It’s official. Today in Korea as much speculation had already suggested, Blizzard has announced the imminent release of one of the most popular and influential video games of all time: Starcraft II. At this point, the details are sparse. We know that at this time, there are only the 3 main races from the previous game: Terran, Protos, and Zerg. Blizzard is giving special attention to make these races in Starcraft II more unique in how they play, than in the previous Starcraft title.
“With StarCraft II, we’ll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more … We recognize that expectations are high following the long-running popularity of the original game, but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that StarCraft players and strategy gamers worldwide will enjoy.” – Blizzard president Mike Morhaime
At their new Starcraft II home page, you’ll find a funny little FAQ detailing nearly nothing. They plan on having cinematics, do not know what content will be in the expansion if they do so decide to make one, will have both a campaign and multi player modes, and have no release date.
Looking at the Starcraft II screen shots and videos released, I am extremely pleased and impressed with how true this appears to be staying the the original game. The interface is nearly identical, the environments are similar, and in the upper right hand of the screen you might notice that there are still unit number restrictions (or at least psi), minerals, and vespene gas.
For Starcraft II trailers and game play clips released thus far, please click one of the following links to download the corresponding video-