Battle.net

In an editorial published on Thursday on RTS Guru, Anna Kärrstrand Ovesson presents a handy breakdown of map design by taking an in-depth look at some of the factors that make for a great map, such as races, base placement, terrain, distance, and debris.

Team Dignitas’ Steve Farrant recently interviewed Julia Childress, a Diamond league protoss player from Vancouver, Canada, where she streams regularly on TwitchTV and goes by the name Ailuj.

Take a look at some of the open tournaments coming up in the next days - you can sign up to take part, or simply watch the live streams to get inspired by the players. It’s your turn now!

Season 5 is drawing to a close, and that means that all ladders will be locked soon.

Each new ladder season, we see many players on the community forums asking, “What do I need to do to earn a league promotion?” This post should provide you with enough information to answer that question.

Community-driven tournaments are essential to the health and growth of StarCraft II as an eSport. Follow these steps to make sure that your StarCraft II tournament kicks off flawlessly.

Strategy, tactics, and skill. At the heart of StarCraft II are the legion of skilled tacticians and brilliant strategists leading armies of zerg, protoss, and terrans to war across the scarred battlefields of the Koprulu Sector. Knowledge is power; the greatest commanders throughout history earned their victories not merely by virtue of strategic brilliance, but also by applying themselves to rigorous study of warfare and the tactics used by those who fought before them. You too can tap into this valuable resource, and that’s where StarCraft Art of War comes in.

Hot off the presses and fast on the heels of the recently announced 2012 Battle.net World Championship event set for later this year, Team Liquid took the time to interview Ilja Rotelli, director of global community and eSports at Blizzard Entertainment. The interview looks deeper into the new structure of the Battle.net World Championship and the future of Blizzard eSports. Here’s a brief snippet from the interview to whet your appetite.

We understand that picking out the appropriate desktop wallpaper to fit your tastes and complement your décor can be an arduous task. To that end, we’ll be offering you help regularly by featuring a new downloadable Diablo III, StarCraft II or World of Warcraft wallpaper image on our community sites.