If you’ve been paying attention you may remember that a clever user-created mod for StarCraft II surfaced that virtually transformed the game into a full fledged MMO. A the time of its original unveiling this mod was to be called World of StarCraft. However, not long after the unveil video surfaced Blizzard claimed copyright and the video was quickly taken down. Luckily, it was not their intention to shut down the project entirely but instead to discuss a name change.

Well, the mod has officially swapped names and will now be known as StarCraft Universe. The mod’s developer, Ryan Winzen, also took the time to give us some insight into the game.

According to Winzen, he is looking to give to give players of the mod the ability to link up with up to 12 players on a single map, customize gear based on accrued loot, save their characters and choose from a variety of different player classes. Sounds like a pretty hefty order considering this mod is being entirely developed by a single person. Let’s hope he gets everything done.

Check out some gameplay from World of StarCraft StarCraft Universe after the break.
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We all knew that Blizzard would look to be incorporating Mac users with StarCraft II but ever since the beta was made available, Mac users have been left in the dark. Luckily, Blizzard has just released a Mac client of the StarCraft II beta for all to enjoy.

Of course, if you’re not alreaday in the beta you’re not going to be able to access this and if you are, you already know where to get it.

Enjoy!

via destructoid

While the only currently publicly available iteration of StarCraft II is a beta, it’s quickly becoming more and more like an actual game. Blizzard has just announced that they will be giving players what they want: a map editor

The map editor will go live for the PC version of the StarCraft II beta this week while the Mac version will go live next week. Keep an eye out for it, if you got a beta invite, that is.

via kotaku

Did you get in on the Starcraft II beta? If so, you may want to hurry up and re-register your nickname as it was just announced that all of the data associated with the beta has been erased. This includes stats and, like we mentioned above, nick names.

While this may be slightly discouraging news for those with a good play record, it’s wonderful news forthose who either want to change their nickname or start with a clean slate.

Still not in on the beta? No worries, Starcraft II is expected out sometime in the first half of this year.

via incgamers

Are you currently a StarCraft II beta tester? If so, prepare for an onslaught of requests from your friends — It was just made known that a number of beta testers will be getting emails from Blizzard that includes some extra StarCraft II beta keys.

This expansion, no matter how subtle it is, is surely to help Blizzard put some extra strain on their new Battle.net system for testing purposes.

Anyone want to send one my way?

via gamequack

Have you gotten an invite to the Starcraft II beta? If so, you will be happy to hear that Blizzard’s president and co-founder, Mike Morhaime, has just announced that the closed beta will go live sometime this month:

“We’re slated to begin beta testing later this month. The beta test will be conducted on a global scale including thousands of testers from North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan Australia, and New Zealand. We expect a tremendous response from our players and we’re eager to enter this stage of development as we enter the final stretch before release.”

Final stretch, huh? Although Starcraft II has yet to get an official release date, it’s pretty safe to say that “final stretch before the release” means it will be coming pretty soon.

via destructoid

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything regarding Starcraft II but today Blizzard has finally come forth and notified us of the system requirements. While these technically only apply to the upcoming beta, it’s safe to assume that the retail requirements won’t be much different.

Below are said specs:

Minimum Requirements:

• Operating System – Windows XP/XP64 (Service Pack 3), Windows Vista/Vista64 (Service Pack 1), Windows 7 Home Premium
• Processor – Intel Pentium IV 1.3GHz, AMD XP 1500+
• Memory – (Windows XP) 512mb, (Windows Vista) 1024mb, (Windows 7) 1024mb
• Graphics – 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM
• such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
• Hard Drive – 15Gb of free space
• DirectX9.0c

Recommended Requirements:

• Processor – Intel Pentium D, AMD 64 X2
• Memory – (Windows XP) 1024mb, (Windows Vista) 2048mb, (Windows 7) 2048mb
• Graphics – 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM
• such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better

Make those that these requirements are pretty damn low for such a beautiful game.

via destructoid