Starcraft II beta announced for this month

Combine Hybrid

Combine Hybrid

Tank
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Messages
2,335
Reaction score
5
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98220-StarCraft-II-Beta-Will-Start-This-Month

In today's Activision-Blizzard earnings conference call, Blizzard big boss Mike Morhaime confirmed that the long-awaited StarCraft II beta would start before the end of February.

It's real, people: In a financial conference call recapping Activision-Blizzard's 2009 performance and looking forward to 2010, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime announced that the StarCraft II beta test would begin this month around the world. And by "worldwide," Morhaime meant that the beta will be available in North America, Europe, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and - of course - South Korea.

Morhaime stressed that the upcoming long-awaited beta test would be instrumental in allowing players not just to test and offer feedback on the highly-anticipated RTS title, but to do the same for the revamped Battle.net 2.0 - "the home of all Blizzard games going forward."

This marks the final stretch for StarCraft II, said Morhaime, which he claimed was still on track for a mid-summer 2010 release.
Click to expand...

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
 
Shaker I'm going to have to play you in some SC as well.

Now here's hoping that I'll get an opt in account!
 
Hopefully I'll have good chances of getting a beta key since my system is a bit rare. I'm assuming they'll choose people based on what kinds of systems they want to test out, right?
 
Even tho i didnt enjoy Starcraft 1, im looking forward to trying the beta. I just hope they release more information on exactly how you get it. I dont want to end up being one of those people without a key :/
 
do you think they'll give preference to people that have registered SC1?
can't find the bloody jewel case, just the cd.........!
 
B_MAN said:
do you think they'll give preference to people that have registered SC1?
can't find the bloody jewel case, just the cd.........!
Click to expand...

No, they say that as long as you have at least 1 blizzard product no-one will be chosen according to what games or how many games they have on their account.
 
Don't suck their balls too hard there, lame-o.












Save some for the rest of us.
 
Quixoticism said:
SC2 Theme music
Click to expand...

What the ****? That makes me think of Star Wars. Doesn't fit the game at all imo.

I better not have to listen to this every time I get in the game :|

But yeah sure, quite excited about the beta.
 
It's true. It doesn't really make me think of StarCraft at all. I hope they will do a revised rendition of the original theme for the actual release. I must admit though, it is pretty awesome on it's own.
 
I'm hoping that's "generic cutscene crescendo #4" instead of "main menu theme", because that song is all orchestration and zero iconic melody.
 
Heaven forbid they actually CHANGE SOMETHING from the first.
 
I'm all for change. I love the look and the gameplay-in-my-head of the new units and updated mechanics, but this song is just boring. There isn't a melodic theme. If I play you four notes from the Terran theme, no matter the instrument, you'll recognise it. If I play you four notes from this "Starcraft II theme", it will sound like any other generic orchestrated score for a game or movie (or pretty much any generic song at all).
 
That makes no sense. If I hear this "random gay star wars" song over and over for 10 years, I'm sure I can recognize it from anything also...
 
What the hell is wrong with you? This doesn't sound Star Wars at all. And it's very melodic. I just hope they don't use something this energetic in the level loading screens. That would drive me nuts. And any song grows on you after hearing it for hours and hours.
 
CyberPitz said:
That makes no sense. If I hear this "random gay star wars" song over and over for 10 years, I'm sure I can recognize it from anything also...
Click to expand...
Because that had a strong melodic theme. It doesn't matter if you've heard it once or heard it every day for five years. It doesn't matter if it's orchestrated or not. What matters is the notes of the song. If I have a piano, or a guitar (let's assume I can play both), and I start playing the Imperial March, you're going to say "Hey that's the Imperial March on guitar!" This is because the melodic theme of that song is distinctive and strong. Even someone who has seen the movie maybe two or three times will still recognise it - again because it's a very distinctive theme.

This Starcraft II Theme has no leading melody. It has a lot of energy, and the various instruments layer each other really well to make the song sound epic, but the actual music behind it is really generic. It's a crescendo with no feeling or emotion behind it. Think about the first time you heard the Terran theme; it was goddamn amazing wasn't it? It wasn't huge and epic because it didn't need to be. It was just a really strong, distinctive song that fit the Terran perfectly.

On the other hand, this SC2 theme would fit in literally any movie or game with an "epic" scene. It sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings. It doesn't sound like the distinctive theme of (what will hopefully be) a genre-defining sci-fi strategy game. It just sounds like epic orchestra for the sake of epic orchestra.
 
No, if you play this song on any instrument, you can tell what it's from. Just because it's not as 'melodic' doesn't stop the fact that "I've heard this song for so long, it's embedded into me, if someone plays it with another instrument it will still ring a bell in my head." I agree, it's not the same sound as SC1, but I think you are going a little overboard by saying that it is generic sounding and should be in some movie or game. Seems very 'grasp at straws'y

That can be said about any song on any game
 
On note, some of the latest changes some units have gone through.

