Starcraft II will become a trilogy of games.. Due to a ridiculously ambitious (note: over budget) single-player campaign, the RTS sequel will be released as three separate products, with an epic campaign for each race, complete with adventure gameplay, RPG elements, and a bit of Guitar Hero throw in for good measure.  I think we can all assume that both new expansions will also offer slight multi-player tweaks to each set of units and tech trees, just as all Blizzard expansions have in the past.  Although, it is a little disappointing that we won’t be seeing much of the Zerg and Protoss space opera until those secondary games come out.  The pricing and release schedule will be very telling as for how much of that evil Activision DNA has seeped into the Blizzard house, post merger.

New Diablo III class, the “Wizard”, is the only bombshell announced during the Blizzcon opening ceremony.. Following in the footsteps of other recent Asian game characters, such as that chick from Portal or that other chick from Mirror’s Edge, the third D3 class gives the Sorceress a fresh new look.  From my playthrough at Blizzcon, it’s definitely shaping up to be a lot of fun for all you power-hungry, mana-burning lovers out there.  Did I mention, you get the spell “Magic Missle”?

Microsoft announces New Xbox Experience (NXE) will launch Nov 19th.. For those scratching their head, that would be the “oh so clever” MS branding for the new Xbox360 Fall Update.  Among the new features are a totally redesigned user interface (think coverflow), cute player avatars (think Xbox Miis), party system (think PSN Home), and Netflix integration (yay, something sort of original!).  Too bad those Xbox360 “Arcade” owners will need at least 128MB of memory card space to enjoy those new features.

The upcoming Resident Evil: Degeneration CG-movie was screened at the Toyko Game Show (TGS).. Unlike the previous, live-action, Milla Jovovich-starring films, this new film promises to be 100% canon to the game series and actually works to link the Umbrella Corp storyline from the first three games with the upcoming RE5 game.  Good for long-time fans of the survival horror series and great for catching up newcomers in need of some backstory.  So yeah, this won’t be another Final Fantasy: Spirits Within..

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