design. I'll be honest with you, I haven't actually played in a week and a half so I am not sure if the UI is different in the last few days, but there is a number of research projects like that, which arch across many missions. So if you play any number of maps against Zerg you are looking for these little items that you may find on the terrain. It's a cool system you know. I am not as familiar with it. I haven't really played that component of it to completion. These days I am just looking for where the lines sound bad and where the recording actors effect that. Q: With the StarCraft II framework you have all these new tools. What did you do in StarCraft II from both a practical and thematical standpoint that you could not have done before? From a practical standpoint we have never been able to go this deep. We have never been able to build a story that is, I think, this emotional. This human. To some degree that is a weird word to use, but like: I feel these characters in a way I did not feel my WarCraft characters. Q: A bit more Raw you mean? Yea, they are greedy, they are human. They are broken people. They have feelings you know? They are trying real hard to scramble up and find the higher path. I love that. A lot of these things were in WarCraft, but it's fantasy and because of the way the campaign went on there is something that just rings truer about StarCraft 2 for me as a writer, as a fan of it. There is more cinematic content, there is more character interactions. There is more characters in from [StarCraft I]. There is just SO much more depth and believability. [Believability] is always a weird word to use because there is laser beams and things that levitate. A player thinking: "Who is this cowboy sitting out there at a bar?" My hope is that while it starts to go and it might not match classic video game expectations in terms of: "What is this?" You know, once we got going there where just things that we were about to achieve with these characters that we couldn't do in a standard RTS campaign. I mean, at the end of the day it's a war game you know, but there is just so much characterisation happening. This has just been so much fun to build. It has really grown us a lot as story tellers and cinematic directors and it has really gotten us out of our comfort zone to be honest with you. Like WarCraft III: You could say we knew what we were doing at that point. We knew how to make that game and while it wasn't simple by any means (we love Warcraft III), this has been SO much more difficult in a lot of ways because we couldn't just do that again. We had to try and build something that would test us and really make us think outside the box. Some of our solutions are pretty funky man, you know? Like adventure games still have... It's like: "What? What are you guys doing?" But our dear hope is that somehow the total solution will feel pretty fresh, even though we draw on things that are game gimmicks that are twelve years old or even two years old. That in the final solution there is something really fresh about this single player campaign. It's all the same DNA. In each RTS you have the economy structure and then the chess game of leveraging units in real-time but there is something about the single player campaign that's coming together that just feels... This is going to sounds stupid, and its not exactly what I mean, but it does feel like a level up from [WarCraft]. Like a higher arc [WarCraft]. I think there is a part of me and the rest of the team that really wanted to reach higher, achieve higher, like a higher degree of believability or resonance, or soul, if you will, I think [StarCraft II] has got that. For us, for Blizzard you know. There is plenty of great studios out there: Big mega story houses doing RPG's and stuff that I love, but for us this story feels like a new level for us, which is very rewarding. I hope people dig it. Time will tell. I think I over-answered the hell out of that question. Q: Will the Xel'naga be more than relics of the past this time? What kind of role will they have in the campaign? Like I said earlier, the mystery of the Xel'naga is definitely something that is hard-wired into this game. To the degree that it is evident in this first chapter, I'd rather not say. Because it spoils stuff you know, but I have total confidence that in a lot of ways the spine of the overarching story. If the foreground is Raynor and Kerrigan and their dysfunction then the mystery of what's really happening in the universe definitely something that we will resolve boldly. So whether there are specific Xel'naga people or whatever moving around in this chapter remains to be seen. Q: Which new character do you think is the most interesting newcomer? I get a big kick out of Tychus. He was kind of made up a little later in the game. Late in the game meaning in our development process we conceived him: wouldn't it be funny if Raynor had an old war buddy? But, this character; Once we started writing him, he was just so fun to write because he's monstrous. He is just this guy that... It's hard to explain Tychus and the sheer destruction that he is capable of. And he is not even an alien! He is not this super powered anything. It's just that, he's just a nut! He is so fun to watch, he is so fun to write. And once we had the voice actor, I think it is Neil Kaplan, he just started doing this big deep voice and it was like: "holy cow, that's Tychus!" Suddenly it was just of the races and we couldn't wait to write more Tychus. And because he was so fun to write we actually greatly expanded the role he plays in the story. Did you guys get to see the pre-rendered cinematic before the campaign screen? Q: No :/ Did you see the one on the internet with the armour being put on? Q: Yep, the Seoul announcement one. Why is he in that scene? Yea, Tychus is one of the funnest things that just popped out. It has its own gravity this character that just demanded to be written. Q: Tychus broke out of jail, but he is still locked up in his suit right? Yea, why could that be? In-game cinematics will tell you that he has large debts, but what else? It's good stuff there. Nothing is as simple as it seems.

Coverage: Single Player Reveal >> Klear View: A Blizzard Hero’s Work

Klear was inspired by all the new Single Player material weeks before we were allowed to show you guys any of it, and he has looked further in to the whole “hero” deal in StarCraft II. Ge gives us a feel of how the actual NPCs in the game would react to the player’s decisions and taking a trip down memory lane, observing the history of heroes in Blizzard RTS games to give us a better perspective on the issue.

There are numerous “hero” units in the original StarCraft’s single player campaign. A new set of sounds and a new portrait, sometimes a unique model, but usually just a different team colour, and significantly boosted stats - bang! Suddenly you’re commanding a brave hero (or villain) instead of just an army of nameless soldiers. Heroes play an important role in the story and have personal stakes in the conflict. While the player may send dozens of units to certain doom without blinking an eye, it’s not the same with heroes. They are your friends, fellow warriors. They might be powerful, but why risk that something bad will happen to them? Also there’s the fact that their death means game over for you.

Warmly recommended, head over here for further heroic reading!

Blizzard Entertainment has released the Blizzcon 2009 schedule for Friday and Saturday plus a WoW-style Floor Map of the Anaheim Convention Center where you can spot which Stages are for Diablo 3, Starcraft II and World of Warcraft.

On this page you’ll find the locations and times for the major events that will take place during the convention, such as hands-on gaming, tournaments, contests, and of course the developer panels where Blizzard’s game designers talk about the many aspects of making a great game.

   

Coverage: Single Player Reveal >> Klear View: A Blizzard Hero's Work