Amid all the hype for Diablo 3, you may have missed hearing about the StarCraft II developer panel helmed by Blizzard's Rob Pardo at this weekend's Worldwide Invitational in Paris. Joystiq was there to catch all the details on the latest build of the game. See what team Blizzard had to say about the newfound power of the Zerg Queen, the upgraded Protoss Mothership and the reason behind de-emphasizing heroic classes. All this after the jump.

The Protoss are a force to be reckoned with
Pardo moved on to talk a bit about how the Protoss are progressing in the development of the game. Their psionics are the key theme to their race and Blizzard pushed that further, but also pulled back on the emphasis on spellcasting.

First he showed an example of their new force field ability used to control the battlefield. A video showed a swarm of zerglings rushing a Protoss base, but the Protoss force threw up a series of connected force fields that formed a funnel forcing the zergs into a choke point where they were easily destroyed.

While high damage Protoss spells like Psi Storm are returning, Blizzard also wanted to introduce some early game casters. Nullifiers were mentioned. And Stalkers were given a teleport ability that had interesting strategic potential. In another video of game play, force fields were raised forcing an attacking army to go around it. The Stalkers then teleported themselves to the other side of the force fields, behind the attacking army, and took them out from behind.

The return of the Mothership
The Protoss Mothership also makes an appearance. While not as powerful as the Zerg Queen, it has been given powerful support abilities. It is now a mobile battlefield teleporter, able to zap in troops to wherever it is at. It is also heavily armored and has an emergency ability called Time Bomb which renders it immune from damage for a short period of time. Since it isn't as versatile as the Zerg Queen, Protoss players will be able to have more than one Mothership in play at once.

We know better than to upset StarCraft's Queen of Blades, the femme fatale Sarah Kerrigan, so we brought delicious and moist cake to apologize for celebrating the game's 10th birthday a day late. Blizzard posted a little note yesterday that on March 31, 1998, it gave birth to a little RTS called StarCraft ... and Korea would never be the same again.

Blizzard states that StarCraft has sold 9.5 million copies since release and admits a considerable amount of those sales occurred in South Korea, where the game continues to "enjoy unprecedented levels of popularity." Back in '98, StarCraft was revolutionary for introducing three distinct races, solid multiplayer supported by Blizzard's Battle.net and a variety of other things we pretty much now take for granted. StarCraft II is expected whenever Blizzard gets around to releasing it -- yup, that's the best way to put it.

Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament being held in Paris, France, will go on sale this Thursday The event will be at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre on June 28 and 29, with tickets costing €70 / £55 ($110). Attendees will get hands-on time with WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King and StarCraft II.

The tournament will have $100,000 in prizes, but all we really care about is the big announcement. Blizzard has a habit of revealing big things at its special events, as it did at last year's invitational in Korea when it announced StarCraft II. Then again, Blizzard could just make us sad Pandaren by neglecting to reveal anything at all.

[Via WoW Insider]

When using the words "Korea" and "StarCraft" in the same sentence, it's no time to make jokes. So, when The Korea Times says Starcraft II is "expected to begin service this year," we wonder if it knows something the rest of us don't. The idea of StarCraft II coming out this year is possible, but Blizzard hasn't given the slightest indication for us to assume such a thing. We're glad The Korea Times thinks Starcraft II is on its way (and we hope its right!), but if there's anything we've learned its that Blizzard uses BlizzCon or its World Wide Invitational later in the year for big announcements.

The Korea Times' actual story isn't about a Starcraft II release, but about foreign titles cutting into the "long-run popularity of locally made games." The piece says Lord of the Rings Online plans to start in Korea this year and games like World of Warcraft and Hellgate:London are already incredibly popular. It's interesting to note -- although completely logical given the way StarCraft is played in Korea -- that The Korea Times treats Starcraft II as more of an MMO than a single-player game with multiplayer component.

[Thanks Akela]

Hey, BlizzCon isn't just about the wrath of a Lich King and the World of Warcraft -- let's get some StarCraft pron in here too. Blizzard has released new Starcraft II screens and there's plenty of stuff we're wondering and asking, "What's that?"

Hopefully some of our people at BlizzCon can get more details. Check out the new screens in the gallery below. We're definitely digging the new Terran Viking ... Starcraft meets Robotech.

1:53pm - Blizzard sure knows how to keep things dark. We're stting here in front of the massive main stage, where thankfully our press pass got us a seat (because the place is packed to the (murloc) gills). We've just been given the ten minute warning, which sends batteries, cameras, pens, and notebooks scattering to the floor as we scramble to plant ourselves in a good view of the screens.

What's the big news going to be? Diablo 3? The already-leaked expansion? Murloc SingStar? Something totally unrelated? We'll find out soon.

Before we proceed, please take this with a brick of salt -- ready? Let's go. WoW Insider received information from an anonymous tipster that the Video Games Live orchestra will be performing three pieces called "Northrend 1, 2,and 3" at next week's BlizzCon. WoW Insider dug deeper and found the track names do not appear on Warcraft II, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft or the Burning Crusade soundtracks. This could mean the continent of Northrend will finally come into play in the next expansion and gamers will be able to take on Warcraft III's anti-hero/villain (depending on your perspective), the fallen Prince Arthas, who now sits on The Frozen Throne.

