Back in the day, the first Starcraft was my favorite PC game, and it also was my introduction to the world of multiplayer online gaming. I still remember those great nights of hydra spamming with Zerg and dt dropping with the Protoss. Good times!

And now those days are returning! Gamestop and Amazon.com have concocted a plan to get as many people to pre-order the game now, even though Blizzard hasn’t stated an official release date yet. They guarantee a way into the coveted Starcraft 2 beta by giving you a key.

I have to say, the plan certainly worked!

Part 2: Getting Your Key

The process is simple:

Method 1:

1. Go to either Gamestop.com or Amazon.com and place an order for the regular or collector’s edition.
2. Get key in an email. [est. 2 days to arrival for Gamestop/5 for Amazon]

Method 2:

1. Go to a Gamestop and place the pre-order.
2. Get key instantly on your receipt.

The catch is that you cannot cancel the pre-order once you get the key. Seems pretty obvious.

Word to the wise:
I had issues with placing the order online at Gamestop’s site. I didn’t receive my key after over 48 hours, watching my friends kicking ass and getting their asses kicked. Being sidelined sucks, so… I sent emails to Gamestop’s support addresses and received responses after about 24 hours. Most people received faster responses.

I wanted a key before this weekend, so I canceled my online order by emailing help@gamestop.com before they responded. Then I went into a store and put down $10 for the Collector’s Edition. (Gamestop employees mentioned a free mouse pad as part of the added goodies. This wasn’t a part of any description I’d seen elsewhere… I’m not sure if it’s unique to Gamestop or if the dudes were mistaken.)

Part 3: Installing

So after 3 days of waiting, I finally had a beta key in my possession (FYI: 26 digits on the receipt). However, this is where the plot thickens. Dun dun DUNN…

Another warning:

Do NOT try to acquire the Blizzard Downloader from 3rd parties. I did it, thinking it would shave off an hour from the installation process, but in the end it was a waste of time. After the patches installed, running the game client resulted in endless crashes 30 to 60 seconds later. I had to uninstall, download the real stuff, and patch all over again. So, just don’t do it.

Starcraft 2 beta install guide:

1. Go to Blizzard’s website, get their Blizzard Downloader and run it. It will grab about 1.6 gigabytes of files (for me, a 30 to 45-minute wait). The download was fast initially at 2 MB/s, but it dropped off towards the end.
2. Run the installer. It took less than 5 minutes to copy the game files on both my Intel Core i7 machines. Your mileage may vary, especially with slower magnetic hard drives.
3. Now, you wait. The installer iterates through 12 patch cycles, since that’s where we are in the beta. [Patch 10 is a real ^&*%@. It requires around 30-45 minutes JUST for this patch. The rest are a few minutes each.]
4. After patching completes, you may now log into your Battle.net account. You will be asked to create a handle in the format of username1.username2. The username2 part is only used to differentiate yourself from someone else with your same username1.

Make sure you save the installer files somewhere… if your computer explodes, you will be out of commission for at least 3 hours just for the Starcraft 2 installation. Even Windows 7/Vista will take you less time to install than that… (BTW, you have backed up your important data, right? Consider yourselves warned!)

At this point, the only thing left to do is adjust your video settings, turn off the stupid swear filter (Options menu or F10), and then play the game.

I shall leave you with this familiar line:
Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright…

gl hf