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Today is not just a Tuesday, it’s not just the 27th of July, today is a day that has been a long time coming. 12 years ago, in 1998, a game was released. It was a Real Time Strategy game. This Real Time Strategy game proved to be very popular, its balanced races and tactical options ensuring that its massive following still play it today. Or, yesterday, because today, after 12 long years the sequel has arrived.

For anyone not yet quite aware what I am talking about yet, I am referring to Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty. Once again PCs shall ring out with the hiss of the alien Zerg, the Drawl of the human Terrans, and the overriding calm and danger of the advanced Protoss. Starcraft was created by Blizzard, the makers of the similarly named Warcraft, and of course, the MMO spin off World Of Warcraft.

Starcraft is widely regarded by gamers as one of the defining games of the RTS genre, with only Command and Conquer coming close to its brilliance. Starcraft was the first of the games to introduce vastly different races to play as, giving gamers an array of units with different skills, and tactical options. As a game it has had such an impact that there are world pro league finals, and the University of California even offered a course that explored “various aspects of the game, from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles are conducted”.

Starcraft II as such has been highly anticipated by the fans of the original, and will no doubt attract a new generation. Only time will tell if it as well balanced, and thus popular and successful as the original. But with about 7 years of development, and many hours of Beta testing by seasoned Starcraft veterans you would bet on it being a runaway hit.