The new StarCraft II commercial is online! Check it out, even if you don't like real time strategy games. This one might be worth playing through just to see the cut scenes. Honestly, the scenes edited together in this commercial look like they rival some of the best videos in the industry, right up there with ones from Assassin's Creed and The Beatles: RockBand. Have a look. Spoiler: ZERG!

It's been a week since StarCraft 2 (SC2) shut the doors on the first phase of its closed beta and, since Blizzard has set the official launch date of SC2 a mere one and a half months from now, there have been more than a few concerns raised in relation to the alarming status of Blizzard's Battle.net 2.0. First it was the ongoing complaint over the lack of any LAN features for StarCraft 2 (although Blizzard has been fairly firm on this stance from the very beginning), but with every new Battle.net version, more and more players have been voicing their opinions on a wide variety of other community-related problems: the lack of in-game chat rooms, the omission of cross region play, and even simple things like the lack of in-game chat commands (although it's assumed that this will be fixed by the time Battle.net 2.0 is ready for launch).

Now, you may be thinking that only a small number of players have been finding problems with StarCraft 2's Battle.net 2.0, but the fact is, some of the biggest StarCraft 2 fan sites have been ablaze with Battle.net 2.0 criticism, including TeamLiquid, a fansite for competitive StarCraft 2 gamers, The StarCraft 2 Armory, and even one of the most popular SC2 commentators on Youtube, HuskyStarCraft, has weighed in on the problem of Battle.net 2.0. As well, polls currently being taken on these sites have a whopping 94% (9317 votes) of players voting "No" when asked if they liked the direction that Battle.net 2.0 was taking.

But what's a company to do? With the official launch of StarCraft 2 set to hit stores by the end of July, there's really no time left for complaints, so we've decided to address two of the biggest community-related problems that are currently facing Blizzard and their poor Battle.net 2.0.

It's been a week since Starcraft 2 (SC2) shut the doors on the first phase of its closed beta and, since Blizzard has set the official launch date of SC2 a mere one and a half months from now, there have been more than a few concerns raised in relation to the alarming status of Blizzard's Battle.net 2.0. First it was the ongoing complaint over the lack of any LAN features for Starcraft 2 (although Blizzard has been fairly firm on this stance from the very beginning), but with every new Battle.net version, more and more players have been voicing their opinions on a wide variety of other community-related problems: the lack of in-game chat rooms, the omission of cross region play, and even simple things like the lack of in-game chat commands (although it's assumed that this will be fixed by the time Battle.net 2.0 is ready for launch).

Now, you may be thinking that only a small number of players have been finding problems with Starcraft 2's Battle.net 2.0, but the fact is, some of the biggest Starcraft 2 fan sites have been ablaze with Battle.net 2.0 criticism, including TeamLiquid, a fansite for competitive Starcraft 2 gamers, The Starcraft 2 Armory, and even one of the most popular SC2 commentators on Youtube, HuskyStarcraft, has weighed in on the problem of Battle.net 2.0. As well, polls currently being taken on these sites have a whopping 94% (9317 votes) of players voting "No" when asked if they liked the direction that Battle.net 2.0 was taking.

But what's a company to do? With the official launch of Starcraft 2 set to hit stores by the end of July, there's really no time left for complaints, so we've decided to address two of the biggest community-related problems that are currently facing Blizzard and their poor Battle.net 2.0.

Do you love StarCraft II? So do we! Then do you love NBA basketball? No? Oh, ok, well that's kind of what we expected. Even though Blizzard may misunderstand their target demographic when it comes to ad placement, that's no reason skip watching a little B-ball to see the brand spanking new StarCraft II ad tonight. I mean you've watched the Super Bowl to see the commercials before, right?

StarCraft II will debut their brand new ad some time during the 2nd quarter of game four between the Celtics and the Lakers, complete with voice acting from two iconic characters from the StarCraft universe. The thirty second ad features cuts from cinematic sequences from the game, which promise to be pretty epic. Check it out tonight on ABC at 9pm eastern time and 6pm western time.

Here I am again, for the third day in a row to cover our third, and final, race-the Terran-in ZAM's Starcraft 2 race previews! These are really intended for players who have not yet gained beta access or who are struggling to find strategies to utilize in their various leagues. As well, the general strategies that I outline in these race previews are really a small drop in the deep, tactical bucket that is Starcraft 2, and these strategies are merely the ones that I have encountered the most while playing in Diamond League. So without further ado, let's wrap this whole thing up and move on to the Terran!

Be sure to also check out our Protoss Race Preview here, and our Zerg Race Preview here!

Hello and welcome back to ZAM's Starcraft 2 race overviews, where I've decided to do some quick coverage of the three races in SC2, including some of the most commonly used strategies that I've gone up against while playing in Diamond League (which was formerly known as Platinum League, pre-patch 13). We've already covered the Protoss, which you can check out here, so let's get right into it with the Zerg!

Zerg

The Zerg are often considered to be the race requiring the highest amount of macro management skill, as well as being the most flexible of the three races. One of the Zerg's most unique, and often frustrating, features is having that all important Hatchery and the spawn larvae that come with it. This stems mostly from the fact that spawn larvae come out rather slowly, and since these little worms are, literally, the source of all Zerg unit creation, good Zerg players must learn early on to manage their larvae, ensuring that they have the right amount of larvae to produce the right units at a moment's notice.

It's been about a month and a half since I received my Starcraft II beta invitation and, while I don't have nearly enough time to devote to "mastering" this game, my education in the RTS genre has been significantly improved over this short period of time. Maybe it's been the steady diet of competitive Starcraft II matches that I've been watching while sitting in traffic, or perhaps it's simply my competitive nature getting a hold of me once more, but either way, it's quite satisfying to know that, with light playing over the past month and a half, I've made the glorious transition from Copper League dweller hoping not to get dropped to some unknown "Wood League," (reserved for only the most inept of RTS players) to the highest ranks of Diamond 1v1 and 2v2, where I can hold my own against some of the scariest SC2 players this beta has to offer.

With that being said, however, Blizzard has also announced that their first phase of beta testing will be concluding at the end of this month, only to resurface a few weeks after that-hopefully stronger and more balanced than ever. Thus, as this will most likely be our last week of truly experimental beta testing, many players are taking this opportunity to try out new strategies, new build orders and, most importantly, new races. Getting used to each race, however, can be quite confusing, especially if you've ingrained those race-specific hotkeys into your brain.

The wait is over! Break out your flannel and Backstreet Boys CD, it's time to party like its 1998! Blizzard has announced that the long awaited sequel to the original StarCraft will be available in stores all over the world on July 27th. Players will also be able to download StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard entertainment shortly after the launch date.

From the press release:

"Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II will be available through a new version of Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment's world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more."

"The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies."