WhistlinDixie

Starcraft Goodness

A video that will be shipped with the August edition of PC Gamer has been leaked that shows four new Protoss units that will be included in Starcraft 2. It has been confirmed that this video is legit by a Blizzard employee on the Battle.Net forums.

In a follow up to this, the person who leaked the video also posted a unit lineup for the Protoss race that will be included in Starcraft 2. The list includes 17 units (if you count a mobile building as a unit), minus the probe.

I am getting so excited about this game, but it looks like I’ll have to wait. Blizzard has stated that current development is in the pre-alpha stage and that a public beta won’t be released until around the end of the year. In an interview with MSN, Blizzard confirmed that Starcraft 2 won’t ship this year. [Sigh]

Blizzard Finally Pulls Through

It’s about time! Yesterday (19 May), Blizzard officially announced that there will be a StarCraft II. The original was released in 1998, so it looks like it will end up being a full decade in between releases. (I’m not counting the Brood War expansion pack in that number.) So far, Blizzard has only announced new units and buildings for the Protoss race, but additions and tweaks for the Terran and Zerg races will be revealed in the future. According to 1up.com, StarCraft II will be released on November 20 of this year. This seems rather quick given Blizzard’s position that they are only at the early alpha stages of development and the fact that they release some of the most polished games in the industry. I must say that the games seems pretty far along, given the gameplay videos that are available, to be called an early alpha. I would find it quite disheartening to have been working on a game since 2003 and, four years later, only be reaching the early alpha stages.

All I can say is that I can’t wait for the sequel to the greatest computer game of all time.