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StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

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StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
StarCraft II cover artwork
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Designer(s)Dustin Browder
Artist(s)Samwise Didier
SeriesStarCraft
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows[3]
Mac OS X[4]
ReleaseJuly 27, 2010[1][2]
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer (via Battle.net)

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft. The game is being developed for concurrent release on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Activision Blizzard announced on May 3 that it plans Wings of Liberty to be released on July 27, 2010.[5] StarCraft II is split into three installments: the base game with the subtitle Wings of Liberty, and two expansion packs, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.

Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game is built around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a race of insectoid genetic assimilators; and the Protoss, a species with vast psionic power. Wings of Liberty will focus on the Terrans specifically, while the expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will focus on the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The game is expected to be set four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War, and follow the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. The game will include old characters from the original game, as well as introduce new characters and locations to the franchise.

The game will be translated into Korean, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Polish and Italian.

Gameplay

File:Protoss skirmish (StarCraft).jpg
A group of Terran units attack a Protoss base.

According to its creators, StarCraft II is designed to be the "ultimate competitive real-time strategy game",[3] building on the successes enjoyed by its predecessor, StarCraft.[6][7][8] It features the return of the three races from the original game—Protoss, Terran, and Zerg; Blizzard states these are the only playable races in the game.[3][9][10][11] StarCraft II is also designed to focus more heavily on the multiplayer aspect, when compared to the original StarCraft. The changes include overall improvement in Battle.net, a new competitive "ladder" system for ranked games and new matchmaking mechanics—designed to "match-up" players of equal skill levels.[3] In addition, the replay function, which allows players to record and review past games, is being improved. Blizzard has also stated they have made some changes to the game that were suggested by fans.[12][13]

StarCraft II continues its predecessor's use of pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes to advance the plot while also improving the quality of in-game cut scenes within the levels themselves, which are rendered on-the-fly using the same game engine as the graphics in the game proper. Blizzard states that with the new graphics engine that StarCraft II uses to render the gameplay, they "can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality".[14]

Most Protoss and Terran units, and some Zerg units, have been shown on the StarCraft II official website, and in several video demonstrations held by Blizzard.[15][16] Improvements include advanced scenery allocation and more detailed space terrain, such as floating space platforms with planets and asteroids in the background. Small cliffs, extensions, and even advertising signs were also shown to have been improved and refined.[15]

The new Terran briefing system allows the player to explore the inside of the battlecruiser Hyperion.

The single-player aspect of StarCraft II has also been altered substantially from the original game. The Terran campaign shown at BlizzCon 2007 replaced the original StarCraft briefing room with an interactive version of the battlecruiser Hyperion, with Jim Raynor, now a bitter and hard-drinking mercenary captain, as the central character. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using that money to buy additional units and upgrades. Although each playthrough will vary, the end result will remain consistent keeping the storyline linear. Vice president Rob Pardo has stressed that each campaign will function very differently.[17] The Terran campaign, Wings of Liberty, will place players in a mercenary style campaign, as Terran rebel Jim Raynor performs missions for cash. The second release, the Zerg campaign Heart of the Swarm, will have RPG elements. The player will level up the Queen of Blades, Kerrigan, throughout the missions. In the last expansion, the Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void, the dark templar Zeratul will have to employ diplomacy between Protoss tribes to acquire units and technologies for each mission. Each campaign should span 26-30 missions.[18][19]

Lead Designer Dustin Browder has discussed with Shacknews some of the unique missions that may be included in the Wings of Liberty campaign. In one level, lava floods the battlefield every five minutes, forcing the player to move their units to high ground or watch their units get destroyed. In another mission, enemy units will only attack the player at night. The last mission Browder discussed was one where the player tries to influence the tide of an AI controlled battle with only a single unit, a Ghost. The single player missions will be highly customizable. In between missions, players can choose units, buildings and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions.[20]

Galaxy Editor[citation needed] replaces the StarEdit as StarCraft II's campaign editor. It will be more sophisticated than StarCraft's StarEdit and WarCraft III's World Editor for creating custom maps and mods. Units from the original StarCraft not in the multiplayer version of StarCraft II, along with units and abilities that were scrapped during the development process, will be available in the editor.[21] Chris Sigaty, Lead Producer, has also stated that the editor will give players the ability to create RPG, Hero-type units and structures resembling those from WarCraft III.[22] At Blizzcon 2009, Blizzard demonstrated a build of the Galaxy Editor showcasing its capabilities, such as the ability to customize the user interface to include features such as the Item system from Warcraft III. Blizzard also commented that it would like to include a third-person style perspective for missions though it may not be in the final build.[23]

