Then again, I guess the original StarCraft was released about 10 years ago, but what makes the leap from that game to StarCraft II so jarring is that people still play StarCraft 1 today. I’m still playing through the Brood Wars campaign right now, so when I see the above opening cinematic, I still have those late nineties full motion videos fresh in my mind. It’s pretty amazing how far technology and Blizzard have come. Not only is everything much more detailed, the action is much more exciting to watch. We can’t wait for this game. Yes, you and me and everyone else.

Speaking of which, a few more Starcraft II details were revealed in an interview with Wired’s Game|Life blog. Beyond my own enthusiasm, there are a lot of people out there who feel that splitting the game into three parts is just a blatant scheme for Blizzard to sell more games. While that might be, lead designer Dustin Browder revealed that from a design perspective,

more…

Why make just one game, when you can make three? Seeing as trilogies are all the rage these days, it was announced at Blizzcon 2008 this past weekend that the StarCraft II’s single player campaign will be spread across three separate games, the appropriately named StarCraft II Trilogy. The first game will focus on the Terran story, the second the Zerg, and the third will focus on the Protoss.

"Effectively, each game in the [trilogy] will be an expansion," StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty told Kotaku during a brief interview following the StarCraft II panel. Much like in the case of all of Blizzard’s other franchises, each expansion will include changes and additions to the StarCraft multiplayer as well, except that instead of getting just a few more missions for the same old single player game, StarCraft II’s expansions will be much greater in scope.

Apparently because of the differences among the races, there will be gameplay differences among the three titles as well. For example, as was revealed last year, the Terran’s technological evolution is user controlled through winning encounters and choosing which technologies to research for the next battle. While it would make sense to include this type of gameplay for the other two races as well, Sigaty explained that the Zerg campaign would involve some sort of diplomatic gameplay. Unique aspects of the Protoss campaign were not revealed.

Sounds interesting enough, but I think the best implication of this decision to split the game into three parts is that it’ll probably be that much sooner when we finally get our hands on at least part of the StarCraft II. Namely, the multiplayer, which has been Blizzard’s focus from the start, and is arguably the part most people are most looking forward to anyways. Once we have that, the wait for the Zerg and Protoss parts will be that much less painful.

BlizzCon 2008: StarCraft II Single Player is a Trilogy! [Kotaku]
BlizzCon 2008: StarCraft II Lead Producer On The Split Single Player Campaign [Kotaku]

See, what’d I tell ya? According to numerous sources on the web, Toys "R" Us will be starting their Buy 2 Get One Free games sale this Sunday and ending Oct 20th. I’m kinda thinking of going for Saints Row 2, Dead Space, and something else. It’s too bad the sale isn’t happening three or four weeks from now when LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Gears, well, pretty much every game anyone is looking forward to will be out.

Anyways, if you’re looking to get a some new new games for less, head over to Toys "R" Us next week. I think the sale is also going on online. I’ll let you know when I know.

Dang coupons…

In the later years of E3 proper, I used to make these 40+ game lists of games I was hyped for in the upcoming holiday season. Not wanting to appear too flippant in the face of economic hardships, I didn’t do that this year, but there’s still a lot of games I am really looking forward to playing in the next couple months.

LittleBigPlanet, if you’ve been following the blog, is a must-buy. Resistance 2 with its 60 player competitive and 8 player co-op also has my interest, and I’ve mentioned the good deal I got on the new official PS3 headset coming with SOCOM Confrontation. So that’s three, and pretty much what I had settled upon, despite my burning desire to play Fable II, Gears of War 2, Saint’s Row 2, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Call of Duty: World at War, De Blob, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, Rise of the Argonauts, Dead Space, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Mirror’s Edge, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Left 4 Dead, Sonic Unleashed (maybe), and Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Sad… So many games, so little funding.

But the Motorstorm coupon I received in the mail reminded me of some things that I seem to forget every year about buying holiday release games. So here’s some tips on getting the most out of your gaming budget. Click on!

Check it out!

Fun times. I can not wait for this game.