One thing that stops me from buying is the lack of a decent field of view / strategic zoom. Still playing on a 19" CRT and I'm not planning to buy a screen with 16:9 ratio for SC2.

Every other RTS title in history showed up with a strategic zoom (DoW series, C&C, Supreme Commander, ...)

I do understand that it might be somehow a gameplay descision for MP or e-sport competitons but if the do scale the graphics down for older systems why not for older computer monitors too?

Me personally, I like to enjoy the battles between enemies to much.

I like strategic level play, setting pieces in motion and specific battles and their simulations. So that way you can enjoy the fruits of your strategies and tactics. (Ala Total War series.)

The one that surprisingly worked out well for me was Dawn of War 2. I found I really enjoyed the RPG side of it even more than just the zerg rush of normal RTS's. Yet the RPG single player side was a TON of fun. (Because you got to follow your troopers into the battle, and enjoy the fireworks.)

That just means the RTS genre doesn't do it for me, as a zerg rush style.

But that's another reason why I'm so keen on Elemental: War of Magic.

I didn't spring for the overnight delivery on my CE, figuring I could wait a couple of days...

Yeah, that didn't work. I was lined up at Future Shop at 11pm, and was already 40th in line. I did get a hat, but no poster. Was up last night playing it. Got today off so I'm playing it again. The campaign mode is awesome.

Thanks for covering the rest. Too busy playing to go through it all. It's frustrating how much this stuff just refuses to die on this forum (along with the "Valve takes an extra cut for Steamworks" myth).

The bottom line on SC2 is that if you enjoyed Starcraft, the game is a must buy. Don't think, go to the store right now (or buy direct from Blizzard at 10am PST). If you don't like the Starcraft style of game... then why would you expect the sequel to be different?

I was really tempted to take today off, but decided not to. Finally got my tracking number, though, and the box is out for delivery. Woohoo

Funny thing is that when I play Sins, I always turn it up to 2x or sometimes even 4x speed. The early game in particular is SO SLOW. There's only a couple of ships and very few abilities to command, there's very little to fight, and not much is going on.  At normal speed it seems to take forever before I actually need to pay attention.

Civ 4 kind of has the same thing in the early game where the first 20 turns can be played in 45 seconds. Thank god for advanced start.

Installing now!  Happy nerd times are here...

Please provide us with a review after you releashed yourself from the new game addiction.

Wow, I was really burnt out on the RTS genre with the generic game mechanics of base building, resource gathering, scouting,  and zerging the enemy's base. Company of heroes really offered me something new and different in my opinion with the strategic resource and victory points.  Sins offered something new with the fusion of 4X elements wrap into a RTS gameplay. Only other great RTS experience I enjoy is the TBS/RTS Total war series. I really not excited about starcraft 2 because it seems like a rehash of old RTS mechanics.  I probably wait for Starcarft 2 game of the century release to enjoy the well crafted Blizzard storylines of the three titles and addons.

I thought that the original Starcraft''s mechanics were boring and stale when it came out (compared to say Total Annihilation and Myth).  The buzz is that SC2 really hasnt gone much beyond what the original was in terms of mechanics.  So a definite pass for me.  I may take a second look if I hear the right buzz after its released though.

I really wish that Blizzard would do something new for a change instead of releasing really well polished, but derivative games.  There is nothing wrong with making games that are heavily inspired by previous games (see Elemental and MoM).  But whenever Blizzard does it, it always ices a genre since so many people try and copy them.  The MMORPG genre got so stale after WoW (which was very similar to earlier generation MMORPGS) and the RTS genre got really stale after SC was released (and SC was very similar to lots of other late 90s RTS games).

Theres no LAN anymore in AAA titles.

Yep. Like it or not, LAN is getting pretty antiquated and fewer and fewer games support it. There's a big general shift towards pure online play with social systems, achievements, etc.