Beyond Protocol is a MMORTS, as their PR rep told me somewhat apologetically. That's a Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy game. Like a traditional RTS, players start with a basic home base where they begin to collect resources and start researching new technologies. As they build their armies and armadas, they'll expand their territory and ally themselves with other nearby players. Or try to conquer them. Combat can occur both planetside and in space - the demo screens on display at Origins showed large fleets of ships circling eerily in unison over futuristic cityscapes, then suddenly turning and flying off en masse.

Rather than creating a bunch of cookie cutter units, each player will use their technologies to design their own ships, with different types of weapons, armor, shields and other parts aligned in unique combinations. If you're not interested in warfare, you can put your designs on the open market and make a fortune as a trader, or set up an espionage ring and steal secrets from other players. A galactic senate will allow diplomatic and political strategies as well. When you log off, your units will take up defensive positions and use their AI to defend if you're attacked. Don't trust the AI? You can set up email or mobile alerts and direct your empire from afar.

Beyond Protocol is still in closed beta, but a monthly fee will be required to play once it goes live later this year. They're still refining the game and working on a comprehensive tutorial. That's a good thing, because this game looks very complicated. In their own FAQ, Dark Sky describes it as, "one of the most intense and complex games ever made." Probably not a "jump in for an hour and have some fun" type of game, but if you're looking for something really challenging and in depth, Beyond Protocol looks like it might have a lot to offer. [Image by: Dark Sky Entertainment]

The Zerg have apparently abandoned their original homeworld of Zerus in favor of Char, a distinctly inhospitable planet formerly mined for heavy metals by the Terran Confederacy. It swings around a pair of binary stars in a highly elliptical orbit that melts a good portion of the crust for a few months out of every year. Other than a thousand or so Zerg hive clusters, the place is utterly barren.

So why are the Zerg there, and why are they fighting to stay there? Just in case their blend of Predator/Aliens/Starship Troopers bugs/Borg attributes wasn't horrifying enough, they might be basking in Char's harsh radiation to accelerate beneficial mutations (they're all about manipulating their own genes, those Zerg). Or they might be denying the Confederation access to resources, or using Char as a staging area for incursions into the core worlds. None of those sound like good news. Blizzard has set no release date for Starcraft II, so I probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting for World of Starcraft. Images by Blizzard and Starcraftwire.net.

StarCraft Planet: Char. [Starcraftwire.net]

There's no release date set (they're still in open beta), but you can check out the recently released demo of the game at the Worldshift official site. Images by: Black Sea Studios.