'StarCraft 2' is now 3

(Credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Wassup StarCraft fans?!! That was my Brian Tong impression. Spot on, no? Anyway, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that StarCraft II is shaping up to be a much more ambitious product than Blizzard Entertainment had originally conceived, and the company is going to be forced to delay parts of the game.

The good news is that instead of waiting until everything in the game is complete, Blizzard is splitting the game into a trilogy--each focusing on a different StarCraft race.

The first game in the series--Wings of Liberty--will focus on the Terrans. The second game, Heart of the Swarm, will focus on the Zerg, while the final game, Legacy of the Void, will be devoted to the Protoss.

According to Blizzard, each release will be a fully fledged campaign, featuring 26 to 30 missions apiece with a branching storyline that will change depending on players' choices. Each release in the trilogy will also feature the multiplayer portion, with all three races playable and balanced, according to Blizzard.

Although Activision claims the game will be released in 2009, like all Blizzard Entertainment games expect it "when it's done." Which conceivably could be 2010.

[RJSUSC]

How is this good news? Unless Blizzard keeps pricing in mind, it seems that it will be expensive to pay now for each separate campaign, instead a single bundle.

[Tarnick]

This is bad news, I'm seeing an alarming trend in games these days where gaming developers are basically selling games in chapters instead of a full package as they should, Too human being one of the worst examples. I'm thinking the company execs are getting too greedy. This has to be in some ways unethical

[Gunady]

Bad news.. Longer waiting time, more $$ to complete the game, and other craps.. And sadly, whenever and however, they want to release, it won't effect their income, which proves that there won't be any motivation to finish the game on time and more gamer-oriented.

[jandler]

Guys, chill!
Each release consists of 26 to 30 missions. The original starcraft contains 30 missions split between 3 factions. Then it had 3 expansions / Spin-off: Insurrection, Retribution and Broodwar. So it's basically, you can view it as a game with 2 expansions packs

[Rawnchie14]

Voice of reason jandlerr!

Starcraft 2 will be fantastic, and crow will be served around the world.

[shadowclasper]

I agree with jandler, it's something fresh, it's expanding the story enormously, allows for greater detail, more stuff in the missions, longer, more complete stories. Let's face it, there were some gaps in the original Starcraft, you get news about stuff that happened, but only in the general sense."<Semi-Major Plot Char/Ingame Hero Unit> has died at <place> from a vicious attack by the <race (usually zerg)>". Now we can actually PLAY those mission rather than just hearing about them. Probably a bad example, considering we're still following one main character the entire time, but you take my point.

What I would LIKE clarification on is if we'll be able to PLAY all three races on battlenet from the get-go. I don't relish the idea of only terrans, then only terrans and zerg, THEN all three races, got enough of only terrans when I got the original starcraft demo. I doubt they'll do it, since battlenet is a major draw for any bliz game, but I'd still prefer to have it clarified.

[zjliujie]

Doesn't make any business sense. This is just a rumor.