Infested Terran:
SCIIInfestedTerran.jpg


Nulifier:
SCIISentry2.jpg


Matt Horner the captain of the Hyperion:
http://www.starcraft2.com/features/heroes/horner.xml
 
CyberPitz said:
No, if you play this song on any instrument, you can tell what it's from. Just because it's not as 'melodic' doesn't stop the fact that "I've heard this song for so long, it's embedded into me, if someone plays it with another instrument it will still ring a bell in my head." I agree, it's not the same sound as SC1, but I think you are going a little overboard by saying that it is generic sounding and should be in some movie or game. Seems very 'grasp at straws'y

That can be said about any song on any game
Click to expand...
I'm going to do a part-by-part thematic analysis of the SC2 theme just to prove you wrong :p

0:05-0:12 - Pretty good. Brooding, mysterious introduction.
0:12-0:17 - Ehh, just sort of echoing/augmenting the octave the song is in, but still good.
0:18 - Out-of-key crescendo! The whole tone of the song changes for these three or four seconds.
0:18-0:25 - This musical idea sounds more fantasy than it does sci-fi (i.e. more vocal than brass), but it's still good.
0:25-0:29 - Alright, this musical idea sounds more military (more brass than vocal), which is more thematically in line with space marines and powerful aliens.
0:29-0:38 - Another driving military-sounding idea.
0:39-0:47 - Which is quickly changed to a crescendo...
0:47-0:57 - ... segueing into yet another musical idea, only this time it feels more urgent!
0:57-1:00 - Which crescendos yet again, except this crescendo wasn't as good as the last one, and it leads into...
1:01-1:06 - ... meandering choirs, which lead into...
1:07-1:14 - ... a repeat of 0:47, which becomes more layered, which segues into...
1:20-1:30 - ... what I can only assume is the main theme, which still sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings.

I'm going to stop here. Now, what's my point? Go listen to any of Starcraft's theme songs, even the main menu theme. Listen to how often the ideas in the song change. It doesn't change much, right? Compare that to how often the SC2 theme changes - which is pretty much every ten seconds. This means one of two things:

- The song is expansive, yet catchy, and masterfully fuses these musical ideas into a cohesive, striking whole.
- The song has no defining core theme, and so it wanders around generic orchestration in an attempt to live up to the iconic standards of the original Starcraft.

But this theme doesn't strike you with its melody. It really just doesn't. It strikes you with its production. The song was clearly composed by someone who knows how to make things sound good and epic, but it was also clearly not composed by someone who knows how to write a proper musical hook. It has too many ideas, that are introduced too quickly, and disappear long before they can be fully developed in the song. That is why this song is not and will not be as iconic as anything from the original game.

I have a feeling you're still going to say it's iconic though :p
 
I've never said the StarCraft 2 theme was iconic. I'm saying that if you hear a song so many times, it doesn't matter how generic it sounds to you, I will know what it is if it's played by another instrument/keyboard/thing.

I agree, the production is what makes people go ":O". I love orchestras for that very reason.

You can quote how the song sounds all you want, it doesn't change any of the points I've had.
 
This is true. You said "Heaven forbid they actually CHANGE SOMETHING from the first", which made me think that you thought I was attacking the song because I was being a fanboy, which made me think you were defending it out of fanboyism. But we were both wrong! :D
 
lol, yeah, I agree with your points, besides the whole "it's too generic and won't be recognizable."

Wait, where was I wrong? ;)
 
Bawww, I knew I loved you.

Also, wtf I don't have you on Steam? If I do - wtf you're not online?
 
There are a lot of people I should have on Steam that aren't in my friends list. You're added now! :D
 
I truly feel sorry for the websites that will be giving away beta codes for SC2. If Battlefield brought down all the sites in a matter of minutes, SC2 will do it tenfold.

Although my 10 cents say that Blizzard will try to get money with the beta. "1$ for early access!"
 
Fantastic... I gotta update my system specs in my battlenet account.
 
Bakurei said:
I truly feel sorry for the websites that will be giving away beta codes for SC2. If Battlefield brought down all the sites in a matter of minutes, SC2 will do it tenfold.

Although my 10 cents say that Blizzard will try to get money with the beta. "1$ for early access!"
Click to expand...

I would pay anything to get into the beta. :eek:
 
Think people would pay for a beta key on ebay? I might apply and find out.
 
I already signed up for the beta ages ago on the Blizz site. I hope it's still valid.
 
^Ditto.

And I know people will sell their beta keys. I bet if they aren't easily accessible *betting this*, then they will go for a pretty penny. I bet people would pay for it as if it was a game or more.
 
CyberPitz said:
^Ditto.

And I know people will sell their beta keys. I bet if they aren't easily accessible *betting this*, then they will go for a pretty penny. I bet people would pay for it as if it was a game or more.
Click to expand...
50 bucks to play 3 months (or more) early and see how it develops? That's not even a ****in' question to ME and I'm a terrible Starcraft player who hasn't even ever finished the original campaign.

So, yes, I'm sure they'd go for more... much more. :p
 
I agree.

I'd be wary of buying it anyway. Probably be a "You get your beta key!" But really, you're ONLY getting a key, since they've already tied it to their account. lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dynasty
World Of Warcraft Loses 600,000 Players In 6 Months
Replies
23
Views
1K
Bad^Hat
Bad^Hat
Kisze
Blizzard to release DotA free for StarCraft 2
Replies
26
Views
1K
ríomhaire
ríomhaire
Shakermaker
Call of Duty: Beachhead - monetize the shit out of this franchise
2
Replies
53
Views
3K
BabyHeadCrab
BabyHeadCrab
CyberPitz
GomTV is starting a Global Starcraft II League this September!
Replies
7
Views
523
CyberPitz
CyberPitz
OmegaX
Acti-Blizz restructuring, assigns new executive to Blizzard
2
Replies
78
Views
4K
CyberPitz
CyberPitz
Back
Top