March is almost upon as and to get our Zerg mandibles twitching in anticipation, Blizzard has released the opening cinematic to StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, starring the Queen of Blades. Get ready to cry foul of a Zerg rush as some poor Terran troopers are vastly outnumbered. It's in the typical 'I wish this were a movie' style from Blizzard, despite being just under 3 minutes.
Chris Sigaty of Blizzard has said that for eSports to "take that next step" in its journey, advertisers need to be poked awake and educated that they're just as 'viable' as other celebrated sports. They need to be convinced of putting the "same sorts of investments" into eSports as others, with Blizzard happy with StarCraft 2's eSports - but there's an "additional tip that can happen."
Blizzard has released a new video for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which the publisher calls "Bonus Footage". The video shows off many of the new features and systems coming in the next chapter of the popular real-time strategy game, including a few shots of the new single-player campaign.
A curious website went live recently called 'Project Blackstone', which posed as a high security login. It turns out that it guards an email exchange between Dr Helek Branamoor and Blackstone Research. There's some revelation about some "surprising similarities" between Zerg and Terran cellular structures. Heart of the Swarm is due to release in March, and so this reeks of marketing.
Blizzard has released a new preview video for Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which is narrated by community manager Cloaken. The video takes a look at some of the many ways that players may choose to explore the coming expansion, its new campaign, game modes, and other features.
Gamers who have been enjoying the public beta of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm will be a little saddened to learn that beta will be closing down on the 1st March.
Blizzard Entertainment has officially announced the dates for this year's BlizzCon nerd-gasm event, where attendees frothed at the mouth will get to play the latest of Blizzard titles and buy merch. There'll be eSports grand finals with pro-gamers, as well as more casual and amateur competitive gaming. Ticket availability and pricing will be announced closer to the event.
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm is due to be released next week on the 12th March, and Blizzard has revealed that work on the second expansion, Legacy of the Void, is underway.
Blizzard has announced the server launch times globally for their long-awaited expansion Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.
After extreme animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) decried the depiction of whaling in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, the group has sent out pamphlets on behalf of the Zerg. The pamphlet proclaims "Zerglings Have Feelings, Too."
Are you playing Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm? Blizzard is taking note. The developer is paying close attention to how players are using the game's new units, suggesting nobody has come close to exploring the wealth of new possibilities.
Blizzard as announced in a press release that Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which was in development for the past 2 1/2 years, sold 1.1M copies in its first 48 hours.
Prepare yourself, gamer. Blizzard will be throwing open the mighty gates of BlizzCon ticket sales at precisely 7pm PST on April 24th, meaning you've got a whole second to react or be left crushed. Of course there is always another chance when the second batch becomes available 10am PST April 27th. These BlizzCon tickets go fast - super fast. They sell for $175 f you've the cash.
Blizzard has announced that the new update for Starcraft II will bring back the old "spawning" feature from Warcraft II and the original Starcraft, which allowed gamers to let their friends play in multiplayer without needing to own the disc.
Website eSports Earnings has published a list of the highest-paid professional gamers to date for 2013, with the top three grossers being Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, Lee "Flash" Young Ho and "Jung "Mvp" Jong Hyun.
This Saturday will mark three years since the launch of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, which released July 27th, 2010. To mark the occasion Blizzard is issuing a "limited time" XP boost of 25% for multiplayer. The StarCraft II Starter Edition will also have all three races unlocked so those who've yet to upgrade can try their hand at commanding the Zerg and Protoss. There's new artsy wallpaper too.
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty was released on the 27th July three years ago, and Blizzard is celebrating by unlocking all three races (Human, Zerg, Protoss, natch) for the free-to-play Starter Edition.
Starcraft Universe, a fan project that's been in works for the past few years, has hit Kickstarter to raise funding. The name is a little misleading, in that it's a mod for Starcraft II, and not a true MMO, though the game does follow many MMO tropes.
StarCraft II, World of Warcraft and Diablo III are about to become roommates in the hilarious new sitcom Battle.net App. Blizzard have released the open beta of their new 'single launcher' for PC. All modern Blizzard games will be downloaded, updated and launched through this single platform. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will appear to with logins lasting 30 days.
The PC version of Minecraft has passed 12M units sold, passing the sales figures of such classic games as Half-Life, Battlefield 2 and Starcraft.