Step down, Commander

After 10 incredible years of sci-fi strategy action, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it is ceasing development of further content for one of its most successful releases of all-time, StarCraft II.

In a statement on the Blizzard website, Vice President Rob Bridenbecker said that the team was "eternally grateful" for the StarCraft community's support over the past decade, and that the developer would now be solely focusing on balance tweaks, ?bug fixes and, most importantly, "what comes next" for the intergalactic warfaring f??ranchise.

"We're going to continue supporting StarCraft II in the same manner as we have with our previous longstanding games, such as Brood War, focusing primarily on what our c???ore and competitive communities care about most," noted Bridenbecker. "What this means is that we're not going to be producing additional for-purchase content, such as Commanders and War Chests, but we will continue doing season rolls and necessary balance fixes moving forward."

"We know some of our players have been looking forward to some of the things we're moving away from," Bridenbecker continues, "but the good news is this change will free us up to think about what's next, not just with regard to StarCraft II, but for the StarCraft universe as a whole."

While Blizzard has no announced StarCraft projects on the horizon, the popularity of the series - both from a single-player and an esports perspective - all but guarantees that the conflict between the Terrans, the Zerg, the Protoss, and any other alien race that deems itself up for the ruck will continue into the next generation... and beyond.

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Patch 5.0 includes new map editor features, campaign achievements, and co-op Commander prestige talents

In a moment of self-reflection where we all just turn to dust, Blizzard has reminded everyone that today is the 10th anniversary of StarCraft II. There's a beefy 5.0?? patch to celebrate the occasion?.

Most of the anniversary update has to do with expanding ?the Galaxy Map Editor – expect lots of nitty-gritty features and better support for custom campaigns – but there are a few other things to bring up. There?'s a countdown timer in Versus matches once players have loaded in, a Prestige progression system for co-op Commanders to unlock talents, and new Campaign achievements for "all 83 missions."

I'm most excited abou??t the latter – if nothing else, as a predominantly solo-focused RTS player, I adore Blizzard's mission designs. I always had to fight the urge to replay levels as?? soon as I finished them.

If you manage to earn every 10th anniversary achievement, you'll unlock the Stone announcer in StarCraft II. "These achievements can? be earned on any difficulty above Normal. However, they are designed to be scalable and are possible, though extremely challenging, on even Brutal."

If yo??u're not up to that commitment, you'll still get something new for showing up. You can unlock the White-Ra announcer just by logging into the game between July 27 and August 10, 2020.

The team is also planning to run down the "10 greatest games in StarCraft II esports" starting this week.

For many of us, this a chance to think back on the series at large and how amped we were for a StarCraft sequel. Things didn't work out exactly as expected for the story, and the esports scene – to say nothing of?????????????????????????? Blizzard as a company –?? has changed so much over the last decade. It's been a wild ride.

StarCraft II 5.0 Patch Notes, StarCraft II is Turning 10 [Blizzard]

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Good to be Bad

During today's BlizzCon 2019 opening ceremony, the publisher didn't have a whole lot of news for fans of tactical strategy title StarCraft II. But it did reveal the ??next co-op commander preparing for i??ntergalactic battle, and its none other than classic villain Arcturus Mengsk.

The treacherous Mengsk was a comrade-in-arms to heroes Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan, befo?re instigating the events that left Kerrigan abandoned on the battlefield and condemned to her fate as the destructive Queen of Blades. Mengsk would eventually go on to reign as the Emperor of Terran, spinning public opinion against his former pal Raynor.

It's this powerful talent for indoctrination that Mengsk brings to the StarCraft II battlefield, using his "inspirational broadcasts" to send crowds of cannon fodder to their death, softening up the enemy, before sending in his fear?ed Royal Guard units to deliver the killing blow.

Arcturus Mengsk will be available for StarCraft II in late November.

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Don't forget about the fireworks

Once upon a time, StarCraft II felt like a game that was never going to release. The original StarCraft launched in 1998, and it wasn't until 12 years later that Blizzard finally released the sequel. Now it's 2018 and we're somehow eight years past StarCraft II. It's so old that Blizzard made it free-to-play last fall.

For StarCraft II's eighth birthday, Blizzard is celebrating in style. Anyone who plays a single game will be awarded with a cake portrait. Also, f??ireworks and banners are displayed every time a base structure is built. But, the best incentive is a double XP bonus to base experience gained in co-op commanders and to individual races in versus. As Blizzard points out, it's a good time to level up your non-main races.

The festivitie?s only last a week, though. The anniversary event runs today?? through July 30. Still, no need to go (Zerg) rushing to get your bonuses.

Celebrating StarCraft II's Eighth Anniversary [Blizzard]

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Including Fenix in StarCraft II co-op

Blizzard is currently celebrating StarCraft's 20th anniversary, and if you're so inclined, you can score some freebies in a number of games by logging in, including a Kerrigan skin for Widowmaker in Overwatch and a Battlecruiser pet in Diablo III. The studio has another bonus for StarCraft II today.

We're giving away Fenix for free as part of the #SC20 celebration! 🎉

Already have him? Get a free Co-op Stimpack and earn mastery ?levels faster.

