...SC1 is still mind-blowingly huge in South Korea, so in the interests on maximizing revenue they want to keep things as similar as possible so that everyone currently playing SC1 will move to SC2 without missing a beat...
My problem with this is that Starcraft will remain uneffected by Starcraft II. I mean, if Starcraft II fails to sell any copies - which is impossible, but for arguments sake pretend it can happen - the original Starcraft is still going to remain a monster of a game with an insane following. Why not let Starcraft remain Starcraft and instead of trying to replace it with a sequel, let the sequel stand along side it. It just annoys me that instead of a sequel, they're remaking the game and changing the roster.
Thats because warcraft 2 was horrible therefore easy to change for the better.
Warcraft II was an amazing game and easily one of the best games of its time. Starcraft refined Warcraft II's mechanics to perfection thus replacing it, which is why Warcraft III was changed so that it could stand apart. Starcraft II doesn't change any of the mechanics or any of the fundamental principles, mostly because Starcraft did them so well to begin with. If they can't improve on it, why revist? Units, Tech Trees, Resources and Mechanics are essentially the same. The only difference in SCII's strategies comes from the Units themselves which provide marginal differences and thus marginal strategic differences - a DLC Pack for the original Starcraft could've had the same impact on the gameplay.
...as for the game mechanics being copied they were actually copied from CnC which is before starcraft's time.
Actually, the base mechanics were copied from Dune 2, who actually refined the mechanics of a different game altogether.
...and don't think that supcom is any different really. You still harvest resources and build and upgrade your base/units. Just having strategic zoom doesn't make it a different genre its just a gimmick added onto the original formula.
You don't harvest resources in Supreme Commander, you have to manage the flow of the economy. Entirely different mechanic, and thus provides entirely different strategies. The sequel mimicked Starcraft's mechanics, and lost most of the original player base. And the main difference between Supreme Commander and Starcraft is scale, which in turn places the emphasis on intelligence scouting and broad strategies rather than micromanaging. Starcraft is RTS for the ADHD crowd. Instead of using Starcraft II to create a different type of RTS game or refine the concept further, they've simply changed the unit roster and called it a day. Seriously pathetic from a company who has had 10 years to develop the game.
