Great news, StarCraft fans. StarCraft Remastered and the campaign for StarCraft II are coming to PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass for Ultimate tier subscribers. Players using those services can download both on November 5 later this year.
]]>The whole thing now, I’m told, is that everybody has a short attention span. Are you still reading? Are you drifting? Focus! The old-man-shouts-at-cloud element blames this on phones, on social media, on whatever else. Whatever the reason, it feels like a real phenomenon - and perhaps that’s why the real time strategy genre has stumbled a bit in recent decades.
]]>StarCraft 2 patch 2.1 will contain and new rewards when it releases, according to Blizzard. Per a post over on Battle.net, a total of six Carbot-themed portraits and decals will be made available for for each race, and to earn them, all you have to do is Heart of the Swarm. Achieving levels 32 and 35 with Protoss, Terran, or Zerg will respectively award you with the decal and portrait specific to that race. Reach level 35 with each of the three races and you will collect them all. The level cap for each race will also be increased from 30 to 35. You can find out more through the link.
]]>The Winter Sale on Battle.net has kicked off in Europe and for a limited time, you can save up to 65% on digital copies of select Blizzard games.
]]>The biggest update to date for Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, dubbed only patch 2.1, is on its way, and Blizzard will open it up to public testing in a couple weeks -- "after Blizzcon," which takes place November 8 and 9. You'll need to watch the Bnet blog for info on how to get into that server, and you'll also need the new universal Blizzard launcher.
]]>If you haven't yet updated your iDevice to iOS 7, hold off a minute: there's a chance it could stuff up your Battle.net authenticator. To avoid any issues, follow these simple preventative steps recommended by Blizzard. I probably should have mentioned this to Pat an hour ago. We all know how he feels about his Witch Doctor.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has been updated, and you can either read through the patch notes; check out our executive summary, or just watch the video through the break.
]]>Despite the late notice, Major League Gaming's latest Pro Circuit event has shattered previous attendance records.
]]>Major League Gaming’s Spring Championship is going on this weekend, and its the second event of the 10th annual MLG Pro Circuit season, and according to the league's head of operations Adam Apicella, pass sales for the event have been selling like hotcakes.
]]>GDC Europe 2013 organizers have announced another round of talks for the August event. These include GOG.com's Trevor Longino, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm's Brian Kindregan, and Epic's Chris Mielke.
]]>Major League Gaming's Spring Championship takes place June 28-30, and is the second event of the 10th annual MLG Pro Circuit season. Players will be competing for prizes in League of Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360, and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
]]>StarCraft 2 has a video below showing the return of spawning. Those who played the original StarCraft and Warcraft 2 may recall being able to bring a player who didn’t yet own the game into yours game and play together. Thanks to the starter edition, your friends can now join you. Spawning will also allow them access to part of the game inaccessible through your copy. Have a look at it in action below. Spawning is being deployed globally today, so it may not be available in your region right away. It will be published across the globe by the end of the day.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has sold through 1.1 million units in just two days of availability, Blizzard has announced.
]]>Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm may have released on March 12, but many outlets have taken extra time and care with their reviews. Now that there are more out in the wild, we've corralled them all here for your reading pleasure.
]]>The release of Heart of the Swarm puts StarCraft II on track to be one of the greatest games ever made. Patrick Garratt luxuriates in what is likely to be a trilogy like no other.
]]>Blizzard is keeping a close eye on StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm for any potential balancing issues, but says, as yet, players haven't fully explored the game's new units.
]]>Blizzard's Chris Metzen has said that StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is the darkest chapter in the trilogy.
]]>The second part of the StarCraft II trilogy is out now. Patrick Garratt plays through the opening hours, emerging a level 10, gum-chewing brosef on a mission to burrow for love and honour.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm launches worldwide today, with servers unlocking in a rolling pattern around the globe. Details of when you can finally get back to Kerrigan's adventures within.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm releases next week, and to help plan your play session, Blizzard has released a list of approximate launch times for each region and common time zones.The launch times are estimates and "subject to change," according to the firm, and when the game launches, don't forget to close and restart the game in order to get patched to the latest version. You can check out the list through Battle.net. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm launches March 12.
]]>Bizzard is already working on Legacy of The Void, the third instalment of StarCraft 2, even as the clock ticks down towards the second episode's release.
]]>As promised, the new StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm trailer has been released by Blizzard. It's below, and features Sarah Kerrigan embarking on her path of angry vengeance as she tries to reclaim her empire. SC2: HotS releases March 12.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm developer Blizzard has announced worldwide launch events for its standalone expansion. The streamed events will also feature a "King of the Beta" pro-tournament.
]]>Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be arriving in our homes in just a few short weeks, but in the meantime Blizzard has a new trailer, dubbed "Vengeance," to show us. But they can't just show it to us. They want to make an event out of it.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has received a patch preview trailer from Blizzard, in which community manager Cloaken talks about the studiosview on the evolving eSports scene and the expansion's multiplayer component. The studio has also sent us a recap of Wings of Liberty patch 2.0.4 in full.