🔎 Learn more: //t.co/Np6tNELOR5 pic.twitter.com/xD07weQjRR

— StarCraft (@StarCraft) March 29, 2018

To claim the Protoss co-??op commander, just head into the?? gift tab. That's it!

Fenix recently made the rounds in Heroes of the Storm, so it's nice to see him stay in the limelight. This particular giveaway lasts until April 3, and there's a big anniversary stream happening tomorrow.

I regret not spending more time with co-op missions in StarCraft II. I somehow keep forgetting they exist, and even though I ??like them in theory, I never gave them the proper chance to win me over.

Fenix Warps in for Everyone [Blizzard]

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Burrowed Baneling micro

Ah Banelings. I mean the Zerg is already a fairly technical race, but these little guys just take the cake. And over at the StarCraft II 2017 AfreecaTV GSL Super Tournament 2 in South Korea, they were doing their job,?? and then some.

Lee Byung Ryul (also known as "Rogue) managed to get off an incredibly impressive play against Lee Shin Hyung ("INnoVation") with his Zerg against the former's Terran. As this clip shows, he's micro-ing his units around a Terran flank, escaping t?hrough the back of the base -- but as insurance, he burrows one Baneling near the ramp. As the battle ensues I??NnoVation continues up said ramp, and BOOM, Rogue strikes and blows up a huge chunk of Terran infantry.

Rogue was able to exploit this loss by winning shortly after, and eventually, he takes the entire series. It took?? me a few re-watches?? to really understand what happened (it's so quick), so here's a handy image I made to help.

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Battle.net to become Skynet within a few years

Blizzard, in association with research company DeepMind, have developed software based on the real-time strategy game StarCraft II that teaches computers how to thi??nk for the?mselves.

Judgement Day is upon us... Maybe.

The two companies have co-developed a software package, known as SC2LE, to advance the computer's ability to read a situation and then develop a strategy based on the given information. Blizzard has also given the software ove?r 60,000 game replays (with plans to expand it to 500,000) to peruse for reference and experience.

The hope is that through the study of actions and counter-actions within the millions of moment-to-moment encounters in these replays, the computer will learn, through imitation, how to best react to any given setup or problem posed by its StarCraft opposition. Though I'd like to see it handle ?a full-on Ze?rg rush. Sorry "Johnny 5", that's not happening.

StarCraft II was specifically chosen because of its multi-layered task management, requiring the player to build and maintain an efficient base, whilst also managing resources, building defences and mounting an army for its own series of attacks. DeepMind's A.I "agents" were able to perform these functions on a small scale, but struggled when presente?d with a full game sce??nario, which requires endless adaptation and multitasking.

Researchers are working to develop their agent's ability to put all the pieces together, ultimately being able to react to any given situation in a full-game environment and therefore being able to beat every single StarCraft player on the globe. Yes, I'm including Korea.

Whilst it seems odd to spend so much money, time and effort to teach a computer to play a perfect game of StarCraft II, it's obvious that, on a larger scale, the idea ??of computer A.I having a self-taught un?derstanding of predictability, adaptation, counter-intelligence and decision-making is absolutely fascinating. Fascinating and terrifying.

Still, I for on??e welcome Sarah Kerrigan as our new overlord.

SC2LE A.I. research [DeepMind Blog]

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New seasonal goodies for StarCraft players

Blizzard's new War Chest program in StarCraft II is starting next week. The seasonal prog??ram will give ??players access to digital content over the course of three monthly phases.

The digital goodies include skins, deca??ls, sprays, and a digital comic. You can buy War Chest access on a per-race basis or at a discount in a bundle.

Each race, whether it be Terran?s, Protoss, or Zerg, will run you $10. If you know you want all three, you can grab the bundle for $25. You'll get a unit skin and portrait at the time of purchase; remaining content is unlocked by playing the game. More content is made av?ailable at the start of the next phase.

Whether you buy a single race pack or the bundle, you'll also be treated to some digital goodies in other Blizzard titles: a Heroes of the Storm loot chest, a Tal'Darim pet for Diablo III, and a Hearthstone card pack.

The unlock progress is shar??ed by all three races and is retroac??tive. So if after unlocking a few rewards with the Protoss you decide to buy another chest, those rewards will unlock right away.

Al?l of these rewards will be made available for purchase at full price som?etime after the event, so don't worry if you miss out.  

25 percent of all War Chest sales are going to StarCraft II eSports. Blizzard didn't get crazy into specifics, but the first $200,000 will be added to the BlizzCon 2017 prize pool, and anything over that will go to StarCraft II event production.

War Chest phase one starts on July 19?, phase two on August 16, and phase three on September ;13. The War Chest is available for purchase until October 4 and will be gone completely on November 4. As I said above, you'll be able to buy the rewards sometime afterwa?rd, but if you want to earn them in-game, that will be your only chance.

The StarCraft 2 War Chest goes on sale late??r this?? week [PC Gamer]

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Leading some to believe it's going free entirely soon

With all of the sales it's had over the years, at this point, pretty much every Blizzard fan has likely tried the first part of StarCraft II, titled Wings of Liberty. But for those of you who haven't taken the dive, you?? might have been randomly gifted it for free.

