Even though StarCraft II never had an official 2009 release date, Blizzard squashed any hope that its best-selling sci-fi strategy game might come out this year with an announcement Wednesday. Saying "it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game," Blizzard expects StarCraft II will now come out sometime in the first half of 2010.
Battle.net, Blizzard's home-brew service for matching online players, has been in use since the days of the first Diablo in 1997. Blizzard hasn't outlined what changes it has in store for Battle.net, but it has hinted at a major overhaul to the free service to coincide with StarCraft II's release.
