If you haven’t guessed already, this week’s feature deals with the Best Real-Time Strategy Games of all time. Clearly it’s something incredibly hard to decide, especially considering just how many awesome Strategy games that are out there right now, not counting eternal classics that have withstood the test of time to this day. No, I’m not talking about ancient pieces of history like Dune II or Civilization. Indeed, for a long time the only seeming piece of strategy a computer was considered to exhibit was a simple (yet incredibly complex) game of Chess.Chess was where it all began; simple white vs black, a set piece of units and a board to play on. Many early Strategy games were surprisingly, simply digital versions of Chess. Back then, whole computers were dedicated to making veritable opponents for human players and for a while it was truly the first ‘Strategy’ game for what was considered ‘digital media’ way back in the 1960s and ’70s. This, of course, has been ever changing up to the more recent (and more famous) Deep Blue and its prodigious cousins. Granted, the entire thing would be considered more of a console Strategy Game if you want to be a technical bitch – but they are Strategy Games nonetheless.

Of course we aren’t here to discuss centuries old games that have withstood the test of time. No, we’re here to discuss the very best of RTS games – the ones that have excelled in game play, story and/or just sheer awesomeness that allows them to stand out amongst the crowd of copy-cats that inhabit most genres these days. Without further ado, on with the show!

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Continuing with the tradition of our Thursday Top 10’s, we decided to look at something very obvious, but yet very distinct. So far we’ve looked at the Memorable Character Deaths, the Best Weapons Featured in a FPS and the Top Ten Nine (don’t ask) Original Game Songs. This week, we’re doing a run on some of the most memorable video game themes.

Why? Because apart from the fact how great games really are (no, really!), gamers themselves often tend to rate a game based first on graphics, game play and artistic appeal (though not necessarily in that order) – which is pretty much what decides whether its good enough to play. But EVERY game has to make use of sound and it’s plain to see that, what with games like Half-Life 2 and System Shock 2. Music forms a crucial component of the game-play experience; get the right music at the right time, and you feel the adrenalin pumping. But while most newer games now use ambient noise and music, a lot of cue based intros and then outros – the games we’ve all grown up on and loved have always had that catchy tune, hook, phrase or riff that made everything that much more captivating!

Hit the jump to read more.
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There’s a rather disturbing trend going around these days, where a lot of RTS titles somehow seem to end up on the next-generation consoles anyway, aggravating a lot of PC owners who were more than miffed that consoles were stealing away not only regular RTS games like Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, but denying them any chance of playing games like Tom Clancy’s EndWar or Ensemble’s Halo: Wars.

So when StarCraft 2 was announced yesterday, a lot of people suddenly started wondering, even as the PC-less next-generation console owners hoped that the game would also be announced for their playing pleasure on high-definition TVs. Dashing all their hopes to the ground, Blizzard has posted an FAQ on their site today that clearly answers the question once and for all.

Will there be a console version of StarCraft II?
StarCraft II is being developed for the PC. We have no current plans to bring the game to any console platform.

So long, next-generation owners. Yes, I know I own a next-generation console as well, but its a matter of convenience rather than one of preference and I, for one, am really happy that Blizzard is sticking to their guns and going the way of the original StarCraft – a release of the game for the PC and the Mac. Yes, I also know an N64 version was released, but this time, console owners now know what it is to be left behind. Maybe when StarCraft: Ghost finally comes around, yes? Ahh, payback, ain’t it sweet!

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If there’s just one game that has shaped the face of RTSes over the years, it would undoubtedly have to be Blizzard Entertainment’s wunderkind – StarCraft. Today, in Seoul, South Korea, the next in line to the most famous RTS of all time has been officially unveiled, sending the RTS loving world into a major frenzy.

With the trailer showing how an incarcerated, cigar-smoking, steroid-pumping Terran “jailed-for-multiple-murders” inmate becomes a Marine, and extended gameplay footage showing the various units of the Terrans, the Zerg and the Protoss in battle, the demo showed off a lot of the returning and the new units that will be available in the game, as well as new structures like the new Protoss phase prisms and the deadly, time-warping, planet-cracking, black-hole pumping orbital death machine that is the Protoss mothership.

Although the UI doesn’t seem to have changed much, the game itself is visually stunning, much in the vein of the newly released Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, thanks to EALA designer Dustin Browder, who has worked on The Battle for Middle Earth and the Command & Conquer series before heading to Blizzard to become lead designer for StarCraft 2. Excuse me while I go play StarCraft and Brood War all over again in preparation for the second coming. And oh, if you didn’t already guess it, yes, Jim Raynor and the “queen bitch of the universe” Sarah Kerrigan, are back! Let the war begin! And oh, keep checking the official website as well as here for the new upcoming gameplay movie tomorrow!

Read the preview at GameSpot
Visit the official website
Download the videos at GameTrailers
View screenshots and gameplay movies at IGN

As if the news of Blizzard’s online MMORPG WoW and its expansion The Burning Crusade comprising 54 percent of the nearly $1 billion revenue that online gaming in the United States has generated in the past year wasn’t enough, it seems the masters of finger-crack are ready to stun the world once more with a new title. Lingering rumour mills suggested this could be a sequel to the ubquitously popular Starcraft, which was fuelled even further when analysts pointed out the game being unveiled at the Worldwide Invitational on May 19 in Korea (here, learning how to play Starcraft usually comes second to learning how to walk apparently). Realists called the news to be bogus and instead predicted this to be the ground for the announcement of the console version of its best-selling online game.

The truth? Both are wrong. First came the the news that Blizzard Entertainment was looking for a lead tools programmer, lead technical artist and lead engine programmer, the purpose for recruitment being work on a new MMO game that would utilize new technologies and techniques (which fuelled the Starcraft 2 rumour fire). However, just a few days ago, Blizzard announced that it would be working on a brand-new title and that too for the PC. The Starcraft sequel hopes remained simply that; to quote a rep:

“We have a very strong connection with the characters and settings of StarCraft, and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don’t have anything new to announce in that regard at present.”

As for what exactly is in store for Blizzard fans on May 19 is any addict’s (very wild and excessively hopeful) guess.