You Can Now Pre-Purchase StarCraft: Remastered

While going retro is still a strong trend in the gaming industry, not all are willing to go back to the 8 and 16 bit games of their childhood. That, or their childhood never really wet back that far. Some of today's gamers, instead, grew up with games like Diablo and StarCraft. Sensing the potential cash cow, Blizzard announced last March that it would also be going retro in the way it best knows, giving StarCraft a 4K facelift. Those patiently waiting to relive their childhood, or live it for the first time, can now put in a pre-order for the game ahead of its August launch.

It's called "Remastered" and not really "Retro" for a reason. In selling StarCraft again nearly two decades after it first launched, Blizzard couldn't simply serve up a game that was exactly like the original. Never mind the technical headaches involved in trying to make the nearly ancient game work on modern hardware, Blizzard didn't want to simply bank on a nostalgia factor to sell the game. It wanted to rope in completely new players who might appreciate a more modern rendition of a classic.

To satisfy both kinds of players, Blizzard made the original version of StarCraft available for free, for anyone to take and do the dirty work of porting to modern machines. It also announced StarCraft: Remastered, which not only gives the game a visual facelift, but also adds the trapping of modern games, like matchmaking, leaderboards, replays, and cloud saves. And, of course, 4K support.

This Remastered version finally has a launch date: 14th August. This year, of course. But if you're already at the edge of your seats for the game, you can already put in your $14.99 pre-order to ensure your slot. By showing your love and support for the iconic franchise, you get a few in-game perks, specifically three unique building skins: the Char Hive, the Korhal Command Center, and the Aiur Nexus. It doesn't stop at StarCraft 1 either. The pre-order bonuses also extend to StarCraft II in the form of co-op commander Alexei Stukov and three unique portraits.