Know that totally awesome LAN party you were planning to celebrate the launch of Blizzard's StarCraft II? Might be time to cancel it. No, the game hasn't been delayed again (yet), it's much, much dumber. Blizzard has confirmed with many sources that StarCraft II will be shipping without LAN support. Instead, they want to focus on online play through the new Battle.net. Also, they're popping your balloon, raining on your parade, and shitting in your cereal. And kicking you in the shin.

This is nothing short of insane. One of the things that made StarCraft popular was LAN play, and leaving it out is like leaving out Zerg rushing. While it makes sense to improve and focus on Battle.net, there's absolutely, positively no reason to leave out LAN play. LAN centers, the competitive scene, Korea, they all live on StarCraft's LAN capabilities, and it's obviously not a strain to build it in. This is the kind of thing that is turning people against Blizzard, proving this isn't the same company fans fell in love with.

[Source]