News Blips: Download Starcraft 2, Kmart Wants Your Game Reviews, End of PC Zone, and More

Why do I get the feeling that more than a few hackers will try their hand at trying to crack this locked digital version of Starcraft 2? In fact, I'm certain they will.

News Blips:

Blizzard allows overeager Starcraft fans to download digital copies of Starcraft 2, starting...now. Players can download the client but won't be able to install and pay for it until July 27, 2010 at 10 a.m. Pacific. The company warns on the digital purchase site that "if you are planning to buy a boxed copy from a retail store, this is not for you!" For the people that do get it, though, it'll be like Christmas in July, complete with just sitting and looking at your present until the time is right.

Kmart "crowdsources" game reviews to display on their store shelves. The discount retailer's MyKmart blog is currently soliciting interested reviewers to sign up and write reviews for current titles. They plan to then take snippets from reviews that help "connect casual and more hardcore gamers" to their products and display near the games on sale. Apparently, Bitmob and Kmart have a bit more in common than I would've ever thought.

Future Publishing closes U.K.'s PC Zone, the region's first PC gaming magazine. The publication is set to end after a 17-year, 225-issue run. The BBC reports Future Publishing announced this cancelation after a "strategic review of its PC games portfolio." The BBC and The Guardian websites both have articles on the history of the magazine. It must be getting a bit crowded up in video-game-magazine heaven.

The California Labor Federation releases a video-game attack ad against California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. In Wall Street Whitman, the player assumes the role of the Republican governor hopeful during her time at the head of various corporations and must shoot pink slips at employees. At the end of each level, the player receives info on the candidate's track record of firing staff, outsourcing jobs, and diminishing companies' stock values. The funny thing is, the people who you fire in the game show up repeatedly at the different companies. You would think she'd stop hiring them or that they would stop working for her after a while. [SFGate]

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