The wait between Command & Conquer: Generals and its successor, Command & Conquer 3, was about 5 years. EA seems to be avoiding a repeat as they have just released the debut trailer for Command & Conquer 4.

RTS fans, don’t expect any actual gameplay footage as the trailer features exclusivly what looks to be just cinematics. However, if you’re following the plot of the franchise you’ll be intrigued to hear that Nod head-honcho Kane makes an appearance in said trailer.

EA has no set release date for Command & Conquer 4 but they hope to have it hit the market sometime in 2010. Will the game have what it takes to oust Blizzard’s forthcoming Starcraft II? We’ll have to wait and find out.

Didn’t get a ticket to BlizzCon? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Luckily, Blizzard, RayV and DirecTV are offering over 16 hours of the event live for $39.95.

Below is what will be included during the live stream:

Exclusive interviews and commentary

Main stage presentations including opening ceremony

Tournament coverage and team highlights

Additionally, you will be given the exclusive BlizzCon 2009 WoW in-game pet; Grunty the Murloc Marine.

Read (RayV)

First Blizzard announced that Starcraft 2 would not feature LAN support, fans were discouraged, then Blizzard defended them not adding LAN support and fans were still discouraged. Finally, those who were discouraged banded together and did the only thing they could do; formed a petition.

There is currently over 25,000 signatures and the guys who put it together really put some effort into it, breaking down and explaining exactly why Blizzard should re-add LAN support.

Will this work? Probably not. Is it the effort that counts? You bet.

Read (PetitionOnline)

There was somwhat of an uproar from the community when Blizzard announced that they would not be featuring LAN support in their forthcoming RTS, Starcraft II.

Below is their reasoning for removing LAN, mentioning Battle.net and piracy:

“We don’t currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games,” confirms a Blizzard rep. “While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy.

“Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we’re encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We’re looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future.”

Regardless if its the best idea or not, Starccraft II is sure to be a highly competitve game which means a lot of tournaments. Without LAN tournament organizers are going to have 1 more problem to deal with, bummer.

Read (Destructoid)

Rob Pardo told the site that development on the sequel had begun in 2003 and that there had been a playable build since 2005. However, it was held up due to the appearance of World of Warcraft which saw a fair amount of the design team moving to MMO project to help finish the game.

Apparently, these people had lots of great experience and had knowledge and know-how to fix map editor problems, as well as dealing with balancing.

Now you know who to hate for holding up StarCraft 2. The original was released back in 1998. It’s been eleven years since then.

This comes from different previews of the game on Kotaku and IncGamers, both of whom checked out the new Battle.net, the solo campaign and more. When they asked about multiplayer LAN play, this is what they received as an answer: “We will not support it.”

The studio additionally pointed out that there is “zero percent” chance of seeing the game on consoles.

If the news got you down, Joystiq adds salt to the wound by showing seven minutes of multiplayer play from the game. Go cry in the corner, you.

Despite beating around the bush every which way they can, Blizzard has finally come out and said during an investor webcast that they are hoping to have StarCraft II on shelves by the end of this year.

Joystiq quotes Blizzard president Mike Morhaime as saying:

“We’re targeting an end of year release this year for StarCraft II. But as always, we won’t release it until it meets our standards and the expectations of our players.”

So there is it, while it’s not completely definite its at least more definite that StarCraft II will in fact be hitting shelves by the end of the year, or so they hope. As for the beta? Still slated to be released sometime this summer.

Now don’t get your hopes up too high because unfortunately we weren’t able to secure any Blizzcon tickets to give away to you guys, the readers. Fortunately, there is a slew of websites that were more fortunate than us and were able to get their hands on some Bilzzcon tickets to give away.

Below is a compiled list of all known fan sites holding Blizzcon ticket giveways, courtesy of Starcraft Wire:

StarcraftWire.net – Giveaway 1 – Giveaway 2

BlizzPlanet

Diii.net – (coming soon)

Diablo-Source

StarCraft-Source

inStarCraft

StarCraft II Australia

StarCraft 2 Source

TankSpot

World of Raids

WoW Interface

So, you won’t be getting a Blizzcon ticket from us but at least you still have the opportunity to get your hands on one while Blizzard prepares to put some more up for sale.

You can read more about Blizzard’s annual convention, Blizzcon, here.

Remember how we told you a few days ago that you could sign up for the Starcraft II beta? Well, that signup may be put to use sooner than we thought.

In a recent Activision Blizzard earnings call, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime was quoted to say that Starcraft II’s external beta testing will take place this summer.

