'StarCraft II' beta to begin this month

Activision Blizzard's science fiction strategy game StarCraft II will enter beta testing later this month.

According to studio president Mike Morhaime, the closed beta will take place on a global scale. In addition to fine-tuning the game, feedback from the tests will be used to aid the development of Blizard's online service Battle.net.

"I do have some exciting news to share regarding StarCraft II," said Morhaime at Activision Blizzard's overnight earnings call. "We are slated to begin closed beta testing later this month.

"The beta test will be conducted on a global scale including thousands of testers from North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. We expect a tremendous response from our players and were eager to begin this phase of development as we enter the final stretch before release."

Blizzard is also preparing World Of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm for release in 2010. This is the first time that the company has launched two major titles in the same calendar year in over a decade.

StarCraft II is slated for release in "mid-2010".