]]>Razer is re-releasing its range of StarCraft 2 branded accessories to celebrate the launch of Heart of the Swarm.
]]>StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty will receive a major patch just before Heart of the Swarm releases, adding a pile of new features and content from the expansion.
]]>StarCraft 2's incoming 2.0.4 patch has been confirmed as rather large by Blizzard, and could contain a new replay feature, GUI enhancements and more.
]]>ESET has today announced season 1 of the 2013 ESET UK Masters, a tournament that will see StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm players battling out over a £10,000 prize pool. The competition begins tonight, and the season one final takes place at Telford-based eSports event Insomnia48, taking place 22nd – 25th March.
]]>The public beta test for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will conclude on March 1, Blizzard has announced. The firm said it will continue to operate a private beta test until Heart of the Swarm goes live, and will be working to ensure that its eSports partners will be able to feature the new expansion in professional matches after the public beta ends. Heart of the Swarm launches on March 12.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is designed to offer accessibility to players attampting to mount the RTS's daunting learning curve, while at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, offer more options for high-level pros. It's a big ask, but this video shows Blizzard's solutions.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is nearly upon us at long, long last, and Blizzard wants to help make your inevitale celebration of this event as easy as possible.
]]>Blizzard has released the first video in a new preview series for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. In the series' inaugural episode, community manager Kevin "Cloaken" Johnson provides a look at some of the features coming in the expansion which will "strengthen and support the community, relationships, and communication between players." Heart of the Swarm releases on March 12.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will be featured in the MLG Winter Season, through two invite-only competitions, it has been announced.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is inching ever-closer to release, but Blizzard has decided to tease the masses with a look at the standalone expansion's opening cinematic. It's full of soldiers, combat, savage beasts and even one instance of a Wilhelm Scream. See if you can spot it through the cut.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta play started as a closed affair, but now pre-purchase customers are being invited into the fold. Find out if you're eligible after the cut.
]]>StarCraft 2's upcoming Heart of the Swarm expansion will add a multiplayer-focused, AI-guided training mode in addition to the single-player campaign.
]]>Following on from clan support, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will add a Groups system to the Battle.net RTS. In a new developer post, Blizzard explained the Groups have many similar features to Clans including chat channels, a news page and roster. The crucial difference is that Clans can only have 20 members, while Groups support a "nearly unlimited number". Players can join just one Clan, but up to 20 Groups; Groups can be public and do not have a tag. More details through the link above. Groups will be addedin an upcoming beta patch and will go live alongside Heart of the Swarm in the first half of 2013.
]]>For Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard is considering shelving StarCraft 2's neural parasite in favour of a return of fungal growth, something it trialled in Wings of Liberty's beta to mixed reception
]]>StarCraft 2 producer Chris Sigaty sees eSports growing exponentially once its becomes available on media formats such as television, and the aura of "elitism" surrounding the community is abolished.
]]>Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is set to release on March 12 2013. The expansion to Blizzard's popular strategy game seems to have been outed on Battle.net.
]]>StarCraft 2's clan support has been detailed to mark its addition in this week's Heart of the Swarm beta update.
]]>StarCraft 2 is getting a leveling system with Hearth of the Swarm, according to an announcement from Blizzard.
]]>StarCraft w: Heart of the Swarm is getting new units, and Kotaku has posted a video showing off the new units in multiplayer. The closed beta is currently available only to a select set, and regular players base will soon be able to get in on the action, according to Blizzard. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has not been dated but we might see it before the end of the year.
]]>Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has kicked into beta mode, with Blizzard promising to extend invites to more hopeful testers soon.
]]>Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm has no official release window, but the Australian Classification Board has seen enough of the strategy expansion to award it a rating, suggesting it could be almost upon us.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm may add a pack of content, but it won't add one of the RTS's most requested features: LAN support.
]]>Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will retain as much of Wings of Liberty's balance as Blizzard can manage, while giving some love to under-powered units, the developer has revealed.
]]>StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta invitation will be sent out in waves, according to Blizzards, and are "coming." Speaking with Polygon at gamescom, the game's producer Kaeo Milkersaid new information on how to be part of the beta will be revealed soon. Development on the expansion is currently in the "final stages," and "nearing the end," to get prepped for testing. StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm contains the Zerg campaign and a release date has not been set.
]]>Blizzard has announced gamescom attendees will be able to play StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm and WoW: Mists of Pandaria.
]]>StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is 99% complete, Blizzard has told Kotaku; however, the last 1% is a bit of "a b***h," said lead designer Dustin Browder.
]]>Blizzard has revealed some of the multiplayer units for StarCraft II and a video of them in action as well. The expansion will focus on the Zerg, but the other two races will get new units and abilities as well.
]]>Blizzard has quietly launched a beta for Starcraft Arcade, a marketplace which monetises mods.
]]>Activision-Blizzard has posted better-than-expected 2012 financial results for Q1 FY12, and noted the Call of Duty franchise had 40 million monthly active users as of the end of March - compared to Battlefield 3's 6.2 million MAU.
