They are an elective service so players who choose to continue posting under their character names will continue to be able to do so. Some have suggested that this may be Blizzard’s compromise with fans who were worried about the RealID system.

BattleTags will also not conflict with RealID, allowing players to keep only their real friends on RealID, and continue to allow others to know them only by an online handle.

BattleTags will not be unique to each player, multiple accounts can use the same tag. However, each account will have an identifier number on their profile so you can distinguish.

Via WoW Insider.

• Lead art director at Blizzard, Samwise Dider, has detailed the thinking behind the three main races of StarCraft II.
• Snoop Dogg is a gaming walkthrough extraordinary. Which is why he’s given a walkthrough of RAGE. Give that shit a watch, yo.
• Digimon Masters has launched, according to Massively.
• Hello. Is it me you’re looking for, Battlefield?
• Back to the Future is $10 on Steam. Go nuts.
• You’ll get a ‘King of Soundtrack’ bonus if you pre-order King of Fighters XIII.

New units, balancing

Browder started the panel off discussing online balance as well as the aforementioned new multiplayer units in Heart of the Swarm.

When the team looked at balancing, it took many things into consideration, such as the differences between light and heavy play, and which style was most prevalent in certain regions. For example, in Korea, the Terran has an advantage over Protoss, while in Europe, it’s the Zerg which has the advantage.

As far as the Zerg’s concerned, Kim said the Zerg have trouble countering a well-entrenched players early in the game. With this, the team decided to retire the Overseer and replace it with the Viper, which is basically a Zerg spellcaster unit.

With the new units, Browder started off discussing the Terran faction units, along with voicing his disappointment with the performance of the Thor, and there not being an option to counter a Protoss late Zealot rush when the charge ability is being used.

However, he said since the Terrans have enough gameplay options, the team didn’t want to give them any extras. So instead, the Hellion will gain a transformation ability.

When the ability is used, the Hellion transforms from fast and lithe, into a slow and tough Battle Hellion.

Shredders, will put out radiation which will cause continuous damage to units near it, but will shut off when an ally is within radiation distance. Warhounds are a faster, smaller version of the Thor which operates as an anti-mech unit. It can be put to best use against Terran or Protoss vehicles in the air or on the ground, and will allow the Thor to become more of a role unit with better damage output.

Players will also be limited to one Thor at a time.

Here is a list of the unit changes coming with Heart of the Swarm, courtesy of GameFront:

• Shredder – When deployed will deal 20 damage per second to anything with it’s range. If any of your units (other than shredders) are near this unit, the field will not be deployed. In mobile form, the Shredder has no attack, but when set to stationary mode, it channels area-effect damage to both the air and ground. If a friendly unit enters the range of the Shredder, the weapon shuts off.

• Hellion Battle Mode -When transformed, the Hellion will gain in hit points and get a stronger flame attack that covers a short arc in front of it. This makes the Hellion more effective in late-game fights against large clusters of light units such as Zealots

• Warhound – A small, walking ground mech that wields an effective anti-air weapon with splash damage, much like the Thor from Wings of Liberty. The Warhound is smaller and much more nimble, though it gives up some range on its anti-air missiles in exchange for this mobility. The Warhound also wields a small ground attack weapon that does additional damage to mechanical units, making it particularly well suited to taking out enemy Siege Tanks. It’s not particularly effective against non-mechanical units.

• Viper – An armored, biological flying unit with three unique abilities. Blinding Cloud temporarily reduces the attack range of all ground units inside the cloud to melee range, and prevents energy-based abilities from being used. Abduct allows the Viper to physically pull a unit to the Viper’s location. Finally, the Viper has a one-time ability called Ocular Parasite, which allows it to detach its eye stalk and meld it onto any friendly, non-massive unit, turning that unit into a detector.

• Swarm Host – Slow moving, armored biological ground unit without a standard attack. When burrowed, the Swarm Host spawns a continuous stream of slow-moving melee units called Locusts (limited lifespan) that can be used to lay siege and pressure entrenched enemy positions.

• Locust – This light biological unit is tougher than Boodlings or Zerglings, and can help tank damage from siege tanks to prepare for a Zerg attack.

• Replicant – The Replicate ability allows it to permanently transform into any non-massive unit in range. They’re expensive, so cloning a Zergling would not be very cost effective, but transforming into a specialized unit like a Raven, Infestor, or Siege Tank make for strategic options for the Protoss.

• Oracle – A Psionic warship, built from a Stargate, that uses several unique abilities to raid and harass the enemy. The first is Entomb, which can temporarily block mineral fields from being harvested. Another ability, Preordain, grants vision of a targeted enemy building, allowing the protoss to see which units or technologies are being researched. Rounding out its kit is Phase Shift, which phases a target building, preventing it from being attacked, using its abilities, or granting technology. Not only can structures like missile turrets be prevented from attacking, but using this ability on a zerg Spire would block the production of Mutalisks, Corruptors, and air upgrades.

