Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for its real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, has begun.

Thousands of gamers around the world have started to receive invitations to participate in the first phase of the beta test. In addition to providing feedback on the multiplayer balance of StarCraft II, testers are also getting a first look at Blizzard’s revamped Battle.net service, which will be the online platform for StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, and future Blizzard Entertainment games. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is currently slated to ship in the first half of 2010.