]]>Blizzard will bring a much-requested feature to Starcraft II at or around the launch of Heart of the Swarm, allowing players from different territories to play together.
]]>Blizzard has announced it will offer a beta sneak peek of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm to those attending Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit Spring Championship event. Taking place June 8-10 at the Anaheim Convention Center, public demo stations will allow attendees to try out the latest multiplayer build of the upcoming beta test. During the event, StarCraft II pro-gamers will battle for $76,000 in prize money with the first place finisher taking home $25,000. In addition, the USA national finals for the StarCraft II World Championship Series will take place. Participants will be competing for $30,000 as well as invitations to the North America continental finals. The top finishers in that event will represent their countries at the Battle.net World Championship event in Asia. For more information, hit up the links.
]]>Starcraft II's first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, has undergone some serious tinkering since players last got a good look at it during last year's Blizzcon.
]]>A major patch for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is on the way, ahead of the first expansion.
]]>Three games this year? BlizzCon's 2012 is no more, but people shouldn't panic over the loss of the most enthusiastic fan event in gaming’s calendar, says Johnny Cullen.
]]>The re-christened Blizzard Arcade will finally allow creative types turn the hours they pour into mods and custom maps into delicious cashmoney.
]]>During a StarCraft II panel at BlizzCon, game director Dustin Browder, balance designer David Kim, and senior designer Josh Menke discussed some of the new units included in the expansion, as well as changes being implemented to existing units, and revealed which units would be retired from service.
]]>During BlizzCon's opening ceremony, Blizzard dropped a few nice bits of news for Diablo III and World of Warcraft fans. Nathan Grayson was there, and liveblogged the happenings for us.
]]>Remember Blizzard DOTA? It was announced long ago, in the far reaches of last year, during BlizzCon. And then...? Silence. Other StarCraft II mods came and went, but DOTA took its bounty of beloved Blizzard heroes and faded into obscurity. Well, until now, obviously. Otherwise, this would be a really disappointing article.
]]>During the Blizzard gamescom press conference today, the firm's co-founder Frank Pearce was asked by an attendee what he felt the developer had failed at during it's years in the business, and Pearce said one thing was the planned StarCraft marketplace.
]]>It's all about the rage in HotS. The rage. Potential spoilers for Wings of Liberty inside.
]]>Blizzard Poland has confirmed on its Battle.net blog that StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be at gamescom next month.
]]>And the blowout on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm continues. This time, Blizzard's released a trailer which mixes gameplay and story scenes from the game. Most of the story stuff you would have probably seen from the leaked teaser last week. Get the impressions that went live yesterday here, and watch the new video below (via EvAv).
Zerg-led Heart of the Swarm has no date, but a 2012 launch is likely.
]]>StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty has said that Blizzard DotA is still in development at the company.
]]>The embargo on the first impressions of the second part of StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm, has just lifted. The impressions follow a leak on the game last week with its first teaser and the first screens coming earlier this morning. You can get the previews below. Heart of the Swarm has no date yet, but a 2011 release is unlikely.
]]>Dutch site InsideGamer's gone live with the first screenshots of the second StarCraft II story chapter Heart of the Swarm, following a leak of its first teaser last week. You can get more of them from the link, but it's not exactly the biggest surprise in the world to hear they feature Kerrigan and Zerg-based things. Heart of the Swarm, which follows Wings of Liberty and comes before Protoss-based Legacy of the Void, has no release date yet.
]]>Boom! Right out of left-field, the first teaser trailer for the second part of the StarCraft II story arc, Zerg-based Heart of the Swarm, has been posted online.
]]>Kotaku's been invited to take a look at the second part of the Starcraft trilogy, Heart of the Swarm, next month. Apparently this is going to be a quick look at the campaign, and we not going to see anything of any multiplayer changes as yet. There are no other details on this at the moment, and it's unlikely we're going to see the product this year. We should know more for definite at Blizzcon 2011, which takes place in October.
]]>We believe an "oops" is in order.
Actually, not an "oops," but rather THE "oops" - the "oops" by which all other "oopses" shall henceforth be judged.
]]>Well. That was a whole lot of fun.
]]>Did you think Blizzard had the whole StarCraft II story arc sorted out a long, long time ago? You thought wrong, friend.
]]>It might be at least another two years out, but Blizzard's started teasing the second StarCraft II expansion Heart of the Swarm.
]]>Next year? Next year?! Not a chance, Watson.
]]>If you're up for StarCraft II's next expansion, Heart of the Swarm, you're in for a long wait.
]]>Development of StarCraft II's second part is swinging into proper action, Blizzard design boss Rob Pardo's told MTV, now Wings of Liberty has gone to seed.
]]>Still talking about Wings of Liberty? That is, like, so yesterday, girlfriend. Everyone's on the gravy train for Heart of the Swarm already.
]]>Over three years after it was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, and 12 years after the release of the original, Blizzard's finally launched StarCraft II.
]]>Having already announced a very pretty Collector's Edition for the first part of the StarCraft II trilogy, Chris Metzen, Blizzard's VP of creative development, has said bumper SKUs for the next two bits are all down to the fans.
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