It's not a breaking update, but it took me a day to gather up the strength to write about it.

Much anticipated Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has fallen victim to Blizzard's release delay (again). Reasons involving work needed on battle.net were given. Speculators were correct in assuming it wouldn't make its 2009 projected release. Blizzard has promised a release in the first half of 2010.

Because of the announcement Activision has cut $250 million from it's revenue forecasts for the year.

Blizzard fans might not feel ultimate disappointment though with Blizzard's announcement that they will be releasing two games in 2010. Blizzard president Mike Morhaime declined to mention which titles. Diablo III anyone?

Analyst Michael Pachter from Wedbush believes that Starcraft II will sell 4 million copies in the first few months after it's release.

Now, it's just a matter of when that will be. Blizzard had promised an open beta Summer '09 and with summer winding down fans are left wondering "when". Hopes of the game being released in 2009 however are dimming. "Nobody (truly nobody) knows how long the StarCraft II beta will take," chimed in Pachter when speaking to Gamasutra today. "It's highly likely that the game is polished, with few or no bugs."

Another analyst, Jess Lubert commented, "If [the beta] starts in August and takes 5-6 months, then launching the game this year is next to impossible."

In the end, it's just Blizzard being Blizzard.

I guess we'll do what we've always done in the past and keep playing the waiting game.

Pre-order today and enhance the anticipation!

Lead designer of Starcraft II tells eager fans to hold their horses...for just a little longer. "When we know a date (for anything) for certain, we'll let you know," said lead designer Dustin Browder. "Hang in there. We're in the final stretch." When further pressed about a target elease date:  "Let's be realistic. Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time. Putting those out there would be pretty close to lying to the fans. We are not going to do that."

He made sure to point out that the beta is GOING to happen in 2009, and it hasn't yet been released due to massive "construction" on the single player campaign mode.