RipTen Videogame Blog » StarCraft II

Geeked Out: LEGO StarCraft II Hyperion Battlecruiser

Drake Hess — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:39:12 +0000

Are you big into StarCraft 2? I’m talking about tedious LEGO upon LEGO stacking big? Well, even if you aren’t, you can still appreciate the fine work of this SC2 LEGO enthusiast. See the rest of the images up close and personal at Sven Junga’s photostream.

Source: Brothers-Brick (via: Geeks Are Sexy)

Hungry for more hand-made swag? Take a leisurely stroll through our Geeked Out collection.

Behold the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Fact Sheet

Garrett Hartman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:00:39 +0000

Blizzard has released a nice little fact sheet for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Heart of the Swarm is the continuation of Wings of Liberty and centers arround the Zerg and everyone’s favorite Queen, Kerrigan.

It will feature new campaign-specific swarm units with Kerrigan playing a major role in every battle and players can choose which new abilities and enhancements to bestow upon her.

Also included will be new multiplayer units, maps and battlenet features.

Features:

Continues the epic story of StarCraft II from where Wings of Liberty left off.
Approximately 20 new campaign missions.
New campaign gameplay mechanics, allowing players to evolve new abilities and units for their zerg army.
Go into battle with Kerrigan as she tries to restore her strength and regain control of the Swarm.
New multiplayer units and maps, expanding strategic choice and gameplay depth for each race.
Expanded features and functionality for Battle.net to improve custom-game search, and new tools for map authors to create even more epic custom games.
New pre-rendered and in-game cinematics bring the story of Heart of the Swarm to life.

Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Gameplay is Zergtastic!

Dave Oshry — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:10:38 +0000

Zergtastic is totally a word. If you don’t believe me, talk to the Queen of Blades. Or, you could just watch this sweet new gameplay trailer Blizzard cooked up:

Zergtastic indeed.

Also be sure to check out this slew of Zergtastic HotS gameplay screenshots.

… Zergtastic!

New Starcraft II: Heart of The Swarm Screenshots Zerg Rush Us

Aaron Alexander — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:26:47 +0000

Details of the upcoming Starcraft II expansion, Heart of the Swarm, have been quite scarce (besides this awesome trailer) but thanks to a new-found gallery of screenshots, we have an idea of what the Zerg themed title will play like;

By the look of certain screenshots, we now see what would be the Campaign hub, the ability to upgrade Zerg units with Mutagens (Swarmling, fuck yeah!) and a leveling tree for Kerrigan, indicating that Heart of the Swarm could be a more hero-driven campaign than Wings of Liberty.

Leave your thoughts below, and feel free to tell me them via Twitter -@iamaaronalex

via [InsideGamer.nl]

Starcraft II “Heart of the Swarm” Trailer Goes After Kerrigan

Dave Oshry — Fri, 27 May 2011 22:55:35 +0000

Are you prepared to continue the epic story of Starcraft II? Are you man enough to go after her… and venture into the Heart of the Swarm?

Blizzard Adds Master League To Starcraft II Multiplayer

Aaron Alexander — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:26:35 +0000

As someone who casually plays Starcraft II online, getting into the Diamond league seems impossible. For the skilled few who play at Diamond level, a new challenge awaits them – attaining a spot within the Master League. Blizzard have a full FAQ listed on the Starcraft 2 blog, here are some notable excerpts:

Q: How do I get into the Master League?

A: Only the top 2% of active players in each region will be elevated to the Master League. Because the Diamond League accounts for 20% of all active players, even the #1 ranked player in your Diamond division may not necessarily be promoted to Master League. Our automated placement system compares your player skill to that of all players in your region by way of matches played, just as we do with the Top 200, to determine eligibility.

Q: I’m in the Master League! What else you got?

A: First, congratulations are in order — you’re really good at StarCraft II! Beyond the Master League, we have plans for a Grandmaster League, encompassing the top 200 players in each region. We’ll have more details to share in the future.

Yes, you read right – a Grandmaster league is on it’s way. I’m sure this is pleasing news to the Starcraft elite of the world (looking at you Korea), however for the rest of us it remains a giant fever-dream.

