This is the latest GameTrailers video on the subject; five other gameplay videos were posted back on Wednesday. You can catch them all through the link.

StarCraft II [GameTrailers]

Before I get started, let me establish what I am. Or, rather, what I am not. I am not a “hardcore” Starcraft fan. Sorry. I loved Starcraft, yes, but I loved it in 1998. I played it then, I finished it, I got on with my life. So if you want somebody who goes toe-to-toe with Koreans, who can agonise over the minutest details of this sequel, from build times to scroll speeds to how this is going to affect your next competitive match, sorry. I’m not your man.

If you’re a casual observer, though – as I imagine the vast majority of you are – then you’ll probably be in the same boat as me; loved Starcraft back in the day, and are simply curious to see just what’s changed (or hasn’t changed) over the past 12 years. That, I can help you with.

(Since this is neither a preview or a review, I’m just going to give you all my thoughts at once)

The Water Still Beads – My goodness this game is polished. I mean, I know this is Blizzard, and I know it’s been 12 years in the making, but still. From menu screen to interface to terrain to the behaviour and animation of the units, this game is dripping with incidental detail. You want to see what Blizzard mean when they say “it’s done when it’s done”, you boot this game up and compare the trimmings with any other game you’ve ever played, you’ll see what they’re talking about.

12 Years? – It’s unfair to say this game has actually been 12 years in the making. It hasn’t. Blizzard has, in case you missed it, been busy making other stuff during that time. Still, when you play a game that comes so long after its sequel, you expect at least some things to be different. To have evolved. But no, at least in terms of the multiplayer game, aside from some new units and the fancy trimmings, at a fundamental level this is essentially Starcraft HD. How you feel about that depends on whether you wanted a change or not; personally, I’d have liked to see Blizzard be a little more adventurous (though, to be fair, they may be saving that for the singleplayer game).

Listen To It Purr – My PC is what you’d call “slightly above average” (DualCore 3.0ghz, 4GB, GTS 250 1ghz). It’s not a $US3000 rig. And yet I can play the game on its highest detail settings at a smooth and consistent framerate, regardless of the size of the map or the number of units on screen. If you’re running an average rig, then, or even a below-average rig, slide the settings down a little and you’ll be well looked after.

So Far, So Good – For a beta, things sure are running smoothly. As somebody who doesn’t play World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s Battle.net system was a new experience for me, but over two solid days of play I’m yet to run into any problems whatsoever, whether in terms of dropped connections, lag or trouble finding a game.

If It Ain’t Broke – While I wish Blizzard had made some more sweeping changes to the game, Starcraft’s second-most treasured asset – it’s universe – already feels stronger and more confident. The developers have successfully tread the fine line between preserving old favourites and making necessary tweaks, leaving us with Protoss that are a little more Predator, Zerg that are a little more repulsive and Terrans that have, smartly, been shifted a little in tone, from Southern hillbillies to Wild West pioneers (complete with Deadwood-esque soundtrack). You’ll especially love the Terran’s new mech, above, whose inspiration is a little more foreign than the rest of their units.

So, yeah, that’s what I’ve come across over the past two days, from being the 167th person connected to the game until now, when there’s an average of around 2500 people online at once. If you’ve been lucky enough to get on the StarCraft II beta, let us know your early impressions in the comments below.

I’ve tried to get a nice balance of races and terrain here, to give you an idea of how the game looks running normally, on a normal person’s computer, as it will when you get playing (whenever that may be).

While they show the kind of detil that’s gone into the units and terrain, it doesn’t do a lot of it justice; the space levels, for instance, show asteroids and planets constantly in motion, while there’s nice water and plant effects on the planetary stages.

Free Realms #5 (of 12)

Written by JS Lewis. Drawn by Oliver Nome.

Summary Via Wildstorm Entertainment:

Darkthorne reveals a dangerous secret that could threaten the stability of the Free Realms universe. She claims that Queen Valerian’s trusted advisor is actually a spy sent to not only poison the queen, but to usher in a new evil like their world has never known. The unlikely allies must join forces to save the realm!

Starcraft #7

Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio and Carlos D’Anda.

Summary Via Wildstorm Entertainment:

The end of the first War Pigs arc looms, but who – if anyone – will still be standing when the dust settles on the doomed, zerg-infested, protoss-purged world of Urona Sigma? Embittered, vengeful Cerberus C.O. Lars Trakken is hell bent on payback, even in the face of impending Armageddon.

