I don’t know about you, but for me Starcraft was one of just very few games that really rocked my world.

I remember like I just played it yesterday and not almost 10 years ago. All those hours spent hunting down my friends on the battle map with my trusty Protoss zealots…ah those were the days. Everyone smart enough to have played the game even once knows it revolutionized the genre in so many ways.

That’s why I never understood why Blizzard never even announced a sequel…until World of Warcraft came out…then it hit me like a brick in the head, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!

But hey, let’s not get into that, let’s just rejoice that another Blizzard classic is about to be born. There were always rumors running about Starcraft II, but they were all launched by fans like me, who wanted it so much they never stopped believing in it. So when I saw the official announcement you cam imagine my joy.

Seeing the presentation trailer, with that cigar smoking Terran marine, even though it really didn’t show much, made my heart pound a little harder than usual. Then I saw some gameplay screensavers, and I recognized some of the old elements of the game, like familiar buildings and units, but also really new ones which I’m dying to take to battle. It all looks so colorful and appealing drawing you in like a siren’s song. I know I might sound a bit delusional, it’s this damned game. And I just know I’m not going to be able to get over this state until I get my hands on it…And here’s the problem: we’re talking about Blizzard and these guys take their time, I mean really take their time so I’m guessing I’ll be 40 by the time they release it. I’m kidding but it’s sure going to be a while since they declared “it will ship when it’s ready”.

But let’s look on the bright side it will come out eventually and that’s all that matters. Now if you’ll excuse I have to go kick my Terran friend’s ass in Brood War.

The first time I experienced the magic of an RPG was about 10 years ago, when I came across Vandal Hearts II, a mediocre strategy RPG with a good story, average graphics, interesting customization system, addictive gameplay and now that I think about it…INCREDIBLY STUPID LOOKING MONSTERS.

And this is the only major problem I have with RPGs, I’m not a very picky guy, give me an engaging storyline with a few twists in the plot, interesting characters, make the game playable and I don’t even care that much about the graphics and all the rest.

But don’t ruin everything by making me battle a plant…that’s just wack. I can’t remember how many games told me I have to save the world or rescue a princess…but in order to do that I had to defeat “powerful” enemies like bunnies, bats, plants, goofy birds, jelly lookin’ blobs and many many more. And every time, I sighed and moved on hoping the next time I play an RPG things will improve…but here we are…and the goofball enemies are still there (sigh).

I understand there are a lot of young kids playing these games and I’m not asking for “intense violence and gore” or gruesome monsters…but since the characters do carry weapons, which they use to kill and the story isn’t always about how great and pink the world is, I feel it’s unnatural to use fluffy things as enemies.

I have no problem with funny looking critters when it comes to games like Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, they fit perfectly there, but excuse me for loving beautiful games like last year’s Final Fantasy XII, which the developers chose to ruin by making us fight against bouncing bunnies, overweight birds and the ever popular slime balls. And what’s really sad is that things really did some damage, some even more than heavily armed soldiers…the horror…stop the horror!

I’m an RPG enthusiast and always will be and I’m not trying to criticize the genre, I just think things could be so much better if the guys in the artwork department would make an effort and come up with some reasonable looking enemies.

Just to be clear, I’m especially referring to Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Suikoden and not to games like The Elder Scrolls or Neverwinter Nights which tend to be more serious.

The sequel of the highly acclaimed Operation Flashpoint promises to redefine the FPS genre when it comes out in 2008.

Operation Flashpoint 2 has been in production at Codemasters Studios for two years now and the largest development team ever assembled is working on it, so…we might be in for something really amazing, let's hope so.

<-234x60 Half Banner - right->Set in modern-day theatres of war the game will offer realistic conflict scenarios that will give players the impression they really are taking part in a war. The game is said to offer different military classes to make the warfare experience even more believable and a multiplayer component which will create battles at an impressive scale.

The game will use a new FPS variant of Neon engine technology, the company’s proprietary middleware.

More details about Operation Flashpoint 2 will be available this summer.