World of Warcraft has left two major sections of Warcraft III's story open, one of which, if the information is solid, will hopefully be tied up in a battle with Arthas. The other being the glowing pink sparkly bubble protecting the city of Dalaran, which has taunted WoW players for over two years. Then again, Blizzard can take its sweet time, it's not like they're hurting for players, and introduce The Emerald Dream or take on the expansive ocean in the next expansion. BlizzCon starts next weekend and Joystiq, along with WoW Insider, will be there covering it to let you know about the latest from Blizzard's franchises.

It's not World of Warcraft, it's not Starcraft II, but it is, according to Blizzard, totally awesome, and it's in super-secret development by a super-secret sect of the company called Team 3. It was during a conversation about workforce with Gamasutra when Frank Pearce, senior vice president of product development for Blizzard, semi-spilled the proverbial beans. After mentioning the 40-person Team 3, Pearce would only add "Team 3 is working on something really awesome. I can't give you any hints, but it's totally awesome."

Oh, no hints? Too bad that we've already cracked the case. With Blizzcon just around the bend, hopefully we'll find out if our hunch holds water. What's your theory?

For Aiur! If you missed out getting your tickets to BlizzCon, this news will probably be even more disappointing. Blizzard informs us that StarCraft II will be playable at the Aug. 3-4 BlizzCon event being held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Demo stations will be set up at the convention and attendees will even be able to experience multiplayer battles.

Now, Blizzard is notoriously slow and anal about their games. Does this demo mean that StarCraft II is further along than we thought? Let's just keep calm and say no for now. It's always safer to do that with Blizzard. Attendees of E3 2005 got to play StarCraft: Ghost ... and look what happened to that. Yup, it's better for StarCraft fans attending BlizzCon to think of this as a bonus, but it's nice to dream the game is further along than anybody guessed.

Other tidbits:

• Hero units will not be as important or require as much management as they did in Warcraft III.
• The current plan is to keep the unit cap at 200. In terms of unit higlighting, the development team is testing the option to let you select an unlimited of units at the same time.
• Blizzard consulted with top competitive SC and WCIII players from Korea for the balance and design process.
• The ideal SCII match will last less than 20 minutes.
• No decisions have been made as to minimum system requirements, but Blizzard has always made games for a wide range of computers. The team did note that a Shader Model 2.0-compatible graphics card will be required. (That's GeForce FX, Radeon 9000 or better, PC Gamer reports.)

Everything we've previously seen or read, the feature stressed, is subject to change. Here's hoping we get some more information (or hands-on time) at this year's BlizzCon. The latest PC Gamer is on newsstands now.


[Thanks, Einhanderkiller]

So, if you're traveling this weekend, you've probably already left. But if not, we've got some audio to make the time go by a little quicker. Or, if you're listening to the smooth, mellow, honey-dipped tones of the Joystiq Podcast -- a little sexier.

CAG Cast: For the first time, Cheapy D and Wombat are totally live on their newest podcast, where they play Name that Videogame Tune and even take a few calls. Well, they're not live when you listen to it, but they were live when they recorded it. That's not to say they're not still alive, because we're pretty sure they are. But, we guess it's possible that they're not. So, you know, listen while you can.

From the "We Can't Believe This Didn't Come From Korea" file, a group of eagle-eyed Hungarian gamers have spotted a couple of hidden pictures in the Starcraft II trailer released last weekend. The two images, which we'd bet are Blizzard staffers, can be found by freezing the video (HD version here) at 0:02 and 0:12 and then shuttling through frames.

The first (seen above) is a large group enjoying some libations, the second (after the jump) looks like it might be lead designer Dustin Browder and some other dude. It's a fun easter egg, we're just a little sad that Korea was too busy picking up the pieces of the megaton-shattered nation to notice it for themselves.

[Via N4G.com]

We know that the announcement of Starcraft II has all but caused the internet to explode, and we admit to being totally stoked enough by that intro trailer to describe ourselves as "totally stoked" in a public forum. But can you imagine what it must be like in Korea? Seriously, can you imagine? It would be like people in the United States finding out that there was a sequel to American Idol that would also power their cars. We thought on this Starcraft Saturday it might be helpful to remind you how it looks when an entire culture hovers near the brink of insanity and is subsequently pushed off.

Watch the above video, those are 10,000 people waiting for the announcement of the game. Watch this feature. If you can get past the extremely energetic host, you can see an American guy wishing that he had been born and raised in Korea so he could be a "rock star" ... of Starcraft. Read this blog to get 1UP's James Mielke's first-hand account of the madness. Our question to you: Do you pine for a culture like that of Korea, or are you happy losing you mind in the privacy of your own home?

Watch -- Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Gaming in Korea
Read -- BWI Live Blog From Seoul, South Korea

It all lead up to this: StarCraft II. After months of speculation Blizzard announced today at their World Wide Invitational in Korea that their next big project is StarCraft II for PC.

Blizzard president Mike Morhaime says, "With StarCraft II, we'll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more ... We recognize that expectations are high following the long-running popularity of the original game, but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that StarCraft players and strategy gamers worldwide will enjoy." Meanwhile, IGN's man in Korea, Charles Onyett says, "SC2 looks, at least visually, strikingly similar to SC1 - both in unit and map designs."

This has been Blizzard's longest gap between releases. Blizzard had a consistent two-year release schedule (not including expansion packs) since 1994 with the original WarCraft. That streak was broken in 2006 when StarCraft: Ghost was killed indefinitely postponed. Although no release date has been given for StarCraft II, hopefully gamers won't have to worry about another installment of the series being "postponed."



[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]