• Tempest – A new capital ship that deals massive area-of-effect damage to air units. It also has a standard ground attack, but its chief role is to help gain air superiority.

Changes to multiplayer units

With new units and balancing in mind, Chris Metzen, VP of creative development, detailed changes coming with the expansion during a multiplayer panel, and one of the biggest changes is the ability for Banelings to move while burrowed.

Reapers will be able to regen health, Battlecruisers are getting a speed boost for short periods of time,  and the Hyrdras are getting a speed upraded as well.

The addition of a Corrupter spell which can be cast onto buildings to gather resources called Siphon was announced as well. So now, when a player needs minerals, the won’t necessarily have to build a hatchery.

New Nexus abilities are on the way for Protoss buildings, one of which is Recall which  can pull back a units in trouble. This will allow the Protoss players to be more assertive, and if they find they are getting in over their heads – warp. A new defensive ability which will turn a structure into a photon cannon is also on the way.

Cloaked Ghost will no longer lose energy while cloaked. Instead, a one-time cost will be charged to stay cloaked for a certain amount of time – the cost and duration has yet to be announced, but when cloaked, Ghosts will now regain energy.

With Warhounds as the new anti-air unit, Thors will no longer be used for air-attacks. As mentioned above, players will only be able to have one at a time now.

Below, you will find a  highlight video of the multiplayer panel from the event, as well as some screenshots and art.

Still no exact date for Heart of the Swarm.

Information on the StarCraft II panel was gleaned from the following websites, with out humble thanks: D’toid, Gamespot, PC Gamer, and GameFront.

Here’s the viewer stats for each event, as posted by Forbes and the official MLG webiste :

• MLG Columbus (June) – 117,000 peak concurrent viewers
• MLG Anaheim (July) – 124,000
• MLG Raleigh (August) – 138,000
• MLG Orlando (September) – 181,000, with 3.2 million total hours of video consumed.

“The record-breaking viewership of our live broadcasts this year is truly elevating the global presence of e-sports, placing MLG viewing in the same ballpark as traditional TV viewing numbers,” said MLG co-founder Sundance DiGiovanni.

“The support of our community is undeniable and fans can expect more high-quality streaming, intense match ups and 2012 season announcements during our 2011 Pro Circuit Championship LIVE from Providence, Rhode Island, November 18-20.”

According to DiGiovanni, MLG is having discussion with ESPN2 regarding bringing eSports cable television, but for the time being, MLG is satisfied with its online viewership – especially since matches tend to last for hours, and may not work on television if condensed for time.

“The six-city 2011 MLG Pro Circuit places the most talented video game players alongside their toughest opponents as they battle for more than $1 million in prizes,” according to the press release. “The season culminates with the 2011 National Championships next month where the world’s best players will compete for more than $600,000 in prizes and stipends.”

Nice but of cash up for grabs, there.

• The box art for the Silent Hill HD collection has been spotted.
• If you download the Pink Knight character for Castle Crashers on Xbox Live, The Behemoth will give $1 or each of the first 50,000 downloads to the Keep A Breast Foundation.
• A development interview for Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns is through here.
• Sales going on this weekend can be found here, here, here, and here.
• Apparently, split-screen co-op in Rock of Ages rocks. That’s good to know, actually.
• Paradox Interactive has announced Warlock: Master of the Arcane, a turn-based strategy game.
• Pre-order Bit.Trip Saga online from Gamestop and you’ll get an 18-song soundtrack from the series.
• Blue has word that an auto-patch is available for Homefront on Steam. Patch notes are here.
• Sonic the Hedgehog has been put on stamps in Belgium and a guitar in Japan.
• SteelSeries sponsored teams took home more than $1.3 million at the DotA2 tournament at gamescom last week. We may have told you this before, but there it is again.
• The title update that adds YouTube functionality to the X360 version for Street Fighter III: Thrid Strike went live this morning.
• Want to see pictures of the show floor at PAX Prime? Sure you do.
• A Red Hot Chili Peppers 8-pack is hitting Rock Band 3 next week. Hell yeah!
• StarCraft 2 Patch 1.4.0 is now available on the public test realm.
• Here’s a Mojang new dump.
• 4 Elements HD, which will be full of PS3 exclusive content and Move compatibility, will hit PSN next week.

