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The 49th Q&A focusing on answers to fan questions about StarCraft II, Blizzard Entertainment's long awaited sequel to the original StarCraft, is now available. This edition of the Q&A features a collection of artwork showcasing changes to the Zerg race, several screenshots of specific units in action, and the usual selection of answers.

Art Updates
The StarCraft art team have been making massive updates to the Zerg faction, adding various new animations and improving even further on the textures of Zerg units and buildings. A picture is a thousand words so check out the updates for yourself!

5) What is a good counter for Zerg against Marines, which are upgraded from the original StarCraft?
Zerg actually have a few options that are quite effective. Zerglings can catch Marines out in the open and surround them relatively easily. Secondly, Banelings with the burrow ability are also very effective. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a group of Marines walk over a burrowed Baneling. When it unburrows – BOOM! Another counter that can be used are Roaches with burrow. A player can burrow a Roach at low health for it to regenerate back to full health in seconds, at which point it can unburrow and begin attacking the Marines again.
In late game, Infestor’s with their fungal scourge ability, which causes a biological unit to take damage over time until the unit explodes and does an area of effect damage, decimating groups of Marines easily if the opponent is not fast to react. Additionally, Ultralisks with their new cleave attack as well as 200 more hit points from the original StarCraft also make them an excellent counter to massed Marines.

6) How do you keep the Baneling from exploding on targets that you don’t want them to hit?
The Baneling now has an ‘attack building’ ability now which allows players to have more control over what the Baneling attacks. Players no longer need to worry about Banelings accidentally exploding on a building when they actually wanted it to hit a unit.

StarCraft Forums: SC 2 Q&A Batch 49

StarCraft Forums: Ask Your SC 2 Questions Here

StarCraft Forums: Q&A Archive

Blizzard Entertainment

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

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Inside Mac Games has posted a review of the new Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) from CartoonNetwork, FusionFall. In the game, you work alone or in team with other players to complete missions, locate treasure, and upgrade your clothing and equipment. The game requires an Intel Macintosh, and runs through a web browser window. Here's an excerpt from the review:

The game world is a series of communities connected with roads and bridges and separated by deep chasms. The topography of this world is futuristic suburban. Houses, stores, parks, and play grounds connected with asphalt roads. Scattered throughout are the forces of the Fusion Fall. Monsters of various types, pools of toxic sludge, and hidden entrances to Fusion Lairs. You begin at a Cartoon Network outpost. This outpost and others like it are safe from immediate attack and provide quest givers, shop keepers, transportation means, and other game necessities. Not to mention the hundreds of other players all running this way and that.

IMG Review: FusionFall

FusionFall

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GiantCrayon Games has announced the release of Puzzlicious, a new jigsaw puzzle game designed for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. The game downloads either images from the internet or photos in a user's iPhone library and turns them into jigsaw puzzle pieces. Puzzilicious features adjustable difficulty and a countdown timer.

"These are not your grandma's jigsaw puzzle," said Tim Goggin, GiantCrayon Games's VP. "Those had a giant picture on the box to give you a hint as to how the completed puzzle should look. We've mixed it up by pulling photos you've never seen before and then let you solve them."

Goggin concluded, "This is a never-ending supply of challenging puzzles, all played all from the convenience of your iPhone. And no pieces will get lost in your couch or chewed up by your puppy. It's green, too: no trees were killed to make these puzzles."

This new game is an endless shelf piled with puzzles. Puzzlicious downloads random images from the Internet, and jigsaws them up into finger-sized puzzle pieces, waiting to be reassembled. Or, in an area without Internet access, Puzzlicious can be used with photos from the iPhone library.

Players set a timer and then race the clock. Users can also control the difficulty by adjusting the number of puzzle pieces. With each puzzle solved, players get a round of applause.

Gold Runner is a remake of a classic platformer that has seen many incarnations since it's original debut in the early 80s. Gold Runner is retro-gaming at its finest. Run through 33 levels collecting gold bricks and avoiding guards. Your only weapons are your speed and your ability to dig holes. Dig to escape the pursuing guards and also to trap them, forcing them to release gold bars that they may be holding.

Gold Runner offers two control styles: on-screen buttons and touch-screen "flicking". There are three button sizes available to best suit your finger size and style of play. Gold Runner also offers an alternate display, a horizontal display mode with a larger gameboard display area. Gold Runner maintains a high score screen with the 10 best scores to satisfy your competitive nature.

Puzzlicious

Gold Runner

Macgamestore.com, in partnership with Ludia, Inc, has announced the availability of The Price is Right and Hell's Kitchen games for Macintosh computers. In The Price is Right players spin the Big Wheel for the chance to win prizes and a pay-off at the Showcase. Hell's Kitchen brings the intense experience of the show's pressure-cooker atmosphere as players attempt to complete a series of kitchen and dining room challenges.

The Price is Right:

Come on down to play The Price Is Right game! Feel the thrill of playing in Contestant's Row and through different pricing game challenges, including Plinko, Cliff Hangers and Punch-A-Bunch and more of your favorites. Try your luck as you spin the Big Wheel for the chance fabulous prizes and a huge pay-off at the Showcase!

Features:
* Single Player Mode: Play multiple shows while avoiding strikes to rack up the biggest winnings.
* Party Mode: Up to 4 players compete against each other; winner determined by the cumulative value of prizes earned during the game.
* 16 of the most popular pricing games, plus Contestant's Row, Big Wheel and Showcase.
* Theme music, announcer audio and game sounds create a true-to-show game experience.
* Rack up achievements in your personal trophy room.

Hell's Kitchen is a US TV phenomenon as renowned Gordon Ramsay puts aspiring chefs through a rigorous culinary bootcamp. Experience the show's pressure-cooker atmosphere as you go through a series of kitchen and dining room challenges. Success depends on how well you can cook and serve meals, so master each time management test to progress. Each meal is scored by Gordon Ramsay- do you have the talent to be a "Five-Star" chef in the hottest kitchen around?

Features:
* Career Calendar game play. Work up from new restaurant status to advance towards a prestigious Five-Star rating.
* Set within Hell's Kitchen - play in both the kitchen and dining room.
* 3D model of Gordon Ramsay rates and comments on performance.
* 35 Gordon Ramsay recipes from the TV show unlock as players progress through the game.
* Print recipes to try at home.

Buy The Price Is Right

Buy Hell's Kitchen

Mac Game Store

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Mac|Life has posted a new review of the Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack expansion for Will Wright's popular evolution sim. The pack includes 72 new creature parts, 48 new paint options, and 24 new animations. Mac|Life gave the expansion a score of 2 out of 5.

From the review:

The expansion pack fulfills its most basic promise; you get 60 new body parts, 48 more paint patterns, and 24 extra animations. The parts and patterns fit the theme of the title, full of doe eyes, razor claws, rag doll stitching, and bloody-organ skin. And the new movements animate your creature in expressive ways, from new dances and gymnastics flips, to being struck by lightning or chased by bees. A couple extra backgrounds allow photos and videos in front of a rainbow-laden world or wasteland scene.

But while those numbers seem like a lot, they’re miserly when you get down to playing. The body parts are rationed across categories: 12 parts each to eyes, mouths, hands/feet, arms/legs, and decorations. And you get no new weapons, such as horns. We enjoyed building creatures with these new parts, but we wanted twice as many to justify the effort of installing the new software. And the new animations are entertaining, but we got tired of them in just a few minutes.

Mac|Life: Spore Creepy & Cute Review

Electronic Arts

Spore

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