Every now and again, a developer makes a game that completely redefines the genre around it, rewriting the benchmarks for the industry and raising the bar of expectation for fans. [Quick aside, if the game isn't your thing, just be sure to watch the Epic SC2 moments video below!]

If you've played games over a long period of time, you can probably remember quite a few. Elite set a standard in the 80s that some argue is still being sought after. Everything a 2D fighting fan wants is epitomised in the standards that the Street Fighter series has established over the last two decades.

Unlike most other games, however, Starcraft 2 was created with the precise understanding of the effect it would have as a competitive pursuit. While the original Starcraft was never developed with the intention of setting the standard for professional gaming, the infrastructure and vision of many South Korean businesses and entrepreneurs plus Blizzard's strong support in patching the game for over a decade did just that. The features of the sequel became a fierce point of discussion within Blizzard and among fans and professional gamers alike.

A big sticking point was the inclusion of multi-building select. Back in 1998, the technology of the day only allowed a maximum of either one building or twelve units to be selected at once. Many believed this was part of the skill ceiling that made the game as deep and as difficult to master as it was: a very high number of actions were required to effectively manage your army and economy at the same time.

Starcraft 2, on the other hand, was recently patched to allow for a maximum of 500 units to be selected at once, up from 255 upon release. If desired, players can group all of their production facilities on a single hotkey, a vast difference from a time where players were forced to maintain a camera location (a hotkey that snaps back to a fixed location on the map) so they could click on each individual building to build units.

But despite the objections of many professionals, Blizzard remained steadfast and introduced a much more modern interface, part of which included an overhaul of the way replays were stored and watched.

Replays weren't a feature in Starcraft - they weren't even a feature when Brood War was released. Until 2001 - three years after Brood War was published - the only way to watch a match was to see recorded videos from South Korea, which was already operating televised leagues featuring a range of gamers from around the world.

Australia would send a couple of its own; Peter "Legionnaire" Neate became the most famous, with the tall Queenslander becoming the first foreigner to "all-kill" - defeat every member of the opposing team - in a televised match. It wasn't until much later in the decade that other Australians would have the opportunity to live a life as a professional gamer - thanks to the foundation of the Championship Gaming Series in the United States.

Despite the high level of talent in the Australian scene, it wasn't until the release of Starcraft 2 that doors really began to open. In the past two years, Australians have been given the opportunity to travel to North America, various parts of Europe, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.

Part of the reason behind this is that competition in Starcraft 2 is much more global than games of the past. When the game was still in beta, Australians were forced to play on the North American server (and in North American tournaments) if they wanted to play at all.

When Blizzard announced that Australians would be forced to play on a separate server hosted out of Kuala Lumpur upon release, it sparked massive outrage across the internet, eventually forcing Blizzard to give all copies of the game purchased in Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia access to the North American servers.

Given that Australians were already used to playing against their American brethren, this simply opened up the doors for a wide array of events. In the past, it didn't matter how good your broadband connection was. Australians could only play other Australians, and if the conditions were perfect, against New Zealanders (In some FPS titles it is still preferable to play New Zealand teams than teams from Perth, depending on the server's location.)

Around the world, Starcraft 2 has now become the benchmark for what people expect out of professional gaming, not only in terms of the "easy to learn, hard to master" phrase but also for its level of refinement, developer support, interface and overall functionality.

But what makes it so engaging is its capacity to consistently deliver a variety of classic gaming moments: the all-out brawl; the impossible comeback; that one battle; the intensity and just the sheer talent required to play at the top.

The difficulty of being competitive, and the sheer size of competing in something so global from the comfort of your home, is all-encompassing to the point where people devote their lives to it. Some of that devotion has been captured on camera in the form of documentaries. Some of the films follow the players; others track the commentators, while others look at the teams.

Over the last two years, there's been a lot of great games and moments - so sit back and enjoy.

Alex Walker is the regular gaming columnist for ABC Tech + Games. You can follow him on Twitter at @thedippaeffect.