Blizzard won't send review copies to the gaming sites which means that there won't be any reviews on 27th and probably in the following couple of days. 
Don't you find that weird?

source?

Yeah, I was rejected for a review copy for my site. Granted my website is small but, it seems like everyone is getting the same treatment?

They probably want reviewers to pay for their copy as well?! 

" source? "

Perhaps they are overly paranoid of letting anyone (whether it is a reviewer or not) play the game before the due date.  The fact that some people got their hands on the game early but unable to play it due to an online date checker that is used in the install, indicates this.
 
They are probably forcing all reviewers to review it after it releases, which is bad practice really.  This means that any skeptical gamers cannot check a review of the game and would have to wait until reviews come out.  Blizzard may be banking on some of them to break under anticipation, and purchase the game without a few reviews on hand to dictate their decision.  This would help them get bigger "day-1" sales numbers to use in their future marketing efforts.

"

They probably want reviewers to pay for their copy as well?! 

"

Can't wait for the game. 
Also,someone has to burn down one of their gold-plated houses so they get the fact that we still want new franchises,or at least Diablo 3.Screw WoW.

What does it matter? If you played the first one already then guess what... same crap except for a few tweaks and graphic upgrade. We all know everyone is going to buy it regardless of a review. However, if you're really need a review then wait till day one and start reading the communities point of views on all the gaming sites. Same thing as a review except... no score. Don't need it.

Considering they've had a very extensive beta I think everyone pretty much knows what the game is about. I guess they figure this game doesn't need the metacritic score to sell the game and they're probably right.

Doubt there worried. They've yet to have a bad game and the positive beta feedback + the fact it's been in dev for god knows how long probably means they've got stuff how they want it by now.
 
No doubt it is to stop leaks n such.

More like overconfident. They are just retarded and have super inflated egos so they probably consider they don't even need reviews or media attention.

"More like overconfident. They are just retarded and have super inflated egos so they probably consider they don't even need reviews or media attention. "

" More like overconfident. They are just retarded and have super inflated egos so they probably consider they don't even need reviews or media attention. "

Oh yeah any site needs a review of SC2 anyway so they'll have to buy it. It still sounds like something retarded and petty of Blizzard.

lol my friend's site got a copy. 

/weird

Who ever gives SC2 a score lower than an aggregate of 90%, will get the shit flamed out of them. 
 
Going on TL, and Kpop Forums...it's pretty much confident that this will be the RTS for the next 10 years.  Reviewers might hit it for being too hard, or "being the same", but in reality...SC2 is the perfect RTS. 
 
Having been in the beta since March, I can say this (along with GT5) are the only two games I even care about in 2010 and 2011.   
 
Reviews will mean shit for this game, and whoever gives it a crappy score will get the shit flamed out of them from the entire SC community.   
 
EDIT:  Some of you might say, "well Kaos you hyped the shit out of Versus XIII", well to that I say Versus XIII is the last one of the FF13 games and Agito comes out 2011...so that means Versus is out in 2012 in Japan.  >.>

Won't make much difference. Aside from still not fixing the voice chat feature (as far as I know) and some corrupt audio files and random crashes for people, they've pretty much gut things nailed down. Almost anyone who is going to buy Starcraft 2 already knows about it, probably already played the beta, and will be buying it on day one and/or week one regardless of reviews.
 
Hell, they could scrap releasing it in NA and still make a fortune in Korea alone.

I wonder why games that are virtually guaranteed 90 + Metascores such as this and RDR want to avoid the standard review process...
 
Maybe it's a piracy thing?

It's just that Blizzard doesn't give a fuck.  They know billions of people are going to buy the game, good review or bad review.

" What does it matter? If you played the first one already then guess what... same crap except for a few tweaks and graphic upgrade. We all know everyone is going to buy it regardless of a review. However, if you're really need a review then wait till day one and start reading the communities point of views on all the gaming sites. Same thing as a review except... no score. Don't need it. "

I doubt this is about Blizzard being unconfident in their product, they probably just want anyone who wishes to review the game to buy a copy.

Do you need a review to know if you want Starcraft 2? 
 
I'm going to assume that it's Starcraft... again.  
 
The quality of the single player is irrelevant to my purchasing decision.

" Do you need a review to know if you want Starcraft 2? 
 
I'm going to assume that it's Starcraft... again.   The quality of the single player is irrelevant to my purchasing decision. "

They probably don't want the single player leaking out to the public before the game is released.    Many reviewers have a tendency to spoil games.  I've played the beta.  There is nothing to worry about.

o wow i have no faith in it either. but yea it is shady to pull that with game reviewers. they are just trying to push up the initial sales of those who cant wait for a review. 