As of yesterday, hundreds of users are reporting that after checking their Battle.net accounts, a pop-up occurred that notified them that they now own Wings of Liberty. Blizzard currently isn't offering any explanation for it, but many are saying that this is a sort of test/promotional run ahead of giving away Liberty for free entirely later this year.

So go check???? your account! Over seven years with many quality of life patches it's become quite the RTS.

Blizzard is gifting gamers StarCra??ft II for free - with no explanation [Reddit]

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Blizzard credits the community for the changes

StarCraft II is about to get a complete revamp of its ladder mode. In addition to?? making MMR visible to players, there's also a progress bar. Grandmaster League will now have a "daily" promotion and demotion system, which will have the secondary bonus of helping Blizzard  manage tournaments.

I know?? a lot of people have no interest in competitive modes, but Blizzard has always done a great job of catering to the hardcor??e community, which are the ones playing their games and supporting them years down the line.

Making MMR visible is a great idea for ranked play, as people don't want to generally guess how well they're doing. Overwatch is getting this concept when ranked play hits -- I wonder if Heroes of the Storm&nbs?p;(which also?? just got a huge ranked revamp) is next.

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I can't even

A fellow by the name of egodbout2 has taken it upon themselves to recreate Diablo II in the form of a project called "The Curse of Tristram." But it's not just any old fangame, it's actually a mod for StarCraft II. Impressive!

What's really weird to me is seeing Diablo II with a smooth framerate without any latency drops. For the first year of release I never actually saw Duriel on-screen -- my PC would lag so much when entering the a??rea, that I had to just hold shift and queue up an ability and hope I won with a group of friends. As my buddy Joey once said "the real boss isn't Duriel, it's the lag."

Before you get your armchairs out to analyze the legality of the situation, note that it's very unlike that Blizzard would shut it down given that it's a mod that people have to buy StarCraft II to access. The alpha shou??ld launch this summer for free in Battle.net Arcade.

Egodbout 2 [YouTube via DSO Gaming] Thanks Rob!

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Twelve involved

Twelve people have been arrested in Korea in relation to a match-fixing and illegal betting on StarCraft II, according to Team Liquid. A Korean eSports Association (KeSPA) statement names Park Wae-Sik, head coach of the professional StarCraft II team P??rime and two of his players, Choi "YoDa" Byung Hyun and Choi "BBoongBBoong" Jong-Hyuk

At least five professional matches between January and June of this year were fixed. Brokers and go-betwe?ens were also arrested, including a former pro and current eSports journalist. Park allegedly funneled roughly $4,450 to Choi Jong-Hyuk for him to take a dive, while Choi Byung Hyun received around $26,000 for losing two matches and then wa??s blackmailed into losing two more.

The Korean eSports Association has alre??ady banned Park and YoDa? for life and anyone else found guilty will receive the same treatment as, "the association's stance toward illegal betting will continue to be one of zero-compromise." Additionally the association may sue for damages.

Gerrard, YoDa, BBoongBBoong and nine o??thers indicted in match-fixing scandal [Team Liquid]

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Aqua League mod

I wasn't kidding when I said that funny goal gif convinced me to download Rocket League. Psyonix's driving/socc??er game is brilliantly designed, and now I'm obsessed with ??it like the rest of you.

My infatuation even extends to things that resemble Rocket League. Take this in-development mod for StarCraft II, Aqua? League, which "[combines] elements of soccer, bumper cars, and hockey."

It doesn't look ne?arly as fun, admittedly, but it's impressive to ??see this type of experience up and running inside of a real-time strategy game. Modders for Blizzard games can work wonders.

It even has a similar goal effect!

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Workers beware

StarCraft II is five years old today. Hooray?

Many of us are probably more concerned with how the standalone expansion Legacy of the Void is shaping up. I was about to move onto my next browser tab, but somethin?g caught my eye.

As part of Blizzard's fifth anniversary celebration for th??e game, the developer has enabled confetti explosions. You'll see them whenever you kill worker units. Or you can join me in watching this gif until your eyes feel all melty -- a price well worth paying, as far as I'm concerned.

Lookin' good.

Blizzard has also added a silly anniversary portrait. To unlock it, just play any game of StarCraft II before Monday, August 3.

5th Anniversary of StarCraft II [Blizzard]

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New (old) assets now usable in the StarCraft II map editor

Blizzard is giving custom-game creators access to thousands of Warcraft III assets for use in the StarCraft II Arcade, including character and structure models, music, sound effects, and user interfaces for each race. What will th?ey make with it? Better yet, what won't they m??ake?

The assets are, for the time being, only on StarCraft II's publi?c test realm, which can be accessed from the Region/Account dropdown on the Battle.net home screen. But don't let that stop you!

As someone who has spent hundreds of hours playing custom games like Defense of the Ancients and Element Tower Defense in Warcraft III, this news is delightful.

Warcraft III Assets Now Available on the PTR [Battle.net]

While Blizzard was at it, the company also updated the hero models for the four primary races:

These guys serve as a reminder that, should Warcraft IV ever happen, I'm going to lose my shit.

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CE-Oh no

Simon Boudreault is the 23-year-old CEO of the Quantic Gaming eSports team, and he owes a lot of people some money The Daily Dot reports. For starters, pro StarCraft II player Ko Hyun has been owed $23,000 in salary and prize money for months now. What's more, numerous peop??le on the Quantic Gaming staff are owed thousands of dollars as well. Upwards to $40,000 is owed to numerous employees.

