Starcraft 2 'in the final stretch,' beta this year 'unless something crazy happens'

The official forums for Starcraft II were recently alive with the hustle and bustle of curious Zergling enthusiasts when a member of the much-anticipated game's dev team dropped in to answer a few quick questions. Most of these dealt with gameplay intricacies, which he answered in explicit detail -- though when it came to the game's release and beta schedules, his responses were fairly ambiguous (much to the chagrin of the rabidly excited forumgoers).

To manage these unanswered queries, Starcraft II lead developer Dustin "Cavez" Browder began a new FAQ thread, in which two titilating timelines were referenced -- first, he explained that the beta will be opening in 2009 "unless something crazy happens." Second, while he couldn't give any set-in-stone answers regarding the game's launch date ("our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time," he explained), Browder teased that the dev team is "in the final stretch." Sounds like it's nearing completion -- could Starcraft II be Blizzard's promised "frontline release" for this year?