With a relatively successful, albeit questionably marketed version of the original StarCraft released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, how would StarCraft II fare on today's consoles?

Two years after the release of the original StarCraft on the PC, StarCraft 64 hit store shelves. Co-developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Mass Media Inc., the game contained all of the missions from the original game and the Brood War expansion, plus a couple of exclusive missions. While the game didn't feature online multiplayer or voiced cut-scenes, it made up for those with a split-screen multiplayer mode in which two players controlled one force.

While the game was hideous graphically, gameplay-wise it remains one of the most successful PC-to-console real-time-strategy ports of all time. Could lightning strike twice?

StarCraft pushed the Nintendo 64 to its limits, requiring the 64MB memory expansion to even run the Brood War missions. Today the lines between console and PC power are much more blurry. The Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 could easily handle running the game.

The main obstacle of bringing StarCraft II to the console, from a design standpoint at least, is the controls. As we've learned time and time again, an analog stick is not a substitute for a mouse. StarCraft II's controls aren't particularly complex, but they'd still likely be incredibly awkward. The best solution would be redesigning the controls for console play, and who has time for that?

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a StarCraft II release on consoles, however, is Blizzard's Battle.net.

From here on out, Blizzard's games are going to have Battle.net's hooks anchored deep, and StarCraft II is no exception. Blizzard has made it clear time and time again that Battle.net is the future of the Blizzard community, so unless a console interface for the community was created, it's doubtful we'd ever see StarCraft II in its present form on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

You know Microsoft would make you pay extra to access it anyway.

Of course there could always be an offline port of StarCraft II, perhaps once all three single-player games have been released, but StarCraft II without online is like something amazing without the thing that makes it amazing (from the department of bad analogies). It might have worked back on the Nintendo 64, but that was before online multiplayer was really a going concern on consoles.

So a return to consoles for StarCraft seems unlikely. At least we'll always have the Saddam Hussein video.

man I want this game so badly nowwwww

Scientists in a variety of fields including entomology, evolutionary biology, systems ecology, astrobiology, and physics, help us determine how much of the technology featured in the StarCraft universe is entirely science fiction and what could actually exist in real life.

    * The Overmind

To control the vast billions that comprise the Zerg race, a hivemind consciousness rules over the species. This consciousness, known as the Overmind, provides direction for the raging masses of the Zerg brood. It is even suggested that individual Zerg have no conscious mind whatsoever. Are there examples of this kind of hivemind on Earth?
Construction occurs in an entirely opposite context to a hivemind." -Dr. Gene Robinson, Professor of Entomology

It is currently impossible to say with any certainty whether there could be a race like the Zerg out in the vastness of space. However, our own planet has a wonderful variety of life forms in extremely diverse environments. So it's possible that looking inward at our own planet could give us a decent idea of what Zerg-like aliens would be like.

"Construction occurs in an entirely opposite context to a hivemind," says Dr. Gene Robinson, professor of Entomology at the University of Illinois, about bee and ant behaviors. "Bees respond to local cues with a behavioral response, without knowing what the global state or goal might be. Local actions give rise to phenomenal global patterns, with no one in charge."

We don't have a consciousness that mirrors the Zerg, but the end result can still be similar.

In 2009, scientists learned that separate ant colonies in Japan, Europe, and South America were actually part of a massive global super-colony. This is theorized to have been accomplished by stowing away on human transport, and overthrowing native colonies. So even with a different type of hivemind, Zerg-like tendencies can still emerge.

    * Verdict    * Plausible

    * Hybrid Species

The three central races of the Starcraft universe are perfect foils for one another. Not only in terms of perfectly balanced gameplay, but also biology and story. So it was inevitable that they would start trying to meld their races together, to create extremely powerful hybrids capable of turning the tide of the war.
This is already happening -– transgenic animals are commonly created to express human diseases in lab animals like mice as well as weird animals like bunnies that glow and goats that produce spider silk in their milk." -Dr. Michael Alfaro, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at UCLA

The Zerg show this capability in their infestation of Kerrigan, while the Terran are known to have experimented with implanting Protoss tissue into their spy units, Ghosts. Even the extremely powerful Xel'naga race of Starcraft lore experimented heavily with combining Zerg and Protoss DNA. But is it likely that the DNA of species separated by half a galaxy could be combined?

"The easiest way to meld two species would be to use genetic engineering to insert the desired genes of one species into another," says Dr. Michael Alfaro, professor of evolutionary biology at UCLA. "This is already happening -– transgenic animals are commonly created to express human diseases in lab animals like mice as well as weird animals like bunnies that glow and goats that produce spider silk in their milk."

"This does not mean that biologists can create a [hybrid] animal with any desired mix of traits," Alfaro continues. "Though it is not so far-fetched to imagine a technologically advanced society doing something like this."

    * Verdict    * True

    * Zerg Assimilation

The overwhelming success of the Zerg species in conquering worlds can be attributed to their modus operandi of "assimilating" powerful species into their gene pool. The Overmind instructs them to seek out species with abilities or traits that they desire, and to bring that into the Zerg DNA. The ultimate goal being to kill off all weak races, and dominate all strong races.
You could even consider viruses as master assimilators." -Dr. Michael Alfaro

The Zerg are obviously a unique race, but can we see any evidence of this kind of behavior in our own world?

The short answer is, yes, it is possible. Though we certainly haven't observed anything resembling something as terrifying as that of the Zerg race. Professor Alfaro tells us of an accepted theory in biology that explains how ancient plants cells acquired the ability to use sunlight for energy by accidentally merging with photosynthetic bacteria. Which then -- due to this incredibly useful new ability -- led to plants becoming one of the dominant forms of life on Earth.

