GameSpot was lucky enough to receive a recent showing of Warcraft III at the recent Tokyo Game Show, and they've posted a new preview of the game based on the experience. Once again, it was well-known Blizzard front man Bill Roper taking them through the paces of this upcoming 3D RTS. Roper focused on the wide variety of units available in the game, looking very closely at the powerful hero characters.

According to the preview, Roper also said the game is set to begin its beta testing phase sometime early next year. With Blizzard's reputation for lengthy (but necessary) beta phases, this would push the game's release date far past their initial hint that the game would be done this winter. We're also receiving conflicting reports saying the game's beta could start much sooner than January, so take everything with a grain of salt until Blizzard announces the actual beta is in progress.

As far as the rest of the preview is concerned, there is a good dose of information offered on the humans, dark elves, orcs and undead. The hero characters have a number of specialized powers, including a unique 'Ultimate Ability.' Here's a description of one such ability for the human hero, the mountain king:

His ultimate ability (ultrapowerful skills that the heroes possess and that are usable only once per day) allowed him to create a gold mine. Basically, he'll be able to dive underground, dig through the bowels of the earth in search of a suitable gold vein, and emerge with a usable gold mine. This will cause the unit to be out of commission for a good deal of time.

Preview of Warcraft III at GameSpot

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