Simon has dropped off?? the map since December 17, and no one knows where he is. Shortly before disappearing Simon told people he was going for a biopsy on a lump on his lung. Simon has disappeared for weeks at a time before with no exp?lanation, but this time people aren't expecting him back at all.

The entire situation is downright sad, and Daily Do??t's report sheds a lot of light on how things work behind the scenes with the ever growing field of eSports.

ESports star hunts for his missing CEO&mda?sh;so he can sue for $2??3,000 [The Daily Dot]

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Yeah, really

Steven Luo didn't have access to World of Warcraft when it came out nearly nine years ago, so he decided to make his own game using Warcraft III's editor tools. This year he ported the mod idea fully into StarCraft II, as WoW RTS: Alliance and Horde, or WAH for short. He spent six mon?ths working on it part time, then decided to quit his job to spend another two months finishing it.

The mod contains three maps right now, and you can find them on the StarCraft II Arcade by searching for "WAH." I haven't had a chance to play this yet, but I am looking forward to diving into it as soon as I can. I loved Warcraft III a lot, and I am bitter that we haven't had Warcraft IV yet. Hopefully thi??s can satisfy me for awhile.

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It allows you to temporarily upgrade your account in a party

Blizzard has now made it a lot easier to play StarCraft II with your friends, regardless of what version you have. All you need to do is party in-game with a friend who owns a "better" version of the game. So basically, say you own the Starter Edition -- if you party up with someone who has Heart of the Swarm, you can access pretty much everything, as your account will be "raised" to Heart of the Swarm temporarily.

Ranked and unranked matches are for grabs, as is the entire Arcade. The only things off limits are clans, single player, and the ability to play as anyone other than the Terran (which is irrelevant in the Arcade). This is a nice move by Blizzard, and feels like something the "Blizzard of old" would have done. In fact, the video even mentions that historically they already have done something similar for Warcraft II and StarCraft (they did it for Diablo as well, where you coul?d only play as a Warrior).

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For the swarm!

Pro cosplayer Tasha is at it again with another mind-blowing cosplay depicting the Queen of Blades from StarCraft II. I can't imagine how much work it took to make ??the whole cost??ume, let alone the process even involved in trying to put it on.

Tasha has a few more pictures of the outfit over on her Facebook. Check out our cosplay page for more amazing cosplay photos.

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Plus, an all new UI

Blizzard is pushing a new patch through for StarCraft II with a dece??nt amount of updates -- most notably, a UI overhaul and the launch of in-game Clans and Groups. 

But there's a heap of other upgrades, like new replay tools, an improved Editor, and more social options.You'll also net a revised help tool, and new multiplayer op??tions.

Is everyone ready for Heart of the Swarm yet? I thought the single player campaign was my favorite part of StarCraft II, and I can't wait to continue the adventure.

Starcraft II 2.0.4 [Battle.net]

• An all-new user interface with new menu screens.
• The launch of in-game Clans and Groups.
• New Replay features, such as Watch with Others and Take Command.
• A multitude of Editor improvements.
• New matchmaking options: Training Mode, Vs. AI Mode, and Unranked Play.
• Players Near You, so you can find other StarCraft II players on your local network.
• New customizable Observer UI.

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It's Risk, but with StarCraft pieces

_{[Destructoid is considering adding board games (videogame-themed or not) to what we cover. Think it's a good idea? Want us to stick to videogames only? Let us know in the comments.]}

Themed variants of popular games like Monopoly and Risk have existed for a while, covering everything from cereal box characters to Nintendo. Blizzard's dabbled in this arena before, having recently released World of Wacraft Monopoly, and now they've followed it up with StarCraft Collector's Edition Risk.

Grognards who hate the entire concept of Risk won't find much here, but those who don't take issue with Risk's central premise and enjoy the StarCraft property should have fun with the game.

As with most versions of Risk, StarCraft Collector's Edition Risk allows for up to six players. All three StarCraft races are represented, with each race having two factions. On the Terran side, you can play as Jim Raynor or Mengsk. Protoss players can choose from Zeratul and Artanis, and the Zerg can select either Kerrigan or Zagara. Each race obviously has its own figures, made of a somewhat flimsy yet durable plastic. The map should also be familiar as well -- while it's skinned with StarCraft planets and locations, it's essentially the standard world Risk map, just flipped horizontally.

The option to play the long, standard Risk game mode with no rule changes or variations is, of course, available, and if you choose to do so different pieces and a flipped map will be all that StarCraft Risk really gives you. If you pick up this game, however, you'll likely want to play the special mode designed specifically for StarCraft Risk: Command Room.

Many of the recent Risk variants have included game modes aimed towards shorter, tighter, games, and StarCraft Risk is no exception. Command Room still follows the basic rules of Risk, but includes a number of chang?es designed to make the game move faster.

Setup generally follows standard rules, with the addition of bases and mineral fields. Bases serve as your headquarters, providing ?you with an extra unit per turn for each base you control. Mineral fields are randomly placed across territories at the game's start, and each territory you control with a mineral field counts as an extra point when calculating how many troops you get to place at the start of your turn.

