Yes, yes. The time of the Beta. Everyone wants to talk about it. And around it.
When is it coming? At what time will it arrive? Could a Blizzard employee please point to the month in which it will be released?
But “when” is not the only question that is worth pondering.
The website StarCraft2.pro has recently (Feb 6, 2010) posted an item from Blizzard’s Korean community manager. It stated that the Beta will not simply be for “industry experts and other VIPs, but rather will involve all fans of the franchise.”
This implies, without being straightforward, of course (oh Blizz…) that the Beta will be open, rather than closed. Speculation still abounds, however. Will the Beta be open right from the very start, or will there be a period of closed-beta access only for those who have already been fortunate enough to receive Beta keys?
Blizzard is, as always, tight-lipped. The important nugget of information here, however, is that Blizzard appears to be doing the smart thing by making sure that the fans do not suffer any longer than they absolutely must. At least if the Beta is open, and full to the rafters, no doubt, the lucky few can begin to give the ravening hordes some idea of the game’s true potential, at least after the NDA drops.
Also coming from StarCraft2.pro via Gosugamers.net is the news that Blizzard will be releasing its fourth quarter and 2009 whole-year results in a conference call which will be broadcast over the Internet on February 10th, 2010.
These types of calls typically consist of a few bigwigs in suits, a finance guy chewing on a pencil and a lone programmer, squinting against the bright light of day and shivering at the thought of real human contact. These calls are not terribly interesting, and are generally very numbers-oriented.
What has the fans interested is that Blizzard is going out of its way to announce that the call will be broadcast over the Internet. Sure, they could just be planning on telling the world how much cash they’ve raked in this year, laughing as they roll around in their millions, but that seems out of character.
The broadcast is therefore being seen as an opportunity for Blizzard to release important information to the community…say about a game that maybe some people are interested in…perhaps?
Unfortunately, there is nothing more than speculation at this point. The conference call is a go for sure, but what will be said is anyone’s guess. Some believe it will be Blizz postponing the SCII Beta again as they did in August of 2009, and some believe it will be an announcement for the beginning of the Beta. Some, though thankfully few nay-sayers, believe it is going to be Blizzard announcing that SCII is going the way of StarCraft: Ghost, as they work on Diablo 3 and WoW expansions.
Whatever it is they’re going to say, it better have something to do with SCII. The fans…hunger.
