150 AUD per copy per customer. I had my housemate help me pre-order my second set. Will be doing an unboxing once I get it in my hands.

Whats the local price for it?

lol ok la.. but honestly i dunno if this game is worth it.. cuz its nothing new compare to original starcraft... just a remake and my place here sell like rm300

For the launch of Starcraft II, Blizzard is going all out, flying the development team around the world to attend midnight openings across Europe and North America.

Events will be held in London, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Moscow and Orange County, with prizes to be given away at each along with the chance to meet some of the development team that worked on the game.

In London, for example, lead software engineer Carl Chimes will be on-hand to chat with attendees, while lead technical artist Rob McNaughton will be in Berlin and the Fountain Valley, Orange County opening at the local Fry's store will feature "members of the Starcraft II development team and other Blizzard employees".

If you can't make one of the special events, plenty of regular stores around the world will be open at midnight as well. Though instead of Blizzard employees, at these, all you'll find are...Gamestop employees. Tired Gamestop employees.

For the full details on which stores are open, when they're open and what's going on, visit Blizzard's launch site below.

Starcraft is so damn big that many people who have never rushed a Zerg in their life will be keen to see what all the fuss is about next week. If that's you, here's what you need to know!

What the hell is Starcraft II?

Starcraft II is a real-time strategy game developed by Blizzard entertainment, otherwise known as the makers of World of Warcraft. It's the sequel to Starcraft, a game from 1998 that many regard as one of the greatest PC games ever released. Even now, over a decade on, it's still played regularly by people all over the world; in Korea, it's so popular that there are professional leagues dedicated solely to playing the game.

Starcraft II is set in the same science fiction universe as its predecessor, a universe in which three factions - the Terrans (humans), noble alien Protoss and evil insects the Zerg - battle (and sometimes team up) for control of the galaxy.

If I haven't played the first game, what have I missed?

You won't need to know what's happened to play Starcraft II, but if you'd like to know what's going on, you should check out this handy guide to the story of the Starcraft universe.

What kind of machine do I need to play this thing?

Starcraft II is coming out on the PC and Mac. You'll need one of those two to play it. It's not coming out on PS3, or Xbox 360, or the Wii, or the DS, or the PSP. Just the PC and the Mac.

Even if you've got a PC or a Mac (or both!), you're not out of the woods yet. You'll need to make sure your machine can run the game. Developers Blizzard are normally very good at making sure even relatively ancient machines can run their games, but just to be safe, check the specifications below to see if you make the grade:

    Minimum System Requirements*:

    PC: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 (Latest Service Packs) with DirectX 9.0c
    2.6 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
    128 MB PCIe NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card or better

    Mac: Mac OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
    Intel Processor
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon X1600 or better

    PC/Mac: 12 GB available HD space
    1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 users, 2 GB for Mac users)
    DVD-ROM drive
    Broadband Internet connection
    1024X720 minimum display resolution

    *Note: Due to potential programming changes, the Minimum System Requirements for this game may change over time.

    Recommended Specifications:

    PC: Windows Vista/Windows 7
    Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
    2 GB RAM
    512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better

    Mac: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
    4 GB system RAM
    NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 4670 or better

OK, OK, I'm going to buy the game. But I've never played Starcraft before. How do I play this thing?

Good news: while the term "real time strategy" and all those buttons and strategies look complex, the fundamentals of Starcraft are pretty easy to get a handle on. The video below, by ShockemStarcraft, is a surprisingly handy guide for beginners, giving you a good introduction to the basics of the game.

And finally, where/how can I buy it?

If you're reading Kotaku, there's a good chance you're included in the list of countries and regions in which Starcraft II is launching on July 27. If that's you, you have two purchasing options: you can buy the game from a store, or you can download it from the comfort of your own home.

If you're lazy (or don't want to waste all that plastic and cardboard!), you can actually download the game now; you just won't be able to play it until July 27.

