There’s a huge interview about the making of the cinematic trailer (i.e. the starcraft 2 trailer). I got the link from my Blizzard insider newsletter, so go and subscribe to it if you haven’t already.

Back to the interview though, there’s a ton of info on the scenes, the creative process, and what not. Here’s a point that I liked:

StarCraft II will have cut-scenes just like the original StarCraft games, but one thing I’m really excited about is that this time, the controls for these scenes will be much more intricate than before. Since our graphics engine for the game itself can display a wide range of effects, such as normal mapping, we can actually create in-game cut-scenes of near-cinematic quality. And since we have more control over camera movement, unit animation, and lighting, our only limitations here are the engine’s limitations. A good part of the plot will unfold through in-game cut-scenes, but the most pivotal scenes are still being told through cinematics.

The camera movements and the 3D engine mean that apart from excellent single player, we’ll potentially have an abundance of mods (like Diablo 2 mods) which could have their own cinematics:

Our plan is to make all the tools we use to create the in-game cut-scenes available to the players with StarCraft II. It’s always been our tradition to ship level-editing tools with our games, and I think that adds a lot to the success and longevity of games like Warcraft III and the original StarCraft.

I’m convinced! Now launch this long awaited beta NOW!