The lead designer on Activision-Blizzard's "Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty," one of the most anticipated vidgame titles of the year, was in the City of Light for one of many midnight launches held worldwide for the game. Nearly 1,500 people showed up in the rain there to buy the game the instant it went on sale, July 22, and to get Browder to sign their copy.Read more
Browder oversaw the sequel to a game that has remained popular for the past 12 years -- in South Korea two TV networks are dedicated to airing "Starcraft" tournaments.
Browder not only oversaw the making of "Starcraft II," he also stars in it -- kind of. His face was the inspiration for an in-game character: the Spartan Co. Goliath.
It's been a week since the StarCraft II launch and although the really dedicated fans rushed out and purchased the game straight away, there are some people who have yet to purchase the title. If you're among the latter, be sure you don't respond to any details offering you a free copy of the game.Find out more over here, and remember to double-check the address field of any email claiming to be from Blizzard.
Siliconera reports that scammers are targeting StarCraft II fans with emails that purport to be from the Blizzard store. The email offers the recipient a StarCraft II CD key but states they must create or log into their existing Battle.net account using the log-in form at a provided URL.
So there you have it, StarCraft II will run on just about anything. The better the hardware, the smoother it goes. Shader modeling plays a huge role in how good the game looks, bringing the DX9 era graphics to an acceptably modern standard. If you have a low-end card, reducing the Shader settings will significantly boost your performance at the tradeoff of lesser eye candy.The performance test takes average framerates over a particularly graphically intense scene over the course of about a minute, pitting a few machines against each other. This should be helpful in gauging whether or not to upgrade one's video card or whole rig.
The minimum required graphics cards are the Nvidia Geforce 6600 or the Ati Radeon 9800. Blizzard advises their customers to consult the list on tom's hardware. Common graphics cards or chips that can be excluded for sure are:That said, I can personally vouch for the GeForce 9300M GS's ability to play StarCraft II on low details.
- Nvidia Geforce 6150, 6200, 7150, 8300, 8400, 9100, 9300
- Ati Radeon Xpress 200, 1150, 1250, X1050, 8500-9600, X300-600
- All Intel GMA-Chips except for the ones in i3-/i5-processors, although Blizzard is not sure about the Clarkdale-GPUs.
To replay a specific cinematic, you'll need to complete the first three missions in the single-player campaign. Once you've concluded these missions, you'll be transported aboard the Hyperion and permitted access to its bridge. From the bridge, you can tap into your character's Mission Archives, which contains a detailed record of your successes within the Koprulu sector and unlocked cinematic content.
The Mission Archives console is located towards the back of the bridge, near the center, and illuminates when moused-over. To replay a cinematic, click on this console to bring up the Mission Archives interface, select the title of the cinematic from the list on the left-hand side of the screen, and then hit "Play Cinematic."
The time has come, StarCraft II enthusiasts and all-around social butterflies, to launch our community MVP program! We’re looking for a few good men and women who not only have a fond place in their hearts for StarCraft, but who also enjoy discussing gameplay and story with the rest of the community. The ideal candidates should be well-versed in the art of constructively approaching forum posts and blog comments, sharing insight and information whenever possible. We’re looking to fill the MVP slots with a broad spectrum of personalities and people with varying degrees of play experience and gameplay focus.The benefits are all about recognition, being noted as one of the more helpful members of the community.
Unique profile portraits and a distinctive posting text color is given to identified MVPs who answer other players' questions consistently and accurately. It lends a note of credibility to what they post; it allows players seeking answers to take what they say at face value, and frees up Blizzard representatives so that they can focus on their primary responsibilities.
Blizzard has released a second small patch for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which addresses a couple of issues with the single player campaign.
Co-Optimus.com, a site dedicated to Co-op gameplay, has published their review for StartCraft II. Go check it out.
StarCraft II’s RTS elements are still largely based on mining minerals or collecting Vespine gas with your SCVs. Fortunately there are quite a few purchasable and permanent campaign upgrades that help with this tediousness, including self-mining gas refineries, and faster building SCV’s. Balancing your force vs. defense is absolutely necessary, especially when some missions leave you with a precious few resources in general. Completely new is a merc system which allows you to hire upgraded Mercenary units and drop them in during missions - for the right price.
It seems a few map makers for StarCraft 2 are getting the shaft from Blizzard's recent crackdown. That is, for creating maps that resemble a certain male body part (use your imingation). Blizzard has been taking down "inappropriate" maps they feel go to far. Blizzard's community manager Lylirra communicated with the community on their official message board with this comment:
While players are encouraged to share the maps they create through Battle.net, published maps are subject to review to ensure that they promote a fun and safe environment for all players...
If a map is found to contain inappropriate content, it will be removed from Battle.net and the map maker will be contacted via email.
Since a lot of the more vocal users fear their creative freedom is being infringed. Lylirra had this to share:
So what do you think about this crack down? Is it justified?"Keeping people from seeing your hate speech and obscene images on our private game service is not the same as relinquishing your constitutional freedoms in the hopes of increased personal/familial security. Ben [Franklin] would tie you to a kite and let go of the string for making such comparisons."
Blizzard Entertainment was formed in 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse, however it renamed itself Blizzard in 1994. What was the name of the company briefly in-between the S&S; and Blizzard identities?Head over here to find out the answer, then here to enter. Good luck!
IGN readers get to quiz Blizzard's Kaeo Milker in the latest reader review video...
We updated a few wiki guide pages that you should be aware of. Check them out:
StarCraft 2 Achievements StarCraft 2 Cheats StarCraft 2 Units
We are also looking for some more help with other guide pages that we have started. If you have information you want to share for any of these, please do so! Its a great way to share your knowledge and help the community.
Tips & Tricks Zerg Strategies Protoss Strategies Terran Strategies Zerg Artifact Locations Protoss Artifact Locations Terran Artifact Locations
IGN recently published their review of StarCraft II Wings of Liberty Review giving it a hearty 9.0 'Outstanding' rating. Go check it out and let us know in the comments what you think.
Unlike the original game, this time around you won't be staring at the sparsely animated heads of major characters as they bicker and plot on video monitors between missions. Instead, Blizzard gives you a detailed world to play around in to give its fictional universe a greater sense of place and atmosphere. The action follows along with Jim Raynor, who begins the game as a gruff alcoholic in the process of rebelling against Arcturus Mengsk, the corrupt emperor of the Terran Dominion. If you've forgotten the StarCraft storyline or never got around to learning it, then it should be fairly easy to dig into this one, though you're going to miss a lot of references.
The highly anticipated launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty last week is showing its colors. Blizzard announced today the game has sold over 1 million copies worldwide in just the first 24 hours! This makes StarCraft II the best-selling PC game thus far this year. Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime stated:
"We launched StarCraft II in 11 different languages and on 5 different continents because we wanted to make sure as many players as possible were able to log on and play on day one. We're pleased that so many people around the world have already picked up a copy of the game, and we look forward to welcoming even more players to Battle.net in the weeks and months ahead."