While wiping your opponents off the map is still an option, games of Command Room are generally won by completing achievements. When the game starts, eight achievements out of a total pool of twelve are randomly drawn and laid out on the board. Some are control achievements, and require you to control an entire planet at the end of your turn. Others ??reward aggression, including things like controlling a certain number of opponent's bases, or taking over a certain number of mineral fields in a single turn. You can on?ly earn a maximum of one achievement per turn (unless you eliminate a player, in which you immediately claim all of her achievements for your own), and the first to accumulate three wins.

Each achievement also has a reward token placed facedown over it, and claiming the achievement allows you to take its reward. While some only provide minor benefits, such as allowing you to reinforce twice at the end of your turn, others provide substantial benefits, giving you ??an extra attack or defense die for the rest of the game. The rewards definitely are not balanced, and while the game is generally short enough that this shouldn't be a serious issue, some may be frustrated by how powerful opponents can get if they're lucky enough to claim two of the strongest rewards.

StarCraft Risk also contains hero?? units; the named characters mentioned above. Your hero is represented by his or her ow??n figure and moves with an existing squad, and while he or she doesn't count as an actual troop, the presence of a hero allows you to add one to your highest die roll, whether on offense or defense.

Finally, each race also has its own deck of cards that they may draw from on any turn in which they conquered at least one territory, and also did not earn any achievements. Like in standard Risk, these can simply be turned in for additional units on ??the beginning of your turn. However, each card also has a power or abili??ty on it which you may choose to use instead.

While many of the abilities are shared across all three decks and just have different names, each race does have a few unique abilities in keeping with the general theme of StarCraft. The Terran card "Lift Off," for example, makes them t??he only?? race that can pick up and move their base, even if it's currently controlled by another player. Again, like with the achievement rewards, these abilities aren't even close to being balanced, and a lucky card draw can quite literally turn the tide of an entire game.

Despite some of the noted balance issues, my game group had a good time with StarCraft Risk. With two of us being Risk fans and the other two generally not liking Risk on principle, all four were pleasantly surprised with how the game played. Games can be completed in roughly an hour, and the win conditions of Command Room require you to manage multiple fronts at once -- if you try to sit back and build up a giant ?army to sweep the entire board, you'll probably have lost the game before you can actually deploy it. As a result, the pace of the game is much faster, and even from the first turn players will likely be engaging in a number of fights with most of the other players on the board.

In a nutshell, StarCraft Risk is easy to learn, doesn't take very long to complete, and increases the luck factor of the original game substantially. StarCraft Risk and its Command Room mode don't change the fundamentals of Risk in the way Risk Legacy or Risk 2210 A.D. do, but ??there'??s enough here to keep it from being more than just a straight-up reskinning of the base game.

While it won't be making its way to my gaming table every single week, and serious wargamers will want to look elsewhere (but they're almost assuredly not looking at Risk in the first place), Risk fans and casual board game players wi?ll have a good time.

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The fight for the top eight spots begins!

For the past month, StarCraft II players have been competing in the MvP, or MLG versus Proleague, a coordinated effort between MLG, KeSPA, and the IEG. Today marks the first day of playoffs, where the top 16 players will vie for a spot in the finals that are taking place on October 29th.&?nbsp;

Tonight features match-ups between Naniwa vs. Thorzain and Alive vs. Oz. Streaming begins at 7:00pm Eastern and will be cast by Axslav and Axeltoss. The standings and schedule are available online, and if you're late to join the action, you can snag a viewing pass right here for $10.

Now, if I may, GO HUK!

Playoff Schedule – Broadcast on www.majorleaguegaming.com

Friday, October 19, 7pm ET - Round 1 - Europe & Korea/Taiwan
Saturday, October 20, 3pm ET - Round 1 - Proleague Day 1
Sunday, October 21, 3pm ET - Round 1 - Proleague Day 2
Monday, October 22, 7pm ET – Round 1 - North America
Tuesday, October 23, 7pm ET - Quarterfinals - Proleague
Thursday, October 25, 7pm ET - Quarterfinals - NA vs. NA & EU vs. KT
Friday, October 26, 7pm ET - Semifinals - PL vs. PL & NA vs. EU/KT
Monday, October 29, 7pm ??ET - Final -?? MLG Finalist vs. Proleague Finalist

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The fall season of MLG is about to get underway! Tomorrow will start a non-stop schedule all the way through November, featuring both StarCraft II and League of Legends. Here's a quick breakdown:

• Tuesdays and Thursdays (7PM ET): StarCraft II
• Wednesdays (7PM ET): League of Legends

Then we have the MvP, or MLG vs Proleague. This StarCraft II tournament is a collaboration of some of the biggest organizations in eSports: MLG, Korean eSports Association (KeSPA), and?? the International eSports Group (IEG) and has 48 of the world's best players competing for $10,000 in prizes over six weeks. This collaboration is really exciting since these are three of the biggest groups in eSports?? at the moment all working together to bring us what is shaping up to be a great tournament. I can only hope these guys continue this relationship for a good, long time.

The MvP will begin this Thursday, but you'll need a $10 PPV pass to watch it. The regular StarCraft II and League of Legends matches will be free to watch for everyone.

