"StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty" release date announced!

After 12 long years the time has finally come for the sequel to one of the best games ever, to be unleashed upon the world! Blizzard has announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be released on stores worldwide on July 27 2010.

The release of StarCraft II will also mean the official opening of the new Battle.net which will offer many new features.

I am excited about the game but I have to say that I still think it was a wrong move by Blizzard to release the game in three parts. This basically means that in order to experience the whole story you will have to pay the same game 3 times.

Starcraft 2 delayed for 2010

Blizzard announced yesterday that the release of the much anticipated (understatement) second installment in the Starcraft franchise will be delayed. The justification behind this decision is that it "became clear that it would take longer than expected to prepare the new battle.net".

Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009. Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.

We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at http://www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.

Blizzard remains faithful to the "when it's ready" policy of releases. Compared to other companies that release unpolished/buggy software this is a good thing, but at the same time disappoints the die hard fans that just want to play the game. The new battle.net is essential to the multiplayer aspect of the game. The perfect balance and flawless multiplayer gave starcraft a faithfull following and a, still, very large active community of players around the world for the past 10 years. Blizzards wants to keep it that way with Starcraft 2.

Addicted to Civilization IV

I just finished a 10 hour Civilization IV session. That, was long. I do not even know how the time passed. All I remember is getting up in the morning making myself a coffee and sitting for a quick game session before I go to the grocery store. I should have know better. This game is so damn addictive. I have been playing civilization since I was kid. I have played all the game versions and the expansions. Each game I finish I am saying to myself that I will not play for a long time. When I go to bed I start thinking about new strategies to win the game. And the next time I have free hours in my hands everything else are forgotten.

Back when Civilization IV was launched, Firaxis launched a promotional website called Civ Anonymous using it as a marketing trick to advertise the game's addictiveness. There are videos there from supposedly addicted people which were hilarious. After telling to myself during today's session one more turn, one more turn... I remembered that video. I promise that I will not play again for a long time....Enjoy the video.