• When is Final Fantasy VI not Final Fantasy VI? When it’s the really-rather-cheeky rip-off, Final Fantasy VI – Death Runner. 100% unofficial, 100% nothing to do with FFVI.
• Want to see the Wii Balance Board being put to effective and worthwhile use? Students have developed a game that utilises several Balance Boards to assist children undergoing physical therapy.
• Grasshopper Manufacture has created two iPhone cases – ‘Cockroach Maiden’ and ‘Hallo, Friends’ are available in Japan for around $25
• Andriasang has some scant Final Fantasy Type-0 (that’s XIII Agito’s new name) character details from an early magazine leak.
• Japanese mobile phone social network Gree is to host a new Resident Evil game.
• Starcraft 2 has been patched.
• Robot Unicorn Attack is coming to Android, and more Adult Swim games may follow.
• Some new Dance Central DLC is on the way – Justice, Tone Lōc, and more.
• The latest Mortal Kombat TV spot is called “Fatality Lives” and features an unlikely gaming-slash-party social situation.
• There’s a new entry on the APB: Reloaded developer blog, with details of version 1.5 and an extensive Q&A session.
• Final Fantasy XI will soon benefit from changes to the fishing system. Hold the presses.
• If you preorder the new Harvest Moon, you’ll score an adorable plushie llama. Llama? Something, anyway.
• US retailer Best Buy is adding new sales desk and staff to its game departments.
• A ninja hero will be added to Heroes of Newerth this week.
• Atlus is throwing a massive sale on Amazon. Demon’s Souls for $15? Yes prease.
• The creator of Minecraft clone FortressCraft has claimed it’s the fastest-selling XBLIG game.

Speaking with MTV, Pearce said despite the delay, Blizzard is aware of how important such a marketplace would be for players to browse, download and buy fan-created maps and mods.

“We had talked about, at BlizzCon a couple years ago, the concept of a StarCraft 2 marketplace, and we haven’t launched that yet,” he said. “And it’s something I know is important to me, I know it’s important to Mike [Morhaime]. But it’s not necessarily something we have a specific timeline for, which is unfortunate because one of the things that we’ve found is, especially from our learnings from World of WarCraft, is that these audiences that play these games are very, very passionate and want to experience lots and lots of content.

“With the StarCraft 2 client and the StarCraft 2 map editor and the Battle.net platform, it creates an opportunity for the community to serve itself with content, if the mechanisms are there.”

StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder told Eurogamer last month that the firm was still working on the Battle.net Marketplace, but admitted to be “struggling” with it, citing an “immense number of challenges,” for the firm to overcome with it.

He also said the Marketplace’s release was “some distance” away from a release.

During a presentation at GDC, as reported by Kotaku, Browder asked rhetorically: was the headache of making the game spectator friendly worth it?

“It totally was,” he answered himself. “This stuff is cool.”

“This stuff” includes a number of StarCraft II’s design constraints, put in place to ensure the game remains watchable and understandable to spectators, and retains a dynamic competition rather than degenerate into an arms race.

“This is why the artists hate me,” Browder said, showing images of an Ultralisk unit to scale, and then as it appears in game – much, much smaller, so as to avoid obscuring other units.

“This is why the designers hate me,” he added, comparing Starcraft II’s 45 unit types to Supreme Commander’s 150.

“Too many units causes confusion,” he explained. “In football, there’s one unit: the human. Of course, there are wide receivers, quarterbacks and other roles, but when you see those game pieces moving around in a football game, you know what they’re capable of.”

If the idea of parting with cash to watch a video feed from this year’s Blizzcon doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, all is not lost.

From Blizzard PR:

Limited streaming coverage of the BlizzCon opening ceremony and certain BlizzCon tournaments will be available via the Internet for free.

The goodies included in Blizzard’s paid option, the $40 “virtual ticket,” include multiple HD streams, in-game StarCraft II items, and “Deathy”, an in-game World of Warcraft murloc pet that, if tradition is observed, will fetch decent prices on your online auction site of choice.

Blizzcon 2010 kicks off at the end of this week: we’ll be there.

Blizzard has released its schedule of event for BlizzCon 2010, giving times for the panels along with the subject covered in each.

The opening ceremony, which is the one to watch for any news pertaining to Diablo III, or anything else release-related Blizzard has in their bag of holding. Likely, more information will also be available on the December 7 release of Cataclysm and more news pertaining to StarCraft II.

After that, there will be panels on just about everything imaginable for StarCraft II, D3, and WoW: gameplay, maps, quests, lore, story, live raids, and even a costume and dance competition along with loads of tournaments.

You name the subject, and it looks like Blizzard has you covered.

BlizzCon takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California October 22 and 23 with the opening ceremony going off at 11:00am PST/2:00pm EST on that Friday.

Get the full schedule here.

Blizzard has said it’s to develop mods internally for StarCraft II, in order to offer “polished gameplay experiences” for fans.

