As many of you already know Starcraft 2 is releasing with just one races campaign. There is a FAQ on the official blizzard forums located here
How long is each of the campaigns?
StarCraft II’s terran campaign will consist of approximately 26 to 30 missions, and each expansion set will include a similar number of missions. This means that the complete StarCraft II Trilogy will include as many as 90 single-player missions. This allows us to create a truly epic story experience with a great variety of unique missions and gameplay types.
Well that at least confirms 2 expansions for the game.
Kevin Yu, comunity manager of Blizzard has recently stated that there will be several opportunities to get beta keys prior to the Starcraft 2 release. He goes on to elaborate on how:
Alright there you have it get your best comics out and you'll be enjoying some nice Starcraft 2 beta action! Hopefully some of the other contests are a little less comic oriented..
StarCraft II Beta Keys are up for grabs to the funniest, wittiest, able to cause a fun chuckle in your fellow StarCraft fans!
As a FYI, we will be adding (2) StarCraft II Beta Keys to the Vespene Laughs 1st place winner's prize package each month for the StarCraft II Comic Contest. The rules will be updated accordingly for the February round of entries. Additionally, we will also reward previous 1st place winners of the contest as well with the beta keys as well.
This contest will be the first of various contests that will begin offering a chance to get into the StarCraft II Beta. If you know there isn't a funny bone anywhere in ya, don't worry, there will be plenty of other opportunities, just keep checking back with us.
Please note that there is no official announcement of a StarCraft II Beta start date. Beta keys to winners will be distributed during the StarCraft II Beta process.
Alright there you have it get your best comics out and you'll be enjoying some nice Starcraft 2 beta action! Hopefully some of the other contests are a little less comic oriented..
A source in the Starcraft 2 Beta has confirmed that there is an autocasting ability for the Terran SCV unit.
"Yeah, SCV currently has the auto-casting Repair ability and you can activate or deactivate auto-casting Repair."
This is really good news for all Terran players as in the original Starcraft there was no auto casting of the repair ability. You basically had to click it and target the unit which was a huge pain in the ass. Now you can just set your mechanical units near a stationed SCV and it will do all the work for you. Thank god for human laziness. This better make it into the Starcraft 2 release.
"Yeah, SCV currently has the auto-casting Repair ability and you can activate or deactivate auto-casting Repair."
This is really good news for all Terran players as in the original Starcraft there was no auto casting of the repair ability. You basically had to click it and target the unit which was a huge pain in the ass. Now you can just set your mechanical units near a stationed SCV and it will do all the work for you. Thank god for human laziness. This better make it into the Starcraft 2 release.
Starcraftwire.net translated a German players post who claims to have inside knowledge of the Starcraft 2 Beta. The breakdown is as follows:
We have translated the German fan's summary of the StarCraft 2 info summary:
* Blizzard has a fixed date for the beta, however, it's still a secret.
* The multiplayer part of the game is basically done, except for a few details.
* There will be several opportunities to participate in the beta to come (including competitions, perhaps a kind of story competition or similar).
* In the current build (internally at Blizzard), there is a Dark Pylon with a cool ability, which enables Probes to harvest faster within the reach of the Pylon.
* The Command Center can now use a new cool ability that creates a "bigger" SCV which is better at harvesting.
* Supply depots can be upgraded to give +2 Supply.
* Xordiah, who is a "Protoss Fetishist", is Very Happy.
* This build's Immortals are extremely strong.
The full story can be found Here
We have translated the German fan's summary of the StarCraft 2 info summary:
* Blizzard has a fixed date for the beta, however, it's still a secret.
* The multiplayer part of the game is basically done, except for a few details.
* There will be several opportunities to participate in the beta to come (including competitions, perhaps a kind of story competition or similar).
* In the current build (internally at Blizzard), there is a Dark Pylon with a cool ability, which enables Probes to harvest faster within the reach of the Pylon.
* The Command Center can now use a new cool ability that creates a "bigger" SCV which is better at harvesting.
* Supply depots can be upgraded to give +2 Supply.
