Let's Hunt Some Zergling...Starcraft II Confirmed!

In the weekend's biggest news story since Elvis was spotted at my local Pizza Hut (his face appeared in the bronzed, salted, grease-tinged shape of a breadstick, though we're all a little put out after a nonbeliever ate him) it looks like Galaxy of Starcraft will have to get back in line behind...Starcraft II! Yep, announced today at the 2007 Worldwide Invitational in South Korea.

Rather than muddy the PR love with needless, clueless commentary, I'll just pass along the press release and comment when the initial mania dissipates:

SEOUL, South Korea – May 19, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment? today unveiled StarCraft? II, the sequel to its award-winning real-time strategy game StarCraft, at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Seoul, South Korea. The announcement took place inside the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, in front of thousands of attendees, who received a presentation that included a StarCraft II cinematic trailer and a gameplay demonstration by the development team.

Designed to be the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, StarCraft II will feature the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard’s signature approach to game balance. Each race will be further distinguished from the others, with several new units and new gameplay mechanics, as well as new abilities for some of the classic StarCraft units that will be making a reappearance in the game. StarCraft II will also feature a custom 3D-graphics engine with realistic physics and the ability to render several large, highly detailed units and massive armies on-screen simultaneously.

“With StarCraft II, we’ll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more,” stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We recognize that expectations are high following the long-running popularity of the original game, but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that StarCraft players and strategy gamers worldwide will enjoy.”

StarCraft II will include a unique single-player campaign, as well as fast-paced online play through an upgraded version of Blizzard’s renowned online gaming service, Battle.net?. In addition, the game will come with a powerful, full-featured map editor that will put the same tools used by Blizzard’s designers into the hands of players.

Blizzard is developing StarCraft II for simultaneous release on the Windows? and Macintosh? PC platforms. Further information about the game, including details on the single-player, multiplayer, and map-editor features, as well as system requirements, pricing, and availability, will be announced in the months ahead. To learn more about StarCraft II, please visit the official website at www.starcraft2.com.

The cinematic trailer that accompanied the presentation: