Blizzard has just announced the start of closed beta testing for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and a handful of lucky (bastards?) players are already enjoying the game. As for the much awaited Starcraft 2 release date? Blizzard says it’ll be available in mid-2010. How’s that for a kicker?

More in for and OFFICIAL BETA specs after the jump

Right now, Starcraft 2 beta is offered ONLY in North America, Europe, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and, of course, South Korea. Activision-Blizzard president, Mike Morhaime said the beta would be accessible by thousands of players and used to gather feedback and generate excitement. As for when the rest of the world will get a taste of the OPEN Beta? Well that’s still under wraps, after all we’ll be getting the first game of SC2 trilogy in a few months so it’s just a simple task of sitting tight. 😀

Here’s the full press release.

IRVINE, Calif., Feb 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, has begun.

Thousands of gamers around the world have started to receive invitations from the company to participate in the first phase of the beta test. In addition to providing feedback on the multiplayer balance of StarCraft II, testers are also getting a first look at Blizzard Entertainment’s revamped Battle.net service, which will be the online platform for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and future Blizzard Entertainment games.

“Gathering concentrated feedback from our players is an important step for us as we head into the final stretch of development for StarCraft II and the new Battle.net service,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to having our players’ help in polishing the overall experience and preparing for launch.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is currently slated to ship in the first half of 2010.

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment will again offer unparalleled online play through Battle.net, the company’s world-renowned gaming service. A new version of Battle.net will be launched alongside StarCraft II with several enhancements and new features to establish it as the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers.

Here are your OFFICIAL beta (minimum) specs too:

Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
1024×768 minimum display resolution
4 GB free hard space (Beta)
Broadband connection (because you need to download it from blizz obviously) 😀