Source: Battle.net

Nvidia Brings a Keg to the CES That Plays Starcraft II (And Pours Beer)

Dave Oshry — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:00:16 +0000

The CES is all about innovation. Las Vegas is all about having fun. Nvidia seems to understand this better than anyone. It’s a keg – it’s a computer – it’s the KegPuter!!

First off – yes, it actually serves beer. (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to be exact) But this is also a beast of a PC.

This is MY Kind of Technology

Here are the specs of the KegPuter:

2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Hydrocopper 2 graphics cards in 2-Way SLI
ASUS P67 Sandybridge motherboard
Intel i7 2600 3.4 Ghz Sandybridge CPU
8 gigs of DDR3 Crucial Ballistix at 1600 Mhz
Crucial 160 Gig SSD
Danger Den Extreme liquid cooling system
Antec 1200 watt TruePower Quattro PSU

Here’s what Nvidia had to say about it:

This mod is a blissful marriage of a 15.5 gallon keg and a liquid cooled GeForce GTX gaming PC. Did I mention that it has a fully functional beer dispensing system? Thanks to Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. we were able to develop a solution to install a 2.5 gallon mini keg with an integrated refrigeration system and in-line Co2 pump into the KEGputer. With it, you can pour ice-cold beer without the need of pesky beer pumps or giant tubs of ice.

So not only is this a beastly PC – but it’s also an innovation in Keg technology. It keeps the beer cold all by itself!!

I played some Starcraft II with the KP then took some pictures and proudly shook Nvidia’s hand.

Top 10 Games We Wish Used Kinect

Ripten Staff — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:35:59 +0000

Microsoft’s Kinect looks to take gaming in a bold new direction by making you the controller. However, other than a few “family friendly” launch titles, Kinect currently doesn’t have much to offer us hardcore gamers. We’re not quite sold on it yet, but if these next 10 games were compatible with Kinect, we’d go out and buy it TODAY.

10 – Fight Night

Let’s just come out and say it, Fighters Uncaged just doesn’t cut it as far as fighting games go. However, Fight Night is one of the greatest boxing franchises of all time and if Microsoft could find a way to make it work properly with Kinect – we’d be all over it.

9- Starcraft II

Yeah, we know, it’s not on consoles, but if it was, we’d want to play it with Kinect. Being able to move your units around and place buildings with one hand while moving the map with your other hand just makes sense – and it would make for some awesome and intense online matches as well.

8 – Halo Wars

Since Starcraft II isn’t on consoles, Halo Wars will have to do. Although the online community is all but dead, it would still be fun to play the campaign with Kinect. In fact, any modern RTS would be fun with Kinect. R.U.S.E anyone?

Blizzard Suing Starcraft II Hackers

Garrett Hartman — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 12:13:43 +0000

Blizzard started the month of October by banning 5000 cheaters in Starcraft II. Out to show they mean business, the developer is now going after the hackers who created the cheats and taking them to court.

Last week Blizzard filed suit in the Los Angeles US District Court against 3 suspected programmers:

“Just days after the release of Starcraft II, Defendants already had developed, marketed, and distributed to the public a variety of hacks and cheats designed to modify (and in fact destroy) the Starcraft II online game experience. In fact, on the very day that Starcraft II was released, representatives of the hacks Web site advised members of the public that ‘our staff is already planning new releases for this game.’”

The three accused go by the ID’s of “Permaphrost,” “Cranix,” and “Linuxawesome” have been accused of “multiple counts of copyright infringement”. Blizzard is seeking more than just damamges and want a cut of profits the hackers made.

They are further accused of encouraging other to enfringe on Blizzard’s copyright:

“When users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they copy StarCraft II copyrighted content into their computer’s RAM in excess of the scope of their limited license, as set forth in the EULA and ToU, and create derivative works of StarCraft II.”

While the hackers reside in othe countries (2 Canadians and 1 Peruvian) the case is set to be heard in a Los Angeles US District Courtroom. While some question what jurisdiction the court has over the accused, Starcraft II’s end-user license agreement specifies Los Angeles as the locale to settle disputes.

Source: Gamespot

Blizzard’s Battle.net “Reduces Incentives” for Pirates, Apparently

Gavin Bard — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:22:08 +0000

Today sure is piracy themed here at Ripten. Guess we all watched Sea Hawk earlier or something. Anyway, according to an interview with MCV, Blizzard’s Battle.net system has helped to solve the problem of piracy for Starcraft II.

