Eric

@Kevin Kelly
I think he was referring to this: "Since SC2 won't be out until 2009, you won't be able to play the Protoss single player until at least 2011." This is a vague assertion. You won't be able to play the Protoss "expansion" until 2011, but the Protoss will be playable in the first and second game. This came up in the QA session after the panel at Blizzcon.

"Since SC2 won't be out until 2009, you won't be able to play the Zerg single player until at least 2010" would be accurate, however.

I don't doubt that in a few years they'll have a "Starcraft2 Battle Chest" that will have the whole thing for $30.

That being said, I really like the SC storyline, even if it is derivative of other works, and to me more Starcraft is better than less Starcraft. If they can provide a cinematic feel and a storyline that defines the universe a bit better by making each campaign larger, I don't see a huge issue with that.

Do I wish that they could have crammed all of the content they planned into one game without it taking many years to do so? Sure. Would I rather they grow the franchise into something bigger instead of shipping Starcraft1.5? Absolutely.

PS: I'm not sure if I'm just misreading what you said, but the multiplayer will be complete, this announcement only refers to the single player campaign. If you're not interested in the single player campaign, you don't need to buy any of the "expansions."

Wow, it's pretty obvious that Joystiq wasn't even *at* the announcement panel throwing all of this disinformation around.

1.) There will be a Protoss Mini-Campaign (a few missions) in both the first and second game because the Protoss story is the underlying thread that branches all of the races together. So you will be able to play Protoss in the first game (and the second game). They didn't say anything about playing Zerg in the first game, however.

2.) They've said that they first Starcraft had 32 missions spread out over 3 races. The trilogy will have 26-30 missions per game, and gives them the time and resources for a lot more story/cinematics/etc.

At the panel they gave the 3 options they were working with, and the one they chose was the best one. The options were:

1. Cut a ton of content, no branching missions, no in-game cinematics, and a much less epic storyline.

2. Split it up into 3 games, keep everything, and add more.

3. Delay it indefinitely until they could finish all of the content they wanted to complete.

I don't know about you, but 2 looks like the best option for me. Sure you're going to pay more *over three years*, but you're getting a lot more.

Amazon.com (I refuse to give Gamestop or EB any money).

Amazon.com

1 redundant, the official release and the laserdisc transfer to DVD that had been floating around a few years prior.

1 redundant, the official release and the laserdisc transfer to DVD that had been floating around a few years prior.

1 redundant, the official release and the laserdisc transfer to DVD that had been floating around a few years prior.

Han herds nerfs.

Han herds nerfs.