StarCraft (series)

StarCraft is a science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and Bill Roper and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series centers on a galactic struggle for dominance between three species - the adaptable and mobile Terrans, the insectoid Zerg and the enigmatic Protoss - in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy known as the Koprulu sector during the 26th century. With the first game, StarCraft, released in 1998, the series has grown to include a number of other games as well as eight novels, two Amazing Stories articles, a board game and other licensed merchandise such as collectable statues and toys. The original game and its official expansion Brood War have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time, gathering a solid following across world, particularly in South Korea where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised matches.^[1] As of May 31 2007, StarCraft and Brood War combined have sold almost 10 million copies.^[2] The title can be spelled either as StarCraft or Starcraft. Both versions appear in official sources, including the games themselves, although since the announcement of StarCraft II Blizzard Entertainment has used the spelling StarCraft exclusively.

Contents 1 Story arc 2 Video games 2.1 StarCraft 2.2 Insurrection 2.3 Retribution 2.4 StarCraft: Brood War 2.5 StarCraft II 2.6 StarCraft: Ghost 3 Adaptations 3.1 Novelisations 3.2 Merchandise 4 Cultural impact 5 References 6 External links

Story arc

The story focuses on the activities of the three species in a part of the Milky Way known as the Koprulu sector. Millenia before any of the events of the games, a species known as the Xel'Naga genetically engineer the Protoss^[3] and later the Zerg^[4] in attempts to create pure beings. These experiments backfire and the Xel'Naga are largely destroyed by the Zerg.^[4] Decades before the beginning of StarCraft in 2499, the hardline international government of Earth, the United Powers League, commissions a colonisation programme to as part of a solution to overpopulation. However, the computers automating the colony ships malfunction, propelling the Terran colonists far off course, arriving at the edge of Protoss space.^[5] Out of contact with Earth, they form various factions to maintain their interests. The Protoss are intrigued by the behaviour and mentality of the Terrans, remaining hidden to examine the humans and protecting them from other threats without their knowledge. However, the Zerg begin to target the Terrans for assimilation^[4] in its quest to assimilate the Protoss to become a perfect race, leading the Protoss to attack tainted Terran colonies to contain the Zerg infestation.^[6] StarCraft begins just days after the first of these attacks, where the predominant Terran government, the Terran Confederacy, is in a state of panic as it comes under attack by both the Zerg, the Protoss as well as increasing rebel activity led by Arcturus Mengsk against its rule.^[6] The Confederacy eventually succumbs to the rebel Sons of Korhal when it uses Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into attacking the Confederate capital.^[6] During the assault on the capital, the Mengsk abandons his psychic second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan to the Zerg, who capture and infest her, creating their "greatest agent".^[6] This betrayal causes Mengsk's other commander, Jim Raynor to desert him with a small army. Mengsk goes on to create the Terran Dominion with him as its emperor. The Zerg are then attacked on their primary hive cluster by Protoss forces commanded by Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul, who through assassinating a Zerg cerebrate inadvertently allow the Zerg Overmind access to the location of the Protoss homeworld.^[6] The Zerg promptly invade in an effort to complete their quest for perfection. However, Tassadar and Zeratul return to Aiur and despite being pursued by his own people as a heretic for siding with the dark templar, Tassadar is able to launch an attack on the Overmind with the assistance of Raynor and the templar Fenix and ultimately sacrifices himself to kill the Overmind.^[6] In Brood War, the Protoss led by Zeratul and Artanis are trying to recover from the death of the Overmind and begin to evacuate their surviving population to the dark templar homeworld under a fragile alliance between the two untrusting branches of the Protoss. On the dark templar homeworld, they are misled by Kerrigan into attacking the Zerg in order to advance Kerrigan's quest to secure power over the Zerg after she reveals that a new Overmind is in maturation. In the meanwhile, Earth decides to take action in the sector, sending a fleet to capture the Terran Dominion and enslave the Overmind. The UPL, reformed as the United Earth Directorate, is successful in capturing the Dominion capital and enslaving the Overmind, but due to the efforts of a double agent working for Kerrigan, Samir Duran, it is unable to capture Mengsk. Kerrigan, allying with Mengsk, Fenix and Raynor, launches a campaign against the UED, recapturing the Dominion capital. However, she turns against her allies in vengeance for abandoning her to the Zerg, and Fenix is killed as a result. She later is able to blackmail Zeratul into killing the new Overmind, giving her full control over the Zerg. After defeating a retalitory attack by the Protoss, Dominion and the UED which results in the destruction of the UED fleet, Kerrigan becomes the dominant power in the sector.

Video games

StarCraft was the best-selling PC game of 1998, selling over 1.5 million copies internationally.^[7] As of 2005, StarCraft and Brood War combined have shipped over nine million copies;^[8] as of June 2006, the two games combined have sold over 9.5 million copies;^[9] and as of May 31 2007, the two games combined have sold almost 10 million copies.^[2]

StarCraft

Main article: StarCraft

StarCraft is a science fiction real-time strategy game that takes place in a distant sector of the Milky Way galaxy. It is the first StarCraft video game and was released on PC on 01 April 1998. A Mac OS version of the game was released by Blizzard Entertainment in March 1999. A Nintendo 64 port including StarCraft, Brood War and a new secret mission "Resurrection IV" was released in the USA on 13 June 2000.^[10] The game's story revolves around the appearance of two alien races in Terran space, and each race's attempts to survive and adapt over the others. The player assumes three roles through the course of the three campaigns: a Confederate colonial governor who becomes a revolutionary commander, a Zerg cerebrate pushing forward the species' doctrine of assimilation and a Protoss fleet executor tasked with defending the Protoss from the Zerg. StarCraft soon gained critical acclaim, winning numerous awards,^[11] including being labelled "the best real-time strategy game ever made" and ranked the seventh best game of all time in 2003 and 2005 by IGN.^[12][13]

Insurrection

Main article: Insurrection (StarCraft)

Insurrection is the first add-on pack for StarCraft. Although developed and published by Aztech New Media it is authorised by Blizzard Entertainment.^[14] It was released on PC on 31 July 1998.^[15] The expansion's story focuses on a Confederate colony during the course of the first campaign of StarCraft. As in StarCraft, the player takes control of each race in three separate campaigns. In the first campaign, Terran colonists attempt to defend themselves from the Zerg invasion of the sector as well as from a rising insurgency, while in the second campaign the player directs a Protoss task force sent to clear the Zerg infestation of the colony by any means necessary. In the final campaign the player assumes the role of a Zerg cerebrate, moving to crush all opposition on the surface. The expansion only contains new campaigns and multiplayer maps, it does not include new content such as units and graphical terrain tilesets.^[14] Insurrection was criticised by reviewers for lacking the quality of the original game^[16] and as a result of its lack of success,^[17] it is not widely available. Although the add-on is authorised by Blizzard Entertainment, they offer no comment on support or availability of the game.^[14]

Retribution

Main article: Retribution (StarCraft)

Retribution is the second of the two authorised add-on packs released for StarCraft. The add-on was developed by Stardock, published by WizardWorks Software and authorised by Blizzard Entertainment.^[14] It was released for the PC in late 1998. Retribution is set during the second episode of StarCraft, revolving around the acquisition of a crystal of immense power connected to the Xel'Naga. Divided into three campaigns, the player assumes the roles of a Protoss fleet executor, the commander of a Dominion task force and a Zerg cerebrate, all tasked with retrieving the crystal from a Dominion colony and getting it off the planet as quickly as possible. As with its predecessor, Insurrection, Retribution does not include any new gameplay features beyond its single player campaigns and consortium of multiplayer levels. The add-on was not received with critical support, instead being regarded as average but at least challenging.^[18] As with Insurrection, Retribution is not widely available. Despite authorising the add-on, Blizzard Entertainment offers no comment regarding support or the availability of Retribution.^[14]

StarCraft: Brood War

Main article: StarCraft: Brood War

StarCraft: Brood War is the official expansion pack for StarCraft, developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Saffire. Released for the PC and Mac OS in the USA on 30 November 1998,^[19] the expansion directly continues the events of StarCraft. It was later compiled with StarCraft and ported to the Nintendo 64 as StarCraft 64. The port was released on 13 June 2000 in the USA.^[10] The expansion's story continues only days in the wake of the conclusion of the original game, following the moves of the Protoss to ensure the continued survival of their species, the rise to power of the infested Sarah Kerrigan over the Zerg and introducing a new threat to the sector of the galaxy with the intervention of the previously silent witness of the Earth government. In addition, the expansion introduces a total of seven new units with different functions and abilities, improved artificial intelligence behaviour, new graphical tilesets for terrain and improved scripting tools to the Campaign Editor to facilitate cut scenes using the in-game engine. The expansion received critical praise for fixing various balance faults with the original game,^[20] development attention on par with that of a full game^[21] and for continuing with heavily story-driven single player campaigns.^[22]

StarCraft II

Main article: StarCraft II

StarCraft II is a real-time strategy game and the official sequel to StarCraft under development for the PC and Mac OS X by Blizzard Entertainment. The game was announced at the Worldwide Invitational on 19 May 2007 with a pre-rendered cinematic cut scene trailer and a gameplay demonstration of the Protoss.^[23][24] At the BlizzCon event of August 2007, a further selection of gameplay demonstrations regarding the Terrans and the new features of the single player campaigns were shown.^[25] The game incorporates a new 3D graphics engine and adds new features such as the Havok physics engine.^[26] StarCraft II may also incorporate DirectX 10 level effects.^[27] The story of the game continues from four years after the conclusion of Brood War.^[28] Blizzard Entertainment has not set a specific release date for the game, but have confirmed it will not be released in 2007.^[2]