VP and executive managing director for international operations of Blizzard, Michael Ryder;

But what also goes hand-in-hand with the Battle.net solution is that we work really hard to offer a tailored, regional business model, so it reduces the incentives to go to a pirated solution

He also says that, since they worked well around the piracy issue for World of Warcraft, they expect to do the same for Starcraft II. Battle.net is clearly a solution to them to combat piracy and, at least internally, they seem to believe it has worked. It is true that things like Battle.net or other services and extra content can help limit the reasons to bother pirating a game, so it is believable that it can help cut off some of the illegal downloads. Pirating World of Warcraft and pirating Starcraft II, without the Battle.net variable, is like comparing apples and oranges though. Or I guess limes and oranges if we are keeping to this piratical theme. Of course World of Warcraft isn’t heavily pirated in comparison to the legitimate version- it is a massively online game. Pirating it wouldn’t really be worth it since the experience would be so limited. Under normal circumstances, Starcraft II would seem an easier title to pirate. With a robust campaign and a single-player mode, but with the inclusion of so many core parts of the game needing Battle.net, it is obvious that there is very little real reason for the game to be pirated. As far as I know from some cursory research, only the campaign mode is playable in the pirated version of the title. While that may be enough for some, it most likely isn’t for even the most stalwart pirate.

Although I hope they don’t break open the champagne before someone shows them this. That is a whole lot of people trying to access Starcraft II’s delicious creamy center. I guess I could have made a Zerg rush joke or something. I’m feeling lazy today.

[Source: MCVUK]

Five O’Clock Fan Art: StarCraft

Dylan Duarte — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:51 +0000

To celebrate StarCraft II’s stellar launch, here’s some sweet Terran-on-Zerg action.

Five O’Clock Fan Art is perfect for wrapping up the work day. You don’t want to think anymore, you just want to look at awesome things. And there’s nothing more awesome than a well crafted piece of videogame fan art. If you don’t agree, what the hell are you doing at a gaming blog?

Today’s piece is actually a collaboration with Joe Vriens doing the line art and Saejin Oh (account deactivated) doing the paints. Good work, dudes.

Ripten Review: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Ripten Staff — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:54:55 +0000

The year was 1998 and Blizzard was releasing its hotly anticipated newest Real Time Strategy, StarCraft. They knew it was a great game and they knew it was going to be huge, but I doubt they ever really anticipated the effect the game would have on the industry. How many games consistently made it on the December sales list multiple years in a row? Game life is measured in weeks and if you’re lucky, months. Not for StarCraft, a professional sport and a game still going strong a decade past its release. Now, 12 years after the release of the original we finally get the sequel to the story that many of us desperately wanted. But let’s get to the point, is it worth the money? Simply – Yes.

The same… and yet so very different.

Blizzard understands that the franchise is an exceptionally strong one with a massive passionate fan base. Drastically altering the game play would be detrimental and so they’ve elected to keep things very similar to the original game. A side by side screenshot makes it very clear that not only are both games very similar but that the art has been drastically updated – so much has changed and improved in 12 years!

The original and the updated. They may be called “stalkers” now, but they’ll always be goons to me.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer has always remained my haven, my home, the place I spent 5 glorious years of my life. However I’m the oddity – I went to tournaments, played at massive LANs at a friend’s house, and minored in StarCraft at my college (though my college still is unaware that I had a minor). Multiplayer is still the same glorious game that it was back then with some changes, but I’m glad to see that the major components to the game are still fully intact. The balance will be an ongoing process as it is with every Blizzard game, but hopefully we’ll see some changes in the future. Why? Because people still only create Ultralisks as a way of telling the other player just how much they suck (the ultimate put down). And sadly templars have a beautiful ability that is easy to avoid and can’t attach to a unit, so combined with their slow movement… well, they’re simply not useful. I’m not suggesting that we return to “Warcraft 3 v1.3: Caster Domination”, but they could use a little help. Macromanagement on the field seems worth much more than micromanagement at the moment!

Updated with less phallic symbols

Looks the same and yet so much cooler.

Even more disgusting than the original but I can’t take my eyes off of it.

