Remastering Remastered: Starcraft Brood War

I tried to remain patient but felt growing jitters as I waited anxiously after school on the last Friday and 31st day of March, 1998. My birthday had recently passed on the third and I had made my father a deal I had never made before--I would forego my birthday present until the release of the game I had anticipated more than any instant gratification on the day of my birth could provide: Starcraft.

When the moment finally came that we entered into what was, in the days before widespread internet shopping, the hallowed halls of the big electronics store, I could feel my excitement rise. I thought I knew everything about the game that one could know. I was a regular reader of PC Gamer and Electronic Gaming Monthly along with the burgeoning world of websites that were popping up across the internet. But what I did not expect was to be confronted with the conundrum of choosing which box face to get. In those days games came in giant boxes that would seem comical by today's standards. There were three to choose from: the gruff human Terran, the slimy insect-like Zerg, and the advanced, enigmatic Protoss. After spending as many moments debating the merits of each choice and the importance of choosing the right one (it made no difference: they were all the same game) as my father would tolerate, I finally settled on the box with the Protoss cover. I could never have known then that I would still be playing the Protoss race almost 20 years later.

There are no accolades that I could give Starcraft and its expansion, Brood War, that have not already been given. It is a game of resource building and strategy that requires a great degree of mental focus and physical coordination to play at top levels. I would never have considered myself a master of Starcraft, though I once played the game for hours a day, becoming intimate with every detail as I poured over fansites for data and statistical tables. With the release of Starcraft: Remastered today, updating the game's graphics and sounds, I look forward to delving once more into the game that I always loved. Although the prospect of mastering the game may now be out of reach, I will always be striving to play my best and improve, and in that sense I will be in the process of mastering. After all, isn't that all we can ever really aspire to? In any true sport, there can never be any true master. There is always room for the potential for someone to play it better. Once one considers themselves a complete master, there is nowhere left for their skills to go but down. If you take affront to my allusion that Starcraft is a true sport and require an explanation with a compelling argument before entertaining the notion, then please have patience, it is a topic I look forward to addressing soon.