Starcraft 2 Beta is now live

[WrightOfWay]

For those who haven't managed to get into the beta, U.S. residents preordering from Gamestop will get a beta key with their preorder.

[Werthead]

The game is definitely a lot faster paced than I recall SCI being. Most of the 1v1 matches I play last about 15-20 minutes.

Hmm. I don't recall many SC1 games lasting more than 15 minutes back in the day. In SC1 MP I remember one game going from the start of the game to having 12 Carriers as the Protoss in about 15 minutes, but few games went that far. Playing as the Zerg, it was often far, far less than 15 mins (especially since my regular competitor hated the Zerg and never played as them, so had no idea what the Zerg were capable of or the best counters for them).

[Darkostar]

Well, the game editing tools seem as strong as ever.

[jurble]

I've been in beta for months now -

verdict: Good game, will purchase.

That's it pretty much. I hate 1v1 so much. So much pressure to rush, your heart is beating like 200 bpm, so afraid I'm not going to make enough zealots in time.

[oneeye]

Preorder with amazon.com gets you into beta too. (and you can even cancel preorder if you like but I won't)

I am getting so owned though on battlenet on 1v1.

[Poobah]

I've been in beta for months now -

verdict: Good game, will purchase.

That's it pretty much. I hate 1v1 so much. So much pressure to rush, your heart is beating like 200 bpm, so afraid I'm not going to make enough zealots in time.

I've been in the beta since the start. I won't be buying the game since they seem to have made up their mind that they won't allow players to choose which server to play on. So I'll be stuck playing on Europe while many of the friends I made in online communities for SC1 are in America.

Also : SC1 was much faster than SC2 is currently, in my opinion.

It's not about rushing, it's about having a tight build order so you have the right stuff at the right time. It does depend what level you are playing at, though I suppose.

[The Dude]

It seemed to me the actual rate of gameplay in the ladder games is faster in SC2. Or maybe it's just the default is set higher? Units definitely die faster in SC2, so it seems the overall pacing is quicker but that doesn't mean the actual match length is any longer or shorter.

[oneeye]

Sigh I am guessing for D3, I won't be able to play with euro friends huh :(

[Poobah]

Sigh I am guessing for D3, I won't be able to play with euro friends huh :(

Looks like it, and because of that I won't be buying D3 either. GG Blizzard, say bye to my money.

[PhelanArcetus]

Yeah units definitely die faster.

I don't know why this continent-based restriction exists, but it definitely seems annoying.

Since I already had beta access, handed my pre-order (from amazon) key to a friend.

I think what I'm disliking in 1v1 quick play is that I don't see much variation, and I don't feel able to try things. Also it's single-player, but with the detriments of idiots and jerks. Once more friends have access so I can play with/against them, I should be happier.

[a wooden chair]

For those who haven't managed to get into the beta, U.S. residents preordering from Gamestop will get a beta key with their preorder.

So I pre-ordered this at least a year ago if not longer (I think nearer to two) and haven't been told anything so far about a beta key. In fact all Gamestop has done is sent me a message trying to get me to upgrade to some ultimate super pre-order version.

Any perticular way they give the keys out?

[oneeye]

you might be able to try the blizzard site directly too.

I think the beta ends May 17 though?

[PhelanArcetus]

Might pay to contact gamestop; the promo probably hadn't begun when you pre-ordered, but if you complain they might just hook you up.

[Werthead]

StarCraft 2 will be released worldwide on 27 July 2010. Standard edition will be $59.99, collector's edition will be $99.99. BattleNet will be free to use. Min specs not yet released.

Hell has finally frozen over.

[Mack Kilimaro]

Sixty bucks and that's only the first third of the planned single-player stuff? Sheesh. Hopefully the subsequent campaigns are more along the lines of $20.

[Werthead]

Adjusted for inflation, SC2 is actually cheaper than the first game when it came out.

Found the beta minimum requirements. Apparently the full game's specs will not change massively:

• Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
• 2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
• 1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
• 128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
• 1024x768 minimum display resolution
• 4 GB free hard space (Beta)
• Broadband connection

Pretty decent, actually. I could stand to increase my graphics card (it's above min spec, but not by much) but otherwise the damn thing will work, and possibly better than things like DoW 2.

[Jon AS]

$100 for the CE? Is the DVD case made of solid gold?

I am definitely going to wait for reviews of the single player part of the game before I shell out any money on this.

[Sariel]

You supposedly get some special unit animations that will also be viewable by those who do not own the special edition.

I imagine many players will see $40 as a cheap price to pay in order to double the size of their e-penis.

[Werthead]

The collector's edition contains the following:

• The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
• 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 game along with exclusive bonus tracks
• StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
• A World of Warcraft^® 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-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

A new copy of the original game and Brood War sounds okay, although if you're enough of a StarCraft nut to be shelling out $100 on this, you probably already have them. The music CD could be interesting. The DVD sounds useless (the vids will likely be on YouTube within a few months). The comic is meh. The rest is a bit thin for your $100, apart from the art book, although the Raising the Bar art book for Half-Life 2 was excellent and worth the extra money.

I'll be interested to see if we get the same in the UK, and if the price is so much higher (£10 more than the normal edition is about the maximum people are prepared to pay here for a special edition).

Amusingly, I still use my original StarCraft collector's edition keychain. The T-shirt lasted until last year until it had to be retired after one wash too many :)

[Third Knight on the Left]

The WoW pet will sell copies for sure.