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SPACENET SITE | http://www.starcraft2.com
DOMINION SITE | http://us.starcraft2.com/dominion
BATTLE.NET SITE | http://beta-us.battle.net/sc2/en/
FACEBOOK | http://www.facebook.com/StarCraft
TWITTER | http://twitter.com/starcraft
RELEASE DATE | JULY 27, 2010 - WORLDWIDE
PLATFORM | PC, MAC
PRICE | $59.99 US ($99.99 CE)
GENRE | Real Time Strategy Simulation
DEVELOPER | Blizzard Entertainment
CONTENT RATING
ESRB | T
PEGI | 16
AU | M
Korea GRB | 15 (Censored)
MIDNIGHT OPENINGS
GameStop
BestBuy
Wal-Mart (US)
FutureShop
Official Blizzard Opening (L.A. - Fountain Valley)
Official Europe Openings
If you intend to purchase a digital copy of StarCraft II instead of a physical copy, you'll need to purchase it directly through Blizzard, rather than using other digital download services like Steam or Direct2Drive. You can already download the client now and install the game when the game is officially available for release on the 27th.
DOWNLOAD LINKS
North America
Europe
Oceania / SEA
South Korea
DOWNLOAD LINKS
North America
Europe
Oceania / SEA
South Korea
PC REQUIREMENTS
PC Minimum System Requirements:
- Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs) with DirectX 9.0c
- 2.6 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
- 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card or better
- 12 GB available HD space
- 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 users)
- DVD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection
- 1024X720 minimum display resolution
- Windows Vista/Windows 7
- Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
- 2 GB RAM
- 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
MAC REQUIREMENTS
Mac Minimum System Requirements:
- Mac OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
- Intel Processor
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon X1600 or better
- 12 GB available HD space
- 2 GB Ram
- DVD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection
- 1024X720 minimum display resolution
- Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- 4 GB system RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 4670 or better
If any commanders are not familiar with the original Starcraft, allow me to bring you up to speed. The original Starcraft was one of the most important Real-Time Strategy Simulations ever released. Its ability to let commanders control three totally unique factions is widely credited in fundamentally changing how future Real-Time Strategy Simulations were created.
Starcraft is a simulation that takes both macromanagement and micromanagement strategy in consideration. Just as on the actual field, you will need to make structures, gather resources, and give orders to your units. In the competitive online skirmishes, it's very fast paced. Battles can be won or lost within the first few minutes of the match. Scouting and learning your opponent is quite crucial.
There are two basic resources: Minerals and Vespene Gas. Minerals are generally found in small clusters, and you will need many workers to efficiently collect them. Vespene Gas requires an extraction building, but requires fewer workers to collect. In general, minerals are the raw materials that help us construct our armies, while vespene gas is useful to allow the construction of more powerful units and upgrades. Efficient use of these resources given is often the key to success in Starcraft.
There are three key races in Starcraft, being the three main factions that hold power in the Koprulu Sector: the Terran, the Zerg, and the Protoss. Each race operates their troops very differently. We, the Terran, are a very mobile and flexible race. We can lift and move key structures, we can easily create walls with our supply depots, and our units have a nice balance between power and cost efficiency. The Zerg Swarm is a very savage force, being able to spawn large numbers of units very quickly, but individual units are very weak and their restriction of building structures on the creep limits their flexibility. The powerful Protoss can create very impressive units, but they are ultimately limited by their high cost. They also must create their buildings in a pylon power field, but this power field also allows them to warp in units almost anywhere on the battlefield.
This may all sound complicated, but Starcraft has always had approachability in mind. "Easy to learn, difficult to master" has always been its design philosophy. If you're intrigued, you may wish to pick up a copy of the original Starcraft if you have not already. It's still available for pickup at any supply depot, even over 10 years after release. Start with the campaign, it will ease you in to learning the basics of each race until graduating you to the higher level units.
Starcraft is a simulation that takes both macromanagement and micromanagement strategy in consideration. Just as on the actual field, you will need to make structures, gather resources, and give orders to your units. In the competitive online skirmishes, it's very fast paced. Battles can be won or lost within the first few minutes of the match. Scouting and learning your opponent is quite crucial.
