
Starcraft 2 Beta launches -- Kiss your free time goodbye - s3graham
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62411
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teilo
And here I thought they were going to rename the project "Starcraft Forever".

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xsmasher
System specs are interesting: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7

In a space that's usually defined by bleeding-edge hardware, that's a strong
testament to the staying power of XP (and the low adoption rates of Vista and
Win7).

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natmaster
Blizzard's success has been partly due to their targeting of the lowest end
systems for their games. Supporting WinXP is not surprising thing.

An example is when they launched the original Starcraft, they chose to go with
sprite based graphics, at a time when realtime 3D had become the norm. This
allowed them to not only produce a better looking game, but combined with the
640x480 screen resolution, run on many machines.

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Psyonic
It also kept it from aging quite as quickly. I can still play most sprite
based super nintendo games, but most n64 games make me gag. Early 3d is pretty
hideous.

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adamilardi
There are few great moments in a man's life. Birth Marriage Children...and
starcraft 2. I almost cried

~~~
Psyonic
The original wasn't memorable?

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eru
Perhaps that was "birth" was meant to refer to.

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Psyonic
Good observation. I think you're right ;)

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megamark16
My brother does QA for Blizzard and I'm pretty sure he's been working on the
Starcraft 2 team. Congrats to everybody who's work so hard to bring us this
much anticipated title. Goodbye free time indeed :-)

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mcu
Just got my invite! It's a thing of beauty.

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tdavis
I am indescribably jealous. I've been waiting for this game for so many years.
I found out the Beta launched late tonight and have stayed up watching live
streams while frantically refreshing my inbox.

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leif
beta checker works under wine 1.1.38 :)

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Janteh
Awesome! It's a pitty that it's Windows only though, but I'm sure they will
work it out for Mac before the release.

 _During this phase a Mac version will NOT be available, please check back._

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listic
Don't worry; Blizzard were fans of Mac since ever; I'm sure they won't let Mac
users down now.

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rorsgod
I was awfully close to actually paying $350 on an eBay auction for a key..

Luckily some blog my friend linked me to on Facebook was giving out some
invites. I thought it'd just be another scam, but I got an invite mailed to me
in a couple of hours. Go figure...

Anyway here's the blog: <http://starcraft2betainvites.blogspot.com>

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sliverstorm
Of all the PC games I want to play, I was not expecting SC2 to be on the list
of 'too much for my laptop to handle'. Not that my laptop is a beast by any
means, but I mean cummon- it's Starcraft!

(1.6GHz C2D and X3100)

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wenbert
I remember reading news that it doesn't have LAN play? Is this still true?

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xal
You can log into your battle.net account. If you are in it lets you download
the beta. There don't seem to be CDkeys because it's tied to your battle.net
account.

No one has gotten emails yet.

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joshu
I've been thinking of getting a windows PC together to play this. Am I likely
to be happy if I use a newish Mac Mini?

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pmjordan
CPU wise you should be fine. System requirements call for GeForce 6600 or
Radeon 9800 though, so the shared-memory GPU of the Mini might not suffice. I
suggest comparing the 3DMark score of the mini with that of a card that's
definitely supported.

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joshu
I thought modern minis have real gpus? Must research.

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aik
If anyone has a cd-key for a blizzard game they don't play anymore, I wouldn't
mind taking it off your hands. message/email me.

:)

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thinkbohemian
Crap, i need more minerals.

~~~
epochwolf
You must construct additional pylons

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swombat
You need more vespene gas!

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lambdom
rhhhhhhaaaaaaaaawh (zerg)

~~~
swolchok
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Seriously, though. My account is nearly a year old, so I'll go ahead and say
it: _this is a Reddit thread_. Stop. Now.

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dbz
YES YES YES!

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esornoso
Miracles do happen.

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rms
omg for real? I wonder how much the beta invites are going to be going for on
eBay.

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DrJokepu
I feel really sorry for the people who don't have the patience to wait a bit
more and fork out large amounts of money to participate in beta. Clearly the
final product will provide a lot more polished experience. They're giving up a
lot of fun for some bragging rights.

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Psyonic
I'm not part of this beta, and I wouldn't pay $300 for a key either, but I've
participated in Blizzard's betas before, and I have to say there is something
kind of special about it. I'm not just talking about bragging rights... it's
about playing when everything is unknown. By the time the game comes out,
strategies from the beta will already be well-known. Things change, not only
over time, but as Blizzard makes changes, but never quite as fast as in the
beta.

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Alex3917
The only reason it would make sense to pay $300 would be if you wanted a job
at Blizzard. For example I know there was a blogger named Shlonglor who got a
job there because of his awesome Warcraft 2 blog. Although perhaps the culture
of blizzard has changed some since 1996.

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Psyonic
I remember reading his blog a few times. Pretty cool that it landed him a job.
Do you know what he does there, exactly?

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NickPollard
He was (and I believe still is) their main webmaster, last I heard he was
particularly focused on the WoW website. He often goes by the name 'Nebu'
(short for Nebuchadnezzar).

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CoryMathews
And there I was thinking this game would never be released...