"You could even consider viruses as master assimilators," says Alfaro. "[Viruses] take over the replicating machinery of an invaded cell and insert a new instruction set so that the DNA of the host cell creates millions and millions of copies of the virus. Eventually the host cell bursts, releasing these copies to invade nearby healthy cells."

It may not be the most polite comparison, but it seems fairly apt to compare the Zerg to a type of virus.

    * Verdict    * Possible

    * Earth That Was

The principle reason that the Terran left planet Earth was due to catastrophic scarcity of resources caused by the world's 23 billion people. The original colonists were sent on an interstellar mission to colonize a new sector of the universe and to discover new sources of minerals and resources for the survival of humanity. But could things ever get that bad on Earth?
Given that I think the Earth is enormously and horribly overpopulated already, I find this to be an impossibility," -Dr. Charles A. Hall, Professors of Systems Ecology at New York State University

"Given that I think the Earth is enormously and horribly overpopulated already, I find this to be an impossibility," says Dr. Charles A. Hall, professor of systems ecology at the State University of New York.

Hall says that the rapid population escalation over the past 100-150 years has been due mostly to agricultural advances. Since most experts today believe we've reached the peak of oil production, that will put a cap on how much food we are able to farm (tractors, pesticides, and irrigation systems are all heavily petroleum-dependent.) No additional food means fewer babies.

"So no," says Hall. "I do not think we can maintain even the present population."

While it seems impossible for the global population to ever reach Starcraft's enormous 23 billion, global resource shortages still seem inevitable nonetheless.

    * Verdict  * Mostly True

* Teleportation

In Starcraft the universe, the Protoss can teleport units from far away distances, and transport units out of danger instantly. This seems like pure fantasy, but it may surprise you to know that teleportation is not only possible – we can already do it. Though the reality isn't what you might hope.
"The information to describe a particle is contained in its quantum state." -Dr. Joshua Bienfang, a physicist

"The information to describe a particle is contained in its quantum state," says Dr. Joshua Bienfang, a physicist in the Quantum Telecommunications department at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "If you transfer that state from one particle to another, the second particle is indistinguishable from the original."

In other words, teleportation doesn't actually move anything. A particle is simply recreated in a different location. This allows you to measure a particle in one place, then send that information (by conventional means, telephone, radio waves etc.) to another place where it can be constructed. Ostensibly allowing for near light-speed travel.

The problem is that the necessary calculations for teleporting anything useful are far beyond astronomical. Modern scientists struggle to teleport a single atom just 10 yards across a lab. A human being is made of a trillion trillion (quatron-zillion) atoms. Plus, those atoms must then be rearranged in perfect order. Most experts say that while it's not technically impossible it will almost certainly never be accomplished.

    * Verdict  * Highly Unlikely

  * Zerg Space Travel

Bad things happen when humans go into space without equipment. Even under optimum circumstances a human would still only stay conscious for about 15 seconds. The Zerg, however, seem to have no trouble at all traveling through open space without technology. How can a creature that evolved on a pressurized planet could survive in the vacuum of space?
"What is the probability of getting all the right molecules in one place at one time in this enormous volume of space?" -Dr. Harold Geller, Astrobiologist at George Mason University

In 1969, NASA discovered some Streptococcus Mitis bacteria from Earth living on a camera that had been left on the moon for two years until Apollo 12 astronauts brought it home. So it is possible for some living things to survive in outer space.

The Zerg gained their ability for outer space survival by luring a species of interstellar creatures close to their home planet, capturing them and assimilating their traits into their gene pool. Which then begs the question: can life spring up and evolve in deep space?

"I would have to answer with an emphatic 'No!'" says Dr. Harold Geller, an astrobiologist at George Mason University. "What is the probability of getting all the right molecules in one place at one time in this enormous volume of space? Truly a needle in the haystack analogy, where you would be throwing in another needle, hoping to hit the original needle with just the right energy."

He further explained that this astronomical unlikelihood is compounded by interstellar radiation which would likely destroy organic molecules quickly even if they managed to form.

    * Verdict   * Highly Unlikely

The installer allows multiple copies of the game to be installed

Unlike previous Blizzard installers, this one will always let you install another copy of the game. It does not check for previous installations so be careful of how many folders you end up making.

Compatibility Modes will not work properly

Attempting to run StarCraft 2 on a compatibility mode (Windows XP SP3 from Windows 7, for example) will make it crash. Please run the game normally.

Certain screens make your hardware work pretty hard

Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient. This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly. A temporary workaround is to go to your Documents\StarCraft II Beta\variables.txt file and add these lines:

frameratecapglue=30

frameratecap=60

You may replace these numbers if you want to.

User report - Security program flagging the beta downloader as a trojan

We had some reports where a security program might flag the beta downloader as a trojan. It is a false positive.

Black Screens

There have been multiple reports of black screen issues being related to the use of a Quick Cam webcam.

In some cases exiting out of the software has resolved the issue but others have reported a need to uninstall the software for the camera in order to resolve the problem.

There are also reports where some security programs like Comodo firewall can cause the game to start and stay on a black screen.

No need to prototype a Lego StarCraft video game. We now know what it would look like. Great work, Kooberz Studios. We like your Lego Terran Barracks how-to video as well. [Lego Starcraft: Brick Rush, thanks smi1ey!]

Still not received my package yet... sigh

i mean, wtf, 2 days??? Seriously?? i was walking pass and then i saw, i ask the guy seriously??

oh ya, anybody want to sell me their CE Artbook?

who wanna play add me KyrilSoulX 644

Blame this guy, Robert Kotick.

why this game is so expensive?

rm200+,wont expensive la.play for lifetime one

IGN: Nanodust
Character Code: 542

Alt -f4 or use F10 -> exit game