I told you guys so :3

The cartoony 3d is very interesting. It looks good, but I think the game deserves a more realistic look.

November 20th, apparently.

Two thousand seven.

Ahahahahhahahahahahahhahhahahahahhahaha yeah fucking right.

Bricks have been shat. Many of them.

I'm quite excited now that Blizzard is finally delivering in some sense.

Hahahaha of fuck I'm glad I upgraded my machine. The game looks pretty solid thus far from the three gameplay trailers up on IGN, and I like the new Protoss voices. Jesus fuckin' Christ this makes my whole week. Thank you Blizzard.

In their FAQ section.

God damn! This is going to be sweet. This is why Blizard is one of the greatest developers of all time. They don't come out with a slew of games at once and take their time. Also they don't fuck with shit that ain't broke.

StarCraft 2 Features:
Fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the magic of the original game

Three completely distinct races: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg

New units and gameplay mechanics further distinguish each race

Groundbreaking single-player "story-mode" campaign

Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive unit and army sizes

Full multiplayer support, with new competitive features and matchmaking utilities available through Battle.net

Full map-making and scripting tools to give

See this is how you make a sequel ^^

Jazz: Seeing how the last console port of StarCraft was possibly one of the games that killed RTSs on consoles, I don't think StarCraft 2 will be rushing to any consoles. However if it did, the only system that would make sense would be the PS3 for it's Mouse & Keyboard support.

I don't know if you've played LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth II or Command and Conquer 3 for the 360, but their controls (with a standard controller) are great for an RTS.

Well LOTR all you had to do is rush the opponents with hordes of men hence why that game worket. C&C3 kind of works, the experiance is slowed down due to the inpercise controls. Sure it works, but not too well for thoes who use all the advanced techniques and quick keys.

Seeing how StarCraft is bigger then both thoes games, I could just see the outcry from fans everywhere if SC2 came to a console that didn't have at least K&M support. If it came to consoles at all that is. Lastly unlike EA, Blizzard isn't fluent in console archetecture, so the likeliness of it hitting consoles at all is even slimmer.

I don't think I've ever been happier being proved wrong! Hopefully the quality of the game will hold up to the original.

Maybe my dreams of a "true" Diablo III will finally come true...

Well Diablo 2 launched two years after StarCraft 1 so hopefully we'll see a Diablo 3, 2-3 years after StarCraft 2. Or at least we can always dream of hoping.

You don't know how relieved I was after I saw the gameplay footage and screenshots. In the back of my mind, I was afraid they were going to pull a C&C: Generals on us. Thankfully that does not seem to be the case.

I wouldn't expect any major graphic overhauls from what we see now. Mostly what they're going to work out during the alpha and beta stages are game balance more than anything, since that's the most important aspect of a strategy title.

They've been working on SC2 since WC3:TFT was released, so they've already had about 3 years to come up with the graphics we see now. And if you've learned anything about Blizzard over the years, it should be that their art department isn't keen on redesigning their graphics.

To be honest, they're pretty cool. I like them. ;)

I hope they don't shut downStarcraft after starcraft2 comes out

Once that happens say bye bye to pros.

Lol I hope it doesn't kill all of those animation-timing techniques that were on the first one =.=

So if Starcraft 2 turns out to be the kinda game Warcraft 3 was for the warcraft RTS franchise, at least you have a fallback.

Hot damn..the only game that will make me upgrade my PC.
And I hope it can surpass the original (in terms of gameplay), since none of the original members/developers are left.

I wouldn't say 'none' of its original developers are left. If I remember correctly the majority of people who left blizzard were the folks behind Diablo. Who are now working under Flagship Studios and working on Diablo3 Hellgate London.

Everything I hoped for and more. I can see their strategy now: simple, effective, devastating.

2008 - Startcraft 2 RTS

2010 - Starcraft 2 RTS expansion where things end badly for the heroes.

2012 - Universe of Starcraft MMORPG

I think I'll get this. Looks like it will be a fantastic game.

These aren't mutually exclusive. The programming team is separate from the art team, so while they're designing the rest of the game and tweaking unit balance, the art team can go right on messing with the graphics independently of everyone else.

Unless of course the art team is occupied with the task of finishing the art for all the units we didn't see in the initial teasers, which is entirely possible. Still, when the game is inevitibly delayed, that'll give the artists more time to tweak things.

I can't say with any reliable area of certainty, but in MOST 3D Applications, the skin & the general build of a character can be swapped out for something else, as long as its structurally near the same.

So for example, if I have a fighter pilot, a human, bipid, 2 legs, 2 arms, head, etc., I can swap the 3D Model of the pilot and replace with it the model & skin of say, a jedi from Star Wars. Since they have the same basic skeleton underneath, all that would likely be required is to adjust the areas of influence in the lightsaber and the Robes. This is what I got at least from 3Ds Max and the way Blizzard maps their characters is probably not as exact or as close to that as it might seem. Still, given that the protoss and terran units are generally bipeds and walk up right, it wouldn't be too hard to swap out the models for something different in the future, say a graphical change from somewhat-cartoony to a more gritty & dirty appearance.

The Zerg however are a different story and since I have no experience in non-human modelling I can't really comment on how they would change up the units for those.

There's literally nothing dissapointing about it so far.

Given that the last 3 games Blizzard has made (Warcraft 3 and its expansion and World of Warcraft) have all had this cartoon like appearance I'd have to say that the chances of Blizzard going back and all of a sudden changing the style to a more realistic appearance is small.