Starcraft 2 Game On!

Free StarCraft 2 Beta Key

xfob — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:32:39 +0000

Everyone can get a free StarCraft 2 Beta key for free when you pre-order the game at Gamestop. http://www.gamestop.ca/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?Product_ID=253908 Enjoy!

Update: Game Stop is out of beta keys, and it’s more expensive. They are giving out free beta keys at Amazon and it’s free shipping.

USA

Canada

StarCraft 2 Beta Key Girl Gone Crazy

xfob — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:37:50 +0000

Well this isn’t really StarCraft material, but it’s a funny video of a girl going crazy about a StarCraft 2 Beta key.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGcir8GzvKE

Free StarCraft 2 Beta Key

Dark Templars Dominate Zerg Forces

xfob — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:31:41 +0000

Dark Templars are just incredible against Zerg. This is because the Overlord is no longer a detector. In order for Zerg to detect invisible units you need the Overseer. Even on late game the Zerg player lacks Overseers and lets all the Protoss Dark Templars run wild. Check it out, it’s an awesome game.

Part 1:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q02GKfPfMMs

Part 2:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LhSOsHdaf8

Part 3:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm1zWWsSATI

StarCraft 2 Collector’s Edition Revealed

xfob — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:49:34 +0000

Today Blizzard revealed the StarCraft 2 Limited Edition for $99.00! It’s pretty awesome, you get a whole bunch of goodies listed below:

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

Every time Blizzard releases anything limited edition it usually gets sold out very quickly and most of it shows up on eBay with extremely inflated prices. Starcraft 2 is no exception. This box goes for $99 but you’ll probably see it on eBay for $200+. Scalper’s dream come true whenever Blizzard releases anything.

Blizzard Official Information

StarCraft 2 Beta Patch 8

xfob — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:54:18 +0000

StarCraft II Beta – Patch 8 (version 0.10.0.14803)

General

Korea
Added support to display the game rating information on the login screen.

Oh sweet! Thor got changed for the better. I’ve been seeing less and less games with the usage of Thors lately. I think the concussive shells for the Marauders is a major downgrade for them. I never really feel they were over powered.

TERRAN
- Marauder
  - Concussive Shells now require an upgrade.
- Siege Tank
  - Build time decreased from 50 seconds to 45 seconds.
- Thor
  - Build time decreased from 75 seconds to 60 seconds.
- Barracks Tech Lab
  - Concussive Shells upgrade added.
  - Concussive Shells upgrade costs 100/100 and takes 80 seconds to complete.

Wow, Protoss got a major nerf in air power. Well then again I do agree that Void Rays were just way overpowered. I wonder if I’ll be seeing many Void Rays now.

PROTOSS
- Void Ray
  - Changed to only have 2 damage levels instead of 3. Still takes the same amount of time to fully charge.
  - Base damage changed from 2 (+4 armored) to 5.
  - Powered-up damage changed from 8 (+16 armored) to 10 (+15 armored).
  - Armor value decreased from 1 to 0.
  - Cost increased from 200/150 to 250/150.

Zerg Roaches have been nerfed over and over, it’s no fun using them anymore. They were pretty darn cheap but it was fun while it lasted. Now Zerg needs to hit Tier 2 before it can really do any damage, that will be changing the Zerg playing style from fast expansion to fast teching.

ZERG
- Hydralisk
  - Life decreased from 90 to 80.
- Roach
  - Burrowed move speed decreased from 2 to 1.4.
  - Armor value decreased from 2 to 1.

Early Marine Rush

xfob — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:14:47 +0000

This game was short but very good. It shows that a mass Marine rush is very effective for a very small map. Although the Zerg player may appear to be newb, this game is actually a high level game between 2 highly skilled teams. Take a look:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9MT_swyaDI

Starcraft 2 Beta Launcher 0.28

xfob — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:49:17 +0000

Here is the latest launcher with some bug fixes.

Starcraft 2 Beta Launcher 0.28 – Download

To use this launcher you may need, NET Framework 3.5*

Ladder* : Find more informations on http://ladder.waremu.fr
NET Framework 3.5* : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

Changelog 0.28

Minimap preview fixed.
New way of getting AppData folder (Should fix a lot of bugs).
“The file xxx already exists” error fixed.

Hallucinations Are Awesome!

xfob — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:27:05 +0000

In this high level game, the Protoss player used hallucinations very effectively. This game is Protoss versus Zerg. The Protoss player used force fields flawlessly. This was on an older version of the beta because the warp gate research is still 60 seconds. Enjoy the match!

Part 1:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwz9hh3Ch8c

Part 2:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUJ5rsGfKNU

Fantastic Strategic Tips

xfob — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:01:29 +0000

The good fellas over at SC2Blog.com has released some fantastic tips for each race. These are actually very useful in actual game play, however some of them are very hard to execute and you will need a very high APM (Actions Per Minute) to execute these tactics. Check them out.

Smart Blink: Have you found that Stalkers blinking always get left behind? Well fear no more, this will solve your problems!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQJHr7lQlOs

Void Ray Power Up: Void Rays can do an enormous amount of damage over time and their attacks get stronger and stronger the more it hits the same unit/building. What if you can use the max amount of damage right off the bat when you initial the battle with your opponent?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6iAXlkYxB4

Xel’Naga Tower Control: In StarCraft 2, the middle towers that grant a large view radius is very crucial to your victory. Using the Terran Reaper or Protoss Stalker, you can safely take these towers without your opponent knowing. This trick has been used by quite a few in actual games that I’ve seen and it’s undoubtedly an awesome trick.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6iAXlkYxB4

Cliff Creeping: Ever want to put a Spine Crawler on a creep where only units like the Reaper or Stalker have access to? Well now you can with this Zerg creep expansion trick. Zerg units travel faster and possibly regenerate faster if they are on creep. If you creep up a large portion of the map, you have a huge advantage over your opponents and this trick definitely does the job.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcK4b6xH7A

Terran and Protoss – Vortex Nuke Combo

xfob — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:20:16 +0000

I just have to show you guys this video. In the video it was perfectly executed. The Vortex Nuke combo is insane! I’ve got to try this with a friend. I think this maneuver works even in high level 2v2 games. Check it out for yourself.