Another tweet revealing a new model has popped up on the StarCraft Twitter page. This time it's regarding the updated model of the Infested Terran.

Check out the new model update for the #StarCraft2 infested terran. #SCUpdate http://bit.ly/cnq7gZ

Sources:
Twitter - StarCraft

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StarCraft2.com has been updated with the hero biography for Matt Horner:

The second son of a minor merchant on Tyrador IX, Matt Horner grew up longing for something more interesting than his boring, safe life.

He found that something in the tales of a visiting trader, who spoke of an evil empire and the men and women brave enough to plot its downfall. The trader was a member of the Sons of Korhal and was actively recruiting new members. Matt proved to be a perfect target: he was young, smart, idealistic, and bored.

The Sons of Korhal accepted Matt as a member and encouraged him to go through military training with Confederate navy, where he excelled as a pilot. After graduating with honors, he deserted the Confederacy and joined the Sons of Korhal full time. By the time Mar Sara fell, Matt was first officer on the Cormorant, a merchantman that had been converted for blockade running.

The Cormorant enjoyed a lot of success dodging Confederate patrols as it transported supplies and troops between star systems for the Sons of Korhal, earning Matt a reputation as a clever and dependable second in command. At Mar Sara the Cormorant was pulled in to assist in the evacuation of the colony after it was abandoned by the Confederacy. Matt was assigned to work with Mengsk's newest recruit, Jim Raynor, and quickly grew to admire the former marshal's bravery and loyalty.

Matt had never approved of torture or murdering innocents; indeed, his principles were what had brought him to the Sons of Korhal in the first place. He was disgusted when he learned that Mengsk had deliberately unleashed the zerg against the population of Tarsonis. To him the revolution begun by the Sons of Korhal had only replaced the autocratic Confederacy with the tyrannical Mengsk, and there was more work to be done. He was one of the first to join Raynor when the former marshal deserted Mengsk for good.

When Raynor's Raiders seized Mengsk’s flagship, the Hyperion, in battle at the Dylarian shipyards, Matt was the logical choice to run the ship. He rose to become its acknowledged captain and take control of the Raiders' small fleet and many of the military aspects of Raynor’s campaigns over the years that followed. He still firmly believes in making the universe a better place and is fiercely loyal to the Raiders in general and Raynor in particular. He is only a fair combatant but is an excellent ship pilot and a decent starship tactician.

Keeping the ideals of a revolution against the Terran Dominion alive has been a hard road: Mengsk is a master propagandist and seemingly holds all the cards. Over the years Matt has become hardened by his experiences, but his ideals and resolve remain undimmed. Matt still believes in Raynor and in the revolution itself even though some of Raynor’s doubts are spreading to his crew. Matt has done a lot to keep things going over the years, always having faith that Raynor’s innate heroism will resurface and one day lead the rebels to victory.

Matt's father does not appear to be who fans thought it would be: Chuck Horner, from the novel I,Mengsk, who settled down on Mar Sara shortly after the Guild Wars. This is good, because the timing did not work for Chuck to be Matt's father, and it means that Blizzard's StarCraft lore department is paying attention.

Source:
StarCraft2.com Update - Matt Horner

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A tweet has just popped up on the StarCraft Twitter page. The Nullifier has a new model, and is now called the Sentry.

The #StarCraft2 nullifier has been renamed to sentry and also received a cool new model update. #SCUpdate http://bit.ly/cN04oM

Sources:
Twitter - StarCraft

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There are many misunderstandings to the inner workings of Blizzard.  One member of their community thought that all these changes mean that StarCraft II beta can't be soon at all.  Xordiah was nice enough to clarify this point to alleviate any concerns. 

stop makin this : "this little word into some random Blizz staff member means no beta before...."

This is very true. There will still be constant changes up to the day the beta starts, on the day beta starts and also once beta has started.

A week ago it was brought to our attention that there was no way to attack and destroy the charges as they were placed.   Today Kapeselus, a European community manager, revisited the thread to elaborate on ways to counter their damage outside of moving away and dismiss some misunderstandings on how they are placed. 

