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.