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Asked whether or not Blizzard has plans for a free-to-play StarCraft II at the Valencia eSports Congress, lead design??er Dustin Browder stated that the company is?? "looking at free to play as an option for the multiplayer," reports PCGamesN.

While there are arguments for and against such a move, either way, the outcome would be interesting to see since the game wasn't built with that kind of model in mind. B??rowder added that "We don't know how we would monetize it. While it might be good fun for me to play against someone with only half the units available to them, that's not?? going to be an enjoyable experience for them."

As seemingly huge a series as StarCraft is, I have to imagine that lowering the barrier to entry would still bring in a significant amount of people who would never play otherwise. Raising interest would be beneficial both to Blizzard and the eSports scene at large. We'll see if Blizzard can make it work. (Or if the studio even wants to.)

Blizzard "looking? at" the possibility of Starcraft II multiplayer going free to play [PCGamesN via Eurogamer]

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Sean "Day[9]" Plott has become a very popular person within the StarCraft II community. He runs his own stream over at day9.tv and has become one of the most prolific SCII commentators (read: casters) on the scene. He's known for his zany antics on his stream, something that is likely to carry over into today's Red Bull LAN event, which allows the audience to interfere with the players in ca-razy ways.

I got a chance to interview Sean about himself, eSports, and the Red Bull LAN event, which proved to be quite the surreal experience, as I'm such a huge fan of his.

Destructoid: Hi Sean! Before I begin I'd just like to mention how big of a fan I am and that I appreciate everything you do for the community. I also want to thank you for taking the time out and answering my questions!

Sean "Day[9]"? Plott: Hey Patrick! Thank you so much! And thanks for thinking of me for this interview! I have to return the f?avor: I love your website and read it all the time! Thanks for the great entertainment! :D

Aww, shucks! So anyway, let's begin: If you have any, what non-StarCraft-related activities do you like to do in your free time?

Oh, I have a million interests outside StarCraft! Too many! In fact, I need to spend more time nurturing them an?d less time working (don&r??squo;t we all?).

??For one, I love to exp?lore electronic music. I aggressively hunt down songs I hear and explore unusual genres. I try to track 30 or 40 different artists and keep up with their releases. Weird beats and sounds always intrigue me.

I also do a lot of reading: books, comic books, online articles. Reading is my salvation when I travel. I do a ton of industry-specific reading to keep up with what is going on in the digital/interactive media world and then I relax with dark, gritty, genre novels. I love fantasy, sci-fi, apocalyptic plots. Recently, I’ve been reading Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, and Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. For comics, I love: Y: The Last Man, The Walking Dead, Watchmen, Akira, Spawn. The eSports community points me to great new stuff all? the time. I have piles of it waiting to be read.

Then of course I play a lot of games -- computer games, card game??s, board games. I’m really into Magic the Gathering right now (and I SUCK at it.  :/ ). In general, I spend a lot of time just thinking about games, game design, game philosophy, game dynamics, game culture, game motivation, game items, etc. (it’s what I got my master’s degree in).

I’m also interested in ??the game of business and entrepreneurship. Business is basically a real-time strategy game where you only get only one life and you manage resources frantically until you get killed off.&nb?sp; :P  (Sometimes I get in situations where I just wish I could just reload the game. Or get to a save point. Just once.) But, nevertheless, a very interesting experience!

How did you get into casting? Why did you choose to pursue this path rather than continuing to compete?

Well, my brother Nick (“Tasteless”) got into casting before me. He was one of the original StarCraft casters. So casting was a concept I could wrap my head around. For a long time, there was a really nice partnership between us: I played competitively and Nick cast the tournaments. Then I entered graduate school and really had no time at all to play as a pro, but wanted to remain involved in the scene. Casting became an outle?t for me to continue to explore and think about the game. I started a podcast, then switched to streaming and it grew organically from there. Casting may not be something I do forever but for the moment I am really engaged and enjoying myself.

What do you think it is that helped separate you from other casters and make you the well known community icon you are today?

Well, I don’t think I am separate from other casters. At tournaments, casting is ultimately an ensemble act and I’m just one m?ember of that ensemble.

One of the reasons the SCII eSports scene is so vibrant right now is because it has a wide assortment of really competent, professional casters. No other game can lay claim to the same level of casters as StarCraft. Moreover, there is a personality, a viewpoint and a casting style for every ty??pe of spectator.  This also makes for a rich viewing experience. If I were the only caster out there, the audience would rapidly become bored out of their minds -- and so would I!

That said, I think I’m very lucky to have gotten to where I am today, and to be working with the people I work with. You have to understand that I am truly a product of the StarCraft community: I have roots in the game. That is the real reason I got a head start as a caster. I spent more than a decade as an active member of the community. I was known. I played a shit ton of StarCraft back before there was any tournament scene. I grew up socializing on all the SC Brood War forums, and the community played a significant role in forming me intellectually. In short:  I was (and am) a big damn community fanboy.   And, being a fanboy gave me the background I needed to talk about StarCraft.

As people may know, you run a challenge called "Funday Monday" in which you challenge viewers to play a very specific style in their games. What was the inspiration behind this and how do you come up with these challenges?

