StarCraft II Beta First Impressions

Having finally found my way into the SC2 beta, I thought I'd throw out a few first impressions for anyone still reading. Let me just start by saying the game is awesome. Blizzard seems to have found a great balance between keeping aspects of oldschool SC while still adding loads of new things. Best of all, it still feels like StarCraft.

So far I've only gotten into the Zerg, my all time favorite race. I want to take this slow and learn things one race at a time since there are a ton of new units, buildings and abilities. I started out vs a computer to figure out some build orders and then moved on to some 2v2 where I've done pretty well. I've only just dabbled in 1v1 so far, and though I've gone 3-0 I have yet to play anyone who really seems to have a clue as of yet.

For the Zerg, Queens seem to have made a huge difference in the way we play the macro game. You don't need to keep making new hatcheries to keep up with your resource intake, because Queens have the ability to spawn 4 larvae at a hatchery, which takes 40 seconds. It really is nice to not have to manage 8+ hatchs, but it does take some getting used to.

Roaches appear to be the Zerg bread and butter unit, except maybe in ZvT. Hydralisks have moved up to lair tech and seem to be much stronger, and I am still seeing them used frequently. There really are so many new things in SC2 that it can be a bit overwhelming to any oldschool SC player who thinks he's going to be able to bust down the door and starting owning away.

I am going to start keeping track of my 1v1 matches here and posting some replays as I (hopefully) start working my way up the ladder.

StarCraft II Asylum: Back from the Dead?

Well, maybe. I realize it's been a solid 3 months since I've posted here, but I have some intense real life situations to handle. Hopefully I can stick a few posts on here now and then, even if no one reads them. Never fear, however, as I did manage to cover most pertinent StarCraft 2 news in those zero posts I worked on over the last 3 months. You know, the whole "no beta yet" things and such.

Anyway, I have managed to play Brood War here and there during my extended leave. I plan on sharing my red ass beatdowns experiences on iCCup with you all shortly.

StarCraft 2 Release Date Delayed Until 2010

Big surprise. Here's the scoop folks (from PC World) :

Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.

We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

Best,

Blizzard PR

To be honest, did anyone really not see this coming? I'm really out of sarcastic comments on the delay of SC2. By the way, Wow 3.2.0 was released today. Thanks for spending time on SC2 Blizzard. Now that the tentative release date for SC2 is "the first half of 2009", expect Blizzcon to be the absolute earliest date for beta launch. Woopee.

New Gameplay Videos TvP

A new StarCraft 2 match video was released at E-Stars Seoul 2009. Check it out:





Unfortunately, the only sound you can hear is some announcer speaking Korean, and the video is pretty low-quality so sometimes it's hard to make out exactly what a building or a unit is (at least for me). On the plus side, we see some cool in-game stuff. Apparently Terran will still do the wall-in vs Protoss =].

Also, I know this is probably old now, but it had me almost in tears laughing:



Aside from all that, things are still very slow news-wise. No blue posts, no updates of the Blizzard official site except for some new fan art. Hopefully soon we will get some beta news.

StarCraft 2 Beta: No News is Bad News

Check out this article on the delay of StarCraft 2 on marketwatch.com. Unfortunately, it basically sums up what many of us have already guessed - StarCraft 2 being released in 2009 is starting to look fairly unlikely. Frustrating, with WoW expansions and Diablo III talk when we haven't had a StarCraft game in 11 years. Why let one of the best franchises in PC gaming go the way of Duke Nukem Forever? One snippet:

"The beta testing for 'StarCraft' hasn't started yet. If it starts in August and takes 5-6 months, then launching the game this year is next to impossible," said Jess Lubert, video game analyst with Brean Murray.

And not only has SC2 beta not started yet, the general concensus seems to be that it won't even be announced until after Blizzcon 09. Not really a surprise, since it gives them a big stage to show off SC2, BNET 2.0 and such. Unfortunately, that's not until the end of August. So the question remains: what the fuck are we supposed to do until then?

Well, one idea is that you can join thousands of people demanding answers from the mods on the battle.net SC2 forum. This is about as effective as screaming at plants to grow faster. On the bright side you won't be lonely.

Don't you look at me like that. You had your chance.

StarCraft 2 Banned In China

Several sources are reporting that scheduled exhibition matches of StarCraft 2 did not take place at China's "Chinajoy" event, which is apparently a commie version of E3. While no official word was given, it is speculated that the reason for the ban is that the game is too violent and a bad influence on young gamers, and that it may likely become an outright ban on the game itself in the country. This seems to be an odd turn of events, given China's past history of banned games, which generally focused on games that made China look like an oppressive country for banning games like StarCraft 2. Another thought however, suggests it could be a lack of preparation on Blizzard's part. Shocking!

It is also stated that “any activity related to foreign games, including their showing, demonstrating, trading and marketing promotion, shall also abide by the censorship laws aiming at imported online games,” meaning that the State Administration Of News And Press should take a look at and censor whatever necessary bits from a game. It might sound strange to hear that Blizzard didn’t take this in account when decided to showcase Starcraft II at ChinaJoy 2009, especially since they knew how things work in China from WoW.

Not that Blizzard should have expected something like that given their recent relations with China over WoW..right? In any event, Chinese players may not be interested in StarCraft II anyway after they learn that there won't be anything to farm and sell. Hell, they needed somewhere to turn after gold farming was banned.

So this is what we talk about when there's no real SC2 news. Joy!

More Blizzcon ticket giveaways, Battle.net for your phone

If you're still looking for a trip to Blizzcon 09 in order to hopefully hear the announcement that StarCraft II Beta will be released sometime between now and armageddon, you've come to the right place. Alienware is giving away some free Blizzcon tickets over at their website, and unlike the razer promotion, this one does not require you to drudge through a boring "quest" to visit any promotional pages. All you have to do is enter your e-mail address. Probably worth a try if you're still looking for a chance to put that Kerrigan costume to good use this year.

If you actually own a Kerrigan costume, A/S/L pls.

On the other hand, nVidia is choosing a route than doesn't involve e-mail spamming Blizzard gaming enthusiasts. All you have to do is buy something! Imagine that!

Lastly, have you ever wondered if someone is logging on to your World of Warcraft account for the 2 to 3 hours a week you aren't actively playing? Blizzard's new battle.net mobile authenticator can now tell you any time someone logs into your WoW account while you're, say, taking your weekly spongebath.