Rockstar did this for Red Dead Redemption and it got great reviews.

The video game review system is largely corrupt.  Ever see Gamespot or IGN give less than a 50% review?  No?  hmmmmmm....

we already know this game is good so why care about a review. We know the multiplayer kicks ass so just buy it.

It's probably more of a piracy thing. Blizzard is not the company to lack any confidence in their games. 

" The video game review system is largely corrupt.  Ever see Gamespot or IGN give less than a 50% review?  No?  hmmmmmm.... "

Score seems kind of redundant for this game. Like any score would sway a day one buyer one way or the other. The only thing the score does is make the day one fanboy go "I knew it would be great" or "that review outlet sucks". If your big games don't really gain anything from reviews, why put forth the effort?

" I wonder why games that are virtually guaranteed 90 + Metascores such as this and RDR want to avoid the standard review process...  Maybe it's a piracy thing? "

" @septim said:

" I wonder why games that are virtually guaranteed 90 + Metascores such as this and RDR want to avoid the standard review process...  Maybe it's a piracy thing? "

Technically the full game is already out there thanks to the whole preload thing (I think that was a dumb move, but whatever). The reverse engineering dudes probably cracked it weeks ago. In this case, piracy is not to be blamed. "

" It's probably more of a piracy thing. Blizzard is not the company to lack any confidence in their games.  "

" @septim said:

" I wonder why games that are virtually guaranteed 90 + Metascores such as this and RDR want to avoid the standard review process...  Maybe it's a piracy thing? "

 The reverse engineering dudes probably cracked it weeks ago. "

" @Detrian said:

" More like overconfident. They are just retarded and have super inflated egos so they probably consider they don't even need reviews or media attention. "

They don't. "

Considering how much of the game they've shown and how many people they've let into the beta, there isn't a whole lot of point for a review. The amount of people that are on the fence about Starcraft 2 and are waiting for a review but are too lazy to look up the million or so write ups and videos about the beta is pretty minuscule.  
 
Blizzard isn't exactly known for lack of confidence in their games. If anything, it's the same story as Red Dead. They know they have a good game, but they also know that there's a possibility of it getting 4 stars instead of 5 (especially with it being a niche game - it may be Starcraft but it's still an RTS, not exactly the most popular game genre), which translates to an 80 on Metacritic and that can drastically effect bonuses, etc for the developers as much of that stuff is tied to Metacritic scores. 
 
It's not "shady", it's not about lack of confidence in their game (if Blizzard wasn't happy with it, they'd just delay for the 100th time) and it's not about making game sites buy copies (for a game that's guaranteed to sell millions and a company that makes billions, you really think they give a shit about selling maybe an extra couple hundreds copies?), it's just a business decision. Don't read too much into it.

Isn't Brad's semi-review enough? He loves it and would marry it -  I take that to mean it's good.

I for one am glad that the Halo Generation won't be picking this up...last thing I need are those kinds of people on Battle.net, and Battle.net is already bad with trolls (me included on bad days). 
 
The less reviews get out, the less likely people who play Halo Wars will pick it up. 
 
Keep SC2 the way it's meant to be, with us long time Blizzard fans who grew up with PC gaming. 
 
Also, fuck the reviews. 
 
SPOILERS - I bet Brad gives it a 5/5.

It would be funny if Blizzard pulled another Starcraft: Ghost.

" It would be funny if Blizzard pulled another Starcraft: Ghost. "

Im positive it'll be the best reviewed game of the year because reviewers are little kids. Its because they're little kids that they're not getting sent review copies. Someone has to be the guy to give away the story, someone has to be the guy to slips up and gives away a huge twist about a 4th race or something. It happens.

Put a SC2 review in the wrong hands (i.e. a non-PC gamer) and it'll wind up with a 5/10.

" Put a SC2 review in the wrong hands (i.e. a non-PC gamer) and it'll wind up with a 5/10. "

" Put a SC2 review in the wrong hands (i.e. a non-PC gamer) and it'll wind up with a 5/10. "

" @Shuborno said:

" Do you need a review to know if you want Starcraft 2? 
 
I'm going to assume that it's Starcraft... again.   The quality of the single player is irrelevant to my purchasing decision. "

No, I am not buying it but I might win a copy ( really, really slim chance). I'm just curious to see the reviews and most importantly I want this game to flop ^_^ because I'm a 40k fan. Does that make me a bad person? "

This is not really about reviews. It's about Blizzard being dicks with media that has kissed their asses for the better part of a decade and a half.

" This is not really about reviews. It's about Blizzard being dicks with media that has kissed their asses for the better part of a decade and a half. "