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Two great flavors of geek culture collide in this custom map for Blizzard's RTS super-success. Starrcaft player/modder Kenneth Tran's built an homage to Episode V of George Lucas's space fantasy films, substituting planet Braxis for the icy world of Hoth where The Empire Strikes Back took place. On The Dominion Strikes Back, the Rebel faction must hold out for 45 minutes while the opposing Dominion faction must crush the Rebels. Tran's work doesn't map one-to-one to Empire Strikes Back, but does a nice job of imagining what a siege would feel like if you were fighting alongside Luke and the resistance. More »
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The first thirty seconds might be a little slow, but once the music starts you will happy you stuck around—even if I'm not sure what the music has to do with Christmas or Starcraft 2. More »
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Three huge events figure to make this weekend one of the biggest ever in competitive video gaming: the EVO World Championships, the GSL Finals and, underway right now, MLG Anaheim. Reminder: MLG Anaheim's championship round is underway now. You may see it here. More »
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Competitive gaming and eSports are not a new phenomenon. More »
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StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is a mutated beast of last year's real-time strategy game infused with traces of point and click adventure. For StarCraft II's first expansion, the second chapter in Blizzard's trilogy, the game is getting a dose of role-playing game elements. More »
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It's only 45 seconds long, but for this early look at StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, you may still want to sit down. More »
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David Zhou noticed the resemblance between the open titles of HBO's Game of Thrones and the maps of an RTS. And what do you know? A StarCraft 2 movie (created by Zhou) set to the GoT intro music looks pretty great. More »
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StarCraft II could have been a prettier game, with massive Zerg Ultralisks and screen-filling Protoss Motherships. It could have been stuffed with new units like the Cybercat and Hercules transport ship. Blame designer Dustin Browder and eSports for making StarCraft II what it is: clear, simple, uncertain and a game that demands skillful players. More »
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This isn't the first time this pre-schooler's been exposed to StarCraft. The 4-year-old commentated on a StarCraft 2 match with "shooties" a few month back. But, now, she's playing. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5749600&view=rss&microfeed=true Blizzard has released a big update (version 1.20) for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, adding new chat channels, customizable hotkeys, a Master League tier and an "extreme" graphics option. More on balance changes and bug fixes at Battle.net. More »
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Minecraft creator Notch gives us a peek inside the offices of Mojang Specifications, where Jens Bergensten (left), Daniel Kaplan (middle), and visitor Martin Jonasson are hard at work watching the Starcraft 2 semifinal, as seen on The Word of Notch. More »
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In September, thousands of cheaters were busted messing around with Starcraft II. This week, with many players obviously not having learnt from the last wave of action, developers Blizzard had to swing the hammer again. More »
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If you were in a rush when you picked your StarCraft II callsign and, in hindsight, think it sucks, help's on the way. PC Gamer is reporting that Blizzard will allow one free rename. Others will cost. More »
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StarCraft II players will get four officially sanctioned mods for the real-time strategy title created by Blizzard, new map types that turn the sci-fi war game into a Bejeweled-like puzzler, a co-op survival game and a DotA-style multiplayer scenario. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5670969&view=rss&microfeed=true BlizzCon 2010 kicks off at 11 a.m. pacific, noon Kotaku time, 2 p.m. eastern. Make sure to check in for our liveblog of the day's big news. We hear it's going to be a show that makes Diablo players very happy. My breath is officially held. More »
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If, like me, you're playing StarCraft II on a Mac, you've little choice in the hardware on which you'll play it. But if you're in the market for a new PC, you may want to make it a StarCraft-playing beast. More »
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StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty may have just come out but it's never too soon to think about what's next. There isn't a lot of information on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, but we do know some things. More »
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Are you fired up for StarCraft II? Do you like novels good for beach reading? Do you have ready access to a supply of sand? You still have time to enter our sandcastle contest, which ends tonight! More »
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Don't forget about our sand castle contest, due by this Sunday, for your chance to win one of ten copies of the new StarCraft 2 novel, Heaven's Devils. More »
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What do summer and StarCraft 2 have in common? Sand castles of course! No, not sand castles of course! But we're doing a fun sand castle contest anyway! More »
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It's taken more than a decade and over $100 million USD to get here, but StarCraft II will be hitting store shelves on July 27. And while that hefty development price tag may seem like a lot, well, it's not. More »
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Don't wait until launch date to download your digital copy of StarCraft II. Grab all seven highly anticipated gigabytes worth of Blizzard's sequel right now so you're ready to play on July 27. You don't even have to pay! More »
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StarCraft II players currently on the free multiplayer gravy train are in for a bit of good news/bad news. First the bad: StarCraft II's multiplayer beta is nearing its end and will shut down May 31. The good news? More »
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Blizzard is creating a wildly different experience for those who choose to play StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty's single-player campaign, adding units, vehicles and upgrades that you just won't see in multiplayer, from the familiar Firebat to the bizarre Predator. More »
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For a video companion to our new hands-on preview of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty's single-player campaign, this seven minute long video of hot SCV on mineral action and giant laser drill management is just what the doctor ordered. More »
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While the rest of you are enjoying multiplayer scraps in Blizzard's StarCraft II beta, we recently had an opportunity to go hands-on (again) with the single-player side of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. What has changed since last year? Plenty. More »
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How do you make Tetris better? Or, for that matter, PC strategy series Starcraft? You could always try playing a combination of the two, using Terran buildings in the Starcraft 2 beta. More »
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Big changes are coming to Blizzard's multiplayer service Battle.net, as the StarCraft II beta test and release date edge ever closer. While you wait for Activision Blizzard to bring good news, get caught up to speed on Battle.net's massive overhaul. More »
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Duke Nukem Forever is dead and gone (I think.) Its possible successor on the great video game milk cart of missing games, Alan Wake, is on the verge of release. So what, then, is the New Duke Nukem Forever? More »
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Fans of StarCraft's Protoss may not have to wait until 2011—or later—to get their hands on the teleporting, psionic blade-wielding alien race. The Protoss will apparently get their own mini-campaign in the first part of StarCraft II's trilogy. More »
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The official StarCraft II web site got a massive injection of new info, artwork, screen shots and story details as of this week, giving sci-fi real-time strategy fans something to soften the pangs. More »
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Blizzard has spawned a new Zerg strain for StarCraft II, the race's biggest and most brutal, the legendary Brutalisk. So what is this giant monstrosity? And what does it do? More »
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Blizzard executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo hosted a Battle.Net and StarCraft II panel, explaining how the integration of game and game service has evolved over the years. More »
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At BlizzCon 2009, Blizzard's executive vice president of game design Rob Pardo revealed plans to allow modders to sell premium StarCraft 2 maps via the Battle.Net service. More »
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It's time for Blizzard fans' annual pilgrimage to Anaheim, California for BlizzCon 2009, and Kotaku will be there! More »
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We've played one-third of one-third of StarCraft II's single-player campaign recently. Blizzard gave us a full day with the most recent playable build of the game, a seven-mission long journey through the Terran's Wings of Liberty portion of the trilogy. More »
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Blizzard offered a day-long hands-on demo of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first chapter in the StarCraft II trilogy. We played about a third of the game and we'd like to tell you about it—minus the spoilers. More »
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The Prince of Darkness, and World of Warcraft spokesman, Ozzy Osbourne will be headlining the closing concert at this year's BlizzCon, Activision announced today. More »
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It's official. You won't be playing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty this year, as Blizzard has moved the release date of the real-time strategy game to the "first half of 2010." No, they never dated it; but they have now. More »
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