On a pre-beta version viewed by the designers team there were things to be changed, such as a Roach that wasn’t necessary meant to make tons of damage, maybe to name it a Zealot to take over its features, and you end up creating other characters which you haven’t thought about from the beginning. The purpose of these preliminary tests is to take you deep into the process revealing situations that you might have missed at the initial drawing, in this way enabling you to add or subtract features that change the set of the game.

The act of changing altered the way one Zerg feels, turning a Baneling into a much more adequate unit, for instance the changed Roach won’t be able now to step on him any more, Roach having Hydra to act together even though Hydra as a part of its own in that it can get a position in order to defense a base, and as such becoming a golden feature. The Roach in its turn has a combo that is very powerful and through this feature it can determine a strategy for the enemy player as well, defining this characteristic called the positional strategy, which can be very exciting for the fans of this game style.

StarCraft II is seen as a Team Fortress, as Dustin Browder likes to compare it to, and this because the game has class counters that allow you to establish what is the most important in your strategy: bringing the wrong weapon or how to use the weapons that a gamer has? But anyway RTS is still an RTS and the designers are aware of the fact that scouting is getting more and more powerful with stakes getting raised as well, that’s the reason why they start introducing units that do the killings in a balanced way of displaying the game.

The main action is that of discovering new islands with the purpose to build different items, to cultivate goods and make all the efforts to bring your society on higher levels of everyday living. If your society that you create is advanced enough you can gather gold in taxes, but having an outnumbered population may lower the level of your riches. The more your population grow and your society is advancing, the more their needs so you have to thoroughly plan all your moves in producing goods, building items, and prevent at the same time cities to operate on deficit.

It is a pity that the game doesn’t provide any tutorial on how to build a society that can be both profitable and efficient, but the bright side is that once you are into it , the game proves to be quite rewarding. Your society is divided in two social layers, and while the peasants are easy to satisfied, the wealthy ones are harder to please because their demands are even bigger.

Dawn of Discovery is a multitasker game with you having to keep constant control on the things that take place on the screen involving you in multipurpose actions and at the same time to take a look on the East side and figure what is there that it has to offer. Trading is a way to make you gather recognition as a leader in this way opening new accesses for you to the technology of the Orient this feature allowing you to create Eastern settlements, too.

Playing the continuous mode there are options to customize the game according to your needs in regard to sizing the islands, balancing conditions, including the possibility of setting your standards to lead you to success. But this success comes mostly from your way to make and keep your society flourishing, all these you have to do it all by yourself since there isn’t any other possibility to share the experience with other players. The graphics and sound of the play are very well rendered and while playing it you are able to hear even the waves of the sea crashing by the shore.

Dawn of Discovery truly deserves its title as you are cast in an experience where you can discover your skills as a strategic social leader as well as a good manager of the space that you own.

In the beta system, Terran air units have suffered changes too. The new unit type called the Viking is enabled by shifting between a ground-based walker mode and an air-to-air combat flight mode, but when shifted to the latter it brings more damage to capital ships. The existence of Thor, a giant robot, brings a plus of excitement though its 250 mm strike cannons that can blow powerful targets.

The next look we take at Protoss where Dark Templars are still to be found but merged into Archons, Stalkers have replaced the Dragoons in the functionality mode, but otherwise Dragoons are presented as Immortals (with the ability to strengthen up their shields to reduce damages), and Phoenix is the new air-to-air fighter of Scouts and Corsairs. There is present the massive Colossus, a spindly-legged robot, equipped with powerful lasers which sweep through masses of enemy units and as it has a spider-like ability to move it can also climb cliffs fro getting good firing positions. The strategy of the Protoss is upgraded to enable a fast close in on ranged targets, but when multiple caster units are selected and you use an ability, only one unit will spend the energy to be cast. Although the ReaverDrop strategy is taken away, the Protoss episode is still fun to play.

And the last, the Zerg, is replacing the Defiler with Infestor, the Guardian with Brood Lord, while the Devourer is gone. Banelings are used as effective suicide bombers and while they explode they can blow much more costly targets due to their big punch package. The Zerg episode introduces the Roach a new ground unit which is able to regenerate health at an alarming rate that can be upgraded and have great defensive options that keep the enemy forces at bay. Infestor proves to be a new menace, it can spawn Infested Terrans, spread plague, and take control over the minds of enemy units. The Mutalisk weapon is as usual an effective multi-purpose one, for those who are familiar with the game.

StarCraft II is displaying a high demand for players that have got enough skills to put up with the new forms of strategy the game shows, so if you think you can manage, than take your chance and engage yourself in this adventurous trip that StarCraft II with new exciting strategies is offering.

The system of maps comprises ranges of destructible barriers that once put down they open new paths and shortcuts, also very helpful. These can offer you new accesses to yielded mineral resources or to choose a more useful route that gets you to your enemy’s base. In all this actions you need first of all to take quick strategy decisions especially that it is given to you the possibility to play back enabling you to review some information that might be useful in drawing your strategy.

The characters presented, the Protoss, the Terrans, the Zealots, are displayed in a good feel, visual style with new features that bring a plus of excitement and ability to check your powers when it comes to managing and stratagem. For instance, Zealots can intercept attackers that come in ranges thus giving them a chance against those who flee away, the features that give you the possibility to build another build queue for Terran Barracks, but it is quite annoying to watch the Zerg Roaches always regenerating though they do not bring too much damage.

