Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment announced a partnership with USAopoly in which a StarCraft variant of RISK would be produced. This new take on a classic board game promises a unique board, distinct Protoss, Terran, and Zerg units, and two heroes for each race that will give the game more strategic depth.

Here is how USAopoly summarizes RISK: StarCraft:

RISK®: StarCraft®

     The forthcoming release of RISK®: StarCraft® should whet the appetites of StarCraft players who will once again find the StarCraft universe in jeopardy. Players will choose from the Terran, Protoss or Zerg factions and six unique heroes to ultimately bring order to the galaxy. The struggles portrayed in this real time strategy game series adapt perfectly to classic tabletop RISK gameplay, and the winner will be determined by astute deployment of military might and strategic field tactics.

     RISK: StarCraft includes 3 play modes and sports over 290 custom playing pieces. More details about the game will be revealed as it moves toward release; it launches this summer and will be available in specialty stores throughout North America with a suggested retail price of $49.45.

As an SC:Legacy and Game Trade Magazine exclusive, never-before-seen images of the RISK units as well as a teaser of the playing board can be seen below, each of which can be clicked on to magnify the image.

Note that the image of the board is only a teaser, and is not the full board.

One part of the board, named by the winner of a sweepstakes that took place in March, is Hell's Gates. This section of the board was shown off previously, back when the winner of the sweepstakes was announced, and is not a part of the exclusive.

As for the pieces, most of them are in-game units from StarCraft and StarCraft II. The hero units for each race are Jim Raynor and Valerian Mengsk for the Terran, Kerrigan and Za'gara for the Zerg, and Zeratul and Artanis for the Protoss.

These heroes will have unique mechanics to distinguish them from regular units, similar to other licensed RISK games. Where the player positions his or her hero can drastically turn the tide of battle, as well as the control of mineral fields, which will have game-changing effects.

Each race has two separate colors, two different heroes, two basic units, and one base. The basic units are Marines, Siege Tanks, Zerglings, Hydralisks, Zealots, and Stalkers, whereas the bases are Command Centers, Hatcheries, and Nexuses. In standard RISK, there are infantry, cavalry, and artillery units, each representing one, five, and ten men respectively. It is not yet known what each of the StarCraft RISK units will represent, since rules could be drastically different from standard RISK.

The game is meant to be played with three to six players; since the armies available are blue Terran, red Terran, purple Zerg, brown Zerg, orange Protoss, and yellow Protoss, a maximum of two players can be the same race, but nevertheless six players is possible. As the rulebook is still in development and the release date is still pending, all details are subject to change. The suggested retail price, however, is known to be $49.45 USD.

Sources:
Battle.net - World of Warcraft Monopoly and StarCraft Risk
Battle.net - RISK: StarCraft Sweepstakes Winner

A small update is coming to StarCraft II today, May 10, 2012, which contains three balance changes:

Protoss

Observer build time decreased from 40 to 30 seconds

Zerg

Overlord movement speed increased from 0.4687 to 0.586
Queen anti-ground weapon attack range increased from 3 to 5

These changes have been tested for the past week, an will soon be applied to all games and not just one map. There won't be an actual "patch" for these changes; there will only be a short maintenance in each region prior to the mini-update, and you won't have to patch to update your game.

Source:
Battle.net - Balance Update

It's time for another Developer Update!

Chris Sigaty has written and posted the latest Developer Update, talking to some of the new features that will be coming to StarCraft II with the release of Heart of the Swarm.

In the midst of all this great community news, we want to announce some of the exciting things we’re working on this year for StarCraft II. Here's a list of some of the features we are planning to release at or around the launch of Heart of the Swarm:

• Multiplayer resume from replay
• Global Play
• Multilanguage support
• Clan/group system
• Unranked matchmaking
• Multiplayer replay viewing

All of these features are ones that players have been waiting for since the launch of Wings of Liberty, particularly global play, which will allow friends from across the world to face each other.

Some of you may have read details about Diablo III Global Play, which will allow Diablo III players to create characters in different regions from their home region so they can play with friends in other parts of the world. We know this is something StarCraft II players have been asking for, and we’re working hard to make it available along with multilanguage support, at or around the release of Heart of the Swarm. We’ll have information as we get closer to Heart of the Swarm’s release.

To read the whole Developer Update, click here.