You know, I just reached a point, after the launch of SCII: Wings of Liberty, where I decided that players were taking StarCraft way, way too seriously. I mean, they were getting all uptight about their rankings and all anxious about getting on the Battle.net ladder and losing their standings. People kept writing to me about ladder anxiety and I thought, WTF? Nick and I grew up having fun with StarCraft. StarCraft was?? challenging, sure, but it was also about fooling around with our friends and having a good time in 2v2v2v2s. I began to think that maybe the community should lighten up a little. After all, one of the things I always loved most about the community was its hilarious sense of humor. So I came up with some crazy constraints to create some lighthearted tomfoolery.

Though it might seem counterintuitive, in game design, constraint inspires creativity and play. By adding a constraint to gameplay in Funday Monday, I created a clear goal around which even the most inexperienced player could form a game plan. And the outcome made for a great, hilarious spectating experience. StarCraft players delight in seeing the crazy solutions that other player??s come up with.

So, the Red Bull Seattle LAN -- what inspired this event? Personally, I'm looking forward to a more light-hearted tournament that should provide quite a few laughs.

The Trial of the Xel’Naga is an idea we pitched to Red Bull in an early proposal in 2011, but I had the idea bobbling around in my head for at least 2 years before that. :D Reading stories of ancient Rome whe??re the audience toyed with the gladiators sounded really fun. I wanted do a modern twist with more options and less risk of actual human death.

I’m not sure anybody but Red Bull would have bought into the idea. Quite simply, Red Bull wants to push the boundaries of eSports and take eSports to the next level. Their LA??Ns are designed to explore what being a cyberathelete means, what gaming performance means, what the spectator experience means. (Plus, let’s face it, Red Bull loves extreme spectator sports, loves crazy fu??n, and loves designing events that are a good time.)

In any event, Red Bull was totally open to the idea when we pitched it. Then we took i?t to Blizzard, who said “Sounds cool!?? How can we help?” And that was that. 

So now, in Seattle, we are breaking down the fourth wall and asking the audience to be part of the game. We’re trying to exploit the possibilities of mapmakin?g and interactive media and shake up the game. It should be a blast.

What do you expect from this event? What SCII skills will help the players thrive in this random environment?

I’m hoping the event gives the audience a total power trip. It’s a complete role reversal. Ordinarily, the audience is at the whim of the players, left to passively hope for their favorite pro. At PAX, the pros are virtually at the mercy of the viewers. In that light, though quick thinking and good humor will be essential playing skills for the pros, pandering, begging, and being cute wi??ll likely also be critically important to winning. :D

This is a bit of a loaded question, but what do you think of the current eSports scene? What do you think is the "next step?"

What I like about the current eSports scene is?? the amount of effort everybody is putting into it. It’s really exciting to see the industry grow. There is just so much going on. On the other hand, I would love to see more structure imposed on all that activity so there is a better build up to events. Sometimes it just feels like every weekend is just another major tournament. There are almost too many leagues to follow. 

I’d love to see more developer involvement in helping grassroots eSports grow. For instance, I like that Blizzard has created the World Championship Series and that it involves the community at every level: community streamers help run local qualifiers and large organizations like? MLG and ESL help run national and regional finals. It makes for a more coherent story across a season.

I’m also intrigued by Valve and Dota 2, where they seem to be building tools in their games that support their community’s eSports efforts, such as creating ways for fans to generate revenue within the game client by creating events or running teams. I suspect that eSports will move more and more in this direction in the coming years -- an efficient economy built out of cooperation between developer and? grassro?ots fans.

_{A BarCraft gathering in Pittsburgh. (Image source)}

If someone was interested in StarCraft II and the eSports scene, where would you recommend they start?

This is what I would recommend:

Step one: start by watching the final day of one of the big eSports tournaments --an MLG or IPL event ??-- online on a Sunday. Try to watch with friends who know the scene. Get acquainted with the players who ar??e competing, listen to some commentary. Drink some beer. 

Step two: Post tournament, go to one of the major community sites like www.teamliquid.net  or  www.reddit.com/r/starcraft and just hang out and explore. Look for threads about the tournament you just watched. Follow the discussions and get some ??context.   

Step 3: St?art immersing yourself in these sites, and start posting and asking questions. (Never be afr??aid to ask questions -- people will help you out!) 

Once you’ve done that, the next step is to use these sites to find your local eSports community -- usually a Barcraft or an eSp?orts club. From there, you can start planning to attend one of the big live tournaments -- they are really electrifying, and are totally worth the trip.

Thank you so much for your time and your amazing answers! Please keep up the outstanding work helping the eSports scene grow larger and larger! Hopefully this won't be the last time we cross paths.

The post Interview: Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott & the StarCraft II scene appeared first on Destructoid.

Not every winner at the most recent MLG tournament were cheaters. StarCraft II, Mortal Kombat, and SoulCalibur V all went on without a hitch during one of the most intense weekends in recent memory. Heck, it was intense just for me to keep tabs on all the streams as best as I could! It sure didn't help that I was having troubl?es switching streams easily most of the time.