Single Player

Before I start this section I will simply be frank with you: I never finished StarCraft or StarCraft: Brood Wars Single Player Campaign. Yes. I played the game for over *5* years straight and failed to finish the campaign. The whole “playing with friends” and “mercilessly destroying the dreams of my opponents” was too much of a draw for me to settle down and just play the single player. However, the single player in StarCraft 2 looks much too interesting for me to skip with upgrades, achievements, gorgeous cinematics (covered below), and interesting mission design.

However, I do think it’s a bit odd that you have to log into StarCraft to play the Single Player Campaign. I do understand that it’s about piracy and other odds and ends, but in the end I’ve known more people who chose to play Starcraft because they played their friend’s game on LAN and loved it (more on LAN below). Oh, and one final thing – if you’re expecting the single player to teach you to play online, I’d suggest instead trial by fire instead. Learn a cookie cutter build and practice against the A.I. first if you must, but really the most you’ll learn is from playing other people and just watching replays! The single player has many units that are not available in multiplayer and the upgrading system won’t help you in multiplayer.

The concept art is absolutely stunning.

Cine… wow

As always, the cinematic team has completely outdone themselves and created absolutely gorgeous movies. The team has obviously grown in size and ability. The number of cinematics in this game is easily three to four times as many as any previous game and they are absolutely stunning. Don’t take my word for it though – the picture speaks for itself. And if the picture isn’t enough, the thing I love the most is that my friends can message me during a cinematic and it actually shows!

The picture is worth many words, but only one comes out. “Wow” *falls over from forgetting to breathe*

Critters Go Pop

Even though Blizzard has been acquired by Activision it’s nice to know that their quality and pride in their games has not diminished. It may seem small and minor, but it’s those final touches that really make a game special and memorable long beyond other games have come and gone. And I smiled, giggled, and otherwise was thoroughly excited when I clicked on the Lyote multiple times until he exploded. Ah, some things haven’t, and shouldn’t, change.

Exploding things is still fun. This will never get old.

Sound

The sound is what you would expect of a high class game, but I admit most of the time I don’t listen to it because I’m caught up in the amazing game play. It’s wonderful in that you can listen to it for hours and it doesn’t detract at any point from the game play and yet offers very important cues to alert the player to major events. In Single Player I spend more time listening to the music and it brings back memories and is quickly working on making more (especially music in the hub – I laughed a lot at the country twangs). My favorite game music still goes to Act 5 City Music for Diablo 2 because the sweeping orchestral was the absolute best I’ve ever heard (I’d load the game and sit in the city just to listen to it), but Starcraft’s songs are perfect for the genre and game.

Watching this in action as the tentacle goes through all the holes in the ground is disgusting. Then there’s the “squishing” sound that accompanies it…”

No LAN Support!!

This is a big negative about the game. Gone are the days of 20 people in a single house, wired to a network, playing StarCraft and killing each other while actually smack talking face to face in a friendly manner. I understand the issues of piracy and other problems, but I’m hoping they will reconsider their position on LAN in the upcoming expansions. Though I admit there is one thing I won’t miss from LAN parties – a bunch of drunk guys sleeping together on the floor and having one snuggle you in his sleep. Ew.

No Chat Rooms

I miss hanging out with my old friends in StarCraft and had looked forward to possibly chilling out with them in Starcraft 2. Unfortunately, since I fell out of touch with them and I don’t know their RealID, there’s no good way for me to actually talk to them! Without that level of personal interaction and guild building that the original had, the social aspect of the game is much lower than I had anticipated. So in the meantime if those guys from PGL 4 are around (such as Jolly, Kain, Montaro, Grrrr…, and many others), well, I miss you! I still remember Olive Garden in NYC during the Battletop Competition and that restaurant trip during PGL4.

Conclusion

As expected, Blizzard has done a wonderful job creating a gorgeous game that will be enjoyed by millions for years to come. For Real Time Strategy lovers like myself who enjoy a vast array of strategy and tactics, this is the next major era for us! Now enough of this article, I’m off to play some StarCraft. I hope you’ll join me!

StarCraft II to Have Chat Rooms, More Beta Testing Next Month

Dave Oshry — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:37:59 +0000

Love playing StarCraft II but hate having to run chat programs on a separate monitor or constantly alt-tab to talk to friends playing a separate game!? Well not any more! Blizzard will be adding chat functionality to StarCraft II, so now you can talk to people you barely know more than ever! Better yet, there’s going to be more Beta testing of SC2 next month before its July 27th release date! Hooray for you!