So yes, this means that the general public (those who signed up) will actually get access to a beta form of Starcraft II. Hell, maybe us simple folk (those who didn’t sign up) will be treated to an open beta.

Hey, we can wish, can’t we?

Read (VG247)

Want to increase your chances of getting access to the Starcraft II beta? Here’s how — Blizzard has recently announced that there will be an all new chance for Starcraft II enthusiasts to get access to the upcoming beta.

First and foremost, you must have a Battle.net account. After you have secured one of those you are going to want to head here, the beta profiles page. Once there, you will find an option to download a utility that will determine your system specs and upload them to Battle.net. Finally, check off Starcraft II and click Update Preferences.

While this won’t gaurantee your access to the Starcraft II beta, it doesn’t hurt to try, right?

Read (Kotaku)

A member of StarCraft 2’s dev team has recently stopped by the game’s official forums to clear up some confusion surrounding the game and it’s release date.

While Blizzard has always used the ‘when it’s done’ philosophy when considering a release date for a game, Dustin Browder has said the beta for the game will in fact be made available in 2009.

As for the release of the final game? Well, it’s ”in the final stretch” according to Browder. Hopefully that means Starcraft 2 will be released this year or early next. 

Read (Joystiq)

“When we know a date (for anything) for certain, we’ll let you know,” he wrote. “We don’t want to lie about the Beta, and we don’t even want to lie about the next Battle Report… Let’s be realistic. Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time.”

He added that “unless something crazy happens” they are going to start the multiplayer beta this year. This is in line with quotes by Blizzard COO Paul Sam, who noted the beta would be coming in the months ahead.

He added that an early version of the new Battle.net architecture will be included in the beta test. Testers have already been chosen, as those who attended BlizzCon 2008 received a voucher for beta access.

Sams, however, would not reveal when the studio plans on releasing the first of the three upcoming titles. He did confirm that a major “frontline” Blizzard title will be released this year. Diablo 3, anyone?

Those looking to suck up every ounce of information regarding Blizzard’s forthcoming Diablo 3 are in for a treat. Blizzard has recently updated the game’s official website with 5 new, never before seen screenshots.

Featured in the screenshots is a plethora of eye candy sure to make any Diablo fan go crazy. Unfortunately there is still no set date for when the game will be released. 

I don’t know about you guys, but it is getting increasingly harder to make a descision about which upcoming Blizzard title I am looking forward to more; Diablo 3, or Starcraft 2.

You can check out the new screenshots at the official website, or you can head over to Big Download which has them in a gallery for easier access.

Blizzard has updated the StarCraft II website with a few beautiful screen shots. It’s not much, but it’s enough to tide us over until the release. You can view all of them in their high-resolution glory at the official website. In addition to the screen shots, a new Q&A batch has been released. The game is slated to be released sometime this year for Vista, XP, and OS X.

Read (Battle.net)

Blizzard has launched its first StarCraft II Battle Report. It’s a 20 minute Protoss vs Terran game. It’s an early alpha version of the game and there’s full commentary for all that action. Matt Cooper goes against David Kim. They are both game balance designers for StarCraft II. The game is commented by the lead designer Dustin Browder and Robert Simpson from e-Sports. I’d have is really annoying just watching when I can’t play it myself yet. On the other hand it’s also pretty interesting to see how two of the game developers choose to play the game. Looking forward to those friendly StarCraft II skirmishes!

via Starcraft

Now loyal readers, take the the following information with a grain of salt but, StarCraftWire has recently gotten their hands on a flyer detailing game releases in the near future for Singapore. The one we really care about? You guessed it, Starcraft 2.

Anyways, as you can see from the above snippet taken from the flyer, Starcraft 2 is stated to have a release date of Q1 2009. This is the first information we have recieved that states a solid time period for which we might be seeing the game hit store shelves.

This is quite possible, considering Activision Blizzard has said in the past Starcraft 2 is projected for an ‘09 release date. Too bad for everyone hoping for it to be out for this holiday season, but we already knew it wouldn’t be, right?

Read (StarcraftWire)

An official post on the Battle.net website explains the details of the bans. Here’s a bit:

The Diablo II CD keys associated with the closed Diablo II accounts are now restricted from playing on Battle.net for approximately 30 days. Repeat offenders will have their accounts closed and their CD keys permanently banned from Battle.net.

As a reminder, we reserve the right to close the accounts and ban the CD keys of players who are caught cheating on Battle.net. Cheating ruins the game experience for legitimate players, and we will not tolerate it.

The aging online service will be upgraded before StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 are launched sometime next year. Blizzard is also working on an unannounced next-gen MMORPG.