Those preferring to buy a box from a store in the real world, there are a ton of retailers opening at midnight, some even featuring Blizzard developers who will be on-hand to meet fans and answer questions.

guess what guys, i've received an email frm youbeli stating tat they can't fulfill my order for CE!     

damn i'm totally in rage rite now 

This has nothing to do with Starcraft the game and everything to do with Starcraft the universe.

I like Starcraft! Both the game and the universe. The game is a robust real-time strategy classic, the universe one of the more enjoyable in video games, managing a science fiction setting with a dash of humour. But that universe is - like most fictional worlds - not entirely of its own making. Just like Star Wars is The Hidden Fortress with lasers, Starcraft owes a visual debt to Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K.

(That and Heinlein's original Starship Troopers, but for a rundown of that side of the story, check out io9's great piece.)

All three of Starcraft's races have a lot in common with some of the factions from the Warhammer 40K series of tabletop miniature games, which pre-dates Starcraft by over a decade. Long-time and/or hardcore Starcraft fans will probably already know this (judging from the number of Horus jokes in the comments of a previous post, 40K fans do too), and for you, there's not much more to read here if you're the type to get angry at people pointing this out.

If you're simply a casual fan of Starcraft, however, and like the whole Marines + swarming alien menace + wise old alien race thing it has going on, then use this as a launching point to learning more about one of the franchise's great creative predecessors!

SPACE MARINES - The most immediate and obvious comparison between the two. Starcraft's Marine and 40K's Space Marine are both the poster boys of their respective armed forces, both have the word "marine" in their name and, most critically, both look eerily similar. Big collars, big boots, big shoulder pads.

What's not the same? Starcraft's humanity is a dishevelled, splintered group that's a little rough around the edges. Truckers in space, as they were originally portrayed. 40K's are a vast empire with an ancient mythology, and are about as far removed from truckers as you can imagine.

PROTOSS - The Protoss are the most advanced race in the Starcraft universe. There are "light" Protoss and "dark" Protoss. They are a proud and ancient people. They possess psionic powers. Everything I just said also applies to the Eldar, the elves of 40K's universe, whose elegant and ornate armour even looks a little like that of the Protoss.

ZERG - Starcraft's third race is the Zerg, a swarming race of insect-like creatures operating as a devastating hive mind. The Tyranids, a major faction from the Warhammer 40K universe, are a swarming race of insect-like creatures operating as a devastating hive mind.

So, yeah, while the storylines and adventures of the two universes are radically different, on a fundamental level, Starcraft is built on the same foundations as Warhammer 40K. Just without the Orks. Or Chaos (though you could argue there's a little of that in Starcraft's Kerrigan). So if you're a fan of Blizzard's series but have never really looked into 40K before, maybe now's the time to try! It's not like Blizzard looked to it for inspiration because it sucked.

If you want to read up on the history of the universe and the tabletop game based on Warhammer 40K, this wiki page is as good a place to start as any. And if you want to play some Warhammer games? May I recommend Dawn of War and Dawn of War II on the PC, or if you're after something a little more retro, Space Hulk, again for the PC.

yes i believe you can still buy retail box from all it hypermarket at standard retail price of rm248.00 after 27 july 2010.
regarding collectors edition SEA version, i think can consider sold out liao as i heard only got 100 copies allocated for malaysia.
i heard that only got 500 copies allocated for the whole SEA region.

thanks for the promo hohoho.

I can sense lotsa people including a few of us here going

gah? price for digital copy is RM248 too? O_O

hmmm that would make sense then.

then it would more economical for me to keep a box for myself haha!

but i wonder if i can enter the retail box cd key to use the installer for the digital copy.

lazy to insert the DVD hohoho.

hmmm that would make sense then.

then it would more economical for me to keep a box for myself haha!

but i wonder if i can enter the retail box cd key to use the installer for the digital copy.

lazy to insert the DVD hohoho.