Private chat channel functionality will be added in a patch sometime after the retail release of the game. This is something people have been asking for for a long time. (It’s currently in WoW). Said chat channels are not in the beta test and will not be finished in time for the finished product. Blizzzard’s aim is to help players organize with friends, clans, and communities.

Lastly, the second phase of the StarCraft II beta is set to kick-off in early July. This phase should last a few weeks before eventually ending just before the game’s retail release.

Starcraft II is still set to launch on July 27th.

South Korean WoW Players Eligible to Receive Free Access of StarCraft II

Demi Adejuyigbe — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:02:44 +0000

Confession time: I’ve never played StarCraft. I never got into the whole strategy game craze, and I’ve never been excited to hear announcements on sequels to Civilization, Diablo, or Starcraft. Long story short, my RTS knowledge consists of what I remember from playing Age of Empires II eight-odd years ago- but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how much people love the genre. If you’re one of the aforementioned people, you’ll probably be jealous to hear that South Korean World of Warcraft gamers are being rewarded with free copies of StarCraft II (assuming they also maintain an active World of Warcraft account):

At a recent StarCraft II event in Seoul, Blizzard announced that any Korean gamers with an active World of Warcraft subscription will be able to play StarCraft II, free of charge. The deal lasts as long as the World of Warcraft account is active, and is a very smart move on the part of Blizzard to drive the popularity of WoW in the region. Blizzard’s Chris Sigaty described the announcement as “a way of giving something back to such a supportive and skilled community of players.”

Don’t count on this deal coming to the US anytime soon – I don’t think Blizzard can afford to give out 11 million free copies of Starcraft II. But if you live in South Korea and also happen to play World of Warcraft in your spare time, then enjoy your free copy of Starcraft II. Hopefully it’s worth the price.

Update: This article was updated after receiving a friendly note from our contacts at Blizzard PR. To be clear (as you can read in the updated introduction above), the Korean gamers must also maintain an active World of Warcraft account to be eligible for free the StarCraft II promotion.

[Source: IGN]

Blizzard’s Battle.net Joins the Facebook Revolution

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 05 May 2010 18:16:51 +0000

What can’t you find on Facebook these days? Your friends, your family, and even those kids in high school that hiked your underwear up to your ears are all there for your networking and status update pleasure.

But wait, there’s more! Blizzard loving gamers will now be able to get in on the fun with the upcoming release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty acting as the “first step” in Blizzard’s Facebook integration roll out.

Blizzard’s Chief Operating Officer, Paul Sims, released the following statement:

“We’re pleased to be working with Facebook to integrate their platform with Battle.net to enhance the social-entertainment experience for our players … This new functionality will make it easier than ever to connect with friends on Battle.net and play StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games together.”

I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to integrate my toilet into Facebook at some point but until then I’ll sadly need to continue doing my number two the old fashioned way. Full press release below.

BATTLE.NET AND FACEBOOK INTEGRATION ANNOUNCED

Blizzard Entertainment’s next-generation online gaming platform will integrate with Facebook to enhance social gaming experience

IRVINE, Calif. – May 5, 2010 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its Battle.net® gaming service will integrate with Facebook®, linking the world’s premier online gaming platform with the world’s most popular social platform. The first step in the integration will enable StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™ players to quickly add Blizzard gamers who are friends on Facebook to their Battle.net friend lists, facilitating their social gaming experience on the service.

“We’re pleased to be working with Facebook to integrate their platform with Battle.net to enhance the social-entertainment experience for our players,” said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. “This new functionality will make it easier than ever to connect with friends on Battle.net and play StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games together.”

The new Facebook functionality in Battle.net will be tested in the near future via the ongoing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test and will be available to all StarCraft II players when the game ships later this year. Information about other Facebook-related features on Battle.net will be announced at a later date.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Hits Stores July 27, 2010

Chad Lakkis — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:10:19 +0000

Blizzard’s long awaited (12 years to be exact) release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the sequel to 1998′s StarCraft title, is set to drop on July 27th, 2010, and like any good cigar chomping Marine you’re probably thinking to yourself … ”Hell, it’s about time.”

The beta has been out for some time now, and while many hard core fans are already thrilled to be experiencing the game in limited pre-release form, a full release will no doubt send them soaring to a new level of strategic bliss.

