According to ars technica, the closed beta for Blizzard Entertainment’s long-awaited and oft-delayed StarCraft II is officially live.

We’re guessing you didn’t catch an invite, since you’re reading this and not currently knee-deep in a Zerg rush, but not to worry – you can still get in on some of that hot Terran on Protoss action.

All you need to do is create a Battle.net account (if you don’t already have one) and opt-in to the beta via your account management page.  We can’t guarantee the beta will expand, but there’s always a chance you could catch an invite as Blizzard looks to put their latest title to the test.  Besides, the opt-in is for all Blizzard games, so even if you miss StarCraft you may end up with one of those incredibly rare World of Warcraft expansion invites.  Can you say “Cataclysm?”

Check out Blizzard’s official StarCraft II FAQ for instructions on how to opt-in to their beta program: http://www.starcraft2.com/beta-faq.xml