We just put up 4 original Xfire Videos on the BlizzCon page (www.xfire.com/blizzcon).

We also put up 4 of our favorite Machinima entries from the BlizzCon Machinima contest.

--mbg

The BlizzCon Blog is not finished! We still have more coming your way.

Exclusive videos and SCII secrets to be revealed.

Coming later this week!

--mbg

MYM]The1Crow: Supercop007: Were you disappointed or happy that Blizzard didn't unveil a 4th race for SC2 I am happy they did not, cause i dont wanted a new game. If u ask me, we got the old sc, but with new units and a new tech tree and ofc new graphic engine. And that is what I think is fine, cause a game that has the word StarCraft in it, should feel like the original SC
MYM]Beraa: Were you disappointed or happy that Blizzard didn't unveil a 4th race for SC2?
For me, I think it might have been cool to have another race but also three races is the best amount, four might be too much and cause for a game that might not be able to suceed professionally. It was just a rumour that there would be a fourth race, but anything is possible with Blizzard.
MYM]Beraa: ÂñÅ®¢h¥: Question: The units in Starcraft 1 were, by custom map makers easily transfered into real life roles, such as in Diplomacy or World War Two maps, did the development team have custom maps like these in mind at all when creating Starcraft 2, because the units which are able to move over hostile terrains so easily sort of suggest otherwise?
I have no theard anything on this topic whatsoever but I think after Dota's success on Warcraft III: The Frozen throne... I am pretty sure that Blizzard is keeping this in mind.
MYM]The1Crow: Xfire] Artaxs: So, do you think SC2 is well-balanced so far? Do you expect a nerf for the Mothership or for the Zealots / Marines? Well hard to say. Actually there is a guy who is working for nothing else then on balancing. We met him, and he said he is trieng so hard to make SCII balanced as the original one was. At the moment it seems he did a good job, but mb Terran seems to have a little advantage right now. But nothing is final and they gonna improve this I hope and guess
MYM]The1Crow: <WP-r>ChaosPrime: Question: Will there be and Open and/or closed Beta for Starcraft 2
Well, to everyone who bought a BlizzCon ticket got also a so called BetaKey for a next Blizzard game. Actually this game...

MYM]The1Crow and MYM]Beraa joined us for a chat this afternoon about Starcraft 2. The transcript is below:


Beraa, The1Crow, and mbg

[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: Here we have Jonas - The1Crow from MYM
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: Please start new questions in the question room
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: welcome !!
MYM]The1Crow: ChaosSmurf: Question: Any more glimpses of the Zerg? Well, I expected actully expected that we can plaz some Zerg here since my fav race is Zerg in Sc1. But sadly were able to plaz only toss and terra.
MYM]Beraa: JLM: Q:Question: Will the Zerg mechanics work just like they did in SC or will they be changed?
We were not able to play Zerg, but we did see some screens on the big screen. The only glimpse we saw were zerglings, no other units. The mechanics seem to be close to the same but really, I have not seen enough so I cannot say much.
MYM]The1Crow: Brimb07: Q:i stopped playing SC a long time ago,is it worth restarting with the new game ?
ofc it is. If u played sc before it may be much more easy for u to find your way to sc2 too. but even if u didnt play it before, checkit out. Follow the news and the coverage on the community pages, learn about it, and mb u gonna start to love it, cause the previews we got, screenshots and so, are just great i think. further i guess sc2 will be so huge one day
MYM]Beraa: Azure: Question: How will the Starcraft 2 ladder system be setup? Will it be like the one in place for Warcraft 3 or something new?
They have not showed us anything about the ladder system, we were only able to play a single player mission and a two on two. But someone from Blizzard did say that they would surely advance the Battle.net system from Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. He used the example of comparing Brood War Battle.net features to Warcraft III: The Frozen throne features. So from that, I am already happy and you all should be too :]
MYM]The1Crow: Toneko: What can we expect in mission breifings in SC2? Will it be like it was in the first game or something more...