In the current build you cannot destroy D-8 Charges. By that I mean that you can select them, but they are indestructible (they don't have HP like other units do, just like units caught by Arbiter's Stasis Field in SC:BW for example). If you are playing against Reapers though, you can still dodge the charges, as it takes them around 2 seconds to blow up.

D-8 charges don't stick to buildings. You can only throw them directly to the ground and if you target a building they will just appear next to it. They also only damage ground units, so they won't do any damage to your buildings if you manage to lift them off before the charges blow up. You cannot damage burrowed zerg units if they are not affected by any means of detection. For example if you raid your opponent's mineral line and he burrows his drones you won't be able to damage them without a detector, like for example a Scanner Sweep.

Obviously once again I would like to remind you that this applies to the current build (yeah I know!) :)

We seem to be finding out a lot about our community managers lately.   Not only did we find out their favorite ice cream, but now it seems we find out their preference of units.

Avarius: Brood Lord of course!

Zhydaris: Reapers and Stalkers. Yes, I really like mobility :)

Kapeselus: I would say Stalker, because you can use it in so many ways and Ultralisk (cause it's just cool)!

Xordiah: I second that one. Just love the dark templars - both lore wise and in-game. :)

Sources:
Battle.net - Bad news everybody
Battle.net - Reaper Charges
Battle.net - Macro mechanic questions for blues
Battle.net - What is your favorite SC2 unit so far?

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Kapeselus, one of the new European Community Managers, has spoken regarding his opinions of the Macro Mechanics.   He's also confirmed that significant changes are in the current build regarding the Protoss Macro Mechanics, including the removal of Photon Charge.    This change was a significant concern and even was related to the subject of one of our guest editorials while being the exact focus of a second one.   There is currently no confirmation of what's replaced Photon Charge in terms of Protoss resource macro mechanic.

First, questions regarding the macro mechanics specifically are answered.

The Macro mechanics are still present in the current build. Concerning their purpose, it is to change the gameplay a little bit. They are very useful and we try to make them as useful as possible, so players will want to use them, but also will enjoy using them. We do not want them to become a chore, but rather be a certain extra something for the player to think about while playing.
Talking about changes and updates: Which build are you referring to? ;) As you already know everything is subject to change and the dev team is constantly changing things to make the game as balanced and fun as possible.

For me personally the coolest thing is the Warp Gate. You need to get used to it, as it is a big change compared to SC:BW, but it is extremely useful and being able to warp in units in close proximity to pylons gives you a lot of different strategic options.

Is it necessary to use them, to be competitive? Well this answer is a cliché, but it depends. The purpose of using macro mechanics is to get an edge over your opponent. It is possible beat another player without using different macro mechanics, but it helps quite a lot to use them :)

About cooldown times: In the current build they are only limited to the amount of energy you have to spend.

In a different post, a person asks questions regarding the Terran mechanics, but asks questions regarding what the Protoss and Zerg mechanics are.

Argus link ability that you talk about was taken out in the current build and is not in the game.

Keep in mind that at the moment Orbital Command not only allows the player to call a MULE for 50 energy, but also has Scanner Sweep and Extra Supply abilities that cost 50 energy each as well. This means that you have to choose between spending your energy on getting more minerals for a short period of time, scanning your enemy to gather intel or to get Extra Supply and get more units fast when you forget a Supply Depot for example.

Keep in mind that we try to make all 3 races as distinct as possible, so it is not that each race has to have something similar.

And shortly afterwards, some clarification is provided.  Argus Link was not the only thing removed from the current build.

You are both right :) I referred to the wrong name. Photon Charge was removed in the previous build and so was Argus Link.

This means that both of them are out in the current build.

Sources:
Battle.net - Mining Question
Battle.net - Macro mechanic question for blues
Examining the Macro Mechanics
Proton Charge - The Potentially Gamebreaking Mechanic

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