Source:
Battle.net - Developer Update with Production Director Chris Sigaty

Following a recent press conference between Blizzard, KeSPA, Ongamenet, and GomTV, the aforementioned organizations agreed to a new partnership, one in which KeSPA, Ongamenet, and GomTV will all be able to broadcast StarCraft II matches to audiences everywhere.

What does the agreement mean? Specifically, KeSPA now has a license to host and organize StarCraft II Pro League events, while Ongamenet can now host, organize, and broadcast StarCraft II Star League events. KeSPA has also added StarCraft II to its lineup of officially sanctioned games! GomTV will continue to broadcast its Global StarCraft League and Global StarCraft Team League as before.

TeamLiquid is also covering the whole event, all the news being summed up on this page. Here is their bullet points about what this partnership means to each of the three Korean eSports organizations.

KeSPA

• Starcraft II has been officially recognized as a KeSPA game.
• SK Planet Proleague Season II (starting in May) will have both Starcraft II and Brood War. It's undetermined as to how they will be integrated, but KeSPA specifically mentioned they would look for a more interesting way than alternating sets of each game.
• The Proleague season after SK Planet Season II (starting on October) is planned to be completely Starcraft II.
• At this time, there are no details regarding the future participation of GSTL/GomTV teams.
• Spreading Korean eSports around the world is a goal, and KeSPA has been negotiating with various international organizations.

 

OnGameNet

• OnGameNet plans to hold an individual level Starcraft II league in July. They would like to make it as open as possible so that anyone can compete, whether they are KeSPA, GomTV, and even amateur players.
• OnGameNet plans to broadcast to foreign audiences, and they have experience doing this with their LOL league.

 

GomTV

• GomTV would welcome the Brood War professionals to compete against GSL players in a tournament or show match setting, and would facilitate it whenever the Brood War players were ready and desired it.

This is great news for StarCraft II and fans of eSports, as we could soon see more Brood War legends move on to StarCraft II, facing off against the GSL legends that have arisen. With more broadcasters coming on board to hold tournaments, the eSports scene will surely explode.

Sources:
Battle.net - A Historic Moment in eSports
TeamLiquid - StarCraft II eSports Transition Conference

Update: Some changes have been made to the map following player feedback:

After initial testing and feedback, we have removed the Queen starting energy increase and we have decided to modify:

Queen anti-ground weapon attack range increased from 3 to 5.

After logging on to StarCraft II, you may notice a Blizzard-created multiplayer map named "Antiga Shipyard (1.4.3 Balance v2.0)". This map was uploaded to allow all StarCraft II players to test some small upcoming balance changes. The three balance changes that are in this map are:

• Overlord movement speed increased to 0.586, up from 0.4687. Upgraded overlord movement speed unchanged.
• Queen starting energy increased to 50, up from 25.
• Observer build time decreased to 30, down from 40.

Blizzard also goes into detail about these changes, such as why these changes aren't coming in a full patch, and why the current situation calls for public testing.

We’ve just published a new multiplayer map called "Antiga Shipyard (1.4.3 Balance v2.0)", in which we’re testing a few small balance changes to StarCraft II. Our hope is to bring the changes to the game in a week or so, without a full patch. Here’s the situation:

• Globally, all matchups below pro-level are pretty balanced.
  • We aren’t currently seeing any problems with non-pro-level matchups, but as always, we’re watching them very carefully on a weekly basis.
  • We want changes we're making to balance at this time to be small, strategic adjustments that will only affect pro-level play.
• Zerg at the pro-level are struggling a bit to scout effectively in the early game.
  • This is tricky to balance, because we do not want to hinder sneaky strategies or tactical early play vs. zerg.
  • Our goal here is to improve zerg scouting, but not to the point where other races feel like they can’t or shouldn’t make any strategic early moves vs. zerg.
• Zerg at the pro-level are slightly too susceptible to all-in rushes.
  • We want to make creep spread a little bit easier to counter hellions in ZvT.
  • We want to make the general zerg defense slightly stronger in the early game.
• Protoss at the pro-level are doing well, but not at the very top of the pro-level.
  • At this time, we’re keeping a very close eye on this, and preparing to make any necessary adjustments.
• We are closely watching TvP to see if the offensive capabilities of terran in the early/mid game becomes too much, or if late game strength of protoss becomes too much.
  • We aren’t making a change to affect this now, but it’s very near the top of our list of things we’re watching.

For anyone curious about these changes, hop on to a custom game of "Antiga Shipyard (1.4.3 Balance v2.0)".

Source:
Battle.net - Call to Action: Balance Testing