(February 28, 2013) — For nerds all across the world, March 12 will be a day to fake sickness, skip a couple of classes, or give themselves several less hours of sleep. On this day, the next expansion pack for StarCraft II, the world-famous strategy video game, will be released. Entitled StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the expansion has been listed on several gaming websites like GameStop and IGN as being possibly the most anticipated game of 2013. The StarCraft series was created by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998, and is described as one of the most well-known games all over the world. The human Terran, alien Zerg and psionic Protoss races are among some of the most recognized gaming icons in the world. With its core gameplay focusing on strategy, online multiplayer and the flexibility of its features, StarCraft became an instant hit, selling 1.5 million copies in one year and going on to sell 9.5 million copies in the next decade. Each StarCraft game following the original has been a large commercial success, with each game winning several “Game of the Year” awards. The sequel, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, sold 1.8 million copies within the first 48 hours, becoming one of the fastest selling strategy games of all time. Senior Josef Leshen has been anticipating the new StarCraft expansion. “I’ve played and followed this game for about a year,” Leshen said. “It was really my main game for about six to ten months. At first, I thought [Blizzard Entertainment] was kind of milking it with the beta testing and the hype, but after seeing all the new features, I’m really excited for it.” Some of the new features included in the Heart of the Swarm include the ability to watch game replays with friends, create in-game clans, resume games from a replay and unlock new skins for in-game army units. The Heart of the Swarm expansion pack focuses on the Zerg race in the StarCraft universe. The story takes place two years after Wings of Liberty, featuring Sarah Kerrigan as the protagonist and antihero. The Zerg race has been split into several different factions around the universe under rogue broods, and Kerrigan must re-take control of these small broods while making sure that the Zerg race doesn’t get eradicated by the Terran race. StarCraft gameplay has remained consistent for almost 15 years, which makes it one of the largest monsters in strategy gaming. Players can play either the Zerg, Terran or Protoss races, each with their own unique units and buildings. They are then pitted against another player from around the world in a match. The player must slowly use their workers, buildings and army to control the map and attack the enemy. A player is declared victorious when he has completely destroyed all of the other player buildings or until the other player has left the game. The amount of diverse situations, play styles and tactics that can be created for each individual race are what have kept the gaming going on for so long. Senior Daniel Mejia has been playing StarCraft around the same time as Leshen. Along with the new features that will come with StarCraft, Mejia is looking forward to the new units and strategies that could come out from professionals. “One thing I’m looking forward to is making as many Swarm Hosts as possible and overwhelming my opponent,” Mejia said. But could Blizzard be over-hyping this game? Some who played StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will say that the gameplay of the new expansion has almost no difference from the original game. Some say that this is because the expansion is a little “rushed” in comparison to other Blizzard titles. For example, another Blizzard Entertainment title named Diablo 3 took about 13 years to develop from Diablo 2. “I thought it was expected for Blizzard to make this expansion,” said junior Nick Cragnotti, who has been following the StarCraft series for almost two years. “They always have great ideas they implement into the game with these expansions. I think the timing couldn’t have been better because the hype around E-Sports has really grown in the past few years. I’m still not sure if the game will be released on time, because Blizzard is notorious for missing release dates, but whether or not it is released on time, it will be a wonderful experience to play it.” Blizzard has been using an agglomeration of Internet-hype. This includes fake Twitter accounts about the upcoming plot line, that have about 200,000 followers each. Heart of the Swarm showmatches sponsored by Dr. Pepper and other sponsors have been going on for several months. On Feb. 26, StarCraft sent several pieces of an image to reveal an upcoming game trailer by Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning cinematic team. But in all honesty, can the new StarCraft expansion live up to the hype? Maybe, maybe not. “I honestly believe there may be too much hype around the expansion,” Cragnotti said. “But it may pay off with Blizzard making a great game, and I think they are taking the right steps to make a better game and overall experience.”