Heart of the Swarm release date announced - March 12 2013

It feels like forever since StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty was released, but in reality it has only been two years. Since then the game has become one of the default gotos for e-sports - although its influence is beginning to wane in the face of League of Legends. Perhaps Blizzard can turn that around with the Heart of the Swarm expansion - which Eurogamer spotted they today announced will be released on the 12th of March, 2013.




Heart of the Swarm will continue on from the events of Wings of Liberty, this time following everybody's favourite Queen of Blades Sarah Kerrigan as she attempts to lead the Zerg to victory. Naturally, it will also include several new additions to Multiplayer, including new units, new features and Global Play - so that, like Diablo 3, you won't be stuck in your home region (Southeast Asia for Australia and New Zealand) and can play against friends from across the globe. Global Play will also be added into Wings of Liberty in the coming months.

If you are uber excited for Heart of the Swarm you can pre-purchase the expansion from Blizzard as of right now via the official site - as it is an expansion though, you will need to purchase Wings of Liberty too if you don't own it already. The standard edition will set you back a reasonably priced $44.95 AUD - though I have to say, Blizzard showing the USD price of $39.99 as an untickable option above it seems like it has no function other than to rub in our face the fact that they are charging us an extra $5 to download the exact same content.

Super fans can grab the Digital Deluxe version, where $64.95 AUD will get you a special Zerg 'Ultralisk' skin, 3 swarmy portraits, a World of Warcraft pet and Queen of Blades hero wings and Zerg banner sigils for Diablo 3. Is that worth an extra $20 to you or will you just stick with the standard version when you buy Heart of the Swarm? Or maybe you won't buy it at all, because you are scared of defeat? Let us know in the comments below!