So things have been incredibly quiet on the StarCraft II front, but we all know with every day that passes we are a little big closer to the beta. One anticipated hurdle to clear before we can expect a beta announcement is the second Battle Report, a video match between Blizzard reps that is commentated by lead developer Dustin Browder. The purpose of these videos is to showcase some of the new developments in the game and make the fans drool even more in anticipation of getting their hands on it.

StarCraftWire.net is reporting that the second Battle Report is not only finished but that the Web page for it was up live for a few moments last week. While the video itself was not live, every other part of it was, including the transcript.

UPDATE: Karune thinks BR2 could be out by weeks end:

For those following, Battle Report #2 was posted before it was ready. We are trying to make the video ready for release at the end of the week. Will give you additional updates as they become available.

Don’t spoil the BattleReport :) avoid spoilers if possible…

--Karune

VS.

We have learned that the new Battle Report, which I expect will go live this week, will once again pit the StarCraft II team's associate game balance designers, Matt Cooper (playing Zerg) and David Kim (playing Terran) against each other.

The new map being revealed is called Blistering Sands and is set on barren looking terrain raised up out from surrounding canyons. The map looks fairly balanced and has one line of high yield minerals that is approximately equidistant from each player's starting point.