* Xordiah, who is a "Protoss Fetishist", is Very Happy.
* This build's Immortals are extremely strong.
The full story can be found Here
The Battle.net forums are posed a question as followed by Blizzard certified poster Karune as follows:
There have been many game mechanic and unit additions to the 3 races for StarCraft II. Zerg have their Roaches with fast regeneration and Nydus Worms that can transport an entire army to an enemy base. Protoss strike back with their Colossi raining deadly beams across the battlefield, and have warp-in technologies allowing them to instantly reinforce a powered position. Terrans have become even more deadly of raiders with their fast moving mine dropping Reapers, and Medivac Dropships which heal and transport the Terran army. Tell us what race is your favorite so far and why.
From community response Protoss are still a favorite race followed by a close Zerg second. Personally I've always been a fan of the Terran with their bunker and push strategies. With the Starcraft 2 release I believe that Terran will be overpowered like the early days of the humans in WC3. I've always found that playing as a random race at first will give a player a very good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the race in any situation but ultimately a player needs to focus on specializing in one. Questions? Comments?
There have been many game mechanic and unit additions to the 3 races for StarCraft II. Zerg have their Roaches with fast regeneration and Nydus Worms that can transport an entire army to an enemy base. Protoss strike back with their Colossi raining deadly beams across the battlefield, and have warp-in technologies allowing them to instantly reinforce a powered position. Terrans have become even more deadly of raiders with their fast moving mine dropping Reapers, and Medivac Dropships which heal and transport the Terran army. Tell us what race is your favorite so far and why.
From community response Protoss are still a favorite race followed by a close Zerg second. Personally I've always been a fan of the Terran with their bunker and push strategies. With the Starcraft 2 release I believe that Terran will be overpowered like the early days of the humans in WC3. I've always found that playing as a random race at first will give a player a very good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the race in any situation but ultimately a player needs to focus on specializing in one. Questions? Comments?
Blizzard has set up a site called Starcraft 2 Battle Report that gives players an in depth look at the state of the game. The first battle report is Matt Kooper (Protoss) vs David Kim (Terran). The video shows fans the Terran Marauder, Hellian, and Banshee units and elaborates on the Protoss' Zealots, Colossus' and Stalker units.
A Starcraft 2 release by the end of 2009 should be extremely probable based on the footage of the game. The video states that it is in an Alpha state but the game looks extremely polished and is in a competitevely playable state.
The Terran as it looks still have bunkers much like the original Starcraft and have to rely on heavy support to battle with the Protoss army. The protoss now can warp units in much more effectively using pylons (a great new strategy for the race) and can resupply the frontlines quickly.
This new Starcraft 2 video series is an excellent move by Blizzard providing much needed information as to the progress of it's development.
The current Starcraft 2 downloads include video, fansite kits, wallpapers, and some mobile ringtones and phone wallpapers. You can find them mostly on the Blizzard owned site http://mobile.blizzard.com . Most of the wallpapers are around 1.99 which isn't too bad if you want a picture of Raynor or Kerrigan on your cell phone.
The Fansite kit is a must if you plan on making a blog about Starcraft 2. Most of the pictures on this site are pulled from the fansite kit and custom edited for layouts sake. There are 5 official wallpapers available for download from the site and they are Kerrigan, A marine in combat, a marine getting nuked, Zertaul, and a large Starcraft 2 logo.
Unfortunately there are really no other quality starcraft 2 downloads that are official from blizzard. With the months prior to a Starcraft 2 beta or Starcraft 2 release date we should see some more content from the gaming giant.
The Fansite kit is a must if you plan on making a blog about Starcraft 2. Most of the pictures on this site are pulled from the fansite kit and custom edited for layouts sake. There are 5 official wallpapers available for download from the site and they are Kerrigan, A marine in combat, a marine getting nuked, Zertaul, and a large Starcraft 2 logo.
Unfortunately there are really no other quality starcraft 2 downloads that are official from blizzard. With the months prior to a Starcraft 2 beta or Starcraft 2 release date we should see some more content from the gaming giant.
