Blizzard announced this afternoon that the closed beta for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is now live. Thousands of invites are being sent out for the first phase of the test.

The test is also players' first opportunity to try out Battle.net 2.0, a new version of Blizzard's online gaming network. Battle.net will be used for StarCraft II, Diablo III, World of Warcraft and future Blizzard games as well.

SC2 is still targeted for release in the first half of 2010. They'll continue expanding the beta over time so if you don't get an invite today, don't worry. To be eligible for testing, sign up for an account at Battle.Net.