Speaking with Game Informer, lead designer Dustin Browder also chatted a bit more about previously announced plans to allow modders to sell their wares via Battle.net.

“We’ve got some mods we’ve developed internally that we’re going to put out to get some more art into the hands of the mod makers but also provide what we hope are some polished gameplay experiences for our fans to get more value out of Battle.net,” said Browder before going onto discuss player created mods.

“There’s a lot of challenges to bring that in front of consumers: making sure the consumers’ digital rights are protected, making sure that people can’t steal each other’s maps, making sure that we’ve got the right UI and tools to rate maps and find maps,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to be in patches versus what’s going to be in Heart of the Swarm at this point, but we’re definitely going to take steps going forward to try to roll it out piece by piece so we get more user feedback.

“We can get stuff in front of the consumers faster so that they can see what our plans are. I’m so sorry I don’t have a better answer, but we are going to keep working on it going forward.”

The first big patch for StarCraft II is scheduled to hit today, and you can read about the changes and additions to included here.

Thanks, BigDownload.

The main concern, reports MarketWatch, is ActiBlizz’s current release schedule, shifting Singularity into 2010, and the growing assumption that StarCraft 2 may miss it’s release date.

“The beta testing for StarCraft 2 hasn’t started yet,” said analyst Jess Lubert of Brean Murray.”If it starts in August and takes 5-6 months, then launching the game this year is next to impossible.”

Some analysts have moved the game out of the ActiBlizz estimates for the year, some citing the potential delay of the RTS along with Singularity being moved and the possibility of Guitar Hero: Van Halen being pushed back as well.

China holding back a full release of World of Warcraft while Blizzard gets the server situation worked out between NetEase and The9 has also been taken into account by investors and analysts.

ActiBlizz has scheduled its Q2 earnings call for August 5, but a StarCraft 2 date is not expected to be announced – however, some analysts feel that Modern Warfare 2 will swoop in and save the day, with some estimating that it will sell up to 8.5 million units, and surpass 10 million units lifetime.

“Even without StarCraft, I think Activision should be able to get to their current guidance for the year. But without StarCraft, getting an upside to that number might be challenging,” Lubert contniued.

“I just think investors need that certainty of when it will ship, and it will remove this overhang.”

More through the link.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has predicted that Activision will delay the release of Starcraft 2 into 2010 instead of shipping it in October 2009.

Bhatia expects the game to sell around three million copies with a 2010 release being a positive thing for the company, despite the missing the holiday shopping season.

Activision had no comment regarding a Stracraft date, however, it was announced yesterday that Singularity would be pushed into 2010 to make way for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

More over on TeamLiquid.

Consider this a public service announcement of sorts, because, well, we like to keep you informed.

Therefore, if you missed out on purchasing tickets last week to BlizzCon, today is your last chance lest you purchase them for an exhorberant amount off of eBay.

The sale begins at 10:00am PST/1:00pm EST and can be purchased here for $125.00 each.

BlizzCon 2009 will take place August 21 and 22 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Los Angeles.

Blizzard is now accepting StarCraft II beta sign-ups.

“The StarCraft II beta-test period is coming in the months ahead! If you’d like a chance to participate, now’s the time to let us know,” reads the World of Warcraft website.

Sign in on your Battle.net profile page, submit your current system specs, and opt-in.

Beta testing will being in North America first.

Blizzard has confirmed on the official Battle.net forums that a StarCraft II Collector’s Edition is in the works, complete with a Behind the Scenes DVD similar to ones released for World of Wacraft.

Blizzard’s RTS community manager Kevin Yu wrote that the developers are looking to the community to come up with some traditional Q&A queries on the product.

We are looking to gather some good questions aimed specifically at the developers of StarCraft II about their experience in developing the game. Fun questions are a plus. Submit your questions to this thread and there is a chance they may be selected to be added in a special video interview with the developers. Feel free to shoot out questions to all parts of the team: Production, Design, Art, Programming, QA, etc.

Please avoid specific gameplay type questions or other questions better suited for our traditional Q&A batches.

Game is expected sometime this year.

Thanks, INCGamers

Blizzard has handed out three new Starcraft 2 screens, this time showing off proper UI.

All three were posted on the revamped Battle.net’s forums.

We have them below. Go nuts.

Blizzard COO Paul Sams just said the StarCraft II beta will take place in “the coming months.”

“The beta will be played on a basic version of our new Battle.net architecture, which will give us the opportunity to test the game and the service in a live environment. Over time, we’ll be adding features to deliver a second-generation Battle.net experience.”

Also, more World of Warcraft content is expected for the year, with test realms and updates still using actual players.

Mention was also made of “unannounced MMO” which is still in the “no comment” area.

The news came as part of Activision’s fourth quarter earnings call.

Good stuff there.