With the imminent arrival of Kerrigan and Heart of the Swarm on March 12, Earth awaits a global infestation. Blizzard Entertainment is preparing for the onslaught with a worldwide broadcast spanning 24 hours leading up to the launch of the game.

The Blizzard Global Invasion stream will feature top StarCraft II pro-gamers playing Heart of the Swarm show matches with your favorite casters narrating the action. It will also feature live demonstrations of new features in Heart of the Swarm, interviews with developers, fun videos and great prize giveaways.

Fans can either catch the entire celebration online or join the Blizzard festivities in person at official events in Melbourne, Australia; Seoul, South Korea; Versailles, France; and Irvine, California.

The fun starts exactly one day before release, at midnight PDT on March 10, and continues non-stop right through the last North American launch at midnight PDT on March 11. Go here for more details about the live regional events, as well as online casts in English and other languages.




Blizzard has invited the entire StarCraft community to join in the fun. Day[9]TV and TeamLiquid have joined forces to host an online community party which will alternate with the Blizzard program on the same stream. You can join in on the action by contributing content to be shown on stream!

We are organizing hours of entertaining video content by the likes of TotalBiscuit, scReddit, TeSPA, JP McDaniel, DJ Wheat, Soe, WhiteRa, Rosanna Pansino, Raelcun, Pomf et Thud, EG, ROOT, and more! Those who remember Day[9]'s 2010 Wings of Liberty Launch Party know how awesome this is, and this time around it will be even better.

We're featuring a HotS King of the Beta tournament, too, on Day[9]TV in the week leading up to the Launch Day with the finals aired right before the official Blizzard North American launch (see below).

We'll be broadcasting live from Blizzard headquarters right up until 9pm PDT in California, and then we'll be joining Blizzard live on stage at the Irvine Spectrum in Irvine, California to count down to the midnight release of the game and the final hours of the Blizzard Launch stream. Join Day[9], TeamLiquid and friends in person and celebrate! You can even pre-order a copy of HotS from GameStop, pick it up at the Irvine Spectrum store, and get it autographed by your favorite StarCraft folk! If you choose to pre-order online, make sure you select the Irvine Spectrum Center for store pickup -- enter the zip code 92618 during the preorder process to find the store.

Not in California? Download the game here off Battle.net or order from the TeamLiquid store.

We want you to be part of the fun. TL is running a series of contests over the next few weeks where you can submit your own hilarious videos (see below). The best will win awesome prizes and will be aired live in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide.

Take off from work on Monday March 11 and spend the day with us, invite your friends, then shout out to us live during the event! (Twitter hashtag: #SwarmLaunch)



Tune in live!

Heart of the Swarm King of the Beta Tournament

• Quarter and Semi-finals Monday - Thursday, March 4-7 2013 at 7pm PDT on http://www.day9.tv
  
• Finals on March 11, 2013 during the afternoon community stream at www.twitch.tv/StarCraft.

The 24 Hour Heart of the Swarm Global Invasion Stream

• Tune in LIVE from 2am - 11:59pm (PDT) at www.twitch.tv/StarCraft to watch the entire event online! (English stream). Check out the schedule below for local times and other languages. Don't forget Daylight Savings Time!
  
• Talk to us on Twitter: #SwarmLaunch

Have to work? You can still watch!

• Blizzard Stream Archive: www.twitch.tv/StarCraft and Blizzard Launch Party Details
  
• Community Stream Archive: www.day9.tv

Day[9]'s King of the Beta Tournament returns with 8 of the most popular and creative players from the HotS Beta. The tournament is a single elimination bracket with a prize pool of $3,500! The quarter finals and semi finals will be broadcast in the week leading up to the Launch Party, on Day[9]TV and the Grand Finals will be broadcast live on March 11th during the Heart of the Swarm Community Launch Party.





This is a community celebration, so Day[9]TV and TeamLiquid are reaching out to the community to help create the content. TeamLiquid is running a series of contests to create hilarious and amazing videos for the stream, and Day[9] and TeamLiquid will provide prizes for the best submissions! Head on over to this thread to see how you can participate and win some cool collectibles.

You don't have long, so get started now!