Full press release along with the official trailer available below.

STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY

IN STORES STARTING JULY 27, 2010

IRVINE, Calif. – May 3, 2010 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraftâ II: Wings of Liberty, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010. Players will also be able to purchase StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the retail launch.

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net® in just a few months.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II will be available through a new version of Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

Ripten’s Starcraft II Beta Key Giveaway!!

Dave Oshry — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:38:54 +0000

Are you the only Blizzard fanboy left on your block without a SC II Beta Key!? Well, NOT ANYMORE!! Ripten.com is giving away it’s VERY LAST Starcraft II beta key to one lucky gamer so they can finally get in on some of the action. “How do I win?” you ask? GOOD QUESTION!!

Here’s the deal . . . Whoever submits the best SCREENSHOT from a BLIZZARD GAME will be given the beta key.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Warcraft

Warcraft II

Warcraft III

World of Warcraft

(Fear my Army of Swine)

Starcraft

Diablo

Diablo II

I’ll even accept screens from The Lost Vikings and Rock n’ Roll Racing!! (seriously)

Send all screenshots along with a preferred e-mail address to me (Dave) at CrzyFooL@Live.com by MONDAY, MAY 3rd.

I will announce the winner and post the winning shot on TUESDAY, MAY 4th!!

GOOD LUCK!!

Update: Keep em comin’ guys, I’m getting a good laugh outta these screens you’re sending.

Also, if your picture isn’t obviously epic in some way, you may want to give me a little explanation as to why it’s so awesome.

StarCraft II Beta Impressions From A Long Time Fan

Josh Vonada — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:51:39 +0000

Let me quickly say StarCraft II is something I have been waiting on since the day I cracked open my copy of Brood Wars (The original Starcraft expansion) which in turn got me in a bit of trouble because it wasn’t actually “my copy.” My uncle eventually forgave me, because that’s what family does. Needless to say, getting my hands on the sequel has been something I’ve been waiting to do for a long time now. So let’s dig in.

I would have been sharing my thoughts with you much sooner had my World of Warcraft guild not been working my leet Shadow Priest dps to the bone on ICC 25 man hard modes, but the good news is every other ounce of free time I have had has been spent on playing countless hours of 2v2 random team and 2v2 arranged team games in StarCraft II. Allow me to share my first impressions with you.

The new Battle.net has quite a bit of well thought out, yet simple to use new features. Unfortunately, most of them are not actually usable during the beta, but the preview does serve as a hint of what’s in store around the corner, and what’s in store looks good.

The new method of communication in game utilizes instant messenger type boxes for chatting with your friends and it’s certainly a welcome addition. The replay section is brilliantly revamped, and allows you to access all games that you have played without the tedious process of selecting a game, hitting save, logging out, going into single player mode, and loading the replay before finally being able to watch it. The new setupt puts everything on Battle.net, right at your fingertips now!

And now for the good stuff!! Terran Porn! Just kidding. Let’s talk about the gameplay.

There has been a long and heavy debate as far as what the fans wanted to see from this long anticipated sequel. On one side, people wanted to see the game completely overhauled. On the other side, others wanted to see the same game with a new state of the art engine delivering the old experience in a new shiny format. I have to say, I was leaning towards wanting original tried and true game play with a high dose of visual buffage, and in my opinion, that’s exactly what we got!

From the second your first game pops up, you get a sensory overload from the new shading features, terrain, and unit detail. That said, you will still hear a voice inside you scream … “I’M PLAYING STARCRAFT II!!!!!”

In terms of sound, those of you who typically play with the music off may want to skip past this part or change your frame of thinking because I love this soundtrack. There are many games out there where the score doesn’t fit the in-game content and you find yourself turning it off, but StarCraft II is not one of those games. The music fits perfectly with what you are seeing on screen and you are doing yourself a disservice if you turn it off.

The units sounds also got an all new makeover, and I am happy to say Terran no longer sound like they were dragged from their trailer park and onto the battle field. The Zerg are creepier than ever with there alien cockroach presence, and Protoss … well they couldn’t possibly sound more like the predators that they are.

To sum up this first evaluation… STARCRAFT II is EVERYTHING that I was hoping to see, and I highly recommend anyone that loves RTS style games to reserve a copy and get ready for Blizzard to once again invade your life with an untouchable gaming experience.

