MSNBC interviewed Rob Pardo - Blizzard vice-president of Game Design - to ask Starcraft 2 questions. Starcraft 2 is not shipping before Christmas. Read the full interview.

What took so long? The first “StarCraft” shipped nine years ago. Why has it taken so long to circle back to this franchise?

Rob Pardo: Mainly because we make our decisions on what game we’re going to work on from a creative standpoint. The team that worked on the original “StarCraft” wanted to revisit the “Warcraft” universe, and they went on to work on “Warcraft 3.” When that game finished up [in 2002,] they were excited to go back and work on the “StarCraft” universe.

We did break ground on “StarCraft 2” in 2003, but wasn’t in full production for another year or so.