Karune’s Q&A Batch 9 is out, and while most of the questions are the typical mundane, boring, useless questions (why do they pick such dumb questions to answer?) there is one that really caught my interest:

4) Will there be some old units from StarCraft be included in the Map Editor for StarCraft II?

There will be units included in the Map Editor which will not be in the standard multiplayer skirmish mode. These will include various units from the original StarCraft, such as the Protoss Dragoon.

Awesome right? I’m so glad they decided to include at least some original StarCraft units in the map editor. Although I’m not sad that the Dragoon didn’t make it to the multiplayer SC2 skirmish/melee mode (how hard was it to get a damn Dragoon down a ramp?!) it will be nice to see them along with other original favorites pop up in UMS games!

You can read the rest of Karune’s Q&A Batch 9 here.

In all the hubbub of Blizzcon, I almost forgot to mention one very important release: the new siege tank model. It’s no secret that the original model for the siege tank blew, mostly because it was the first tank ever created with sexy, pouting woman lips at the end of the main gun. Thankfully, Blizzard listened to the community and redesigned it for Blizzcon!

Much better, don’t you think? They also look nicer on the move:

A little late on this news, but that’s because I was trying to decide how I was going to present it. The first look at the StarCraft 2 single player setup gives me mixed feelings – I don’t know whether to hate it or give it the benefit of the doubt and just wait to see what happens.

The old briefing room of StarCraft is no more and has been replaced with a slightly interactive environment. The Terran campaign, for example, takes place on the bridge of the Hyperion (at least partly). While the idea is fairly cool, I have some reservations on how they are implementing it.

First off, it seems as if you are no longer a part of the game, meaning that you’re simply controlling Raynor rather than yourself (as Magistrate or Cerebrate, etc). Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that the game, and especially the single player, is in very early development and may actually contain more of a role-playing feel that it looks like now, but I’m not holding my breath. I liked the little role-playing factor of being able to interact with the main characters while being one yourself at the same time.

Secondly, is it just me or is SC2 single player way way too similar to Knights of the Old Republic? The new briefing room looks like the main area of the Ebon Hawk not only because it’s in a starship but because there’s a little “star map” and NPCs standing idly around. I’m not trying to nit pick here … but come on. There are even “character interactions” which basically boil down to “How do you feel?” type dialog that KOTOR is famous for.

Lastly, I don’t know how I feel about buying units. It looks like it could be an interesting concept but we’ll just have to wait and see whether it becomes just a boring little gimmick or if it really does affect gameplay. On one hand, I don’t see how an interface where you buy units you can afford (ie. there should be a natural progression) is much different from a system where you are handed new units/spells on a mission-by-mission basis. On the other hand, different unit progressions may correlate with different mission paths (which Blizzard said will exist) so there may be a strategical element to it after all.

One positive though, the graphics look great. I know that the single player setup is basically just triggered cutscenes, but it’s pretty nonetheless.

If you want to watch the full single player Blizzcon demo click “Read the rest of this entry” and click play!

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not quite cool enough to endure the 14 hour flight to Cali for this year’s Blizzcon, but luckily for me (and you) YouTube exists so we don’t have to miss a beat. During this year’s Blizzcon Blizzard released some Terran gameplay footage which is pretty cool. It gives a much more underpolished, “behind the scenes” look at the game as opposed to the highly choreographed videos we’ve seen so far.

So without further adieu, I present StarCraft 2 Blizzcon footage (3 parts listed in order):