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StarCraft II Mac Client Beta Available

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-waiting-on-a-linux-client-right dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Blizzard has released the Mac client of the StarCraft II multiplayer beta. If you already have an invite for the PC beta, the Mac client is available under your Battle.net account." A recent patch also added a map editor to the StarCraft II beta, which has already led to some interesting projects.

22 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm pretty sure all 6 mac gamers will be very delighted that this happened.

    1. Re:Yay! by zsimic · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh wow, there are 5 more? And I thought I was alone!

    2. Re:Yay! by cyp43r · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh boy, we can almost play a fps round now!

    3. Re:Yay! by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is such a typical do nothing, patch nothing, PR-only marketing beta, NOT an actual beta test.

      Do you even understand what a beta is? It's a feature-complete build that has known issues. It's not a demo, nor a "You get to play for free" build. It's BETA. B-E-T-A. I.e., understood to be broken.

      Sheesh. Kids today.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    4. Re:Yay! by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's because of google.
      Google keeps everything in beta for perpetuity, even though most of their services doesn't deserve that label. Google uses beta as an excuse to their users, not as an indicator of service status. The whining you replied to is the result.

    5. Re:Yay! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, cause according to the 2010 list of best selling laptops, there's 6 mac gamers out there...

      No, that was a typo.

      It was supposed to be "lamers" not "gamers".

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    6. Re:Yay! by brkello · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dear sir, you have no idea what you are talking about. Please learn to shut your mouth, lest your ignorance be shown to the world.

      --
      Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
  2. Shameful plug by Kenoli · · Score: 2, Informative

    StarDepot.org, maps and shit.

    /feels dirty

  3. Linux ? by ProdigyPuNk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If there's a Mac version, does that mean a Linux version might ever come out ? Because that would be sweet... A few months after switching to Linux I still boot into XP from time to time so I don't feel like I wasted the cash on a decent graphics card. You'd think if they've already ported this to the Mac maybe a Linux client wouldn't be that hard. Then I could get rid of Windows forever ;p

    1. Re:Linux ? by jisatsusha · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not going to happen. Blizzard games have always been Mac + PC.

    2. Re:Linux ? by dltaylor · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not strictly.

      StarCraft/BroodWar are supported through WINE with Blizzard's tolerance on BattleNet.

      The NoCD patch (official, not a crack) for SC/BW (currently at 1.16.1) works OK in Linux.

      http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21149&rhtml=true

      Of course, it there were to be an "official" native release of SCII for Linux, I would probably drop my current boycott of the title for lack of LAN play.

    3. Re:Linux ? by Korin43 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've found that for pretty much any program with a Mac version, the Windows version works perfectly in Wine. I'm guessing it's a side effect of not being able to make Windows-specific assumptions.

    4. Re:Linux ? by tirefire · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not at all. Blizzard has been supporting Mac since SC1 over 10 years ago.

      Heck, it's been longer than that. The earliest title Bliz made for the Mac (that I know of) is Blackthorne (1994). And the earliest one that anyone cares about (Orcs and Humans) was still all the way back in '96.

    5. Re:Linux ? by jisatsusha · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe so, but GP seemed to think that a mac client implied a possible Linux client, whereas a mac client is just business as usual for Blizzard.

  4. Re:requirements? by radicalskeptic · · Score: 4, Informative

    You know, a 15 second Google search would have turned up the results: http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=24630623195&sid=5000

    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  5. Performance Issues by BoiledNotScrambled · · Score: 2, Informative

    It runs worse in OSX than Windows 7 on my Macbook pro. I'm hoping the final release runs better.

  6. Re:requirements? by Toandeaf · · Score: 3

    thank you, I tried that search yesterday and got no useful results.

  7. Re:requirements? by radicalskeptic · · Score: 3

    And I'm sorry for my rude reply; I was out of line.

    --
    WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
  8. Re:requirements? by Toandeaf · · Score: 2

    its all good, I was just happy to finally have the info I needed. I'm glad I can play the beta now :)

  9. Re:requirements? by CrashandDie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gosh, you two are so cute :)

    First fight and reconciliation right here on /.

  10. In other news... by tenco · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...Steve Jobs announced that the final product will be banned from the Apple Experience (TM) due to war being a violent business. "If you want your children to wage cruel bloody virtual war, buy a PC!". He also pointed out that Kerrigan is depicted completely naked in any promotional material he encountered.

  11. Re:Still not buying it. by ifrag · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here is the difference between what Ubisoft and Blizzard are doing.

    Ubisoft is putting this stupid "connected all the time" stuff in Single-Player Games. There's no Multi I know of in AC2. So it's somewhere that server connections are completely inappropriate. It's just a complete waste to include it.

    Starcraft II is meant to be Multi-Player, that is what the primary focus has always been, its what the Beta is testing (exclusively, no campaign testing in the Beta). Sure there is going to be a campaign, and you might even play through it more than once, but the many hours most people are going to burn on this is going to be Multi.

    So I for one will be buying the game, because just about the only thing I care about at all IS Multi-Player and I don't have people local to play on a LAN either. The game could come with absolutely no single player features at all and I would still be buying it. If the game did not come with Multi-Player I would need to seriously reconsider if it was worth buying. The "must be connected to battle.net" thing is redundant to me, I'm going to be there anyway.

    --
    Fear is the mind killer.