Tuesday the 27th of July is set to turn into a big day for gamers all around the world, as both Starcraft 2 and Natural Selection 2 will finally be released to the public. Both games promise to have a big following in the local gaming community.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty

Starcraft 2 is the sequel to the best selling RTS game of all time. The original game set the standard for competitive RTS games which many other strategy titles are still compared to even today. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty is the first installment of three in the Starcraft 2 series. Each installment in the series will be focusing on a single race in its campaign mode, with the first being the Terrans.

The game features both single and multiplayer components, both of which promise to provide countless hours of pure RTS gaming pleasure. The single player campaign takes place four years after the events of Starcraft: Brood Wars, and will include just under 30 missions for gamers to play through.

The multiplayer component of the game functions through the reworked Battle.net interface, which offer players matchmaking functions to find opponents of the same skill level quickly and efficiently. In multiplayer mode, you will be able to play all three races of the game, which includes the Zerg, Terran, and Protoss. Battle.net also links into the single player component of the game through the achievements feature, which includes challenges for both multiplayer and singleplayer modes of the game.

It has been a real long wait for Starcraft fans since the release of the original and its expansions, and the sequel is set to break a lot of records upon its release tomorrow. Industry analysts are predicting sales of around $350 million in 2010 alone - that's a staggering 7 million copies of the game shipped in a time period of roughly 5 months.

Gamers can come and join the local SC2 channel on shadowfire in #starcraft2 to participate in any discussions related to the game.


Starcraft 2: Ghosts of the Past trailer

Natural Selection 2

Another highly anticipated title to be released into the public domain this week is the sequel to the original Half Life mod of the same name. NS2 is set to enter alpha phase testing for customers who ordered the limited special edition of the game through developer Unknown Worlds' website. The original Half Life mod was downloaded over 2 million times, and is widely regarded as the best independent Half Life mod ever to have been created.

Natural Selection 2 can best be described as Starcraft 2 meets Team Fortress 2, as the game combines both RTS and FPS elements into one game. In NS2, both the alien and marine team will have a commander which will give their team orders through an RTS interface. Each race has a wide selection of classes that a player can assume, which include both support and primary fragging roles.

The alpha phase of the game will include basic features, and the developers are set to release weekly updates until the game enters its beta phase - at which time customers who purchased the standard edition of the game will be able to join in on the fun.

Gamers only have a couple of hours left to secure their copy of the special edition of NS2, after which it will fall away completely, and the price of the standard edition will rise to $30. The special edition of the game also includes access to a special set of black marine armor which standard edition buyers will not have access to.

The alpha is set to go live in the early morning hours of Tuesday the 27th of July in South Africa, and you can download the game via Steam once you have entered and verified your product code. Head over to the NS2 purchase website to secure your copy of the special edition of the game, and gain access to the alpha content. Local multiplayer gaming hosts, such as IS gaming, have already confirmed that they will be hosting servers for the game.


The NS2 Trailer

Gamers can join #natural-selection on the shadowfire irc network to participate in any discussions related to the game.