BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT has built a strong reputation for producing high quality PC games, with World of Warcraft, the Diablo series and StarCraft among the world’s best-selling games.

The developer has a penchant for spending as much time as necessary on each new title. Its mantra, ‘it’s ready when it’s ready,’ usually results in a long wait for consumers eager to buy the next Blizzard game. But when it arrives – judging from strong reviews and sales – it’s usually well worth the wait.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is no different. The title has established a mammoth global fanbase right up to launch. It follows the same magical formula, with emphasis on quality.

A spokesperson for Blizzard Entertainment tells MCV: “StarCraft has enjoyed great popularity and longevity, and it’s encouraging that the original game has sold over 11m copies worldwide since its launch in 1998.

“It’s still a highly popular game, so we’re hoping that this historic enthusiasm translates into support for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty at launch.”

CRAFTING A MASTERPIECE

Blizzard has been working hard on both the single-player campaign and multiplayer modes in StarCraft II, which picks up where the original StarCraft: Brood War expansion’s story left off. The adventure follows the exploits of rebel leader and one-time marshal, Jim Raynor.

Players can choose from three alien races struggling for survival – the Protoss, Terran or Zerg, and can use a range of battle tactics and war machines to wipe out their opposition.

As well as the range of new units, a revamped 3D graphics engine – which enables hundreds of units on-screen at once – and its real-time gameplay mechanics, StarCraft II allows gamers to customise their battles and create new ones too.

Blizzard Entertainment adds: “The game features a challenge mode that teaches players techniques to improve their multiplayer skills, as well as an easy-to-use map editor, which puts into the users’ hands the same tools that the designers used to create the campaign.

“We’ve already seen a number of creative map designs from players during the beta test, and we anticipate seeing a lot more after launch.”

STAR APPEAL

The release of StarCraft II also marks the launch of Blizzard’s online service – Battle.net. This allows players of other Blizzard titles to stay in touch via a universal friends list, track cross-game statistics and watch replays from previous StarCraft matches – no matter which Blizzard game they’re playing.

The firm also says it’s targeting a wider gaming audience with StarCraft II. “All Blizzard games are created to appeal to as wide a player base as possible,” says Blizzard Entertainment’s spokesperson.

“This starts with our ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ approach to design, which means players of every skill level should be able to enjoy the challenges and the overall game experiences we offer.”

StarCraft II is released on July 27th on PC and Mac.

SKY HIGH MARKETING

To give the release of StarCraft II a dramatic global push and added exposure, Blizzard Entertainment has teamed up with asian air giant, Korean Air to get the game’s logo and main character, Jim Raynor, onto two planes.

These will fly domestic routes in Korea as well as international routes in the US and across European regions, for six months from July until the end of 2010. Four Korean Air limousine buses wrapped with images will also be in service during this period.

Blizzard Entertainment is also rolling out a ‘Join the Dominion’ campaign on Facebook, Twitter and www.StarCraft2.com. On top of this, a TV commercial has already debuted in the US during the NBA finals, and is likely to come to the UK.