When Blizzard announced that development for StarCraft 2 would be cut into three separate titles, fans of the series had mixed feelings. Few felt that the prolonged development cycle would cause disruption in the flow of the singleplayer story, while others were happy for Blizzard to take their time on each of the three races. With the release of the first part, Wings of Liberty, gamers soon realised that in separating each story Blizzard was able to deliver a far more polished experience.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm marks the second chapter in the StarCraft 2 saga, and with it brings focus on Queen of the Blades and her disastrous Swarm faction. With mouse in one hand and keyboard in the other, Kosta Andreadis takes on Kerrigan herself to see what Blizzard has to offer.

Heart of the Swarm is another exceptional expansion from Blizzard, one that no doubt fans would need no persuading at all to buy. But its accessibility over previous entries may be its biggest strength for those who’ve always been curious about StarCraft multiplayer but may have felt too intimidated to give it a try...

Check out his full review over here.

AusGamers took to Melbourne early last week to join in on the launch festivities of one of this year's biggest PC releases, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.

Among the thousands of fans who turned up to ring in the midnight launch for the game, Blizzard also hosted a number of guests including Aussie SC2 eSports legend mOOnGLaDe, Aussie ex-pat and incredible Blizzard artist, Luke Mancini, and shoutcaster Leigh "Maynarde" Mandalov, among others.

The top guest for the night though was friend of the site -- Blizzard's own Dustin Browder who took to the stage for lengthy Q&As and stayed back long into the hours signing copies of the game for patient fans. It was a real treat having such top Blizz talent rocking Melbourne's Federation Square and the crowd reaction to almost anything on the night sold passersby on the strength of both gaming and eSports here in Australia.

Despite the heat, the crowd and host interaction remained top-notch throughout and gave a real show to confused Future Music leavers (and other randoms), a few of whom we caught getting wrapped up in the exhibition matches Blizzard hosted thanks to the crowd's reactions to exciting moments which, all in all, spells a bright future in our books for the growth of eSports in Australia.

The following day, however, came our own prize as we were handed an audience with Dustin (once again), who spilled the beans closing out development of Heart of the Swarm and gave us a tantalising glimpse at what we can expect with the final expansion in the SC2 storyline: Legacy of the Void.

Click here for our full interview feature, and click the thumbnails below for a closer look at SC2's Melbourne launch festivities.

Blizzard is hosting launch events around the world for StarCraft 2, and once again Australia is at the front of the queue, possibly owed to our timezone proximity to South Korea. With StarCraft II's game servers divided into three global regions, the game's unlock times for each have been positioned around a midnight launch in the three areas.

For South East Asia (which includes copies purchased in Australia and New Zealand), the game unlocks at the stroke of Midnight in Melbourne (AEDT, so 11pm in Brisbane, and 9pm in Perth). Europeans will follow at Midnight in Paris (CET) at the culmination of a Versailles event, and our North American friends come in lucky last at midnight in Blizzard's native Irvine, California (PDT).

A full guide to Blizzard's launch festivities has been laid out over on this official webpage. AusGamers will be in attendance at the Melbourne event in Federation Square, so if you see Steve about, don't be afraid to say hi.

Kicking off launch festivities for the upcoming StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard has released a new cinematic trailer. Titled "Vengeance", the two minute clip is as worth watching as every other CG video that rolls out of the beloved developer, so don't delay, and hit play below.

Sarah Kerrigan embarks on a path of great vengeance and furious anger. While pursuing her revenge, the Queen of Blades also seeks to reclaim her living empire.

A countdown to the global launch, zeroing in under two weeks, and details on the many live regional events (including Melbourne, Australia), can be found at StarCraft2.com/SwarmLaunch.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm launches on March 12, 2013.

Your one-stop destination for all things StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm in the build up to the game's official release next month (March 12) has just been launched by Blizzard.

The newly crafted launch site comes with a countdown to the game's release as well as information on launch activities, including the midnight launch at Federation Square in Melbourne and what that event will entail for fans keen to attend.

All around the world, we’re hosting launch events that will include unique eSports showmatches, box signings, special guests, and surprises that we don’t want to spoil just yet.

