StarCraft II Official! (Pictures)

[IskatuMesk]

I remember blizzard saying that they had a lot of the race mechanics down/functional in multiplayer... so things may not change as much as you might think.

Only time will tell.

[Magic]

Joel - one question. In your very quote it's revealed that the game has been in development since TFT was released, circa 2003. Even if they diverted efforts to certain aspects of WOW, how can it take approximately four years just for them to produce what they are showing?

It's certainly a strange development timescale and methodology.

Desler - Good to see you old boy. Reunion indeed! I can't believe it's been so many years - I was back in college then, now I'm nearly at the end of uni five years later, and I remember thinking that Gallantry was the last major production for the community, that the 'ship' launching was a suitable metaphor for the final days of our time. It was amazing fun.

Wow, this feels like Rivendell. 

[JoelS]

Joel - one question. In your very quote it's revealed that the game has been in development since TFT was released, circa 2003. Even if they diverted efforts to certain aspects of WOW, how can it take approximately four years just for them to produce what they are showing?

It's certainly a strange development timescale and methodology.

I thought the same thing.  When he goes on to say that the single player stuff is added in the last 'year or two' of development, and then they say that the singleplayer elements have largely not been dealt with at all yet... who knows?  Does that mean the game is still two years off?  A year?  Have they made the cinematics yet?  How could they if they don't know the story?  So many questions!!  Oh, so many questions.

For comparison's sake, WoW was announced in 2001, and released in 2004.  War III was definitely at the E3 convention when I was there in 2000, and released in 2002.  I'm sure both games were in development well before they were announced.  So make of that what you will.  What I make of it is:  Blizzard takes their time.

[UntamedLoli]

Blizzard's CM's stated several times on their forums that they have seperate dev teams for each game, so they are definately taking their time with this one.

[Xenon]

A Protoss vessel that looks and attacks rather similar to the ships of Star Trek: Voyager's "Species 8472".

Oddly enough, 8472 looks like it could be a Protoss/Zerg hybrid. 

Also of note: the UI panel is horizontally "stretched" in the video compared to the screenshots posted in this thread, probably based on screen resolution (the video is in a widescreen resolution).

[Ross]

It will suck to have to wait two years for the game but it will be worth it. To see the Starcraft modding community reborn. To see Desler Bring back the Narthok, Edast, take another crack at the gallantry? What have these characters been up to in the last four years (time between brood war and sc2) or would he do something knew.
The Oracle do a LOTC 3? RCX could do another Vision of the future. Could all happen. Then theres the most impossiable of all happenings Auspex comes back and gives us another chapter to the Antioch chronicles. Ah the possiablities.

[Mucky]

This is just weird. SC2 was merely announced and a lot of old figures are coming back.

[Ross]

Which means that the SC2 modding community could be as good or even better than before.

[Meta]

Hey there folks. Lots of old campaign makers around.

Nice to see Joel and Desler are back, I guess everyone's excited with all those SC2 news. 

I'm looking forward to remake some of my old material for SC2 in a way to get used to the new editor's capabilities and mechanics, and I'm sure we can expect extremely interesting features from "Star Edit 2". Hell, merely presenting our campaigns in a new SC game is already good enough; the removal of most inherent StarEdit limit makes for an even better experience. And that's not counting the new features. 

[WB]

I just saw the gameplay trailer(8 hour download, but worth it), and about the lings: The banelings are an awesome addition, I think. I've always loved using infested Terrans, because they're a great way to insult the terran player in the game.(how could you let a CC fall into my hands?!) Now I can turn the most awesome Zerg unit into a terrorist!

I must say though, I absolutely love the new zergling look. I did download and watch the hi-res video. The lings look awesome as they move, they truly do look like the swarm they are. Their movement however is even better. As many noticed, they have what look like wings on their backs, and indeed they are wings! you can see them flap as they move. I don't think they can fly above cliffs like the reapers can (that would be massive imbalance if lings are still the first offensive unit the Zerg have.

Also....nydus worm? It just......makes SENSE.I mean, the canals have always been great, but making it a worm just makes it that much better. Now that the protoss can create whole armies basically anywhere, and zerg can move underground, I can't help but wonder what the terrans have.

This is four years after BW, everyone has "advanced" The protoss got so pwned that they have to adapt (ie, dragoons turned into immortals). The zerg have evolved into more efficient killers. I have to ask, what are the chances the terrans have shields now? (like protoss, not the marines). I remember the manual mentioning that the sci vessel's shield ability was an early terran attempt, and perhaps theyve gotten better at it now?

[Xenon]

I'm curious about the Nydus Worm burrow pathing. Do they just appear at the target point like Nydus Canal exits, regardless of whether it's a completely separate space platform? I think it would be pretty cool to see them burrow out of the side of one platform and stretch into the next one, but realistically the exposed worm would have to be vulnerable to attack. Also, is there any way for a player to detect or attack an incoming worm before it surfaces? Maybe I'm over-analyzing this...

On a side note, the AI damn well better know how to use transports effectively. WC3 AI handled zeppelins horribly.

[Lavarinth]

I just saw the gameplay trailer(8 hour download, but worth it), and about the lings: The banelings are an awesome addition, I think. I've always loved using infested Terrans, because they're a great way to insult the terran player in the game.(how could you let a CC fall into my hands?!) Now I can turn the most awesome Zerg unit into a terrorist!

I must say though, I absolutely love the new zergling look. I did download and watch the hi-res video. The lings look awesome as they move, they truly do look like the swarm they are. Their movement however is even better. As many noticed, they have what look like wings on their backs, and indeed they are wings! you can see them flap as they move. I don't think they can fly above cliffs like the reapers can (that would be massive imbalance if lings are still the first offensive unit the Zerg have.

Also....nydus worm? It just......makes SENSE.I mean, the canals have always been great, but making it a worm just makes it that much better. Now that the protoss can create whole armies basically anywhere, and zerg can move underground, I can't help but wonder what the terrans have.

This is four years after BW, everyone has "advanced" The protoss got so pwned that they have to adapt (ie, dragoons turned into immortals). The zerg have evolved into more efficient killers. I have to ask, what are the chances the terrans have shields now? (like protoss, not the marines). I remember the manual mentioning that the sci vessel's shield ability was an early terran attempt, and perhaps theyve gotten better at it now?

How do any of us know WHEN it's happening, honestly, haha. I've heard.. Three years, four years, ten years, and immediately after. Haha.

[Marine]

I hope they introduce a newer race but so far i doubt it on the Blizzard site you just play the three original races.

[Marco]

I still think the portraits look pre-rendered.  Even when they super-sized them, just don't see how they would render them like that real-time in the game.  One thing I noticed is that the lip movements of the Terran portrait were perfectly matched to the voice.  But if you watched the portrait animations, you could sometimes see a little 'jump' where it seems like a new animation would start back up fresh.  I don't know, everything about them just really reminds me about SC.  Too difficult to see what might be happening there.  Just another mystery that might not be solved until the beta comes out and someone can dissect the mpq. 

Wish I could know with absolute certainty now though.  Good to see a lot of familiar names around here.

[IskatuMesk]

Blizzard said the beta will be closed with 'invitation only" applications.