I will make one suggestion though, before the game goes live make sure you clean up your system and maybe even upgrade the video card/ram if you have neglected to do so over the past three plus years, because you’re really going to want to experience this game in the highest detail format it has to offer. It looks that good.

Stay tuned for my next commentary on the in game gameplay mechanics and strategies. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below.

Starcraft II Collector’s Edition Announced, Cool Stuff Included

Dave Oshry — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:31:45 +0000

Blizzard has announced the collector’s edition of their supremely anticipated (currently in beta) game, StarCraft II. This edition will come with an art book, dog tag shaped flash drive, behind the scenes DVD, soundtrack CD, comic book, and of course, an in-game WoW vanity pet.

It can all be yours for just $99.99!! Here’s how to order!! (just kidding, you can’t order it yet nerds.)

For more details, check out the full press release below.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft^®II: Wings of Liberty^™, will be available both in a standard edition and in a limited-release Collector’s Edition packed with exclusive bonus materials. Players who purchase either edition will be able to play online for no additional fee through the new version of Battle.net^®, the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard Entertainment gamers.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be available on DVD-ROM for Windows^® XP/Windows Vista^®/Windows^® 7 and Macintosh^®. The standard edition will sell for a suggested retail price of $59.99 and will also be available shortly after release as a download through the online Blizzard Store. The special Collector’s Edition package, which is priced at $99.99 and will only be available at retail stores, will include the following bonus items in addition to the game disc:

The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game

An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War^® expansion set

A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more

The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks

StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series

A World of Warcraft^® mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account

Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe with our players for over 10 years, and we wanted to offer an epic collector’s edition that commemorated the occasion,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This special version of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty — easily our biggest collector’s edition to date — does just that, and we think StarCraft II gamers will really enjoy all of the exclusive contents.”StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying favorite units from the original StarCraft, along with numerous upgraded and brand-new units and abilities that allow for fresh tactics and strategies. The game’s new 3D-graphics engine maintains the speed and responsive control of its predecessor while rendering hundreds of units onscreen for massive battles.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty’s solo campaign will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War. The storyline chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign.

Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies. In addition, dozens of multiplayer maps will be available for competitive play through the new version of Battle.net, which is launching alongside StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. This new version of the service has been built from the ground up to offer an unparalleled online play experience, with new features such as voice communication, character profiles and achievements, stat-tracking, ladders and leagues, cloud file storage, and more.

Additional information about StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, including the release date, will be announced in the coming weeks.

StarCraft II Beta Thoughts

Donne Ingalls — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:47:09 +0000

When the sequel was first announced, many players of the original met the news with excited apprehension – would their beloved StarCraft have the same magic as the first? Would there be too many changes as to render the sequel unidentifiable from the first? Where would they take one of the most amazing Real Time Strategy games in history?

The good news for the purists: StarCraft II is an updated version with new units, graphics, maps, and buildings. It’s a bit confusing at first – you recognize some of the buildings and the names, but many things have been upgraded! You can now queue multiple units (finally!) and certain annoying things have been remedied (different waypoints for your drones versus your units as a zerg – seriously, who liked seeing zerglings among their drones?).

Graphics are a HUGE upgrade and very noticeable from the first time you log in. The updated interface is still being worked on, but it is pretty, accessible, and will offer a variety of information. But the best part is what’s in game. While the terran are still mostly the same and the Protoss definitely received an upgrade, it is by FAR the Zerg who received the biggest changes… and it’s a bit creepy and disgusting. If you like a bit of horror movie with your bugs, go Zerg. You won’t be disappointed! I spent at least a couple of minutes just watching my buildings “grow”.

As much as StarCraft II is similar and in many ways comfortingly like the original, it can also be a bit jarring for those who have spent many years playing the original. Build orders, buildings, and units have changed drastically and have to be relearned (thankfully there’s this neat flow chart that shows you how to tech to specific buildings and units). So if you don’t want to tarnish your battle.net reputation too soon you might want to play against an easy computer.

As always, Blizzard has delivered a solid strong RTS and is continually working on balancing and refining the game for a huge release. And for many gamers who have been looking forward to new battles fought between the three races – this is your game to play!

Just one last question for Blizzard – when do we get to see the Xel’Naga?