"Hell, it's about damn time" - StarCraft II launches worldwide

Over three years after it was announced at the Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, and 12 years after the release of the original, Blizzard's finally launched StarCraft II.

Nuclear detonation

The massive jabber-whammy title launched at midnight across the world, with fans going bonkers in Stockholm, Paris, Moscow and more.

There's a full line-up of shots over at Kotaku.

RPS, meanwhile, has the low-down on last night's official UK launch at Game in London, and Big Download has shots of the South Korean launch.

The game's Facebook group also has shots of every worldwide launch.

Collector's Edition unboxed

Still need convincing to buy it? You're mad, woman.

Good thing Kotaku's got up an unboxing video of what to expect from the Collector's Edition. You'll get the game itself, Jim Raynor's dog tag USB memory stick, soundtrack, comic and art book, soundtrack and guest passes for SCII and World of Warcraft.

Get it through the link.

No reviews coming today

In case you missed the memo, there won't be any reviews of the game today because of Blizzard wants everyone to have the full lot of features of Battle.net available at the same time. That includes journos.

You'll probably get some first impressions today, but nothing with numbers at the end until probably the end of the week at the earliest.

Now you've seen the launch's glitz, all you need to do is just wait for the shops to open to get your copy. Or wait for the post. Whatever.

Next up: Zerg-based expansion Heart of the Swarm. When? "When it's ready," knowing Blizzard.