SnagWire: Blizzard has released a patch for its decade old RTS hit StarCraft.

Patch 1.16 offers some optimizations: "[StarCraft] now only uses as much CPU as it needs to run smoothly." In-game chat (excluding whispers) is now saved in the replays. There's some bug fixes and the removal of several exploits including Terrans drop-anywhere nukes and some additional Zerg exploits as well.

Here are the full notes...
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Neocrisis: The Blizzard Music CD is called Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard. The Legendary Edition has already been released and the normal edition will come out in a week and a half. will feature music from Warcraft III, World of Warcraft and its upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, StarCraft and II, Diablo II and III, and even StarCraft: Ghost.
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It was previously reported that a couple of agencies informed StarCraftWire.net that the voice acting role of Jim Raynor and Kerrigan the Queen of Blades are now up for grabs. The original actors as well as the ones used for the WWI and BlizzCon gameplays are out, and they are looking for new ones.

Fans have rallied to show their support for the original actors, which seems to be well loved by the community.
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Kotaku writes: "Microsoft isn't the only one swinging the account crushing banhammer just before the holiday rush. Blizzard has suspended an impressive 350,000 Battle.net accounts identified as using "third-party hacks" in both StarCraft and Diablo II."
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StarCraftWire.net reports on a possible slip-up from a Korea Gaming Conference keynote. Nova from StarCraft: Ghost might still be alive and kicking inside Blizzard HQ.
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During the BlizzCon 2008 show, a StarCraft II Q&A session was held with the long haired and rockin' Chris Sigaty and Samwise Didier. Among the answers they give, we are informed on what changed with Blizzard after the Activision merger (free Guitar Hero boxes to all employees), the reason for the trilogy (if you had not already heard about that lot already) and a confirmation that the StarCraft Beta will start in 2009!
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The IncGamers.com's StarCraft 2 network site, StarCraftWire.net has been combing through the interview material made available at BlizzCon, and found that a lot of fans of the old classic have something really exciting to look forward to; several old favourites and "overpowered prototypes" from the StarCraft universe will be available in the single player option of the game, which will be quite different from multiplayer.
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Since the announcement that StarCraft II will be shipping as three separate products to be the "StarCraft II Trilogy", there has been several criticising voices against this, in terms of having to purchase several boxes, and possibly paying $150 (£75) just to get the full game.

StarCraftWire.net had an interview with Chris Sigaty, where he disclosed the details of these statements, and whether or not players will have to get them all to play simple multiplayer with each other.
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Siliconera reports: The Zerg, Protoss, and Terrans races wage war in graphic novel form thanks to Tokyopop, but something feels different.
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A rumour about Diablo III being released before StarCraft II recently appeared. IncGamers are calling BS through developer information.
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While we have seen new patches far after game releases, it's still really amazing to see Blizzard dishing out patch updates 10 years after game release! This is true dedication to games, and other game developers should feel inspired by them.
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Six albums, many of which were previously available only in collector's editions or at BlizzCon, have been placed on a new Blizzard Entertainment hub page in the iTunes store. In addition, the Diablo III Overture from Diablo III is available as a single. It will be free to download until Tuesday (Sept. 9).
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The interesting fact with this presentation is that while we recently got confirmation that StarCraft II won't be joining us for the Christmas of 2008, but we WILL be seeing StarCraft II sometime during 2009.

"Next year's offerings from Activision Blizzard should include highly anticipated PC strategy title StarCraft II, the sequel to one of the world's most enduringly popular games."
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Blizzard have released WoW, Starcraft and Diablo mobile phone Ringtones and Wallpapers, available to purchase directly from them!

You can check out the wallpapers and listen to the ringtones over at the Blizzard site. Here was the announcement earlier from Blizzard earlier:

"Carry a little piece of Azeroth wherever your real-world travels take you with our new World of Warcraft-themed wallpapers and ringtones for your phone. They're part of a new service that lets you download content related to your favorite Blizzard Entertainment games to supported mobile phones. Over 50 pieces of content are currently available, including ringtones of World of Warcraft's capital city themes and the distinctive murloc gurgle, as well as wallpapers featuring character artwork, class and faction emblems, and more. Visit the new Mobile Ringtones and Wallpapers page for more information -- and while you're there, be sure to check out our StarCraft and Diablo mobile content, too.

Mobile Ringtones & Wallpapers page:
http://mobile.blizzard.com/"
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The ticket drawings of 1500 tickets is now concluded, and the lucky people who were drawn can now buy up to two tickets each for BlizzCon (the mathematically gifted can count that 1500 x 2 = 3000 promised tickets). For tickets not bought where people only buy one, or where people forget to check their mail, more names will be drawn from the same pool. No word on exactly when though, not even in the BlizzCon FAQ...
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NextGen Player writes:

"The World Cyber Games, described as the world's largest cyber-gaming event, will be coming to Montreal, Quebec on August 31 - September 1. This three day event will be held at La Ronde, Eastern Canada's largest amusement park. According to the WCG Canada website this is the second time in three years the gaming event is being staged at the Six Flag theme park in Montreal."
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Blizzard Gamers,

On behalf of everyone at Blizzard, I want to apologize for the challenges and frustrations you experienced while trying to purchase BlizzCon tickets on Monday and Tuesday. BlizzCon is about the positive experiences you all have had with Blizzard games. As a result of this week's events, the excitement that many of you felt about the show has turned into dissatisfaction and disappointment......

"Hell it's about time" -Space Marine
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The annoucement.......

"Tickets to BlizzCon 2008 are now sold out. Blizzard would like to thank everyone once again for their overwhelming interest in this year's show. If you were unable to secure tickets, please keep in mind that DIRECTV will be broadcasting BlizzCon live from the Anaheim Convention Center on October 11 and 12. In the meantime, keep an eye on the BlizzCon 2008 website for updates on panels, exhibits, events, and more. Blizzard looks forward to meeting some of you at the show!"

Was immediatley followed by an infinite number of flamers......
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It's Monday, August 11th, and that means that BlizzCon tickets are on sale. Except, they're really not. Blizzard's new Blizzard Store site is epic fail broken -- all most people are seeing is the "error has occured" screen above.

Hopefully this isn't a preview of things to come. and hopefully Blizzard will figure out a fair way to get these tickets out (because right now, the site certainly isn't working). Expect more updates to this post as the process goes along.
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Ripten writes:

"Blizzard fans have zerg-rushed the Blizzard website into submission over tickets to BlizzCon 08. So Blizzard has come up with a solution to sell the tickets in waves.

Did you ever play "Red light / Green light" as a kid? Where you can only run forward when the "it" person says go? Seems that's the game Blizzard is playing with its BlizzCon 08 registration."
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