Best Games 2011: StarCraft 2 - Release Date and System Requirements

2010 Oct 5, Update: According to NetEase's VP, StarCraft II is expected to launch by the end of 2010 in China. This means better local support, cause AFAIK the game is downloadable from China from day one of its 'worldwide' release.

2010 Jul 21, Update: Added "StarCraft II - Ghosts of the Past" Trailer which is the full version of the NBA Commercial seen earlier; this video also reveals the identity of the gorgeous redhead in that ad.

Also added a "Can My Computer Run StarCraft 2?" section that can help you to quickly determine whether your computer can run StarCraft II. It's in the Specs section.

Official Worldwide Release date: July 27, 2010 Midnight (with the exception of China, as announced by Activision Blizzard on May 3rd, 2010)

It finally happened folks! You know how StarCraft II developers are the luckiest developers in the world? So lucky that they get to play this game for a good 5 years among themselves and hence taking their sweet time developing the game. Don't just take my word for it, they had been making videos of themselves playing the game, even organizing in-house tournaments, since this game was announced in May 19, 2007; having been in secret development since 2003. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying they are not doing work developing the game. I am just saying the whole company spend more time playing this game among themselves, and make up excuses for their staff while every kid who's old enough to play a video game has been shedding bucket loads of tears every year around Christmas time wondering why the game is not released yet. It's not fair, I never had the chance to work for a company like like this!

But that's ok, I am not gonna complain anymore, now that they are beginning to feel tired of playing among themselves and are finally sharing this game with the world. So for those of you who had been out of touch for a long time because you have not played it for some time, let me help refresh your memory.

• To make the game more interesting, and for the sake of replayability as in many Blizzard games before this one, the campaign is non-linear, with the player free to make decisions to do certain jobs to accumulate cash to buy extra units and upgrades.
  

• A controversial issue of the game is that Blizzard has removed LAN play from StarCraft II forcing players to connect through Blizzard's servers, Battle.net, before being allowed to do join their friends in a multiplayer game locally.
• There will be a DotA (Defence of the Ancients) for StarCraft 2; it's only a matter of when not if, as the game editor allows anyone to make one.
  

From Blizzard's page at http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=26242, the latest updated system requirements for the StarCraft II are as follows:

Windows PC Specs:

PC Minimum System Requirements*:
OS: Windows® XP SP3/Windows Vista® SP1/Windows® 7 (With the latest Service Packs) with DirectX® 9.0c
CPU: 2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
GPU: 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT /ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
HDD: 12 GB available hard disk space
RAM: 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
DVD-ROM drive
Broadband connection
1024X720 minimum display resolution

PC Recommended System Requirements*:
OS: Windows Vista® SP1/Windows® 7 (With the latest Service Packs)
CPU: Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
GPU: 512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX /ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better
RAM: 2 GB RAM

Macintosh Specs:

Mac Minimum System Requirements*:
OS: Mac® OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
CPU: Intel® Processor
GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT /ATI Radeon® X1600 or better
HDD: 12 GB available Hard disk space
RAM: 2 GB Ram
DVD-ROM drive
Broadband connection
1024X720 minimum display resolution

Mac Recommended System Requirements*:
OS: Intel® Core 2 Duo processor
RAM: 4 GB system RAM
GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT /ATI Radeon® HD 4670 or better

*Note: The System Requirements are for StarCraft II Beta and may change by the time the game is released.

Now that you have seen the SCII computer hardware tech requirements and know whether your system is up to scratch, continue at this link below, to check out the storyline and to drool over the game ...

>> Part 2: StarCraft 2 - Gameplay Videos.