After a period of public beta testing, patch 1.2.0 for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty launched last night with additions including Battle.net chat channels and customisable hotkeys plus bug fixes and yet more balance tweaks to Blizzard's RTS.

If you don't fancy facing the SC2 auto-updater, you can download the 275MB-ish patch direct from FileShack in US, GB, FR and MX flavours. Read more »

While it is still relatively early in StarCraft II's life as far as custom games go, but there's an early standout emerging on the US and EU versions of Battle.net: Star Battle.

The game is a 6v6 DotA style map that pits fleets of capital ships against each other as fighter ships push different lanes and can be killed for minerals, used to upgrade and outfit each player's ship. Read more »

Game of the Year Runner-up: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

The wait was definitely worth it with Blizzard's first non-World of Warcraft release since July 2003 and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is our second best game of 2010. There isn't much more to say that hasn't been covered in the posts for Best Multiplayer, Best Strategy, and Best PC game, which were all taken by StarCraft II. Read more »

PC Exclusive: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

It was definitely a close race between the two top games here, but in the end StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty edged out our runner-up. StarCraft II shipped with Blizzard's requisite level of polish and tons of content, which was quickly snapped up by a huge community from casual players all the way up to Korean progamers. In fact, some of us played the StarCraft II beta more than most other games this year, which continued when the game was released. Read more »

Strategy:

href="http://www.shacknews.com/reviews/game.x/4110">StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Read more »

Plays Well With Others (Best Multiplayer): StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Blizzard's latest real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, was launched in a tough multiplayer spot with a lot to live up to. Its predecessor was still being played by the hardcore and is a national sport in South Korea. On the other side of the coin, the RTS genre had become more and more niche over the years since the company's last release, Warcraft III. Blizzard succeeded in releasing a game that was eSport ready on day one, but was also fun for more casual players. The innovative leagues and ladder system offers meaningful matchmaking and rankings to all but the most skilled players, while custom games and comp stomps sweeten the deal. With two expansions on the way and more tournaments than we can count, StarCraft II is well on its way to being played for the next ten years just like the original. Read more »

A demo for Blizzard's StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is now available for download on PC and Mac and is a bit different from the guest passes that have been circulating through friend referrals.

The free demo includes the first three missions of the campaign as well as a Terran vs. Terran skirmish mode versus the AI. The demo is playable offline and does not require a Battle.net account to try. It is currently limited to the US English version of the game, but additional languages are coming. Read more »

This weekend was spent mostly playing and watching Blizzard products with my addiction to StarCraft II back in full swing--including the finals of GSL3 and the EG Masters Cup--and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm holding my interest longer than I thought it would.

I also had a chance to play a lot of iPhone games and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Overall, it was a good gaming weekend. I'm off to record Weekend Confirmed for next week due to the upcoming Christmas break later this week. Read more »

Following in the footsteps of World of Warcraft's Public Test Realm, developer Blizzard has launched a public test server for StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, starting off by letting players get their hands on patch 1.2.0 ahead of its upcoming release.

Changes in the patch include the long-awaited Battle.net Chat Channels, balance tweaks a new 'Master' league, improvements to the editor and bug fixes. Read more »

Blizzard has launched another wave of account bans for hackers and cheaters in StarCraft II, though no specifics have been revealed by the company.

Typically, Blizzard (and other game developers) will hold off on banning users for cheats, hacks, and exploits until a critical mass of electronic ne're-do-wells are caught. By banning in waves, companies attempt to catch as many people as possible before revealing their hand. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

Today marks the last Filter of the week. Why so soon? Daily Filter is going to be too busy gorging on giant mounds of various food stuffs and won't be around for the next two days. Read more »

Patch 1.1.3 for Blizzard's StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is rolling out across all regions today, bringing a minor balance change, a bug fix, and new custom map filters to find games of Tower Defense and Tug of War.

StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty told us to expect a minor patch in the week's following BlizzCon. A large features and balance patch should be released later this year, which will include, among other things, chat channels and the support for seasonal ladders. Read more »

Shacknews receives a slew of new screenshots and trailers for upcoming games everyday. The most anticipated titles receive their own post, because we know you're eager to see that content. For the rest, we have the Daily Filter, a place to feature all of the media we add to our enormous database on a daily basis.

The first Filter of the week includes media for StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, LittleBigPlanet 2, Michael Jackson: The Experience, Bloodline Champions, Combat Arms, Fighters Uncaged, and PDC World Championship Darts Pro Tour. Read more »

If you've picked a bit of a daft name for yourself in StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, you'll be delighted to hear that Blizzard has granted all accounts one free name change.

To change your name in the real-time strategy sequel, you''ll need to log into Battle.net Account Management, click the 'Character Name Change' button on the game license screen then log into StarCraft 2 to choose your new moniker. Read more »

At BlizzCon 2010, I sat down with StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty to talk about Heart of the Swarm, custom maps, cross-region play, bannings, and more.

Shack: You've said recently that the first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, is about 18 months away from being released. It wasn't shown at BlizzCon. What's the status of the project? Read more »