[PC] StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm out!

[Harpua3]

Heart of the Swarm is 99% complete!  could this be the rare year with not one, but possibly two or even three releases from Blizzard?

And then, they'll sit on it until Christmas time. 

Or a summer release... Of 2013...

[Scraper]

Heart of the Swarm is 99% complete!  could this be the rare year with not one, but possibly two or even three releases from Blizzard?

And then, they'll sit on it until Christmas time. 

Christmas time is good with me. Heck this year is ahead of the normal blizzard curve. $39.99 is also a bonus, so long as there is a full single player campaign.

[CeeKay]

OK, with Pandaria coming out in September, we now have the possibility of a world ending 3 Blizzard releases in one calendar year.

oh, and some newish MP videos that came out in June.

[CeeKay]

The MP beta has begun:

The Heart of the Swarm beta test has begun! This multiplayer-only test will initially be limited to a select group of pro-gamers, members of the press, Arcade contest winners, and shoutcasters. Beta test participants are not under NDA, so you’re likely going to see live streams of matches, screenshots, and casts of impromptu Heart of the Swarm throwdowns starting . . . mmm, NOW!

We will soon be inviting other players to participate in the beta, so be sure you’ve opted in by clicking on the "Beta Profile Settings" under the Account Management section of your Battle.net account (or just click here). Signing up from a Battle.net account that’s actively playing StarCraft II will help your chances of being selected. Note that opting in doesn't guarantee beta access.

[CeeKay]

multiplayer going free to play at some point?

[Scraper]

multiplayer going free to play at some point?

 I don't see why they would ever do this. The game currently sells very well and the multiplayer doesn't require a monthly subscription, there's really no incentive for Blizzard to release a F2P Starcraft.

[The Grue]

multiplayer going free to play at some point?

 I don't see why they would ever do this. The game currently sells very well and the multiplayer doesn't require a monthly subscription, there's really no incentive for Blizzard to release a F2P Starcraft.

It allows people to play a game online if they have no interest in the campaign at all.  Don't see how it would hurt to do this.  Also, they could potentially start selling cosmetic items (no clue if they have plans to do such a thing) and start making even more money.

[CeeKay]

damn, no trifecta from Blizzard this year.  HotS is now planned for release in the first half of 2013.

[Turtle]

Also, their MP crown, even if still huge, is starting to face real competition from other free to play games, notably League of Legends, and now DOTA 2. Oh yeah, there's the whole Blizzard All Stars thing, their own MOBA game, which will probably use a lot of SC2 assets anyway.

Also, as Grue said, they can monetize multiplayer related items and mods much more easily if it was free. I recall there was all this talk of a community store where you could put up mods to sell, I think they still want to do something like that.

[leo8877]

Official release date is March 12, 2013, regular edition is $39.99

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/hots/

[PR_GMR]

Official release date is March 12, 2013, regular edition is $39.99

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/hots/

Coolness! 

[leo8877]

Opening Cinematic!!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbeoSPqRs4

[wonderpug]

Opening Cinematic!!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbeoSPqRs4

Holy damn.  Will they just hurry up and make a theatrical release movie already?

[msduncan]

The collector's edition is extremely underwhelming.   I'm disappointed. 

Come on Blizzard, you can do better than a stupid mouse pad.

[CeeKay]

eSport and multiplayer preview for Heart of the Swarm.

[The Rocketman]

Are there any plans to release this in a box with Wings of Liberty? I haven't played any Starcraft game yet, but I'm suddenly very anxious on playing this since I now own (and enjoy) the boardgame, and would like to know more about the story and it's units.

[Scraper]

Are there any plans to release this in a box with Wings of Liberty? I haven't played any Starcraft game yet, but I'm suddenly very anxious on playing this since I now own (and enjoy) the boardgame, and would like to know more about the story and it's units.

I'm not a huge RTS gamer but even I love Wings of Liberty. I played through it twice because there are branching paths and the weapon progression system makes it hard to max out all of the weapon upgrades on 1 play through. On top of that the story line is good and the missions are varied enough that it stays interesting through the end. I'm looking forward to the expansion for the single player alone.

[PR_GMR]

Opening Cinematic!!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbeoSPqRs4

Holy damn.  Will they just hurry up and make a theatrical release movie already?

Fuck. Now I'm gonna have to reinstall 'Starcraft II'. 

[The Rocketman]

Are there any plans to release this in a box with Wings of Liberty? I haven't played any Starcraft game yet, but I'm suddenly very anxious on playing this since I now own (and enjoy) the boardgame, and would like to know more about the story and it's units.

To answer my own question: yes, the blizzard store sells a package of these 2 games for $60 or so. But that's not much of a discount I think. We're talking about a 2,5 year old game, and they're still asking a lot of money for it. I'll see if I can find a boxed copy for cheap somewhere.

[leo8877]

Vengeance trailer..../drool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCsGTP3-Jlw&list=UUZ2h0d4tP0R8klduwj-_bDQ&index=1

[PR_GMR]

Vengeance trailer..../drool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCsGTP3-Jlw&list=UUZ2h0d4tP0R8klduwj-_bDQ&index=1

This isn't helping me. I did find my reinstall disk the other day. But, fudge, my BattleNet account has been compromised for months and I don't want to bother with Blizzard's 120 steps to reclaim it. Ugh.

[Soulchilde]

I really need to finish the first game,  I was very close to the end if I recall

[lex]

I didn't realize the game was coming out in a few weeks!!

I just re-installed the first chapter/expansion and it looks like they've updated the graphics engine and UI elements since it was first out.

