StarCraft: Legacy is proud to present the third place editorial winner of our SC:L relaunch contests: Examining the Macro Mechanics. ArcherofAiur, the winner of StarCraft: Legacy's Macro TheoryCrafting Contest, and all-around expert on all things macro, gives us a rundown on all of the macro mechanics in StarCraft II:

The purpose of this article is to inform rather than dictate. To this end I have tried to express the concerns raised by the community. The issues have been structured in the manner I feel makes the most sense. I leave it to the reader to decide for themselves what issues are truly problems and what should be done about them.

Read the rest here.

Source:
Examining the Macro Mechanics

- View Comments

Blizzard has given the fans a massive update to StarCraft2.com. There is alot of new media here - far more than was originally expected.

Artwork
Screenshots
Hero - Tychus Findlay
Hero - Zeratul
Hero - Jim Raynor (Redone)
Legacy of War - Multiplayer Preview
Changeling Story
Wings of Liberty Single Player Story Telling

The site has received a new splash screen. Blizzard has also added the Zerg Trailer and the Single Player Gameplay demo to their YouTube Channel. Be sure to discuss the new media in our forums.

So what are you waiting for?! A smorgasbord of StarCraft media awaits!

Source:
StarCraft2.com

- View Comments

Cydra, Blizzard's assistant RTS community manager, has posted Q&A Batch 55:

---StarCraft II Q&A Batch 55---

1. Not all potential players of StarCraft II have played the original StarCraft before, thus they might encounter problems with the understanding of the story. Is it possible to play the campaign of StarCraft II without knowing anything? Will you come up with some things that happened in the original StarCraft and Brood War again – just so that people not familiar to the story get more information?
We plan on having story elements that will bring players up to speed on the most recent plot developments and prepare them for the StarCraft II storyline. We also plan on having a plot summary of what transpired in the original StarCraft and Brood War during the installation process. However we feel that regardless of your familiarity with the original story, all players will be able to enjoy the story developments in StarCraft II.

2. You have already announced that you are going to record various stats when playing StarCraft II with the new Battle.net 2.0 – but how detailed will those statistics be? Will one be able to see how many units of a certain kind (for example Marines) one have build or even killed so far?
We will be recording a large amount of stats for StarCraft II, but we are still in discussion as to which stats will ultimately be tracked. We will determine how detailed the stat-tracking will be based on what information we think will benefit our players the most to help improve their game.

3. You have already stated that you will support DirectX 10, but what about DirectX 11?
We currently do not have any plans on supporting DirectX11-specific features, but the game will be compatible with DirectX11.

4. How many stats will a Hero unit be able to take? Three like in Warcraft 3 or is there even a limit?
If you create a user-amp with heroes, you can outfit them with a large number of stats. However, currently only three stats will be able to be displayed on the UI due to limited space.

5. In lore Protoss warp in their units and buildings from some far planet. Will there be any mechanic that reflects this such as a "warp out" that could act as a refund?
We do not have any plans to include a “warp out” game mechanic. We have discussed the possibility of this in the past, but it felt too similar to the Terran mechanics of being able to salvage the structures.

6. Will there be a converter to convert our favorite original StarCraft maps to StarCraft II maps? I don’t want to lose all of my favorite maps from the original StarCraft when I get StarCraft II.
There will not be a map converter for StarCraft II. Map-makers will have to manually rebuild any of their maps using the new StarCraft II map editor.

7. I'm just going to assume that you will have some sort of window mode in StarCraft II. But I was wondering if you're going to implement a windowed mode like the one that World of Warcraft has? You know where you can maximize the window, removing the borders and enabling fullscreen mode yet providing easy access to the desktop.
You will be able to select both windowed and full-screen windowed modes from the options menu.

---End of Transmission---

Source:
Battle.net - StarCraft II Q&A Batch 55

- View Comments

Legacy Weekly #20 has just warped in, bringing you all the StarCraft news from the last week in an easy to read format delivered straight to you here on the front page. For this week's issue, click here.

Source:
Legacy Weekly, Issue 20

- View Comments

Update: Blizzard has confirmed that the future BlizzCon won't be in Vegas. Please disregard this news post.

A quick look at the Las Vegas Convention Center website reveals an interesting booking for this upcoming summer: BlizzCon 2010! The date is also interesting, being at the end of July, leading into August.  One could easily speculate, since Most BlizzCons historically have been tied to a large announcment or release, that this BlizzCon could coincide with the release of StarCraft II.  Which if we're not mistaken, up until now, has been more of a mythical creature than an actual video game being released onto shelves.

The World Series of Poker takes place in las Vegas in July as well, so basically the two greatest things in the world will be together at the same place at the same time: Blizzard and Texas Hold 'Em!  Several SC:L staff members will be there, including SaharaDrac and LordofAscension. So start planning your trips now!

Source:
Las Vegas Convention Center Website
Battle.net - Clarification - BlizzCon 2010 not at Vegas

- View Comments