Sonic Universe #12

Written by Ian Flynn. Drawn by Tracy Yardley.

Summary Via Archiee Comics:

“Echoes of the Past Part Four of Four”: This is it – the grand finale! Angel Island is about to be conquered, and our heroes are powerless to stop it, having been captured and at the mercy of the Dark Egg Legion! Will a last minute revelation save or doom our hapless heroes? It all ends with the fight you’ve been waiting for: Knuckles vs. Dr. Finitevus in a knock-down, drag-out, no holds barred ruckus! Don’t miss the explosive final chapter to Knuckles’ return to the spin-off scene!

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #49

Written by John Jackson Miller. Drawn by Brian Ching.

Summary Via Dark Horse Comics:

Demon, Part 3

The penultimate chapter of the most epic Knights of the Old Republic story ever told!

It is do or die for former Padawan Zayne Carrick as he desperately tries to save Jarael’s life. He’ll call in favours from the Senate, the Mandalorian Cassus Fett, and Admiral Karath of the Republic Navy — but none can prepare him for what he’s about to face!

Mass Effect: Redemption #1 (of 4)
Written by Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller. Drawn by Omar Francia.

Summary Via Dark Horse Comics:
Mass Effect 2 lead writer Mac Walters reveals an essential moment in the life of Commander Shepard, the galaxy’s greatest hero, only in Mass Effect: Redemption!

The eagerly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster science-fiction epic that IGN.com named the #1 Xbox 360 game of all time, Mass Effect 2 begins with the disappearance of Commander Shepard. The story of what happens next – exclusive to these comics – will have the commander’s companion Dr. Liara T’Soni undertake a deadly mission of extraordinary importance in the Milky Way’s lawless Terminus Systems.

Scripted by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars: Legacy), this series is not only an integral part of the Mass Effect universe, it is the must-read comic that every fan of space adventure has been waiting for!

Sky Pirates Of Neo Terra #4
Written by Richard A. Knaak, Simon Furman, Paul Benjamin and Joshua Elder. Drawn by: Naohiro Washi, Jesse Elliot, Dave Shramek and Ramanda Kamarga.

Summary Via Tokyopop:

Ghosts – the Terran’s powerful assassins, capable of reading minds and calling nuclear strikes… These ultimate weapons are crafted at a sinister instiution – the Ghost Academy. In this never-before-seen chapter in ghost prodigy Nova’s life, the doors of the Ghost Academy are flung wide open! Join Nova as she navigates the challenges of brutal training, both physical and psychological, along with fellow cadets whose unusual powers are being twisted to serve the Dominion. But no matter how terrible their training, the ghost cadets will remember none of the pain…upon their memory-wiping graduation! As a result of a troubled past, Nova has learned she can only depend on herself. Nova’s great strength – self-reliance – becomes her greatest weakness when the Ghost Academy implements team-based training. Saddled with a hard-line Dominion supporter, a mouthy President’s daughter, an opportunistic playboy and a scatter-brained geek with a habit of making machines go haywire, Nova’s challenge lies in learning her greatest strength may lie outside herself.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #48
Written by John Jackson Miller. Drawn by Brian Ching.

Summary Via Dark Horse Comics:
Demon Part 2 of 4.
Once again a fugitive from justice, former Jedi student Zayne Carrick and his partner Gryph finally find out the truth behind their enemy, the macabre Mandalorian scientist Demagol. Yet they’ve learned it too late to save a friend from deadly peril!

Halo Helljumper #5 Written by Peter David. Drawn by Eric Nguyen.

Summary Via Publisher Marvel Comics:
Dutch and Romeo have gotten themselves into some pretty crazy situations, but stealing a Covenant ship would definitely get a medal for Most Insane Thing Done In the Line of Duty. If they survive this, they’ll still have plenty of questions to answer: what the heck are the Covenant doing here on Planet Ariel, an otherwise harmless colony? And why are they acting so strange-taking the humans hostage instead of glassing the planet, which is their M.O.? Whatever’s lurking deep underneath the surface, if the Covenant wants it that bad, it has to be big… and deadly. DON’T MISS THE GRIPPING CONCLUSION TO THIS HEART-STOPPING STORY!

Free Realms #3 (of 12) Written by J.S. Lewis. Drawn by Jon Buran.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment:
Dane and Maya return from their dangerous mission into the Briarwood to retrieve the missing girl, but the queen’s representatives aren’t offering a hero’s welcome! Looks like the queen couldn’t care less about the young girl and instead wants the box containing the potion that could keep her majesty from dying. But the box is empty! Now Dane and Maya must return to the Briarwood to find the vial before the queen dies…or her fate becomes their own!

