It was, arguably, the biggest announcement in gaming history.

May 18, 2007. At its Worldwide Invitational tournament in Seoul, South Korea, a cross-section panel of seven Blizzard Entertainment senior designers and executives unleashed a bombshell upon the world: Ten years after the landmark StarCraft's monumental release, its sequel is now under production.

Strike that. It's been under production, for almost four years. In all that time, nothing but unsubstantiated rumor and seemingly baseless conjecture has hinted at StarCraft II's secret development. Its production was gaming myth; its existence, legend.

Until now.

A Gaming Legacy

The original StarCraft requires no introduction. The title helped to define modern real-time strategy and virtually invented competitive gaming. Its now-infamous race selection-the industrial Terrans, biological Zerg, and psionic Protoss-set a towering standard of balanced play between utterly asymmetrical sides. That standard, despite the valiant efforts of ten years' worth of RTS games, has never been supplanted. It's one of the main reasons why StarCraft, once a humble gleam in the eye of a maturing development company, has since become a national pastime in Korea, its matches regularly broadcast on three television stations and its top players lauded by the public as superstars.

So it goes without saying (though that won't stop us from saying it) that StarCraft II has to fill shoes the size of small countries. In order for the title to be perceived as a success, Blizzard doesn't just have to create an incredible game; it has to create one good enough to exceed ten years of hopes, dreams, and ever-growing expectations. Fortunately for us, they've recognized that from the start. Chris Sigaty, the title's lead producer, pointed out during the announcement panel that "it's a difficult game to make; it's walking a fine line. There were a lot of expectations set with StarCraft, and we're really earnest and eager to meet them."

It's a seemingly impossible task, and for any other game company, it would be. But this is Blizzard we're talking about. For them, it might-just might-be a real possibility.