And I think $60 for both games is not a bad deal.  The cheapest I've seen for WoL is $30. If you like the lore and a RTS fan, it is definitely worth the money.  They've put a lot of polish for the game, and the missions in SP are beyond the standard build base-->tech up-->destroy enemy type missions.

[lex]

Are there any plans to release this in a box with Wings of Liberty? I haven't played any Starcraft game yet, but I'm suddenly very anxious on playing this since I now own (and enjoy) the boardgame, and would like to know more about the story and it's units.

To answer my own question: yes, the blizzard store sells a package of these 2 games for $60 or so. But that's not much of a discount I think. We're talking about a 2,5 year old game, and they're still asking a lot of money for it. I'll see if I can find a boxed copy for cheap somewhere.

You can grab Wings of Liberty for 20 bucks now on Blizzard or from Amazon.

[The Rocketman]

Are there any plans to release this in a box with Wings of Liberty? I haven't played any Starcraft game yet, but I'm suddenly very anxious on playing this since I now own (and enjoy) the boardgame, and would like to know more about the story and it's units.

To answer my own question: yes, the blizzard store sells a package of these 2 games for $60 or so. But that's not much of a discount I think. We're talking about a 2,5 year old game, and they're still asking a lot of money for it. I'll see if I can find a boxed copy for cheap somewhere.

You can grab Wings of Liberty for 20 bucks now on Blizzard or from Amazon.

Thanks, but I got impatient and got it last week In the cheapest store around it was still €30. But I've been playing it last week and enjoying it for what it is. I've never been a huge RTS fan - I played pretty much all the C&C's and Red Alert's, but that's it - but it's a very polished product. I especially like the way you can talk to crew members on the Hyperion between missions, that's a nice Wing Commander-retro-thing to do!

I tried one mission on brutal though (Zero Hour, the 3rd one where you have to survive the Zerg for the first time) but that's a bit too difficult for me. If anyone has any pointers to help, feel free to share your wisdom. Like how many SCV's to build, what units to focus on...

[CeeKay]

had a couple of hours to kill this morning so I fired up Wings to continue the campaign.  got all set to play when the game started updating and then it said it needed to reconfigure the game files, which proceeded to kill about 90 minutes with what appeared to be a massive download

[The Rocketman]

I hate this with a fiery passion!
My internet connection is often shaky, and there's nothing worse than thinking you have half an hour of spare time, logging in, and seeing the dreaded "downloading latest patch" message appearing! Aaargh, at least give me an option for a single-player game!

[Scraper]

had a couple of hours to kill this morning so I fired up Wings to continue the campaign.  got all set to play when the game started updating and then it said it needed to reconfigure the game files, which proceeded to kill about 90 minutes with what appeared to be a massive download

I went through this too, only to then find out that my battlenet account has been hacked. I haven't had the time or patience to deal with Blizzard on getting it fixed.

[lex]

had a couple of hours to kill this morning so I fired up Wings to continue the campaign.  got all set to play when the game started updating and then it said it needed to reconfigure the game files, which proceeded to kill about 90 minutes with what appeared to be a massive download

It's preloading about 6 gbs worth of HOTS data, even if you didn't pre-order it.  It did that for me too when I re-installed SC2 last week.  If you go into your SCII install directory\updates folder, there should be a folder with HotS somewhere.

[msduncan]

where are the stupid reviews for this game?

[Knightshade Dragon]

where are the stupid reviews for this game?

I'm *very* worried....they didn't even reply to me when I requested it.  Blizzard is usually pretty tight with GT.  Hopefully I'm wrong...

[PR_GMR]

Really want to play this one, but since I put all my gaming chips into 'SimCity' this month, can't afford it right now.

[msduncan]

where are the stupid reviews for this game?

I'm *very* worried....they didn't even reply to me when I requested it.  Blizzard is usually pretty tight with GT.  Hopefully I'm wrong...

So you didn't even get a review copy?

[Knightshade Dragon]

where are the stupid reviews for this game?

I'm *very* worried....they didn't even reply to me when I requested it.  Blizzard is usually pretty tight with GT.  Hopefully I'm wrong...

So you didn't even get a review copy?

Negative.  I pre-ordered the CE, so I'm getting it tomorrow regardless, but in this instance I have nothing to share with you guys on this one. 

[msduncan]

The silence about this game is deafening.     Does Blizzard usually disallow reviews until midnight of the day of release or something?

Edit to add:   In the past I would blindly trust Blizzard to come with a great product, but at some point they are going to put a flop out there and I'll get burned.

[leo8877]

It's going to be like wings of liberty, but instead you play as the Zerg and there will be new units.

[Canuck]

I can't see it being bad. Has it really been two and a half years since the first one? Maybe splitting the game up into three wasn't just a cash grab after all?

[Lordnine]

Negative.  I pre-ordered the CE, so I'm getting it tomorrow regardless, but in this instance I have nothing to share with you guys on this one. 

When you get your CE could you tell me if the DVD has all the in-game and pre-rendered cinematics like the original CE did?  That was my favorite part of the original but they didnt specify that they were doing it again so I didn't bother to order this collectors edition.  If they did I might need to track down a copy at some point...

[msduncan]

It's going to be like wings of liberty, but instead you play as the Zerg and there will be new units.

Spoiler alerts please!   Sheesh

[Scraper]

It's going to be like wings of liberty, but instead you play as the Zerg and there will be new units.

If that's all it is then I am so IN. Just don't know why it takes 2.5 years to make that.