The wait is finally over: the most anticipated game title in the last decade is finally here, and fans all over Dubai rejoiced at its launch in Mirdif City Centre.
Many of those fans have waited more than 12 years for the sequel to one of the most successful and influential PC games of all time, Starcraft, released in 1998. The sci-fi Real Time Strategy (RTS) game revolutionised the genre and went on to become one of the best-selling personal computer games of all time, with over 11 million copies sold worldwide. Twelve years on, and the original game continues to sell thousands of copies around the world every month, regardless of its outdated graphics.
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty is expected to surpass the original in sales with nearly 800,000 pre-orders in the US alone, according to vgchartz.com, and game analysts expect it to sell more than 2 million copies worldwide in the first week.
Online activation
Dubai's midnight release of Starcraft 2 was hosted at eMax at Mirdif City Centre. Hardcore RTS gamers and Starcraft fans of all ages swarmed the store to register for a copy of the game. Gamers camped outside the store for hours on Monday to get a chance to be part of this global event. Their fingers were itching to get to their mouse and begin building their army and "fragging some alien b**t".
Sadly though, installing the game didn't go as smoothly as the launch. There were issues with the installation hanging halfway through (hopefully it's just a faulty drive, not a bad disk) so fans were not able to get a first impression of the game — so much for getting an early copy.
That's down to the way computer games work today. It's not just about sticking a CD into the drive. With most software today, the game requires an online activation as an anti-piracy measure.
And as an indication of how popular this game is, when tabloid! attempted to activate its copy of the game at 1am, just an hour after the regional launch, we were surprised to be told that we were number 2,237 in the waiting list to be activated in our region. Blizzard's servers were already overwhelmed with the response.
Back in store, eight PCs were set up with the original Starcraft game so that customers could pass the time by showing off some of their skills. Minutes before midnight, the game's opening scenes were played for the fans as a countdown to the launch. The first copy of the launch went to a high school drama teacher.
Though some retail stores had sold copies of the game before the midnight launch, Blizzard has said that they are going to be monitoring activation times and may penalise any attempts at activating a game before the regional midnight deadline.
What's the game all about?
Starcraft's main selling point has been its excellently balanced multiplayer game play and a great storyline. To do the storyline justice, the makers Blizzard focused on just one angle of the story in each game.
Wings of Liberty's single player campaign follows the Terrans, human exiles from Earth. Led by Jim Raynor, the Marshal turned revolutionary is on a vigilante rampage out for revenge against the traitor Arcturus Mengsk, the emperor of the Terran Dominion.
Two more expansions, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, will be released at a later date. Each of which will follow the storyline of the other payable races — the insectoids know as the Zerg and the powerful and mysterious Protoss.
