So, two Swedes (the only Swedes who have a game show in that over thar country) managed to poke designers of StarCraft 2 with some interesting questions at DreamHack.

As I was listening to this interview (mostly because I am fortunate enough to be fluent in Swedish:P) I was again reminded why I love every game this company develops. It has something to do with the "we won't release the game until its ready" but more... it has to do with their passion to put together an experience to tell a story. The designers reminded the crowd again and again how the multiplayer part of the game was separate from the campaign and that the campaign had almost zero relation to multiplayer: playing the campaign would not prepare you for Battle.net and the campaign even allowed for features and such that would never make its way into multiplayer because they were so intent on creating an experience that could tell a story. And, folks, that's one of the reasons yours truly likes to play videogame: the story.

The heroes that were introduced in WarCraft 3 were an awesome addition to the RTS series. I am saddened, however, to know that they will not introduce this same hero system into StarCraft 2. They actually intentionally avoided it and, according to the interview, did it so to better allow battles of a grand scale and allow multiple battles to take place in a more balanced setting. The designers mentioned that when the hero was involved in a battle in WarCraft 3, the focus was always on the battle with the hero, and the hero pretty much decided the win. They wanted large battles in StarCraft 2 and they wanted multiple battles to take place. With a hero system, this would not happen as the focus would always shift to the battle(s) involved with the hero. I think.

One of the Swede interviewers mentioned that they were disappointed by WarCraft 3's soundtrack because it sounded too synth-like and lacked a melody. Good news on the front: the designers confirmed that StarCraft 2 will have full orchestra recordings for an epic soundtrack. This is pretty sweet. I smell GameStop pre-order bonus!

Blizzard is releasing each race's campaign as a separate game. When this was first announced, people all over were calling shenanigans that Blizzard just wanted to make as much money as possible a la Lords of the Rings trilogy. However, these lead designers explained that when they were initially creating the missions to tell Jim Raynor's story, the missions and the story grew, and it grew so large that there was no way they could pack it all in one game. Now, the multiplayer will be ready to rock upon the first chapter's release for all those hungry for Battle.net, but whether or not changes will be implemented into the multiplayer with each successive chapter is not yet known. The designers claim that they will have to assess the community's response to the first game before they can make any decisions. Good answer!

The beta is "not even quarters" away the designers say, and they added that their goal is to have the game release this year. I am crossing my fingers. This game has been on the to-do list for way too long. Eleven years to be exact.

The full video interview can be seen here: http://www.press2play.tv/Spel/vrldsexklusiv-starcraft-2inter-802.aspx

Yes, there are subtitles!

So, definitely saving up for a new Alienware laptop so that I can play this and Diablo III. Excitement commence!