StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Now Live!

Hail to the Queen of Blades! Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today set off a global zerg invasion with the launch of StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm, the next chapter in the epic saga of StarCraft® II. Kerrigan has arrived, and with the help of her brood, she aims to take down Arcturus Mengsk once and for all.

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Players can now purchase Heart of the Swarm in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as digitally via the game’s official website (www.StarCraft2.com). Release plans for mainland China will be announced at a later date.

 

Heart of the Swarm enhances every aspect of StarCraft II, said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to Kerrigan’s campaign and the new multiplayer units and maps, we think players will really enjoy the new online elements and new features that make StarCraft II more fun and easier to learn than ever before.”

Standard, Collector’s, and Digital Deluxe Editions

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is now available at retailers nationwide on DVD-ROM for Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7/Windows® 8 and Macintosh® (suggested retail price 39.99 €). The expansion can also be purchased directly from Blizzard at www.StarCraft2.com for 39.99 €. In addition, Blizzard is offering a retail-exclusive Collector’s Edition of Heart of the Swarm loaded with digital and physical bonus items, available at select retail stores for a suggested retail price of 69.99 €.

 

Players also have the option to purchase a Digital Deluxe version of the expansion, which includes all of the digital items from the Collector’s Edition, directly from Blizzard via www.StarCraft2.com for 54.99 €. Anyone who purchases the standard edition digitally or at retail can upgrade to the Digital Deluxe version at any time (for as long as the standalone Digital Deluxe version remains available) for an additional 15 €.

The Digital Deluxe version of Heart of the Swarm includes a full digital copy of the expansion along with the following in-game bonus items:

  • StarCraft II Torrasque: Crush the enemies of the Swarm with the indomitable Torrasque, a fearsome new look for your zerg Ultralisks.
  • StarCraft II Portraits and Decals: New Swarm-infested portraits and decals help you customize the look of your online profile and in-game army.
  • World of Warcraft® In-Game Pet: The Baneling companion pet is bursting with enthusiasm and ready to explode onto the Pet Battles scene.
  • Diablo® III Blade Wings and Banner Sigil: Grow zerg-like wings in honor of the Queen of Blades, and unfurl an exclusive banner sigil to mark your allegiance to the Swarm in Sanctuary.

The retail-exclusive Collector’s Edition of Heart of the Swarm includes the full version of the game on DVD-ROM and contains the following exclusive bonus items, in addition to the content from the Digital Deluxe version:

  • Behind-the-Scenes DVD and Blu-ray: Immerse yourself in the StarCraft universe with developer commentary, interviews with voice actors, and an in-depth historical retrospective on StarCraft’s eSports legacy narrated by key members of the community.
  • Collector’s Edition Soundtrack CD: Enhance your Heart of the Swarm musical experience with this collection of 11 tracks from the game.
  • Heart of the Swarm Hardcover Art Book: This 144-page tome features never-before-seen art from the expansion, including early concept sketches and meticulous 3D renderings.
  • Zerg Rush Mousepad: This Collector’s Edition mousepad depicts the Terran Dominion holding out desperately under the onslaught of the Swarm.

New Images Leaked From Star Wars: First Assault

Images leaked from Star Wars’, which created a huge fanbase with its movies, new FPS online game First Assault.

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The game that’s being developed by LucasArts will be downloadable for PC, as well as the Xbox360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. According to the information, Star Wars: First Assault will let up to 16 people in one map and it will feature different worlds like Bespin and Tatooine.
Actually, in the past months Disney had anounced that the development of the Star Wars games has been stopped. This kind of leak after that announcement made the fans of the movies really excited. Let’s see what kind of explanation will come from Disney in the coming days. Stay tuned for more developments.
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Denmark Television Makes A Mistake About Assassin’s Creed

A TV channel in Denmark gets into some trouble because of the background image they used for a news about Damascus.

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While the announcer was narrating a development in Damascus, an image from Assassin’s Creed was used. Even though it wasn’t noticed then, a website originated from Israel revealed this mistake today. While the background is realistic, the picture belongs to very ancient Damascus.

People who are working in the TV channel announced that they didn’t know the picture was taken from the game and they stated that they’ve found the picture from the Internet. Actually this event shows how realistic the computer graphics can be. However if the TV channel looked carefully they could have found out the picture was taken from a video game.

Piston Is Available For Pre-order

Xi3′s living room friendly mini PC “Piston”, also known as “Steam Box”, is now available for pre-order.

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In SXSW Gaming Expo this weekend, Xi3 announced that they are accepting pre-orders for Piston. The price of the standard model that comes with a 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM is determined as 899.99$ and it was stated that this was a special price for SXSW. When Expo ends in March 17th the price of the product will be 999.99$. Also you can upgrade Piston’s standart properties,for example if you want a Piston that comes with 512GB SSD then the price will go up to 1.649.99$

CEO of Xi3 Jason A. Sullivan said that pre-ordered products can not be delivered until the end of 2013. “When Piston was introduced for the first time in CES 2013, the media and the gamers were very interested about it and it won a lot of awards. So we were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to satisfy the demands. That’s why we are starting to get pre-orders for PISTON in SXSW Gaming Expo today.” Sullivan clarified.

Additionally, a video about Piston’s customizable menu and its user interface published. In the video, you can hear the speaker saying “We don’t care what you’ll do with the console” clearly. This clarifies that the console will be open to the developers.

Lastly, it’s your turn to comment. What do you think about the price? Do you think it’s a gamble to pay this much money to a product that was never tried before?