3 New Protoss Units Revealed!

• Soul Hunter
• Tempest
• Twilight Archon

The Soul hunter is a brand new, lightly armored unit with a medium range lightning attack that appears to do quite a lot of damage to structures. They are seen in the video destroying the Terran Command Center before the player has the opportunity to react. The Tempest looks like just the next version of the Carrier and the Twilight Archon didn't seem any different from the original Archons from the previous Starcraft games. Of course, this is still very early and I'm sure we will see lots of game balancing going on soon.

Also of interest, reavers can be seen in the video and if you pay very close attention you will notice that the phase cannons can, once placed, be moved to anywhere within the power grid. That opens up some very interesting gameplay possibilities, where you could block up the entrance to your base and then move the buildings around to let your units through, and then move the phase cannons back afterwards to block the path again.

How Was Starcraft 2 Kept A Secret?

OK, so all of us deep down inside knew that Blizzard would make Starcraft 2 eventually. As such a huge cash cow, how could they not? Blizzard themselves announced a long while ago that they would want to return to the Starcraft universe eventually, but we all assumed they were talking about Starcraft Ghost that ended up in development hell and then was subsequently cancelled. Perhaps the work they put in was saved in some way for a future title... World of Starcraft perhaps?

The truth of the matter is that every employee at Blizzard must sign non-disclosure agreements. Regardless of what Penny Arcade has to say on this topic, Blizzard employees are not kept in check with such extreme measures, but they do face legal action, termination, etc if they were to "go AWOL".

Rob Pardo explains in this MSNBC Interview:

We keep games under code names and we teach developers to refer to games by their code name. And we’re just really careful about talking about the game internally. We don’t bring external folks through unannounced product areas. But I think even I’m surprised that we were able to keep it under wraps all the way to the end.

Features Starcraft 2 Must Have

If you have the time, you may wish to listen in to this weeks podcast from WoW Radio, where Octale and Hordak discuss Starcraft 2 in detail and specifically what they believe it would take for Starcraft 2 to effectively ursup Starcraft's place as the #1 RTS of all time.

Thank you for visiting Starcraft 2 Alliance - an all around great place to read breaking news, discussion and more about Starcraft 2. Some exciting new features will be added to the site throughout the week, so please be sure to visit us again soon.

Starcraft 2 Release Date - 2008 Or Later

It's official - Starcraft 2 will not be released in 2007. According to this Gamespot interview. And while myself (and many other fans) hopes for a Christmas 2007 release date appear to be lost, this is actually a good thing. It has always been Blizzard's policy to release games "when they're done" and if the extra development time means that they are able to make a better game, I'm all for it.

It has always been Blizzard's philosophy for game development to release games "when they're ready" or not at all. We've already seen some significant improvements over the original Starcraft and Brood War demonstrated, but there has also been a great emphasis by Blizzard that all the core things you loved about the original game will be present in Starcraft 2, such as commanding large armies and a very tightly balanced game for a very enjoyable (and highly competative) multiplayer experience.

This Is Not Warcraft 3 In Space

IGN has posted this wish list of things that they would like to see in Starcraft 2.

How can you improve upon the best selling RTS of all time? Well first of all, this isn't the first time that Blizzard is making a sequel to one of their games. In the same way that Diablo 2 was a huge improvement on Diablo, gamers are expecting Starcraft 2 to be a massive improvement upon Starcraft.

Personally, I would like to see the addition of some new core mechanics. The ability to upgrade troops to be able to scale cliffs is one of those things. Auras that benefit nearby friendly units is another. I don't want to see heroes in SC2 multiplayer, (yes please for singleplayer though) but some form of unit experience would be a welcome addition. For example, if your medic gets experience by being close to enemy troops when they die, she would get experience and with enough experience she would level up to be a combat medic, with the ability to heal multiple units at once and more health, armor, and energy.

Hell, it's about time

Welcome to Starcraft 2 Alliance. We are as you can see a Starcraft 2 fan site and this is a continual work in progress. Please stay tuned for Starcraft 2 coverage and news. The categories on the left will go online one by one over the next few days.

I for one can't wait to see the new map editor, and from what I've seen so far Starcraft 2 is going to, once again, raise the bar for RTS gaming. Check out this video while you wait for me to update the site.