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra #3 Written by Josh Wagner. Drawn by Camilla D’Errico.

Summary Via Publisher Image Comics:
This issue is non-stop action as Billy and the Pirate King clash over the Light Crystal. Wurl engages in a battle-to-the-death with an old rival, and Suma and Racket have to help fend off a Sky Pirates attack! Based on a game for Nintendo DS and Wii.

Starcraft #6 Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio and Brian Denham.

Summary Via Wildstorm Entertainment:
What exactly is Cole Hickson’s connection to Jim Raynor? Unless the threads of the past can finally be unravelled, the future is looking distinctly truncated. Trapped and surrounded by hostile Zerg insectoids, not to mention a vengeful C.O. and his crack Cerberus unit, the War Pigs might be making their last stand as the Protoss prepare to incinerate the Zerg-infested world the War Pigs are stranded on!

Warcraft Death Knight Volume 1 Written by Dan Jolley. Drawn by Rocio Zucchi.

Summary Via Publisher Tokyopop:
Thassarian is a loyal Lordaeron solider that longs to be a great hero like his deceased father. Although he possesses immense strength and skill, Thassarian is told that he lacks the spark that all great leaders have to guide men into battle. So when Prince Arthas calls to arms brave men to sail to Northrend and battle the scourge army, Thassarian sees his chance to prove to others—and himself—that he has what it takes to lead. When Arthas goes missing, Thassarian bravely searches for him…and unwillingly becomes ensnared in darkness. Led to a mysterious cave, Thassarian is transformed into a Death Knight, a powerful, emotionless pawn of the Lich King who will follow any order, no matter how cruel…

“Echoes of the Past Part Two”: As Knuckles’ friends try to valiantly defend the Master Emerald against a seemingly never-ending horde of robots, Knuckles delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding him… until he finally finds Dr. Finitevus! Knuckles is bent on revenge, but he’s not counting on the surprise twist that will delay his quest. You can’t afford to miss this exciting, action-packed issue!

Though one is obviously dwarfed by the comparison, both figures are impressive in their own right. And both speak to the health of their form of multiplayer gaming. For console games like Modern Warfare 2, multiplayer’s meteoric growth is commonly understood. But for LAN parties, still playing games like Counter-Strike, their resilience and persistence are most frequently seen among university-aged gamers on campus.

“If anything, I think it’s growing” says Nathan Etzell, a student at Oregon State University, whose 300-member OSU Gaming organisation has a prewired, 30-person LAN room at the bottom of a dormitory where at least two large parties are held per term. In January, his club will meet the University of Oregon in the second “Civil War LAN”, a gaming tournament named after the schools’ football rivalry.

But there is a sense that the PC LAN party — like all-nighters, streaking, whatever — are something whose time and place comes on a university campus. Out in the cold hard world, PC LAN and direct server support in new titles is dwindling in favour of console multiplayer and proprietary hosting services. Most notably, StarCraft II will not support LAN gaming as it shifts to Blizzard’s Battle.net. And dedicated servers are out under Modern Warfare 2, which is now running multiplayer with a combination of Steam and the recently created IW.net for Modern Warfare 2. Both sequels’ predecessors had a strong history in dedicated servers and LAN gaming, leaving some gamers feeling betrayed, and some LAN enthusiasts feeling marginalised.

LAN gaming is not gone from the off-campus civilian world. But annual convention hall events with big budgets, entry fees, prizes and sponsorships are different creatures from six people linking up to play Warcraft III. While the former will definitely still happen after you graduate, the latter is less likely. Those six-people sessions are most likely made among fellow gamers, who are likely to find each other in a class, or perusing a bulletin board in a student union.

“Their age group usually involves a lot of what PC gamers are,” says Keegan Gormley, whose Big City Gaming in downtown Eugene, Ore. offers constant system-linked gaming and monthly tournaments. “They’re mostly university students who, in their spare time, enjoy playing a game like Counter-Strike, or another game they’ve played for a long time.”

The players in his $US5-an-hour “stadium,” — eight consoles connected to high definition, Major League Gaming–standard panel monitors — are largely high-schoolers, Gormley said. Younger kids are less likely to LAN, he said, because of the accessibility of consoles and the desirability of their most current games.