There are two basic resources: Minerals and Vespene Gas. Minerals are generally found in small clusters, and you will need many workers to efficiently collect them. Vespene Gas requires an extraction building, but requires fewer workers to collect. In general, minerals are the raw materials that help us construct our armies, while vespene gas is useful to allow the construction of more powerful units and upgrades. Efficient use of these resources given is often the key to success in Starcraft.
There are three key races in Starcraft, being the three main factions that hold power in the Koprulu Sector: the Terran, the Zerg, and the Protoss. Each race operates their troops very differently. We, the Terran, are a very mobile and flexible race. We can lift and move key structures, we can easily create walls with our supply depots, and our units have a nice balance between power and cost efficiency. The Zerg Swarm is a very savage force, being able to spawn large numbers of units very quickly, but individual units are very weak and their restriction of building structures on the creep limits their flexibility. The powerful Protoss can create very impressive units, but they are ultimately limited by their high cost. They also must create their buildings in a pylon power field, but this power field also allows them to warp in units almost anywhere on the battlefield.
This may all sound complicated, but Starcraft has always had approachability in mind. "Easy to learn, difficult to master" has always been its design philosophy. If you're intrigued, you may wish to pick up a copy of the original Starcraft if you have not already. It's still available for pickup at any supply depot, even over 10 years after release. Start with the campaign, it will ease you in to learning the basics of each race until graduating you to the higher level units.
To accommodate for the extensive upgrades in the campaign mode, Starcraft II will be released in three parts. Each installment will focus on a different race for their respective campaigns. Each campaign will consist of around 25-30 missions, and it is expected that most missions will take between 30 minutes to an hour. This means that each installment will likely take just as long, if not longer, to complete as 3 campaigns in the original Starcraft.
WINGS OF LIBERTY, the base installment, will focus on instructing commanders how to command and operate our own Terran forces. You will follow the events surrounding Jim Raynor, leader of Raynor's Raiders, the revolutionary anti-Dominion militia group.
HEART OF THE SWARM, the first expansion, will focus on teaching commanders about how the Zerg swarm is controlled. Extensive knowledge of the Zerg will help assist you in learning their potential strategies and weaknesses. The simulation will also help you understand the motivations and strategies of the Zerg by following its leader, Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades.
LEGACY OF THE VOID, the second expansion, will focus on teaching commanders about the Protoss, their society, and their battle strategies. The simulation will presumably follow Zeratul, as he seeks to uncover a vast conspiracy surrounding the Xel'Naga.
Note that Wings of Liberty is the base product, and that Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void are expansion sets that will require it in order to function. Also, all three races will be available in the online skirmish modes starting in Wings of Liberty, so you will not need both expansions to command the other factions.
WINGS OF LIBERTY, the base installment, will focus on instructing commanders how to command and operate our own Terran forces. You will follow the events surrounding Jim Raynor, leader of Raynor's Raiders, the revolutionary anti-Dominion militia group.
HEART OF THE SWARM, the first expansion, will focus on teaching commanders about how the Zerg swarm is controlled. Extensive knowledge of the Zerg will help assist you in learning their potential strategies and weaknesses. The simulation will also help you understand the motivations and strategies of the Zerg by following its leader, Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades.
LEGACY OF THE VOID, the second expansion, will focus on teaching commanders about the Protoss, their society, and their battle strategies. The simulation will presumably follow Zeratul, as he seeks to uncover a vast conspiracy surrounding the Xel'Naga.
Note that Wings of Liberty is the base product, and that Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void are expansion sets that will require it in order to function. Also, all three races will be available in the online skirmish modes starting in Wings of Liberty, so you will not need both expansions to command the other factions.
In addition to the normal version of the simulation, you may also purchase the limited edition version with various extras, including..
- The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the simulation
- An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor's dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set
- A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director's commentary, and more
- The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the simulation along with exclusive bonus tracks
- StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
- A World of Warcraft(R) mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
- Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in the simulation, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit