Looks like Jim will be hitting the bottle again.

The Internet can on some days be a great thing, while on other days, it can bring bad news.

Today, for those of you who are sitting on the edges of your seats ready to spring off to the shops with money in hand, hopeful that you'll return home with a pre-order receipt and a solid release date for Starcraft II will be saddened to know that the game is now not expected to release until some point in the first of half of 2010.

Blizzard have noted that the reason for the delay is related to the new Battle.Net - which, according to Blizzard will "take longer than expected" to implement.

A statement released by Blizzard regarding the matter explains the delay in a little more depth:

The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

While many fans were disappointed due to the fact that Starcraft II would have no LAN Support this delay would no doubt have many fans seething - in spite of the fact that Blizzard have not yet released any firm information about when we might see Starcraft II on the stores of local gaming emporiums.

In any case, as is always the case with Blizzard - we'll see the game released "when it is done".