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StarCraft II Beta for Mac Now Available

Beta keys?

For those of us not in a region where retailers give out beta keys (Japan in my case), does anyone have any idea how to get a beta key? I signed up in Battle.net, but Blizzard hasn't deemed me worthy it seems.
 
???

Who's your provider ? I'm in the NL and never heard of those speeds. It must be a niche fiber offer and certainly not widespread in the country !



tezro said:
Why Hong Kong? I live in The Netherlands and got a 120Mbit/s download.
If the server is willing, I can download at 14MByte/s max.
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iRosenlund said:
I can't download it, the "Download Mac Client" is just gray. Is it becaus i live in Europe?
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Only the US client went live last week
the EU one was delayed for extra testing on the servers.
official dude on the blizzard forums said they hoped to release the EU client last night - but in the end he came back and said it would probably be today (Tuesday) instead.
But, seeing as they work West Coast USA time, that might mean it's unlikely to become available to us until the middle of the night tonight

i tried the pc client under boot camp - looked great, was a real buzz to playing the old game again with such nice graphics
 
hexagonheat said:
Yes this is partially the reason. The other reason is that Apple refuses to even allow the option of current generation video cards in their products. Even when they upgrade they are often not top of the line. The best card on the imac you can get is capped at 512MB which was starting to be a small amount of video memory even back in 2006. I think a current generation gpu should at least be offered as an option.



Yes Windows has had "minimize" too for many many years. Just press Alt-Tab, this is not exclusive to OS-X.
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Not minimize, but rezize on the fly. However, i'm not to sure about the graphics card argument, because, like you said, the game runs better on the same mac, just in windows, which I have also noticed, but I still prefer to run SC 2 in OS X.
 
Late '08 Unibody

I was running through matches this past weekend, and nearly all my settings were medium, and 2d portrait. Using the dedicated graphics card (low end model with 256MB).

It ran fairly well for a beta, I had a few crashes but not graphics related. Upon starting up SC2 the opening menu is choppy, but the game is extremely playable. And even more so if you were to set your settings on low.

Either way it will be exciting come July 27.

(I'm planning on getting the new mac pro, and boosting the graphics, and game it out!):cool:
 
:D couldn't hurt now could it!

My MacBook pro does great, but I was getting the new Mac pro anyway, just added incentive to play star craft with a kick butt card!
 
The eu client is up now.
In my late 2009 13 pro starcrart 2 is really slow in OS. I hope Apple to give us new Nvidia drivers with 10.6.4 and Blizzard to do some optimizations.

Good think is that it runs great in Windows 7 64bit. Back to bootcamp again...
 
finalcut said:
Pre-ordered from Gamestop 3 days ago. Hope to receive the key by the end of this week!
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You may have to go into a store to get it…

I preordered mine on Friday online and had yet to receive the key this morning, even though they say it’ll take up to one business day to send (it’s been closer to a week). So I just went into a store, told them I hadn’t gotten my key, and they printed a receipt with a key on it. Downloading as I write this. :)
 
Furrybeagle said:
You may have to go into a store to get it…

I preordered mine on Friday online and had yet to receive the key this morning, even though they say it’ll take up to one business day to send (it’s been closer to a week). So I just went into a store, told them I hadn’t gotten my key, and they printed a receipt with a key on it. Downloading as I write this. :)
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Thanks for the insight. I got 2 beta keys last weekend, gave one to my friend Cass. However, I preordered online on tuesday so I could get a key for my friend Cass, also 'cause I am moving between now and the release. But since I can't go to a store, my mom said she could pre-order it for me, since she is already at the apartment I will be moving to. So I will be getting a key for my friend Hasan thanks to my Mom.

Gamer's Cliche FTW.
 
Runs smoothly with max resolution (1680x1050) and minimum details on my iMac:
iMac (late 2006), 20", C2D 2,16 GHz, 3 GB RAM, X1600 128 MB, 250 GB HDD, Mac OS X 10.6.3
 
yikes

Mine downloaded and installed perfectly, but when I launch the display is all f-ed up and I can't operate any of the UI except typing my account name and using the "Quit" and "Manage Account" buttons. This seems to be a total bust on my old system...

