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The fourth list of answers to fan questions about the upcoming StarCraft II was recently made available on the Blizzard StarCraft forums. The sequel to the still popular original StarCraft, SC II will introduce new multiplayer action and pick up the Zerg, Terran, and Protoss storylines a few years after the end of BroodWar.

1. Are the yellow minerals shown in the trailers harvestable?
Yes, they will be a harvestable high yield resource, meaning each harvest rotation will result in greater mineral quantities than the standard blue minerals. This gives players more strategic choices when trying to evaluate where they wish to expand. Expand to the high yield but risk easier discovery? Or expand to a safer area but earn fewer resources?

2. Will resource sharing be allowed between allies?
Yes, it is our plan to have this in the game, though there is still much testing and balancing revolving around this ability.

3. Will allied chat be enabled by default for pre-set teams?
Yes.

4. Is the Zealot charge ability an upgrade as well?
Yes, this ability is upgraded through the Protoss War Shrine.

StarCraft Forums: SC 2 Q&A Batch 4

StarCraft Forums: Ask Your SC2 Questions Here

Blizzard Entertainment

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Buy StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

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Inside Mac Games has posted a review for Unreal Voodoo's Frets on Fire, A game that takes after the fun and exciting style of the Guitar Hero games. Here's a clip from the review:

Frets on Fire won the first prize in the 2006 Assembly Demo Party Game Development competition in Finland. The first stable Macintosh Binary was delivered to Frets fans on the 22nd of December 2006. At the moment, Frets on Fire is the only Guitar Hero clone available for the Macintosh, but should you stick with your console versions of Guitar Hero, or will Frets on Fire rock the house?

IMG Review of Frets on Fire

Frets on Fire

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Late last week Blizzard Entertainment unveiled more information about the new Colossus unit for the Protoss race in the upcoming StarCraft II. The update includes some footage of the new unit in action, new screenshots, and a short lore update on the history of the Colossus.

The towering colossus is a protoss robot design dating back to the bloody conflicts of the Kalath Intercession. It strides across the battlefield on four tall, slender legs which give it an extremely high level of mobility. The great height of the machine allows it to step up and down cliffs and other steep elevations with little difficulty, and gives it a dominating field of fire. The immense height of a colossus means it is vulnerable to attack from both anti-ground and anti-air units and structures

The heavily armored hull of the colossus carries two powerful thermal lances: one mounted on each side of its body. Complex focusing and targeting systems are used to pinpoint the continuous damage output of the thermal lances for optimal efficiency. As a target is destroyed, the lances are switched to a new target instantly so that a colossus' beam cuts a fiery swathe of destruction through multiple enemies with each firing cycle.

The colossus is unusual for the fact that it was created purely as a war machine. Most protoss robots are created for industrial or resource-gathering purposes. Even the much-feared reaver is at its core a mobile manufacturing unit re-tasked to the creation of scarab drones for long-range bombardment. The mass slaughter unleashed on the kalathi by roving colossi appalled the protoss.

At the time, the Conclave outlawed the manufacture of colossi, and existing machines were deactivated before being sealed away in distant asteroids and uninhabited moons. Centuries later the war against the zerg has brought forth these engines of destruction to do battle once more.

StarCraft II: Colossus

Blizzard Entertainment

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Buy StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

Originally scheduled for a June 28 release, GameTap for Mac users has been delayed while a few "minor last minute showstoppers" are worked out. A Joystiq report indicates the Mac version may be delayed until Thursday, July 5.

The GameTap subscription service will offer Mac gamers a list of hundreds of game titles from which to choose. The service will be powered by TransGaming's Cider emulation technology and thus will only be available to owners of Intel Macs.

The Mac Lite Player, unfortunately, it's not looking good for (June 28) right now. We've run into some minor last-minute showstoppers and are working like crazy people to fix it up right. Hold tight...

We've moved the official launch to next Thursday, 7/5 since we needed a bit more time to fine tune the integration with the website and triple check for bugs/emulation issues.

Joystiq: Mac GameTap Delayed

GameTap

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An IMG reader has informed us that French language website monde persistants recently posted an article about CCP Games's EVE Online. In the discussion of the upcoming new add-on for the game, and planned graphics engine improvements, CCP CEO Hilmar V. Petursson mentions an August release for Linux and Mac OS versions of the online space adventure game.

Those able to read French can check out the article at the link below.

monde persistants: EVE Online Article

EVE Online

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MacMost is now offering Sudoku, Match Three and Collapsing Blocks for Apple's recently released iPhone. The games can be played for free by iPhone users who use their new phone to browse the MacMost website.

Gary Rosenzweig, founder of CleverMedia and executive producer of MacMost, created the games in anticipation of the iPhone launch, without being able to test the games until the phone was released on June 29.

"I was able to draw on our library of game code and create the games using my best guesses about the iPhone's capabilities," said Rosenzweig. "Then I waited in line all day on Friday so I could be one of the first to get one and to test the games."

While the iPhone does not include any game applications at launch, it does allow for third-party developers to make games using the Safari Web browser built into the phone.

Rosenzweig said he is planning more games. He intends to keep the games free.

"We're working on some card games and other puzzle games," said Rosenzweig. We hope to be updating the game site almost every day in the coming weeks. "Like the games at our main game site, GameScene, these will be free and we'll eventually support them with advertising."

MacMost: iPhone Games

Apple

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