Units

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty features approximately the same number of units as the original game.[24] Some units from the original game are returning, some featuring new upgrades and abilities. For example, the Protoss Zealot, a melee unit from the original game, now has the ability to dash forward and quickly reach nearby enemies as a refinement of their speed upgrade from the original. Other units have been replaced or removed entirely.[25][26] Other changes to unit design have been inspired by story events in StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, replacing old units with new or renamed versions which sport different attributes and abilities.[25]

Units in StarCraft II have new abilities, compared to the original, that encourage more complex interaction with the game environment. Among these are the inclusion of units that can traverse varying levels of terrain,[15] or have the ability to teleport short distances.[25] Some Protoss units can be warped in to pylon-powered areas using the Warp Gate, a slight modification of the existing building called the Gateway.[25][27] StarCraft II's campaign will also have exclusive units which would only be playable in the campaign and not in the multiplayer modes of the game. These mostly consist of units which have been scrapped from development such as the Terran Cobra as well as various returning units from the original StarCraft such as the Terran Goliath, Wraith and Vulture.[28]

StarCraft II Marketplace

A major new addition to the map-making community is going to be the StarCraft II Marketplace where high quality maps will be sold for a small fee as "premium maps" over Battle.net. The mode of payment has not yet been announced.

Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created DotA (Defense of the Ancients) in Warcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map.[29][unreliable source?]

Synopsis

Characters and setting

The campaign storyline of StarCraft II takes place four years after StarCraft: Brood War,[30] and features the return of a number of characters from the original series; including Zeratul, Arcturus Mengsk, Artanis, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor. Players will also revisit the original series' worlds, like Char, Mar Sara, and Braxis; as well as new worlds, such as the jungle planet Bel'Shir. It has been confirmed that the Xel'Naga, the ancient space-faring race responsible for creating the Protoss and the Zerg, will play a major role in the story.[17]

Backstory

A Zerg colony gathering resources and expanding its military.

At the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan and her Zerg forces became the dominant faction in the Koprulu Sector, having annihilated the United Earth Directorate's Expeditionary Force, defeated the Terran Dominion, and invaded the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. However, after the conclusion of Brood War, Kerrigan retreats to Char, despite having more than enough power to crush all remaining resistance in the Koprulu Sector. In the four years leading up to the events of StarCraft II, she has not been seen or heard from by any of the other characters; although her ultimate attack may come at any moment.[31]

Arcturus Mengsk has been left to rebuild the Dominion, and is consolidating his power while fending off harassment from rival Terran groups. Valerian Mengsk, a character introduced in the novel Firstborn, will play an important role in Dominion politics, due to his position as heir apparent to the throne. Meanwhile, Jim Raynor, whose role in the events of StarCraft and Brood War has been marginalized by the media under the Dominion's control, has been reduced to mercenary status, and has been shown to be doing business with the "Moebius Foundation", a new faction which is interested in ancient Xel'Naga artifacts. Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, has emphasized that by the events of StarCraft II, Raynor has become jaded and embittered by the way he was used and betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk. Other new characters to the series include Tychus Findlay, first introduced in the StarCraft II teaser cinematic, a marine who will be a member of Raynor's crew, and Matt Horner, Raynor's second in command, a character originally featured in the novel Queen of Blades.[31]

Following the fall of Aiur and the death of their matriarch Raszagal, the Protoss have retreated to the dark templar homeworld of Shakuras. There, Artanis, a former student of Tassadar, is trying to unify the Khalai Protoss and the dark templar, who have nearly separated into a tribal mindset as a result of centuries of distrust. Zeratul, tormented over the murder of his matriarch, has disappeared to search for clues to the meaning of Samir Duran's cryptic statements regarding the Protoss/Zerg hybrids in Brood War's secret mission "Dark Origin".[31]

Cast

The English language version of StarCraft II has several new and returning voice actors. The voice director of the game is Andrea Romano.[32] Over 58 voice actors were hired with some voicing multiple characters.[33]

Development

The development of StarCraft II was announced on May 19, 2007, at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea.[35][36] Blizzard has not yet announced a release date.[9] Development on the game, initially delayed for a year by the temporary reassignment of Blizzard's resources to World of Warcraft,[37] began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released.[38] According to Rob Pardo and Chris Sigaty, development for StarCraft II was put on hold for a year in 2005 due to the assistance needed for World of Warcraft.[39]

