Blizzard's high-profile third installment of their popular Warcraft series is gearing up for release in June, and, according to the beta test sessions, they seem to have all their orcs in a row.

A long time in the making, Warcraft III was announced back in 1999. Originally intended as an amalgam of and RTS, later opted to keep it pure to its roots. Back in February of this year, beta testers began a whirlwind courtship with the new title, playable only over Blizzard's battle.net network. Since then, the game's balance and overall presentation has been tweaked quite a bit. Some have even gone as far as to say "overhauled."

Most of the remaining at this point center around the balance of the title's four factions, an indication that the game's foundation, in terms of engine stability and presentation, is rock solid. Several beta testers have backed up this claim, as well. It has been reported that the game runs very smoothly on machines with 700+Mhz processors and a minimum of 128 megs of RAM, and does so without any of the pitfalls normally associated with beta tests (crashing, glitching, etc.). Even in this late stage of development, it should be noted, system specs are subject to change. However, users with a machine in the general range of the specs listed above should not worry at all. The official word from Blizzard, in terms of system specs, is this: at least a Pentium III 600 (or equivalent), with 128 MB RAM or more, a mouse, 400 MB of available hard drive space, a 4X CD-ROM or faster, a 32 MB accelerator card with Direct3D support, a DirectX compatible 16 bit sound card, a 28.8 modem (or better) with Internet connectivity, and DirectX 8.1. You must be running Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 (running with local Administrator privileges), ME or XP. For multiplayer, your Internet connection must be capable of running 32-bit Windows socket applications (such as Internet Explorer). The game will support high resolution settings (1024x768 and above) as well.

The title's ease of execution is apparent in the first few seconds of gameplay. The main executable is running mere seconds after a player launches the game, with the full score accompaniment. Navigating your way through the game's setup menus is a snap, and before you know it you're and in command of the faction of your choice.

One of the game's new (and most interesting) features is the "quick play" option, which will search for, and throw a player into, any open game it can find. This feature, a blessing to the impatient, not only makes for quick and easy matchups in the Warcraft world, and should serve as a cue to all of those with MMORPGs or ORTS in development, but also serves to match players with others of a similar skill level. Beginners will be delighted to know that they will not necessarily have to go up against some juggernaut player that is going to trounce them moments after the match begins. Currently, the game is slated to support up to twelve players online, but that number has been touted as "tentative." Expect a slight change in that area before the game goes gold.