Now, you can view videos on Youtube all day long but you won’t get better at Starcraft 2. Why? Mostly because the pros practice every day but more importantly, there are different map and unit strategies that they utilize depending on their opponent.
So here’s a couple of guides to help with that – maps, units, tactics.
The instructions are very simple:
My guess is Starcraft 2 release date could be near too. The word is Activision-Blizzard are under pressure to release a major game in 2009 as their earnings don’t look too rosy. Of course, Blizzard are known for their motto: we release when the game is ready.
According to Kotaku (and Rob Pardo specifically), you can now design your own map and SELL it. Previously, you were only able to design your own map and PLAY IT!
Blizzard wants to foster the best mod community in existence, and to that ends they’ve unveiled plans to single out premium custom-created maps for sales on a StarCraft 2 marketplace.
Maps will be split into two categories – normal and premium – with the former free and the latter for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to the map’s creators.
Blizzard hopes this will lead to more choice for StarCraft 2 players, and more innovative and creative custom maps fueled by the potential financial rewards.
I guess Blizzcon is a bit shy on Starcraft news, Diablo 3 got a new class – the Monk!
There’s been quite a bit of speculation about Starcraft 2 release date – as with all Blizzard games. Blizzard’s motto – it’s out when it’s ready – means that exact dates are now known before about a month before.
So it’s good news that Mike Morhaime said at E3 that Starcraft will be out in 2009. Of course, he put it in a conditional sentence!
Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime has said that Starcraft II will be released this year as long as it “meets our standards and the expectations of our players”.
The latest gameplay video I saw, there have been some new Protoss units, so I guess Blizzard never tire of adding/subtracting units.
This is the panel discussion regarding Stracraft 2 gameplay at the WWI in Paris (where Diablo 3 was announced). The video is a bit long but worth it!
There’s still nothing on Starcraft’s release date though - I hope it’s early 2009! Stay tuned for an announcement about updates to online play!
For a long time, Blizzard have stated that the new version of Battle.net will premiere with Starcraft 2.
So when they say the new version will probably be ready by Christmas 2008, you’d think it might be Starcraft 2 release date too. At the same time, there have been definitive statements from Blizzard that Starcraft 2 will not come out in 2008.
So the consensus on forums is that Battle.net 2.0 will come out in December - together with a Starcraft 2 beta. As to the game release - that’ll probably happen in early 2009.
Blizzard has started a podcast (audio only for now). You can get the audio and/or you can read the transcript.
In this podcast (a.k.a. Blizzcast), they have two interviews. The first is with Samwise Didier, Blizzard’s Art Director and concept artist who has worked on both Starcraft and Warcraft.
The second interview is with WOW’s lead designer for World of Warcraft, Jeff Kaplan. He’s talking about the changes in WoW patch 2.4.
Looks like a new MMO called RIFT, is hot on the heels of WoW.
In case you needed any more reasons to want to go to BlizzCon, they've just announced that convention-goers will be treated to a playable demo of StarCraft II. Of course, who knows how much "playable demo" there is to the game yet, but but Blizzard tells us that "attendees can sample the new units and gameplay elements for themselves in multiplayer battles."
In his Gamespot interview, Chris Sigaty said that Blizzard usually takes “three and a half or four years to finish a game” and that Starcraft 2 would enter alpha testing later in the year.
Rob Pardo has poured some cold water on fan’s hopes for a Chirstmas release in 2007. In his MSN interview, Rob rules out any possibility for an early release:
The only thing I can give you [that’s] concrete is it’s not going to be this year. Some people were hoping, because of how advanced Starcraft 2 looks, that we’d have it out by Christmas, but that’s definitely not happening.
Does that mean that a Starcraft 2 beta is out of question as well? IGN has put a bet on that and if the alpha is later in the year, I wouldn’t rule out a beta by Chirstmas.