StarCraft: Ghost

Main article: StarCraft: Ghost

StarCraft: Ghost is a tactical stealth game for consoles developed under supervision of Blizzard Entertainment. Announced in 2002, the game was constantly delayed due to various issues including a change of development team from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios in July 2004 eventually culminating in Blizzard indefinitely postponing the game's development on 24 March 2006.^[29] The story of the game is based around Nova, a psychic assassin in the employ of the Terran Dominion following the intrigue around the type of character in the original StarCraft. Although frequently used as an example of development hell, Blizzard Entertainment's Rob Pardo has indicated that he would like the game to be completed in the future.^[30]

Adaptations

Novelisations

The StarCraft series is supported by eight novels, with at least one more in the works, all published by Simon & Schuster. At BlizzCon 2007, Chris Metzen stated that he hoped to novelise the entirety of StarCraft and Brood War into a definitive text-based story. The first novel, StarCraft: Uprising, was written by Micky Neilson,^[31] a Blizzard Entertainment employee, and originally released only as an e-book in December 2000.^[31] The novel follows the origins of Sarah Kerrigan's character. The second novel, entitled StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade, serves as an adaptation of the first campaign of StarCraft, focusing on a journalist following a number of the key Terran characters in the series. Written by Jeff Grubb,^[32] it was the StarCraft novel first to be published in paperback in March 2001.^[32] StarCraft: Shadow of the Xel'Naga, published in July 2001^[33] is the third novel, written by the pseudonym author Gabriel Mesta^[33] and serving as a link between StarCraft and Brood War. The fantasy author Tracy Hickman was brought in to write the fourth novel,^[34] StarCraft: Speed of Darkness, published in June 2002.^[34] Speed of Darkness is written from the viewpoint of a Confederate marine during the early stages of StarCraft. The first four novels, including the e-book Uprising, were later re-released as a single anthology entitled The StarCraft Archive in November 2007.^[35] A fifth novel entitled StarCraft: Queen of Blades was published in June 2006.^[36] Written by Aaron S. Rosenberg,^[36] it is a novelisation of the second episode of StarCraft from the perspective of Jim Raynor. This was followed in November 2006^[37] by StarCraft Ghost: Nova, a book focusing on the early origins of the character of Nova from the postponed StarCraft: Ghost game. Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido,^[37] the novel was meant to accompany the release of StarCraft: Ghost, but was continued despite the postponement of the game. In 2007 Christie Golden, an author whose previous work included novels in Blizzard's Warcraft series,^[38] was brought in to write a trilogy entitled the StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga.^[39][40] The trilogy acts as a link between StarCraft and its sequel StarCraft II, with the first installment, Firstborn being published in May 2007^[39] and Shadow Hunters, the second edition, being published in November 2007.^[40] The final part of the trilogy, Twilight is slated for publication in August 2008.^[41] In addition to these, Blizzard Entertainment authorized two short stories in Amazing Stories magazine, entitled StarCraft: Hybrid and StarCraft: Revelations.^[42] StarCraft: Revelations was authored by Chris Metzen and Sam Moore, two Blizzard employees and was featured on the cover of the magazine with art by Blizzard's art director Samwise Didier.

Merchandise

A number of action figures and collectable statues based upon the characters and units in StarCraft have been produced by ToyCom.^[43] A number of model kits, made by Academy Hobby Model Kits, were also produced, displaying 1/30 scale versions of the marine^[44] and the hydralisk.^[45] In addition, Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with Fantasy Flight Games to create a board game with detailed scultures of game characters.^[46] Blizzard Entertainment also licensed Wizards of the Coast to produce an Alternity based game entitled StarCraft Adventures.

Cultural impact

StarCraft was the best-selling PC game of 1998, selling over 1.5 million copies internationally^[7] and it remains one of the most popular online games in the world.^[47] After its release, StarCraft rapidly grew in popularity in South Korea, establishing a successful pro-gaming scene.^[48] Pro-gamers in South Korea are media celebrities as StarCraft games are broadcast over three television channels dedicated to the professional gaming scene.^[49]

References

External links

• Blizzard Entertainment official company website.
• StarCraft official website.
• StarCraft: Brood War official website.
• StarCraft II official website.
• Sons of the Storm, the official site of a number of Blizzard Entertainment concept artists.

•  • e Topics related to the StarCraft series
Video games	StarCraft · Insurrection · Retribution · Brood War · Ghost · StarCraft II
Novels	Liberty's Crusade · Shadow of the Xel'Naga · Speed of Darkness · Queen of Blades · Nova · The Dark Templar Saga
Universe	Characters · Locations · Protoss · Psionic technology · Terrans · Xel'Naga · Zerg
Other	StarCraft Adventures · StarCraft the Board Game · StarCraft Campaign Editor · Professional competition

•  • e Video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment
Diablo series	Diablo  · Diablo II (Lord of Destruction)
Racing series	RPM Racing · Rock N' Roll Racing
StarCraft series	StarCraft (Brood War) · StarCraft II
Warcraft series	Warcraft · Warcraft II (Beyond the Dark Portal) · Warcraft III (The Frozen Throne) World of Warcraft (The Burning Crusade · Wrath of the Lich King)
Other games	Blackthorne · Lost Vikings · Death and Return of Superman · Justice League Task Force