Just hit the link above to check out the new launch page, and in case you missed it, we have a recent hands-on preview of the game as well as a video interview feature with Blizzard's Dustin Browder.

Out at a recent trip to Blizzard's HQ in Irvine, California, AusGamers not only had a chance to get hands-on with a new build of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm's campaign, but also managed to corner the game's lead, Dustin Browder, for a chat about their forthcoming expansion.

Among many topics broached, we asked him about the importance of the Arcade community in feedback and growth for the larger StarCraft 2 development.

"We know that there’s almost as many games of Arcade games played, as regular core StarCraft games," Browder told us.

"So people are spending at least half their time, or some people are spending all of their time, just playing Arcade games. So these guys are creating a lot of great value, and they’re creating a great, fun sandbox full of lots of really cool games, that a lot people are having a lot of fun playing."

We also chat about the lengthy time between expansion releases, updates to the engine, including bolstered physics, what it's like essentially shipping two games in one with multiplayer and single-player and much, much more.

Click here for the full interview feature.

The hugely anticipated StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm is getting closer and one of the best parts about any new Blizzard game is you get to see the opening cinematic before the game lands.

The cinematic video trailer for HotS has just landed, and it's the average, run-of-the-mill jaw dropping digital masterpiece that we've come to expect from the wizards at Blizz.

Check it out now below - or here in HD - to set the scene for the upcoming expansion - and start your drooling. Don't forget to check out our brand new preview as well!

We were recently invited out to Blizzard's (very large) campus in Irvine, California to get some hands-on time with the latest build of the single-player campaign portion of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.

With multiplayer dominating thanks to the beta, the continued success of the game in eSports and its general awesomness, it was great to get some time with the story part of the game, which takes things in a much darker direction than what we saw with Wings of Liberty. Thankfully while some of what we played was familiar, we also dabbled in a handful of new missions and had a chance to test out the various new mutations and evolutions only available in single-player. We also spoke with project lead, Duston Browder, but that interview is still incoming.

In the meantime, click here for our full hands-on preview of the latest offering from Blizzard.

Blizzard has posted another official blog update for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, detailing the groups feature of the forthcoming next chapter in the sci-fi RTS series.

Similar in function to the previously detailed clans system, groups will be aimed at more informal gatherings of player communities, rather than competitively-geared. Like clans, groups will have their own community portal with news and info tabs and a member roster, however group member numbers won't have the 50 member restriction that clans do.

The Groups feature is a way for you to meet and interact with other StarCraft II players who share common interests. Accordingly, when you create a Group, you'll select a category that best describes the type of Group you are creating. These categories include topics such as BarCraft for Groups that are interested in finding and keeping in touch with friends they’ve made at BarCraft events, Strategy and Coaching for Groups that are looking to share their favorite strategies and helping others improve their play, and many more. Once the Group is created, others will then be able to search for the Group by name or browse through the Groups by category.

Look out for an AusGamers StarCraft II group once the functionality is made publicly available.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is due on PC on March 12 2013.

Blizzard has announced a release date for the upcoming Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft 2, putting it at a March 2013 release (thanks Creepy). The expansion will see players taking on a new singleplayer campaign centred around Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of the Blades, as she gathers the Zerg forces for revenge.

Heart of the Swarm features a new campaign continuing the epic story of Sarah Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, as she gathers the remnants of the zerg Swarm and plots her revenge against the treacherous dictator of the Koprulu sector, Arcturus Mengsk. It also introduces several new multiplayer units and features that enhance the acclaimed StarCraft II online experience.

With Heart of the Swarm, our goal has been to expand on the multiplayer action and cinematic storytelling of Wings of Liberty,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Combined with features like unranked matchmaking and our new leveling system, this expansion elevates the StarCraft II experience for players of all skill levels.”

Blizzard has also revealed that a new collector's edition will be available for Heart of the Swarm, which includes a digital and physical bonus item. There will also be the opportunity to purchase a Digital Deluxe edition directly from Blizzard, priced at $64.95 AUD. Players who purchase a standard digital edition or a retail copy will also have the chance to upgrade to the Digital Deluxe edition for an extra $20 AUD.

StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will be available on March 12th, 2013 for PC and Mac.