StarCraft II delayed till 2010, still no LAN support

I doubt anybody will be surprised by this news? Today, Blizzard announced their much anticipated follow-up to StarCraft will not zerg rush into store shelves this year – marking the first time in history 1/3 of a game has been delayed. The new Battle.net is mostly to blame, or so says Blizzard PR in a statement released earlier today:

Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.

There’s been talk for quite some time about the service reinventing itself to compete with more modern services such as Xbox Live and Steam, so it makes sense that Blizzard would want to launch their newest title with the best possible multiplayer service available. What hasn’t slowed down development, however, is adding LAN support – something Blizzard still refuses to do, opting instead to force players onto Battle.net, probably in the hopes to curb piracy and fun.

It should also be noted that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will only represent the Terran campaign, a shift in Blizzard’s approach, as they traditionally offered all campaigns in a single package (as most RTS’s still do). Two more entries in the series, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, will focus on the Protoss and Zerg campaigns respectively, with releases planned sometime in the near future. Thankfully, it’s been stated that the multiplayer component will not be compromised by the serialized campaigns (well, except for LAN play). A public beta for StarCraft II’s multiplayer was planned for later this year – no word on how this delay affects that event.

via Destructoid