Starcraft 2 news:
After months of intense qualifiers and national finals across Europe, French pro gamer Ilyes “Stephano” Satouri fought through to a decisive victory at the StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe Finals in Stockholm, Sweden.
You've seen your favorite pro-players dance their units in StarCraft II to celebrate a hard-fought eSports victory. Soon, Heart of the Swarm will add dance animations to a wider range of units. Our good friend Mike “Husky” Lamond has a first look at several units dancing and some beta keys to give away, but most importantly, has information on how you can get your special dance into the game.
Dreamhack produces some of the most spectacular eSports events in the business, and you can expect the DreamHack EIZO Open in Valencia, Spain this weekend to be no exception. Valencia is the mid-point in the DreamHack EIZO open, with Bucharest coming in October, followed by the Grand Finals at DreamHack Winter. The top two finishers from each leg of the tour qualify to compete at the finals in DreamHack Winter. In addition to securing their spot at the finals, the players are competing for a prize pool worth more than $20,000.
In the coming months, we’re planning an update to Battle.net that will give you more control over your online presence when playing Blizzard games. Soon, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III players will be able to select “Appear Offline” as one of their Battle.net social-status options (along with Available, Busy, and Away) for those times when they want to wander Azeroth by their lonesome, dominate the galaxy in radio silence, or slay demons in solitude.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty patch 1.5.3 is now live!
Be sure to check out the full patch notes to learn all about the latest changes.
In just one week, World of Warcraft players will be able to explore the long-lost continent of Pandaria. If you can’t make it to one of the official launches taking place on the evening of September 24 in Paris, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Cologne and Stockholm, we will be linking events from around Europe and streaming a live show via YouTube.
It is often said that the journey is more important than the destination. The StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS) exemplifies that sentiment, with dozens of qualifier tournaments, national finals, and continental championships spread out over several months.
You’ve probably heard about the benefits of using a Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app by now. But did you know that a few months ago, we introduced a new, optional security measure called Battle.net SMS Protect that works in tandem with the Authenticator to help safeguard your account?
One of the biggest events in European eSports history is nearly upon us! The StarCraft II World Championship Series takes place in Sweden’s Ericsson Globe this weekend, September 15-16. We’ve reached out to some of these players in order to learn a little bit more about who they are. Check out what they had to say.
We recently had a chance to sit down with Tim He to talk about eSports, the championship series and more. Last month, he earned a spot at the World Championship Series (WCS) Global Finals while competing in the Oceania Finals.
Read on to learn more about this spirited competitor!
The new StarCraft II League season has arrived! At this time, Season 8 (2012 Season 3) milestones have been awarded and bonus pools and standings have been reset. Hidden skill ratings used for matchmaking and league placement have carried over from the previous season, so players who have completed placement matches in a previous season will only need to play one new placement match to kick off the new season.
This week only, you can get StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty for €24.99 when you download directly from Blizzard.
Over the past five months, hundreds of StarCraft II players around the world have been battling it out in the World Championship Series (WCS) for the honor of representing their countries at the Battle.net World Championship in Shanghai, China. Players from more than thirty different countries competed in qualifier, national, and continental events in order to earn their spots at the Global Finals. With only two events left in the WCS,(the Europe Finals and the Asia Finals) there are only 12 slots left to fill, and we can’t wait to see which progamers from Europe and Asia will round out the final list of 32 competitors.
Various competition organizers hold regular online tournaments in which you can compete against other players and maybe even win some prizes! Most of these contests are open to everyone. In addition, there are professional tournaments taking place like the WCS Europe Finals and the GSL Season 4 which you can follow via video stream. Interested? Take a look at some of the open tournaments coming up in the next days - you can sign up to take part, or simply watch the live streams to get inspired by the players. It’s your turn now!
Attention, StarCraft II ladder competitors! Season 8 (2012 Season 3) is now locked. Season numbers are starting to climb, so we will be changing the way seasons are named. Starting now, each season will get a year tag as well as a season number. For example, last season would have been 2012 Season 3, while the upcoming season will be 2012 Season 4.
We have less than two weeks to go until the StarCraft II World Championship Series Europe Finals! If you won't be able to make it to Stockholm to enjoy the event in person, and you don't feel like watching the live stream on your own at home, then you’ve come to the right place.
The Heart of the Swarm beta test has begun! To be clear, this test will be for the multiplayer experience only. We will begin with a select group, including many players who assisted us in testing Patch 1.5, as well as some pro-gamers and press. Over time, we will add more and more testers into the mix.
The StarCraft II Arcade was launched with Patch 1.5 as your one-stop shop for games made using the StarCraft II Editor, and we continue to be amazed by the high-quality content being created by and shared with the community. We also know there are lots of others out there interested in using the Editor and Arcade as a development platform to make their dream game... but need a little help to get started. That’s why we’re on the hunt for tutorials!
Various competition organizers hold regular online tournaments in which you can compete against other players and maybe even win some prizes! Most of these contests are open to everyone. In addition, there are professional tournaments taking place like the GSL Season 4 and the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 which you can follow via video stream.
A few weeks ago, we asked you to join us in testing a few proposed balance tweaks for StarCraft II. At the time, we felt like terran performance versus zerg (at the pro level) needed some attention. You responded with a lot of testing and good feedback.
We spent some time with Jared ‘PiG’ Krensel, the WCS Australia National Champion, to ask his thoughts on the event, his comeback in the final after losing the first best of three, and why everyone should love his nickname.
The road to the World Championship Series (WCS) North America Finals has been long, but the action has been unforgettable. From the first Qualifier to the Grand Finals, we’ve seen countless StarCraft II games and hundreds of players competing for their chance to represent their country at the Battle.Net World Championship (BWC) in November. The final North American event wrapped up this weekend as thirty two of the continent’s best competed in Raleigh, NC, at the WCS North America Finals.
After three weeks of thrilling competition, the South Korea World Championship Series Nationals concluded last weekend, with Creator beating out Squirtle 4-1 in a protoss vs. protoss final. The road to winning the WCS South Korea Nationals was certainly not an easy one, however. South Korea is jam-packed with StarCraft II talent, and the WCS competition lived up to lofty expectations.
On September 15-16, StarCraft II eSports will reach heights never before seen in Europe.
The Battle.net World Championship taking place in Shanghai this November will be the culmination of more than 30 StarCraft II World Championship Series tournaments around the world.