Blizzard's Kaéo Milker.

Gameplanet: We last saw Heart of the Swarm in May and at that time much was still up in the air. What’s changed since then?

Kaéo Milker: All you saw then was a part of the campaign and the core two missions demoed in May are playable here again today, there are some changes – polish and cosmetic changes that have gone into the missions itself. But we’ve made some more dramatic changes to Kerrigan’s progression and the unit progression. We’ve continued iterating as we always do, just trying to improve the overall experience of playing through the campaign. We’re experiencing Kerrigan gaining powers and evolving as campaign missions progress, but as we’re getting into the later missions we’re having to make adjustments to make sure that the arc she’s growing through in the campaign fits together well and plays nicely from the beginning to the end.

Gameplanet: On Kerrigan, when we saw her she was using Battle Focus load-outs, that were caveated strongly. Are they still in the game?

Protoss

Upon analyzing data from their most recent battles, the protoss have identified a few areas of improvement that would help them maximize effectiveness against their enemies. Based on their findings, the protoss have augmented their arsenal with a second psionic unit, a new way to counter flocks of Mutalisks, and a new form of enemy harassment.

Tempest
Description: The tempest is a new capital ship that deals massive area-of-effect damage to air units. It also has a standard ground attack, but its chief role is to help gain air superiority.

 

The games industry is unique in a number of ways. It’s certainly the youngest of the major entertainment forms and, arguably, it’s also the spriteliest. Native to computers and later to the Internet, games have thrived where the rotund film, music and television industries have recently been emaciated.

But games also have a unique relationship with their audience. The cost and complexity of games creates a barrier to entry that often makes them seem arcane to those who are merely passing curious. On the other hand, those with the requisite skill-set and interest to graduate to gamerdom are soon endowed with an emotional and financial attachment to their favourite titles and to the industry, which sees them more engaged and invested than they might be with other forms of entertainment.

The same can rarely be said of the one-night stands so many of us regularly carry out with film and TV: So it’s so super-awesome that you’re still here, Dame Judi Dench, but I have this thing on soon. There’s a bus timetable on the fridge and half a fare’s worth of change on the counter – by Thundera, if you’ve stretched out my original Atari tee...

 

The silhouette of a new multiplayer Terran unit shipping with Heart of the Swarm.

Blizzard is teasing new StarCraft II units that will become available in multiplayer when the game’s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, launches.

Each race will gain more than one new multiplayer unit teases Blizzard, but what they are and what their abilities will be aren't to be revealed until BlizzCon in late October.

The first unit teased is for the human Terran faction. It appears to be heavily armoured. You can see the silhouette of the unit below. Guesses welcome.

 

In spite of Jim Raynor’s private hopes, it appears that for now at least, Sarah Kerrigan has no intention of abdicating her throne as the Zerg Queen of Blades.

Once a Ghost operative, Kerrigan was betrayed by the duplicitous Arcturus Mengsk amidst his Shakespearean powerplay for dominion over the human colonists of the interstellar Korpulu sector.

Assimilated into the xenomorphic Zerg and appointed as heir to the Overmind, Kerrigan soon revelled in her role as Queen Bitch of the Universe.