GameSpy Interviews Dustin Browder

gamespy.com - December 24, 2008

GameSpy recently conducted an interview with StarCraft 2's Lead Designer, Dustin Browder, on various aspects of the game. In the interview, Dustin Browder mentioned the possibility of seeing new, exclusive units that you won't find in multiplayer for use while playing the games' campaign.

We can even introduce units and technology in the campaign that are unique to the single-player game and won't appear in multiplayer games. As an example, one technology you can choose would be to upgrade your bunkers to fit six infantry instead of four. If you're the type of player that likes to turtle-in, then that's probably an attractive upgrade for you. Another player who's more aggressive would probably choose to spend credits on a different unit or technology upgrade. By introducing flexibility in mission choices, and an array of exciting, single-player –only technologies, we not only enhance replayability, but give the campaign a much different flavor than the multiplayer aspect.

Read the full interview here.

StarCraft 2 Battle Report #1

StarCraft2.com - December 19, 2008

Blizzard has released some high quality footage of a Protoss vs Terran battle in their new series of "Battle Reports".

Welcome to Blizzard Entertainment's first official shoutcast for StarCraft II, which is currently in the alpha phase of development. This match features two of the StarCraft II team's associate game balance designers, Matt Cooper and David Kim.

• Map: Kulas Ravine
• Commentators: Dustin Browder, Robert Simpson

Check out the battle in our media section or on the StarCraft 2 website.

Karune Q&A Batch 47

Battle.net - December 17, 2008

Karune has released Q&A Batch 47 with some new info regarding the Zerg's consume ability, the Thor, and more!  Check out the full Q&A in our Q&A Section.

2. Do you plan to introduce consume (cannibalism) as one of the zerg features? For example, in Starcraft I, defilers ate zerglings to gain 50 energy (it is possible to introduce consume for ultralisks which will gain 50 life after eating a zergling or another unit) - Unbreakab1e (USEast)

We don’t have the consume ability in the game now, but if consume is considered as necessary to the game, you will see this ability in StarCraft II. Currently Zerg has caster units like the Infestor, Queen, Overlord, and Overseer. Infestors can move while burrowed, which means it can regenerate energy again away from the battle. The Queen has already powerful skills and combat ability. Overlords can fly and mutate the creep without any energy. Overseers also can fly so that they can earn some time to regenerate their energy as well. If the current Zerg casters having the consume ability, it could make them too powerful and strong.

5. The Thor was built by an SCV at first, but since quite time now it is built like a normal unit in the factory. Was this changed due to design or balance reasons? - InStarCraft.de

We changed this due to the balance reason. Before the change, you could build as many Thors as you want at the same time with your SCVs, as long as you have resources, with one Barrack and an Armory. We decided that this can be too much benefit to Terran, and we changed that Thor could be built from a Factory.

Starcraft 2 Out Q1 2009?

http://pricewatch.vr-zone.com - December 05, 2008

In a printout of upcoming game releases in Singapore, Starcaft 2 is strangely found listed to be released in Q1 2009. It is very unusual to see large titles such as Starcraft 2 to be leaked out by a low priority document such as this, if leaked out at all. In any case, while this leak is not definite confirmation of any possible release date, Blizzard's recent move to a Starcraft 2 trilogy may allow such a case to be not as unbelievable as once thought.

Click here to see the leaked document.