Blizzard announces StarCraft 2!

After months of waiting, Blizzard Entertainment finally confirmed that StarCraft 2 will be the next game released!

GosuGamers can report that StarCraft II finally is announced! It is in RTS format and a continuation not far from the original StarCraft. The game was presented earlier this morning in Seoul, Korea, and ingame content has been shown live on screen at the World Wide Invitational.





IGN.com for more ingame screenshots.

"Looks strikingly similar to SC1"

IGN reports that the whole game looks strikingly similar to StarCraft I, as large parts of the community have requested. The game is in 3D, with the ability to change camera height/angle, but the interface remains very similar and all three races will still be available. There seems to be no new race at this stage.

"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."
- Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment.

In Blizzard's Press release, Mike Morhaime also said: "With StarCraft II, we'll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more". No release date has yet been announced.

Ingame videos

See » this link for ingame videos of the game!

GosuGamers will keep covering the updates as they come in separate news posts regarding each major topic. Please browse around to see more information about the new game. Below is a summary of what ingame unit and balance changes that have been announced so far.

Ingame unit summary

New units:

Terran Reaper - Ground Unit: Mobile jump-pack infantry, pistols.

Protoss Colossus - Ground Unit: Dual lasers, huge. Can walk over terrain heights. Appears to only be able to target ground units, weak vs air.

Protoss Immortal - Ground Unit: Shield 100/ HP 240. REPLACES DRAGOONS. Special shields good vs heavy damage.

Protoss phase Prism - Air unit: Shield 40/ HP 100. Mobile power field generator in place of a pylon. Power field also allows teleport of Protoss units in SC2.

Protoss Phoenix - Air unit: Shield 60/ HP 120. Can overcharge weapons for a burst of fire, then temporarily powerless, can target air, possibly also ground units.

Protoss Stalker - Ground Unit: Similar to dragoons, ‘blink’ teleport ability.

Protoss Warp Ray - Air unit: Shield 75/ HP 125. Laser beam attack that gets more damaging the longer it continually hits a target. Also strong vs buildings, weak vs marines.

Protoss Mothership – Super-unit: Can only have one produced at a time, super abilities include stasis type bomb, ‘Planet-cracker attack’ & Black hole generator – extremely powerful.

Zerg Nydus Worm (Underground troop transporter)

New Abilities:

Zerglings mutate to Banelings - rolling suicide bombs

Zealot charge ability to quickly close distance

Protoss can warp units in pylon/powered range, even direct from production.

Increased focus on Protoss warp/teleport abilities

Confirmed coming back:
Terran:

Marines

Siege Tanks

Battlecruisers

Ghosts

Dropship

Nukes

Terran Buildings ‘liftoff’ ability

Protoss:

Zealots

Zerg:

Zerglings

Mutalisks

Hydralisks

Vespene Gas & Minerals

Screenshot Details

The interface seems to support selecting 24-36 units as a group.

Marines have riot shields?

Make sure to click around the site to get more information about SC2, including videos, images, columns and updates.