The game has not been finalized yet, but so far it looks just like what you would expect a sequel to StarCraft to look like. See the screenshots at IGN.com.

Timeline recently added to Blizzard’s index page

Originally the announcement today was speculated to be a StarCraft MMORPG due to sightings of Blizzard’s job posting for positions related to next-gen MMO game development, but apparently it turned out to be unrelated. Maybe for future additions to World of Warcraft?

Anyway, whatever the case is, StarCraft 2 is coming; South Korea’s productivity to drop by 70% in the next 5 years.

[ Source: IGN.com via Kotaku ]

UPDATE: The StarCraft 2 official website is up.

Blizzard is proud to officially announce the second new race of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion set, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade – the mysterious wisps! At the Battle of Mount Hyjal, the Burning Legion gave the world a taste of its true, terrible power. Archimonde the Defiler himself led the vanguard, crushing all who stood in his way, determined to reach the World Tree at the mountain’s peak. In the end, only one power was strong enough to destroy the insidious Archimonde: the Wisps.

Wisps

The introduction of Wisps allows a new and exciting game mechanic: permanent death. The ability that destroyed Archimonde is available to all Wisps as a racial ability. This power, Detonate, destroys the Wisp in an explosion of energy, sapping the mana of all surrounding adventurers, friend and foe alike. This should provide an extremely interesting addition to the many adventures of Warcraft, particularly when pitted against other players!
Racial Traits:

* Detonate: Destroys the wisp, dispelling all magical buffs and draining 50 mana from each unit in an area around the wisp.
* Gatherer: Skill to herbalism, mining, and skinning increased by 10.
* Permanent Death
* Treeform: Turns the wisp into a tree for 30 seconds. During this time, spirit is increased by 300. However, the wisp’s chance to dodge or parry axes is reduced by 50%.

lol.

On a seperate note, Tokyo Toshokan has been taken down by the Department of Justice! On the first of April no less! Oh noz! No worries, just redirect your browser to http://tokyotosho.com/index.php and note the category icons…

The Imperial Order, a World of Warcraft guild on the Detheroc server, is holding the server hostage. The guild has completed the various quests needed to obtain a septer used to ring a gong. Ringing the gong will open the gates giving everyone on the server access to new content, but the guild refuses to do it. At least, they refuse to do it until someone pays them 5,000 gold.

They say theyâ€d rather be known as the obnoxious guild that held their server hostage than forgotten as the kind guild that opened new content.

Yeah, that’s the server I’m playing on. No one bothered to pay and IO eventually opened the gate anyway. Seriously, with the stuff you can get in AQ, who needs 5000g?

The second part of the drama.

Just a few hours after we reported on one guildâ€s apparent vicegrip over a server, the thread has been deleted and the guild, Imperial Order, revealed that it was all just a big joke.

However, just because it was in jest, doesnâ€t make it any less worth mentioning. Tony over at Clickable Culture didnâ€t think of it in terms of “terrorism,” but rather “opprotunism.”

Had Imperial Order been serious and the only guild able to open up new content, Blizzard wouldâ€ve been effectively stepping aside to allow the players of Detheroc (the realm) tell the story of the opening of the Gates of Ahnâ€Qiraj. More and more MMOs need to move in this direction. Do I mean promoting terrorism or opprotunism (depending on your view)? No. MMOs need to allow for more player-driven content, thereâ€s a couple out there that do it – EVE immediately comes to mind. If Blizzard (and I mention them because of their success they are most likely to be copycatted) finds a way to allow players to drive the storyline of World of Warcraft and allow players to impact the game world, MMOs in the long run will be much better off for it.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Meh. I’m still lvl 59 so I can’t be bothered either way.

The truth is… I have been WoWing. That’s right, I did the unthinkable, I started playing World of Warcraft. Please forgive me. And no, I haven’t done my homework yet. My will is so weak. ＿|ï¿£|O

Anyway, look for me on US PVP server Detheroc under the nick Zephiris. Female Night Elf rogue. (No surprises there)

I’ll buy some better-looking equipment when I have the gold, but for now, beggers can’t be chosers. Most important priority now is to save up 100 gold (a shit load of money) to buy a mount at lvl 40, which I am 8 levels away from. I want a black Nightsaber! \o/ (Think Huntress from WC3)

So anyway, it being New Year’s Eve and all (yes, shockingly I haven’t forgotten about that!)… Happy New Years! Well, maybe not for me. Gotta’ start work soon.