Blizzard: Heart of the Swarm Unvelied in May

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Media outlets have received an invitation to a Heart of the Swarm press event next month.

Kotaku reports that Blizzard plans to unveil the second part of its StarCraft 2 "trilogy" for the first time next month. Various media outlets have already received invitations to the press event, and are promised to see a portion of Heart of the Swarm's campaign. What attendees won't see will be changes or additions to the multiplayer portion at this stage-- that's likely to be revealed later on this year at BlizCon 2011.

Blizzard is reportedly taking a different approach to this second chapter, focusing on Sarah Kerrigan and the Zerg legions. New legions are expected to appear along with an RPG-like mechanic. Media outlets present at the event will likely be given the green light to offer coverage, giving salivating StarCraft 2 fans a better look into the post-Wings of Liberty story.

Currently Blizzard is planning to launch Heart of the Swarm in early 2012. Of course, that can change between now and then. However, Kotaku points out that it received its press event invitation for an early peek at Wings of Liberty nearly a year in advance of the game's retail release. That said, this time next year we could be knee deep in Zerg goodness.

Back in December, the unpolished ending cinematic for Heart of the Swarm leaked onto the internet, but was quickly nuked on YouTube and Vimeo by Blizzard, claiming the standard "copyright infringement." The clip featured storyboards and dialogue without lip-synching, indicating it was still in the early stages of production. To seemingly back up its legitimacy, The Third Floor's watermark was spotted at the lower right-- Blizzard is one of the studio's clients.

To see the clip, Kotaku still has a local copy for your streaming pleasure here. Stay away if you're not into spoilers.

Kevin Parrish
41 Comments Comment from the forums
  • spunkyddog
    The waiting period is KILLING me!!!
    Reply
  • Zeh
    I'd sleep way better not knowing that video ever existed. I'm not going to see it, but it's still so tempting...
    Reply
  • everlast66
    Just actually read that Blizz have amanged to sell only 4.5 mil copies of the first part til Feb 2011, far below their expectations of 7 mil copies.

    Blizz should have listened to customers and included a LAN multilayer option. In the meantime my cash stays in the bank and away from Blizz's accounts.

    The sales figures also come to support what a lot of people believe - that piracy actually sells and does not harm companies profits! Tens of millions of people were before playing SC 1 and eventually hepled Blizz sell 8 - 11 million copies. The current SC 2 comunity is pretty small and a lot of the sales were actually helped by the massive SC 1 crowd, that would not be there to support their next part/version. curious if they'll manage to sell 3 mill of the secong expansion.
    Reply
  • jn77
    Never heard of this game, they keep releasing stuff, where is Diablo III?
    Reply
  • NuclearShadow
    They mentioned before that each version would be a stand alone, so for example someone with this new one coming out would be able to play with someone who bought the Terran version. But I really don't see this happening because it would likely mean no multi-player changes. (Well assuming they don't make changes and just patch the Terran version for free)

    I really don't see the future SCII titles being standalone for one prime reason and that is piracy. If there aren't any MP changes exclusive to the new titles this gives no reason for anyone to buy them instead of pirating. All they would need is a legit version of Wings of Liberty and they would be good to go if they want to play MP if the promise of the future titles were standalone and compatible with the other versions.

    I even emailed Blizzard about this to see what their two cents were on the subject and to see if they actually thought about this. I got a short email basically saying that they have not decided if they will release it as a standalone or not. Which obviously is backpedaling already so its obvious that it won't be the case.
    Reply
  • Netherscourge
    Can we get more Diablo 3 news instead?

    Reply
  • deejay83
    There are no Diablo III news.

    Starcraft II not being as succesful as Blizzard thought it will be... Non shocking tbh.
    Reply
  • HolyCrusader
    Blizzard said originally that each game would be a stand-alone product, but that the multiplayer component between the 3 games would be unchanged and available regardless of which version you buy. i.e. You would not have to re-purchase it if you already had it with Wings of Liberty, and would thus cost less money.

    I'll be surprised if this actually happens, tbh. I fully expect that they'll charge full price for it. They thought WoL sales were lower than expected, HotS will be even lower if they end-up charging another $60 for it.
    Reply
  • makaveli316
    Why bother showing videos and making press conferences for a game which will come out next year or later???
    Aaahhh yeah, the hype...
    This is like Dr. Dre album - first hype the people out, than collect your cash, nice strategy.
    Reply
  • What I'm waiting for...

    PRESS RELEASE

    Blizzard Entertainment has announcing that it's upcoming followup to its "Record breaking" Starcraft 2 series, The Heart of the Swarm, will contain a new LAN Gaming function. It will only be available for those who have purchased the new Zerg-focused game.

    I would seriously die laughing....
    Reply