Game Tips: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Melbourne Launch Event Wrap

Even amidst a heat wave, StarCraft fans in their thousands swarmed to Federation Square in Melbourne to help launch the latest in Blizzard’s seminal strategy series. And this was no low key midnight shopping centre launch with slightly tired employees handing out plastic bags to eager gamers, as Blizzard and event coordinators saw fit to stream the event globally with plenty of crowd-pleasing activities - from show matches, to Q&A panels featuring StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Game Director Dustin Browder and Australian-made 3D Artist Luke Mancini, to even showcasing some short films, parodies, and behind the scenes videos.

The huge crowd... shortly before they zerg rushed the stage.

With the event running for four hours, from 8pm to the fateful hour of Kerrigan’s rebirth (that being midnight) there was rarely a dull moment, with the crowd all too eager to listen, cheer, and participate in the proceedings. The developer panel and Q&As were a very fan-centric affair with plenty of crowd interaction and Dustin Browder talking candidly and in great detail about Heart of the Swarm. The show matches in particular let gamers watch some truly heated StarCraft matches featuring the new units, maps, and abilities introduced in Heart of the Swarm for the very first time - and were definitely a highlight of the evening.

Blizzard's Luke, Dustin and Chris.

In the world of competitive StarCraft it seems that not only the players but even the commentators (or casters) are referred to via their screen names, and not the ones they need to give in order to book a flight or make a hotel reservation. As each show match was broadcast on Federation Square’s massive outdoor screen, they were given an exceptional play by play and colourful commentary by Maynarde and Flamga – two veteran ANZ casters. The first show match of the evening saw professional gamers, StarCraft veterans, and enemies to spellcheckers everywhere, mOOnGLaDe (Zerg) take on yang (Protoss) in a heated encounter that ultimately saw the Zerg emerge victorious, which was fitting in a way, as this was one of the very first Heart of the Swarm show matches to be streamed globally.

Good casters make all the difference when it comes to esports.

One of the interesting and great competitive features of Heart of the Swarm that was given a full workout during the evening’s show matches was the ability to not only watch the replays of matches but to be able to stop the replay at any moment and continue playing from that point - no doubt to hopefully turn the tide and change history. But this wasn’t the case when it came to yang’s Protoss forces who, when given the chance to do it all over again ultimately fell to mOOnGLaDe’s formidable army of Hydra’s that made short and spectacular work of yang’s Protoss units. Other show matches of the evening were as equally entertaining as PiG emerged victorious over deth, in encounters that kept the crowd eager and cheering for the majority of the evening, which was no small feat considering the heat.

mOOnGLaDe... a picture of intensity.

And during all of this, Blizzard’s Luke Mancini was sitting quietly off to the side of the stage working diligently on an impressive digital speed painting that slowly took shape over the course of the evening into an amazing piece of art featuring a towering Hydralisk standing beside a formidable Kerrigan – something that even Blizzard representatives on the night were so impressed with that they are now looking to try and get this piece out to fans in the coming weeks.

Luke Mancini, whipping up a digital art storm.

All in all from prize giveaways, a costume contest, to some truly funny StarCraft related videos, the launch event was not only a great success for Blizzard but also the local gaming community and fans in Melbourne, Australia.