StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm lead designer Dustin Browder has revealed that the Starcraft II expansion is 99% complete, though he admits that the remaining development is "a bitch".
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Blizzard has announced the date for UK fans to compete in the StarCraft II World Championship Series UK Nationals, which are set in London. They will take place June 30th and July 1st. 16 players will duke it out "to be crowned the UK champion" and go on to represent the nation in the StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe Finals. $15,000 prize fund on offer.
Blizzard game designer David Kim states that the company is perfectly willing to axe units if they feel with the release of Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm there are too many of them combined with the original Wings of Liberty and are overcomplicating the game.
Blizzard is hard at work on Starcraft 2 expansion Heart of the Swarm. One feature that many players want to see included is LAN support. Unfortunately, this doesn't look likely.
The sought after Arcade feature for StarCraft 2 is finally activated with patch 1.5.2. The Arcade lets users easily access player-made maps and mods along with community ratings and reviews. The launcher for the RTS also now supports data streaming during play to cut download times. Bugs and tweaks also accompany the new features in 1.5.2. Patch notes strut their stuff.
Gamers in Iran will be disappointed to find they can no longer access World of Warcraft and Battle.net, thanks to US sanctions and trade restrictions. The games weren't released in Iran, but gamers in the country have accessed the game via virtual private networks.
The Australian Classification Government site has listed an "M" rating for Blizzard's upcoming standalone expansion Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, which could indicate that the long development cycle for the game is nearing an end.
Thanks to the US sanctions and Blizzard's always online DRM, Iranian gamers won't be getting refunds for Starcraft II, Diablo III or World of Warcraft, and worse yet, won't get refunds on preorders of Mists of Pandaria.
Blizzard has launched the beta mode for Starcraft 2: Heart of Swarm, although this multiplayer-only test will initially be limited to a select group of pro-gamers, journalists, arcade contest winners, and shoutcasters. Beta test participants are not under an NDA, so we should start seeing more content like screenshots and videos soon. Live streams of matches will also be a possibility.
Starting with the Diablo III 1.05 patch, Blizzard is introducing an "appear offline" feature to its games. Starcraft II and World of Warcraft will add the feature in the near future.
Blizzard is looking into making Starcraft II multiplayer free to play, according to lead designer Dustin Browder when the subject was broached at the Valencia eSports Congress panel.
League of Legends currently enjoys 32 million active players per month.
Blizzard had other galactic plans in motion outside of StarCraft, reveals Stay Awhile and Listen author David Craddock, whose book explores former devs time at Blizzard Entertainment. The studio split into two teams after Diablo 2, reveals Craddock, and one "started and scrapped" many ideas. Someone came up with a Diablo sci-fi clone, codenamed 'Starblo'.
The latest major update for the StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm beta will be introducing a levelling mechanic for players. Blizzard goes into detail explaining how they'll be implementing this new feature. XP is earned through playing matchmaking modes and custom maps as you destroy and build units. Each race goes from level 1 to 20. It rewards with "portraits and decals" for you profile.
Activision has announced in its investor call that the publisher enjoyed $226M in profit for the fiscal quarter just past, up from the $148M during the same period in 2011. Much of it is thanks to a rise in paid subscriptions for World of Warcraft.
Two gamers have filed a class action suit on Blizzard, aimed at the company's alleged poor security and its profiting on the sale of Authenticators, which are used to combat keylogging.
Blizzard has reacted to the class-action lawsuit aimed at the company accusing it of profiteering off Battle.net's insecurity by selling $6.50 Authenticators, and mandating online access to non-MMOs. Predictably, the studio is calling the suit "frivolous", dismissing it out of hand.
Blizzard's Battle.net has revealed the next instalment to StarCraft 2, the Heart of the Swarm expansion, will be available to RTS fans March 12th next year. Their online store priced a bundle at 44.99. That's if you wanted to get Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm together at a discount of 42%. There's a Digital Deluxe Edition which nets bonus in-game items, including a WoW pet.
Blizzard is introducing a sparring dojo for StarCraft 2 fans looking to get into the competitive arena of ranked matches, as they understand a lot "do feel intimidated" by the multiplayer beast within. Heart of the Swarm comes with a "training area" where our AI opponent will be telling us what kind of things we should be doing. A lot "never make the transition" from solo to online.
Blizzard has announced that any who pre-order StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will now also be included in the beta program for the March-bound sequel. The beta client is available now. For those who pre-ordered before December 18th, Blizzard has already invited you in, but later pre-orders will be added in waves over the coming weeks. Only select retailers offer beta keys.