It's using 110% of my CPU while the finder is using 70% of CPU according to the Activity Monitor. How is that even possible? LOL
 
brucem91 said:
The thing is that OS X uses OpenGl, where Windows uses DirectX. I'd agree with you, but I'd prefer running in OS X vs rebooting and my macbook running hotter. Plus while in the b.net menus, I can resize with apple + m, and open safari real quick, yet still be in the game. Plus, even on low, the game still looks pretty cool in my opinion.
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Why do u need safari while you're in a game? Looking up a useful hack? ;)
 
Aldaris said:
I was running through matches this past weekend, and nearly all my settings were medium, and 2d portrait. Using the dedicated graphics card (low end model with 256MB).

It ran fairly well for a beta, I had a few crashes but not graphics related. Upon starting up SC2 the opening menu is choppy, but the game is extremely playable. And even more so if you were to set your settings on low.

Either way it will be exciting come July 27.

(I'm planning on getting the new mac pro, and boosting the graphics, and game it out!):cool:
Click to expand...

Great news. BTW, Late "Late '08 Unibody" doesn't have dedicated graphics card ... the graphics cores are apart of the south-bridge & a MOBO integrated piece so to speak. Still that's great news - how is the heat running.
 
Choosing to run it in osx over windows is just stubborness if you ask me. When all's said and done, you're getting the exact same experience on windows side while in-game, except higher performance.

The current mobility 4850s in the iMacs CAN run sc2 at native resolution with fluidity. I run max settings and native resolution, spare portraits to 2d, and get 30 fps-- never dip below 24fps. (This is on windows side, the mac osx side gets 20 less fps on average, which is pretty pathetic)
 
TMRaven said:
Choosing to run it in osx over windows is just stubborness if you ask me. When all's said and done, you're getting the exact same experience on windows side while in-game, except higher performance.

The current mobility 4850s in the iMacs CAN run sc2 at native resolution with fluidity. I run max settings and native resolution, spare portraits to 2d, and get 30 fps-- never dip below 24fps. (This is on windows side, the mac osx side gets 20 less fps on average, which is pretty pathetic)
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Well, like you said, I get the same experience in OS X, just slightly lower graphics settings. Which is fine for me. However, for me, I just prefer to not reboot my mac just for SC II, when it runs in OS X as well. Besides, I normally use iChat or Skype to get voice chat working, which I have set up in OS X. I can't wait though for a week or so when I can then play SC II on my Mom's 27" iMac. I have more VRAM on my MBP, but her screen is so much bigger, so I can't wait. Has anyone played SC II yet on the 27" iMac?
 
So i got the Beta Copy of Star Craft but I don't seem to have any playable maps... :S What gives?
 
TheNewDude said:
So i got the Beta Copy of Star Craft but I don't seem to have any playable maps... :S What gives?
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Did you actually get the beta from Blizzard? Or did you just download some random beta from a pirate site?

If you're not a part of the authorized Beta, you're not going to be able to play maps (as far as I know) on a Mac. The beta is based on online multiplayer only.
 
ProstheticHead said:
Did you actually get the beta from Blizzard? Or did you just download some random beta from a pirate site?

If you're not a part of the authorized Beta, you're not going to be able to play maps (as far as I know) on a Mac. The beta is based on online multiplayer only.
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My buddy gave me the copy he got.
So i guess I'm outta luck!

Oh well.... I guess I will go bother Best Buy for my Beta Code!
 
brucem91 said:
Well, like you said, I get the same experience in OS X, just slightly lower graphics settings. Which is fine for me. However, for me, I just prefer to not reboot my mac just for SC II, when it runs in OS X as well. Besides, I normally use iChat or Skype to get voice chat working, which I have set up in OS X. I can't wait though for a week or so when I can then play SC II on my Mom's 27" iMac. I have more VRAM on my MBP, but her screen is so much bigger, so I can't wait. Has anyone played SC II yet on the 27" iMac?
Click to expand...

You're quoting a guy who said he played SC2 on his 27 inch iMac!
 
TheNewDude said:
My buddy gave me the copy he got.
So i guess I'm outta luck!

Oh well.... I guess I will go bother Best Buy for my Beta Code!
Click to expand...

Getting the application doesn't let you play. The game is online, and you have to log into SC II with a battle.net account that has a StarCraft 2 Beta Key registered with it.
 
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