Playing the StarCraft II in the multiplayer beta version gives you the feeling that the adversity you encounter in the massacres displayed with the game, makes you feel stronger and more confident in your strategic abilities. Anyway it is worth noticing that the tools and replay functions may be very useful in rendering the playing ground an even up.

“Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios announced today that “Halo Wars,” the highly anticipated action strategy game based on the legendary “Halo” universe, is finished and sent to manufacturing! Created from the ground up for the Xbox 360 console and controller, “Halo Wars” combines a peerless control scheme and gameplay with an incredibly rich, epic story set 20 years prior to the story told in “Halo: Combat Evolved”. The result is a commanding experience that is a must-have for “Halo” fans and a title that is sure to become a classic amongst fans of strategy games.
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As fans eagerly await launch day, a video documentary series announced today will explore defining themes of “Halo Wars” and give viewers a behind the scenes look at the game’s development and some of the people involved in its creation. The premier episode captures key elements that frame “Halo Wars” gameplay: the controls, perspective and strategy. The “Halo Wars” video documentary is available for download on Xbox LIVE and can be viewed at Xbox.com/Halo.

In addition, the recently announced Xbox LIVE public demo for “Halo Wars” will be available beginning on Feb. 5 at 2 a.m. PST in Xbox LIVE enabled regions worldwide. In the demo, players will be able master Ensemble’s groundbreaking control scheme in optional beginner and advanced tutorials or jump right into the action to experience the beginning of the “Halo Wars” story with the first two campaign missions. The demo will also include “Chasms,” one of “Halo Wars’” 14 multiplayer maps, wherein players can battle it out in Skirmish mode vs. A.I., playing either as the UNSC with Captain Cutter’s leader powers, or as the Covenant with the Prophet of Regret’s own unique abilities. Don’t forget to set your Xbox to download this demo!”

Yeah, right I won’t forget to set my… damn, I don’t have any Xbox around!

Now, we all know StarCraft 2 is coming out, nothing new with that, but did you have any idea that Blizzard is splitting StarCraft II into three? I bet you haven’t, so let’s see what has been revealed about the next title to kill the nights of entire generations, shall we?

At Blizzcon 2008, StarCraft 2 arrived with a new build , and the decision to create a trilogy raised a lot of eyebrows. After all, if they come up with a new part every decade…you do the math!

Now, Blizzard wants to get much deeper into the StarCraft universe, although this idea of splitting it into three parts doesn’t sound too good, as I said. I know this will be more about the story, but what about OUR WAIT??? We had a decade to hope to live and see StarCraft 2 coming out, and now?? So, what do you think – do you think that having StarCraft 2 as a trilogy is a good idea, or not?

Since some of you may be new to Starcraft, I should say that Starcraft 2 “continues the epic saga of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. These three distinct and powerful races will clash once again in the fast-paced real-time strategy sequel to the legendary original, StarCraft. Legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types will do battle across the galaxy, as each faction struggles for survival.”

The feature list displayed on the official Starcraft 2 website goes like this:

- Fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the magic of the original game<-180×150 Small Rectangle – right->
- Three completely distinct races: Protoss, Terran, and Zerg
- New units and gameplay mechanics further distinguish each race
- Groundbreaking single-player campaign
- Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive unit and army sizes
- Full multiplayer support, with new competitive features and matchmaking utilities available through Battle.net
- Full map-making and scripting tools to give players incredible freedom in customizing and personalizing their gameplay experience

At last, I should add that specific system requirements are not yet available, but it’s good to know that Blizzard is working to ensure compatibility with a wide range of computer parts, including older DirectX 9 video cards. Other than these…I guess we should keep waiting, but one question arises: are we going to get Starcraft 2 first, or Diablo 3?

Covering the period from the first Punic War to the start of the true Empire, Europa Universalis: Rome “combines the best of the Empire Building, Conquest and Warfare genres, wrapped into a title that contains all main characteristics of a typical Paradox Interactive game. This project has the potential to become the most talked about grand strategy game to date,” according to Johan Andersson, Paradox Director of Development.

The system requirements are as it follows:

Microsoft Windows XP/2000,
1.9 Ghz Intel Pentium or similar AMD
512mb RAM
Direct X 9.0c
128mb compatible video card & support for pixelshader 2.0.

For more details, feel free to visit the official website here, and be sure to save some time for this amazing experience that I am sure Europa Universalis: Rome is going to offer.

Continuing the tradition of the Dark Crusade and Soulstorm expansion packs, Dawn of War II is expected to feature a non-linear campaign, but for now, the only confirmed races are the Space Marines and the Orks.

As the title of this article says, the official website is up, so feel free to pay it a visit. At this time, all that you can see is a teaser video, as well as a few screenshots, but be sure to check back from time to time for new content and updated news.

Dawn of War II is currently developed exclusively for Windows PCs, and is scheduled to arrive in early 2009.

<-125×125 Button – left->Oh, yeah, there was one more thing missing in the initial release of the game – a Soviet campaign, but that’s about to change, because the next game in the series, treated like an expansion pack, according to Sierra, will be World in Conflict: Soviet Assault. Being given the name, I am sure you can figure out what is this all about…

At last, according to Sierra, the upcoming Xbox 360 version will feature voice commands, only 10 players in multiplayer, compared to 16 on PC, and some new units. Other than that, it seems that Soviet Assault, as well as the Xbox and PS3 releases should arrive this fall, so there’s enough time left for those that didn’t play World in Conflict yet to grab the game and enjoy a virtual third world war!