“There’s much more deep-rooting in PC gaming,” Gormley said. “Someone who gets into a game on the PC can end up playing it for years,” he said. “On consoles, I’ve seen people drop Halo for Call of Duty, then drop Call of Duty for Flashpoint. For PC gamers, mostly, it’s whatever they originally clicked on and killed with.”

And that helps explain the persistence of LAN gaming. The standbys of a LAN party are usually real-time strategy games such as StarCraft, or WarCraft III, then shooters such as Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Unreal Tournament. TF2 is the most recent of these, releasing in 2007, with others having roots going back to the late 1990s. There’s a reason for this.

“It’s what people are good at,” said Patrick Chinn, one of the University of Oregon organisers for the Civil War LAN, which will be held January 22-23. “One reason people want to play an older game like Counter-Strike is because they’ve played it a long time and they’ve gotten good at it. We’ve done tournaments for games that are brand new, and there’ll be some attendance, but they’re not as well played.”

Plus, by this point, the support histories for the games have either controlled for or patched out of existence most means of cheating. “The tactics in a game like Counter-Strike have become so refined that there’s no real dick move you can pull,” says Dylan Leeds, a senior majoring in digital art at Oregon. And for whatever in-game legislation doesn’t cover, LAN gaming offers another control: being physically in the presence of your opponent. It cuts down on ragequits and unsporting behaviour.

“You’re more likely to respect someone if you know you’re going to see interact with them after the game,” he said.

And that speaks to another quality of LAN gaming that, unlike its numbers, can’t be replicated or really improved: the human contact of it all.

“If you’re playing online by yourself, the hype’s really not there,” said Josh Bothun, an Oregon student majoring in computer science and music technology. “It’s like you have to intentionally create it for yourself, but you get a completely different experience when people are around you.”

LAN parties have an anecdotal culture that just can’t be replicated by solitary multiplayer gaming. Often stretching 24 hours or more, they’re salted with tales of inside jokes and hyper-caffeination. At major tournaments in the civilian world, bragging about casemods and your rig are their own sideshow, similar to a custom-car show.

“It’s more about community,” says Gormley, the game store owner. “It’s being able to shoulder-shove the person you just killed. It’s less about yelling at someone over a mic, and more about actually giving that person the evil eye.

“It gets so elitist online, sometimes,” he continued. “It seems like a lot of people don’t want to play online console games because they don’t get the game in its first week, don’t level up their character in time, and then they feel like they can’t compete.”

It might be easy to assume that anything other than gaming over the Internet, as opposed to a LAN or WAN, is redundant, a relic, or headed for obscurity. But system-linked games bring something to the room that proprietary multiplayer services can’t: One’s friends.

To use an apt college metaphor: “It’s like drinking online versus drinking with friends,” Chinn said. “Drinking a couple of beers and IMing with friends is not nearly as much fun as actually drinking with your friends.”

The different types of tournament are micro-management, small-scale combat, limited tech tree and full games using StarCraft Brood War 1.16.1. Registration is open between now and September 15, 2010. Submission is open from September 15 through to September 30, and the actual tournament kicks off October 1 and continues through the AIIDE 2010 Conference.

Here’s what the official website has to say:

Bots for StarCraft can be developed using the Broodwar API, which provides hooks into StarCraft and enables the development of custom AI for StarCraft. A C++ interface enables developers to query the current state of the game and issue orders to units.

…

All of the tournaments will use a double-elimination bracket, based on best of 5 matches.

So go forth, StarCraft modders. It’s not just for nerd cred… it’s for science!

Thanks for the tip, Professor Lowood!
Image Cred

Halo: Helljumper #4 Written by Peter David. Drawn by Eric Nguyen.

Summary Via Publisher Marvel Comics
With an entire Covenant regiment hot on the trail of their comrades, Dutch and Romeo don’t have a lot of options…the radios are out, so they can’t alert their CO as to what’s behind them, and they don’t have enough firepower to take the Covenant force out on their own. But… hey, what’s this here? A lightly guarded Covenant Drop Ship? But who’d be stupid enough to steal a Drop Ship? Two of the UNSC’s finest, perhaps?

Starcraft #5 Written by Simon Furman. Drawn by Federico Dallocchio.

Summary Via Publisher Wildstorm Entertainment
On a zerg-infested world, the War Pigs come face-to-face with Jim Raynor, but it’s becoming painfully clear that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man who brought them back together for this do-or-die mission – Cole Hickson. Prepare for revelations, shocks and cover-to-cover action! Plus, a peek at Nuura Joss’ troubled past! This one has it all!