Over $50,000 in prize money was handed out to the first place winners over the weekend. Leenock was able to dominate StarCraft II, REO took Mortal Kombat, and Xephukai placed first in SoulCalibur V. There was also the SCII World Cha??mpion Series going on, in which the top nine finishers will move on to the Battle.net World Championship in Shanghai, China on November 17-18.

??Did you manage to catch any of the action over the weekend? I was entranced by just how well Leenock was able to take?? first place so convincingly. It's a bit sad to know I will never be able to control units like he does.

Here's the more detailed breakdown:

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty:

• 1st Place - $25,000 - Leenock
  
• 2nd Place - $15,000 - First
  
• 3rd/4th Place - $7,250 each - Taeja, TheStC
  
• 5th/6th Place - $3,500 each - HerO, ViOLet
  
• 7th/8th Place - $2,250 each - Revival, Heart

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - WCS North America Finals: The top nine finishers will be attending the Battle.net World Championshi??p in Shanghai, China, on November 17-18.

• 1st Place - $24,000 - Scarlett
• 2nd Place - $9,000 - Vibe
• 3rd Place - $3,600 - Idra
• 4th Place - $1,800 - Major
• 5th Place - $1,300 - Insur
• 6th Place - $1,300 - State
• 7th Place - $1,100 - Illusion
• 8th Place - $1,100 - Ostojiy
• 9th Place - $9,000 - Huk

Mortal Kombat:

• 1st Place - OBS_EMP_REO - $6,000
• 2nd Place - CDjr - $3,600
• 3rd/4th Place - VSM_Maxter,  pig_of_the_hut - $2,000 each
• 5th/6th Place - EMP perfectlegend, KH_Showtime - $1,000 each
• 7th/8th Place - FR_ClintTheBEAST, GGA16bit - $550 each

SoulCalibur V:

• 1st Place - Xephukai - $6,000
• 2nd Place - RamonTSF - $3,600
• 3rd Place - Keev - $2,000
• 4th Place - lolomx - $2,000
• 5th Place - Something-Unique - $1,000
• 6th Place - Hawkeye - $1,000
• 7th Place - LostProvidence - $550
• 8th Place - BelialRus - $550

The post Here are your MLG Summer Championship winners appeared first on Destructoid.

Tune in here!

MLG Summer Championship will be live very soon with competitions for StarCraft II, Mortal Kombat, SoulCalibur V, and Leage of Legends. Here's a qui??ck rundown of the competition times (EDT) for ?the weekend:

• Friday, August 24 - Competition on the main stages from 5:30 PM to 1:30 AM
• Saturday, August 25 - 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM
• Sunday, August 26 - 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM

This weekend has something for every eSports fan, whether you're into fighters, MOBAs, or StarCraft. The FPS genre is absent, but perhaps we'll witness the new eSports FPS revival with CS:GO and Black Ops 2. Perhaps.

Want a free HD viewing code? I know you do! The first three comments below that s?ay which game they're looking forward to most this weekend will get a PM with a beautiful, HD viewing code. If you're too late, you can always buy one from the MLG store. Standard definition viewing is free.

[Update: And just like that, the codes are gone!]

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The Red Bull LAN Seattle StarCraft II tournament is going to begin on August 30 and run until September 1 at PAX Prime, and holy cow do they have something genuinely hysterical up their sleeve. For the first time ever, the audience is going to be able to interact with the matches a??nd mess up the players. They're likening it to "suddenly dumping hundreds of soccer balls onto the field during a match" or "turning a football field from grass to jello." Count me in!

The website currently allows you to vote on what viewer ability they will reveal next -- the first is embedded above. If the other abilities are just as hilarious, I guarantee this will be an event you won't want to miss. Eight pro players will be?? joining in, and I can only imagine they're going in with a lighthearted approach. T??here will also be 2v2 matches with people from the audience. I cannot WAIT for this to start!

The post Red Bull LAN lets players mess with St?arCraft II ??matches appeared first on Destructoid.

This weekend, TaeJa (Terran) defeated Alicia (Protoss) in the MLG Summer Arena finals to take first place and $10,000! I do feel really bad for Alicia though, since he's come in second three times in a row now. While he's definitely "Mr. Consistency," I'm pretty sure he'd be way happier with a first pl??ace win. In time, Alicia ... in time. My favorite, Stephano, tied for fifth, but as always his hair was the true star of the tournament.

Six games were played in the finals, but TaeJa managed to out Alicia by a margin of 4-2. Alicia still gets to take home $6,000 and each of the top 16 players get a trip out to Raleigh, NC for the MLG Summer Championship on August 24-26th. Personally, I just want to see more of the awesome big screen. Seriously, watching the casters analyze plays from each game with a touch screen TV just like the one from SportsCenter made me f?eel incredibly warm and fuzzy inside??. Kudos, MLG!

The post TaeJa wins the MLG StarCraft II Summer Arena appeared first on Destructoid.

In celebration of the StarCraft World Championship Series North American Finals, Blizzard is taking 33% off the price of StarCraft II. Until June 13, anyone who buys a direct-download copy of the title from Blizzard's store will get it at a reduced price of $39.99.

If you have been considering buying the strategy game but haven't w??anted to shell out sixty doll??ars, now is your chance to grab it up. It's not a bad deal and considering how long it takes Blizzard titles to drop in price, it's worth jumping on now.

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