Is there any other RTS out there that could as easily be made into a movie as StarCraft? Probably not, no. What’s slightly more pie-in-the-sky? Getting James Cameron to direct it. It’s a nice idea, certainly, and especially considering that the man only directs smash-hits, but do you really see James Cameron taking time out of his post-Avatar world to direct a video game movie? I mean, isn’t he busy planning an Avatar sequel?

That’s the dream, though.

Blizzard told MTV, in a sorta, “wouldn’t it be nice if…”

I think if Jim Cameron came to us tomorrow and said, ‘You want to make a StarCraft movie?’ we’d probably sign that.

More relevant for the integrity of any possible film (or even TV series), Blizzard says that it’s “really important to us that we find creative people that are really talented but also really excited about our properties.”

You don’t want some hotshot director barging in, stamping his sill vision on a film that has nothing to do with the “soul” of the series, so to speak.

Reasonably torn about this next story. There’s an honors class at the University of Florida this semester called “21st Century Skills in Starcraft.” Basically, you play the game for a bunch of weeks, and somewhere along the way you pick up “valuable 21st Century Skills through a hands-on approach.” Sure you do.

The course description goes on:

It does not teach about Starcraft, but rather aims to utilize the game and the complex situations that arise within it to present and develop the important skills professionals will undoubtedly need in the 21st Century workplace.
This course includes required weekly game play, viewing and analysis of recorded matches, written assignments which emphasize analysis and synthesis of real/game-world concepts, and collaboration with other students.

I mean, it sounds neat, but I’m not quite sure your ability to Zerg rush has much to do with doing well during a job interview. Perhaps the idea of resource management can apply to the “real world,” but it seems a bit of a stretch.

Stay in school, kids. You might get to play StarCraft. (Try explaining that one to your parents!)

Update: They’re not the first. Cal began offering Advanced Starcraft Theory in 2009.

UPDATE

The Collector’s Edition at Amazon UK costs 59£ (70€) while at Amazon DE the same box costs 86€. People in the UK: Don’t buy the digital download. Buy the Collector’s Box and get all these:

• The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
• An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set
• A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more
• The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
• StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
• A World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
• Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

UPDATE 2

You can buy the CD-Key for 38€ from ibay24.

Thinking of pre-ordering StarCraft II? Then only place to go right now is Dell Home; it’s $10 cheaper – only $45 – than anywhere else. Oh, Dell Home you always have deals. what gives?

Don’t worry I’m sure they’re still going to make back that $100 million it cost to make.

Release date is July 27, so hurry and pre-order before they run out.

[via 1up]

The catch is you can’t launch it until the 27 and you’ll have to pay-up before playing. Sorry.

But seriously, don’t wait until July 27 to download it. That’s silly. Only losers deal with overcrowded servers and download games on launch day. The cool kids pre-load all their games so sign into Battle.net and start downloading.

This is for true StarCraft nerds only. No one else needs to waste their time on this silly unboxing. It’s a freaking game, people. But whatever. Everyone is a freak somehow. So with that said, here’s what might be the first unboxing of the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector’s Edition. [via Kotaku]

Remember, this is a game where you send soldiers to gruesome, extraterrestrial death by the thousand.

I guess it’s not such a big deal, but it’s depressing to see something so deeply embedded in the national identity of the crisis being compromised by spurious and arbitrary “moral values.” Blizzard is considering releasing an intact version separately, which I’m sure they must do, as that will be considered the “definitive version” and if they don’t, someone will just write a 100MB hack that fixes everything.

It’s a bit like when a director makes a movie, and then the producer or studio thinks they need to add this or that, cut out this scene, give the protagonist a CG sidekick… of course we’ll all wait for the director’s cut. No doubt StarCraft II will arrive in the US whole, cigarette references and all, and with stuff like Bulletstorm already threatening our impressionable youth, I don’t think the moral pundits here in the states will even bat an eyelash.

Whatever, it’s the weekend, you can spare two minutes for some Ataricraft 2600.

[via Reddit]

[Thanks for the tip, Scott!]

Can’t wait, though I do suck at the game.

Remember that StarCraft Zerg messaging bag from yesterday? Yeah, that it’s only a teaser of what’s coming from Razer. Gamers can expect a new mouse, keyboard and headset themed after their favorite RTS.

Chances are that Razer will announces all these at Blizzcon later this month. I don’t think it’s probably to far fetched to state that the mouse will be a varation of the Mamba, the keyboard like the Lycosa, and the headset a take on the Carcharias. Right? But until the official announcement, all we have is the image above.

Razor via Engadget

Thus, Mr. ByunTae’s reasoning in including his genetic makeup and upbringing in an ad for training someone at a video game. Because Korea is the be-all and end-all of Starcraft.

Sure, we’ve got our own, more official courses, but how can you resist one-on-one tutoring on such topics as:

Muta stacking
Lurker stop and stacking
Cloacked zergling
Learn Korean lango, like “chobo” “gosu” “ww” etc
Advanced micro/macro management (able to stand off 12 zerglings with just 3 zealots or fend off 18 zealots with just 4 cannons) <- EXTREME SKILL

Sounds pretty serious, and for $20-$35/hour, you’d better be serious too. I think a lot of these skills will carry over to Starcraft II as well, so you’re getting kind of a bargain here. Bay Area only, unfortunately.

I’m especially intrigued by the promise that “Korean girls will be intrigued that you’re such a good Starcraft player.” That’d be good, because my “blogger” lines are starting to wear thin on that variety.

Here are the FTP download links for the update: Brood War and original flavor.

As for the battle gear itself, it looks pretty awesome, although traditionally wraparound helmets have been avoided in combat due to decreased field of vision — troublesome, that. But with a personal cooling system and protection from both missile and laser attacks (!), South Korean soldiers should be sitting pretty even if they do get ambushed from their blind spot. Zug zug!

Spore! StarCraft! Korea! It’s a triforce of fun!

As you might have already guessed by glancing at that photo, some enterprising folks have re-created vehicles from the hit game StarCraft in Spore, which I have never played in my life. Not having played the game, I can’t really evaluate the authenticity of the re-creations, but they certainly look convincing.

Bravo to the team behind this. Under normal circumstances I’d be playing Spore all day long, but I just re-rolled in anticipation of a certain expansion pack.

via Kotaku

What’s up with Blizzard’s Web site?

For the past several days, the splash page on Blizzard.com has shown this mysterious, ice blue image. (I’ve been AFK since Monday, so this is all news to me.) As such, Internet speculation is in high gear. Is it Diablo III? Maybe a new race from Starcraft II? No one knows, which makes all the speculation particularly fruitless.

Given that I’ve never played Starcraft nor Diablo, I couldn’t tell you what any of the symbols in the picture mean. Unless the Alliance logo shows up, I’m useless in figuring out this puzzle.

via Kotaku

Blizzard has made Warcraft III (and its expansion, separately) and StarCraft Anthology available for download from its Web site. Both games, originally released in 2002 and 1998, respectively, have won awards left and right. Warcraft III (and the expansion) cost $20, while StarCraft is $15. Mac and PC.

Wanna hear a secret? I’ve never played either game. Does that make me a bad person?

via Macworld

My people are crazy. My people love MMOs. This comedian has a routine based on Starcraft. I don’t know whether I should laugh or turn away in shame.

via Kotaku