Rock, Paper, Shotgun

WITCHCRAFT, TRICKERY, DEVILRY, PERVERSION. A man, if he truly deserves that title, has sullied the noble art of waiting a long time for a new videogame. He has jumped the gun in the most devious possible way. He has… no, I can barely stand to repeat it.

But I must. His crime must be known. He has recreated the units from the impending StarCraft II expandosequel Heart of the Swarm, before it has even been released, and packaged them into a four-map mod for the current version of Wings of Liberty. I… I don’t know what to say. He might as well have wiped Blizzard’s hard drives and then taken the very bread from their mouths, such is the heinousness of this thought-crime and the surely catastrophic consequences of making something that looks and plays a bit like something in future might play.
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There was something else that Blizzard were talking about at Blizzcon this weekend, which was the next instalment of Starcraft II. The beta for Heart Of The Swarm is apparently “months” away, so it looks like we can expect the next game before the end of next year. Anyway, the trailer (below) shows a bunch of CG and in-game scenes, basically telling the story of Kerrigan’s lust for revenge, as well as teasing a bunch of the stuff that’s going to happen (and the units that are going to appear) in the new campaign.
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Following last week’s leaked cinematic teaser we now have some actual footage of Starcraft II’s second episode in action, and you can check that out below. We’re expecting the game itself to turn up in the first half of next year, and it could be a rather different hero-focused experience, if the previews are anything to go by. Which I guess they must be, since they’re about the game and all.

It’s no Men Of War.
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Looks like we were too sleepy to pick up on the leaked Starcraft II: Heart Of The Swarm teaser last week, but I’ve posted it below, belatedly. We were also rudely not invited to go and play it WHICH IS FINE, BECAUSE STARCRAFT IS RUBBISH ANYWAY AND WE WERE BUSY TALKING TO GIRLS AND OTHER COOL, CREDIBLE STUFF OKAY.

Eurogamer have a preview though, which is packed full of details, and delivers this conclusion: “Heart of the Swarm is still evolution rather than revolution, of course, but it’s a crucial step for StarCraft II as a whole. That’s because, while it may be the modern king of the competitive RTS, its rank as a single-player experience is less clear. By letting you talk to the monsters, and control them as the biggest monster of all, Heart of the Swarm doesn’t just promise change – it gives the silent majority their very own god of war.” Gosh!
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Battle.net project director Craig Canessa mentioned at GDC Online yesterday that StarCraft II’s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, is at least 18 months away, which is a lot of months. Take your current age and add 1.5 years to it. That’s “at least” how old you’ll be when Heart of the Swarm comes out, with its new single player campaign and new multiplayer content. Won’t you be a little old for games then? It’ll be time to pack it in and buy a Renault Twingo, surely. Might as well bookmark this now.

The original StarCraft got Brood War within 8 months, in case you were wondering. Anyway! Click past the jump for the highlights of Blizzard’s new developer diary, including balance changes planned for the next patch.
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