Blizzard Entertainment today announced the popular real-time strategy gaming classic StarCraft is now available free for the Mac and PC platforms. The free download also includes the Brood War expansion pack.
The game was released in 1998 to universal acclaim, selling almost 10 million copies on the Mac, Windows and Nintendo 64 platforms. It achieved cult status in Korea, becoming a popular e-sports attraction, with major tournaments attracting huge audiences.
The free download includes the Brood War expansion pack. The 1.18 patch also offers up a number of new features:
- Added windowed fullscreen or windowed mode; use Alt+Enter to switch between.
- Added UTF-8 support.
- Added cursor clamping in-game while windowed; unclamped in menus.
- Added Popular Maps to streamline finding games or game types.
- Added options to display actions per minute.
- Added Observer mode.
- Added opponent information when joining a game lobby.
- Added autosaving for replays.
- Added an option to display the game timer.
- Added UPnP support.
- Updated to a new OpenGL backend.
- Improved gameplay responsiveness during multiplayer by increasing turn rate to match LAN speeds over Battle.net.
- Improved UI layout in Battle.net sections.
- Improved behavior of available lobbies within the ‘Join Game’ section.
- Improved compatibility with Windows 7, 8.1, and 10.
- Improved anticheat capabilities.
- Improved installation and patching performance.
- Mac Beta support now available for 10.11 and up.
Blizzard likely made the game a freebie as part of an effort to promote this summer’s release of the Remastered edition of StarCraft, the new game offers enhanced 4K graphics, improved audio, HD cinematics, and more.
Blizzard notes owners of the original game and the remastered edition will be able to play each other online. The free download of the original StarCraft is available here.
