As time goes by and the release date of Starcraft 2 draws ever closer, more and more information is being spread around the internet. This article series, the Weekly Comsat, will provide you with the latest information on Starcraft 2 and give you important background knowledge to understand what's being done.
The first piece of news from the last week is a statement from the Blizzard Chief Operating Officer, Paul Sams, regarding the splitting of Starcraft 2 into a trilogy. When Blizzard announced their plans a large part of the community immediately suspected that this move was done so that Blizzard could earn more money by making each customer buy multiple versions of Starcraft 2, calling it "milking the franchise". However Sams has promised in his statement that this is definitely not the case; quality being the main reason behind the idea. To Blizzard's defense he explains how quality has always been Blizzard's main goal, hinting at the game Starcraft: Ghost that was not shipped for being below the quality goal despite the amount of money that had been put in its development. Nevertheless, the controversy goes on. Fans still doubt the development team's intentions behind making Starcraft 2 a trilogy, even after Sams's explanation. There's nothing left but to wait and see what is going to happen on this matter.
For those of you who haven't managed to get your hands on a Starcraft 2 beta key, you still have a chance. Karune has confirmed that there are plans for various competitions and contests for Starcraft 2 beta keys. Of course you will hear about any competitions right here on Star2.org. Hopefully we can host competitions like these ourselves for the members. However, no numbers were mentioned so it is unclear how many people will be granted access to the beta through this way. There is not even a way of knowing how many people Blizzard are going to have in the beta in total, although it is fair to assume that there will be a large amount, judging by their previous betas and also the current pressure to make Starcraft 2 as close to perfect as possible.
Meanwhile, a new Question and Answer batch has been released. Karune's 46th batch for the Starcraft 2 community answers a few interesting questions on Starcraft 2 from various fansites, as per usual. Here's a short summary of the news:
- Players can still target and damage their own units. This is a frequently used move to damage cloaked units in Brood War. Targeting one of your own units with an attack that deals splash damage while it is near an enemy cloaked or burrowed unit lets you indirectly attack it.
- Planetary Fortresses now deal splash damage, meaning they are even more powerful against raiding units but might end up destroying the Terran player's own SCVs!
- There are going to be idle unit animations in Starcraft 2.
