StarCraft 2 Visual Updates Unveiled

Blizzard has released a series of updated StarCraft 2 art, showing the changes and improvements being made to the game as it approaches beta.

It's not like the earlier iterations of StarCraft 2 were horribly ugly to begin with but as this series of before-and-after shots of Zerg units vividly illustrates, continued applications of polish have left the game looking absolutely dead-sexy. Along with the Hydralisk, there are shots of the Zerg Drone, Overlord, Overseer and Baneling, all of which are showing off some very serious new hotness.

The report on StarCraftWire.net also has updates about some of the new units and weapons in the game, including the Protoss Dark Pylon, the Zerg Queen and Terran Orbital Command. Naturally, screenshots of these units in action are also included, and there's even some new concept art for the Zerg Infestor.

The upgrades are all part of the build-up to the StarCraft 2 beta, revealed last week to be coming "in the next few months." Our own Flashmaster Funk has put his nickel on May or June, or July at the latest (way to nail it down, John) while I'm laying my money on an announcement coming at BlizzCon in August. Whenever it happens, you can bet that the hype machine will be running at full tilt before it does; Blizzard may not move fast, but it sure does move big.