[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: OK everyone in Xfire land
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: we are happy to be here at BlizzCon with Jeff Kaplan
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: He is sitting down with me now
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: Hi everyone! Welcome to eBlizzcon!
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: so he will start answering questions right away!
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: Q: Will all heroes in warcraft 3 be added, and if so, what will you do with Liches or Dreadlords? and is all the current class imbalance in the game a setup for the Death Knight?
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: We want to see how the Death Knight works out before talking about new Hero Classes
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: The cool thing about hero classes is it opens a lot of doors to pay homage to our favorite War3 heroes
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: arrantprac: Engineers have been thirsting for information about the profession review for a while now. Are there any bits of info you can share with us regarding upcoming engineering improvements?
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: They'll be able to craft a new flying machine... that much i can tell you
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: tabby Mc. Killerson: QUESTION: Will Northrend have lots of enviroments, or be a giant Winterspring?
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: We are absolutely NOT going to make Northrend all snow and ice!
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: Howling Fjord (playable here at BlizzCon) is a beautiful, green forest zone with high cliffs
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: Borean Tundra has an "autumn" feel to it
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: Grizzly Hills looks like a beauitful Redwood forest
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: We definitely won't bury in snow
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: just a little snow
[Xfire] BlizzCon 2007: Valken: Question: Will there be a closed beta for Wrath of the lich king, if yes will there be more then one way to get in. Like there was
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: There will definitely be a closed beta for Wrath of the Lich King
[Blizzard] Jeff Kaplan: And like the Burning Crusade and our other betas there will be...

We had some good luck and ran into the world class Korean WC3 player MYM]Moon. We caught him playing Starcraft 2, torturing his non-pro opponents with 4 missile silos.

Moon playing Starcraft 2:


A picture of me with Moon (he's my favorite WC3 player :) )


--TwiceUzi

Hey Blizzard fans! Artaxs here with some inside info on the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King!

So, I managed to strike up an off-the-record conversation with two of the community managers from WoW, and I had a chace to play some of the opening quests from the new Expansion on the Horde side.

First off, they confirmed that Northrend, the site of Arthas' castle, IceCrown, will not be an entirely iced-over continent. The opening zone I played was coastal, and the neighboring zone to the north is Sequoia / Redwood forest. They said that they were hoing to avoid what they called "The Kalimdor Mistake" ie. repetitive boring desert everywhere.

Secondly, yes, the level cap will be raised to 80. The new profession is "inscribing" and *yes* we will be able to use flying mounts in Northrend, but not until "level 75 or 78" as they want to "keep us grounded and guide us on foot" as we start exploring the new continent.

There weren't any new talents to show off in the demo, but I picked up some interesting drops including "Frostweave Cloth" -- at least we know that the tailors will be kept busy!

No one wanted to talk about release dates, but it's Blizzard; they will release it "when it's ready". =)

I got a chance to play the Terrans in SC2, but I don't think I'm ready to take on TwiceUzi yet.... maybe after a few more rounds and some time with the Protoss I can challenge our resident RTS expert to a match. ;)

-Artaxs

We will have Nilknarf on for a live chat at 12:00 and hopefully also some people from MYM to talk about their hands on experience with StarCraft II.

Also TwiceUzi pulled out all the stops and has secured Jeff Kaplan - Lead Designer of World Warcraft this afternoon at 3:30 for a live chat.

Sign in and hang around!

Supposedly we will have Blizzard on for an interview or a live chat later today. We will push hard for a live chat, so keep yourselves logged in.

I apologize in advance if it doesn't happen, sometimes Blizzard isn't always exactly where we want them to be.

But, we forgive them because the games they make are incredible. And this BlizzCon has shown us nothing but fantastic games so far.

BTW, TwiceUzi and I played SC II against two Koreans yesterday and completely pwned them. I think it was a husband and wife team and I think that the wife had never played before. BUT I'LL TAKE IT! 1-0 lifetime in SC II Multiplayer!!

--mbg

In a word: "smooth." Blizzard has clearly placed a lot of focus on making the unit control as natural and manageable as possible. The play style sits in a nice area between the original Starcraft and Warcraft III: it has the fast paced classic RTS style of Starcraft with the advanced control features of WC3. The game lives up to its hype.

Warcraft III control features present in Starcraft 2 include: autocasting, subgroup control, contextual rally pointing, building queuing, and Alt revealed unit health. A new feature that gives the game more of the Starcraft feel is the increased control group size--24 units can be added in a single group.

The game is also amazingly beautiful. If you are not a fan of the Blizzard art style, you may disagree, but for those of us who enjoy the bright, high contrast, colorful aesthetic present in their games, Starcraft 2 hits the mark. Units and buildings are easily distinguishable, preventing unit confusion even in novice players.

Two of the races are playable: Terran and Protoss (too bad for all the Zerg fans--myself included). The feel of both races remains rather true to the original game, with classic and completely new units working well together.

Check back tomorrow for an in depth look at the various units and structures available to Terran and Protoss.


View more screenshots on the official Starcraft 2 site

--TwiceUzi