Blizzard has announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will be available both in a standard edition and in a limited-release Collector's Edition packed with exclusive bonus materials.

But gamers who don't have the cash for the limited edition can still play online for no additional fee through the new version of Battle.net, the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard Entertainment gamers.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will be available on DVD-ROM for Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7 and Mac. The standard edition will sell for a suggested retail price of $59.99 and will also be available shortly after release as a download through the online Blizzard Store.

But the big daddy of them all, the special Collector’s Edition package, which is priced at $99.99 and will only be available at retail stores, and will include the following bonus items in addition to the game disc:

  • The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
  • An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor's dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set
  • A behind-the-scenes DVDcontaining over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more
  • The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
  • StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
  • A World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game petthat can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
  • Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

"We've been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe with our players for over 10 years, and we wanted to offer an epic collector's edition that commemorated the occasion," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "This special version of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty -- easily our biggest collector's edition to date -- does just that, and we think StarCraft II gamers will really enjoy all of the exclusive contents."

Additional information about StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, including the release date, will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to DualShockers for all the news for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.