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will support the DirectX 9 (Pixel shader 2.0) software and will be fully compatible with DirectX 10 as well, although the development team has not yet decided whether to add exclusive DirectX 10 graphic effects.[3] The Mac version uses OpenGL. The game will also feature the Havok physics engine,[3][40] which allows for more realistic environmental elements such as "debris rolling down a ramp".[35] Additionally, there are plans to implement VoIP into the game.[41]

Since the announcement, fans have also been able to participate in the development of StarCraft II through feedback and questions on fansites and forums. Periodically, Blizzard Entertainment provides Q&A batches, web pages about the units, buildings, and lore, podcasts (titled "BlizzCast"), and posts from Blizzard employees on forums.[42] The StarCraft II community is made aware of internal development processes by an official representative that went by the name of Karune (Kevin Yu) on the Battle.net Discussion Forums. Karune regularly posted Q&A on the Battle.net forums to answer various fansite questions about the game. Furthermore, occasionally Battle reports of the latest alpha build of StarCraft II were put up on the official website which were commentated by Lead Designer Dustin Browder and Blizzard eSports Team Member Robert Simpson.

At the June 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, Blizzard Executive Vice President Rob Pardo was quoted as saying that development of the campaign was one-third complete.[43] He also said that StarCraft II is to be released as a trilogy of games, starting with Wings of Liberty, focused on the Terrans, followed by Heart of the Swarm, revolving around the Zerg, and finally Legacy of the Void, devoted to the Protoss.[44] On February 25, 2009, Blizzard announced the Blizzard Theme Park Contest where prizes would include two beta keys for StarCraft II.[45] In the updated news and updates page of battle.net for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne it states the top 20 players from each realm will be given a SC2 Beta Key.[46] In February 2010, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime announced that a closed beta would open that month.[47]

Rob Pardo indicated in a June interview that LAN support would not be included in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.[48][49][50] Removing LAN has the effect of forcing players to connect through Blizzard's servers, Battle.net, before playing multiplayer locally. This has created a large amount of protest mainly in the form of online petitions, and calls for boycotting the game.[51] It has been reported that Blizzard is considering implementing a system whereby a LAN connection is possible after first authenticating with Battle.net.[52] It should be noted that a similar controversy occurred over the game Half Life 2.[53] In the original StarCraft, as well as many other multiplayer games, LAN is still ideal for use in tournaments for the exceptionally low latency.[54]

Further controversy was sparked when Blizzard confirmed that the game would not support cross-server play out of the box, restricting gamers to only play against local opponents - for instance, US gamers against those in the US and Europeans against Europeans. The company also confirmed that Australia and New Zealand servers would be located in Southeast Asia, pitting them against combatants from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand (Korea is notably absent from that list of neighbours). [55]

Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard, announced during the opening ceremony of Blizzcon 2009 that StarCraft 2 and the new Battle.net platform would both be released in 2010, with a month or so of interval.[56] [unreliable source?] As of March 2010, it has been stated that the new platform is currently being tested outside the beta and is planned for release in early July 2010,[57] for both StarCraft II and World of WarCraft: Cataclysm, with a later upgrade for Diablo 3.

StarCraft 2 has been criticized for its lengthy development time. Wired Magazine in its annual Vaporware Award, ranked StarCraft 2 first among the delayed technology products of 2009.[58]

Beta

Blizzard estimated a release date for the game's open beta around Summer 2009, but this was postponed in order to coordinate the unveiling of both the beta and the new Battle.net.[59] Since May 6, 2009, it was possible to sign up for the beta phase of the game.[60][61][62] In November 2009, the game's producer Chris Sigaty confirmed there would be no public beta for the game taking place in 2009 but assured fans of the title that it would happen next year.[63]

On February 17, 2010, StarCraft 2 began closed beta testing.[64] The beta is expected to last for 3-5 months. Beta keys for the initial release were sold on eBay for prices as high as $400.[65] Blizzard has also released a map editor for the beta as part of Patch 9.[66] According to the company, they are planning to release a major content patch towards the end of beta testing.[67]

To date, ten patches[68] have been released for the beta, including a patch which provided access to the Galaxy map editor. The most recent one was released on April 24th, 2010.[69]

Marketing

Versions

On April 8, 2010 Blizzard officially announced that the game will be available in a standard and collector's edition. The game will also be available for download shortly after release. The collector's edition will come with an artbook, 2GB flash drive modeled after Jim Raynor's dog tag with the original StarCraft and Brood War expansion preloaded, behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, comic book, and redeemable codes for downloadable content including a unique model for the in-game Thor unit and a World of Warcraft pet. [70]

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