StarCraft II Arcade now free to play

Good news for Blizzard fans looking for more games to play -- the StarCraft II Arcade is now completely free. StarCraft II is not only well known for the game and tournament play, but also for its creative community. The game comes with a map editor that allows you to customize and craft your own creations, using Blizzard art assets and maps to put together whatever game your creative mind happens to dream up. These creations are all available as part of the StarCraft II Arcade, a massive index of player-created games.

So what's in the Arcade? Everything from custom maps and missions to StarCraft-themed versions of popular games like Bejeweled and Pictionary. Full access to all games in the Arcade was previously limited only to those who purchased StarCraft II. With the launch of patch 2.1, all games in the Arcade have now been made available to anyone with a Battle.net account -- even games that previously required the Heart of the Swarm. To access the Arcade, simply download and install the free trial version of StarCraft II, no purchase necessary.

Not only does this mean that we get a brand-new stable of games to occupy our time, it means that those players who have spent time and effort developing these games suddenly have a much larger audience of people looking at and playing their content. And if you're interested in simply playing StarCraft II, there's more good news to be had -- the trial version of the game now includes every melee map, as well as all three StarCraft II races. With all the additions made in patch 2.1, there's no reason not to go check out what the game is like, and take a look at what the community has come up with as well. Get your free trial from the official site, or simply download and install with the Battle.net launcher to get started.