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Blizzard Entertainment has posted a new retrospective article about the recently ended beta testing phase for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The eagerly awaited sequel to the company's still popular sci-fi RTS title, StarCraft II is scheduled to launch July 27. The game will take place a few years after the events of Broodwar and will offer both an extensive single player campaign and in-depth multiplayer action.

Of course, not everything was perfectly balanced and many changes were made along the way. Who could forget about the epic mothership or planetary fortress rushes destroying just about everything in their wake? And what good was a force of battle-hardened units when SCVs could get the offensive job done just fine? Oh and yes, honey, we shrunk the Thor. Watching battles play out with that behemoth hogging the map was certainly interesting, so much so that the terrans had to make some budget cuts and buy smaller parts.

One real game changer was the long-awaited introduction of the StarCraft II Editor. Custom map creation was available in late April, and map publishing became available approximately a month later. Committed testers painted the Internet red with footage of their unique maps, match shoutcasting, and live game streams. Some of the more popular videos racked up hundreds of thousands of views. There are still a great many gems out there if you haven't taken the time to check them out.

SC II: What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been

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