SC2 Release Expectations

[Hamshank]

I'm gonna have to say sometime between May and July 2010.

Btw, I love how no one chose 3 months, lol

No, that's what I was thinking, including august

[Norfindel]

I hope it's less than a year. Maybe 9 months, but i wouldn't hold my breath about that. I have the feeling that this is going to be a loooong beta.

[rcp181]

IIRC, Warcraft III gave a one month heads-up for their beta. It was their last RTS that saw production, too.

Can you link to anything about that? I know they obviously got some heads up, because the beta was distributed by mailing discs, wasn't it? Didn't think it was a month though.

With WoW beta news I'm used to being told via gaming sites that "emails are starting to roll out" to select users.

I imagine SC2 would mimic WoW with a simple email -> download client.

[Kimera757]

Link: http://web.archive.org/web/200202060.../betafaq.shtml

Can I still sign up for the beta?
No, sorry, the beta registration closed on Friday, January 11, 2002.

When will the beta test participants be announced?
If you are selected, you will receive an email within the next several weeks. If you are not selected you will not receive an email. We are unable to comment on the status of any application so please refrain from contacting us regarding your application or email status.

When will the beta discs be mailed?
We will make an announcement once the beta discs have been sent. Please watch www.blizzard.com for that announcement.

Link: http://web.archive.org/web/200204021...com/war3/beta/

2-7-2002
Warcraft® III: Reign of Chaos™ Beta Testers Selected
We're pleased to announce that the participants for the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Beta test have now been selected. Over 100,000 people entered and approximately 5,000 people were randomly selected to take part. The Beta discs have been sent via Federal Express and will arrive in the next few days. Please do not contact Blizzard Entertainment regarding the status of your application; selected testers will receive an email from us confirming their participation in the next few days. We would like to thank everyone who applied and please continue to visit www.blizzard.com/war3 for more information on the game. We look forward to seeing you on Battle.net®.

Also, this link has a partial changelog.

[Caliban113]

Does anyone still have one of those disks? Are they playable? How about SC?

[Kimera757]

The beta disks were multiplayer only, and you can't play them on battle.net for various reasons (wrong version, etc).

Apparently someone set up a StarCraft I beta server, for anyone who either has the disk or downloaded some version of them.

[Crazy_Jonny]

The beta disks were multiplayer only, and you can't play them on battle.net for various reasons (wrong version, etc).

Apparently someone set up a StarCraft I beta server, for anyone who either has the disk or downloaded some version of them.

I tried an emulated version of the StarCraft 1 beta a while ago, around the time I started coming to SClegacy. It was, I think, a build in December '97.

There's not a whole lot to mention, but the biggest difference was probably the game speed (fastest use to be a lot faster). That and the costs were radically different, some things costed only minerals and only gas, and resources came in 10s instead of 8s.
The zerg probably had the most differences, I remember the defiler having different looking abilities, and the overlord being really fast. The templar also has psi assault. And the zealot did 4 attacks instead of 2.