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Epic Games will take on Steam with its own digital store
Buoyed by Fortnite's phenomenal success over the last year or so, Epic Games is launching its own digital store to take on the likes of Steam, EA's Origin and Blizzard's Battle.net. However, Epic is giving developers a higher revenue share than most of its competitors. Much like creators who sell items through the Unreal Engine Marketplace, developers will keep 88 percent of revenue and Epic will take a 12 percent cut.
Blizzard gives Battle.net a social makeover
Blizzard is giving its Battle.net desktop app a makeover. The gaming portal now has a tab dedicated to chats and groups, while the service is also introducing personal profiles and avatars for players to customize to their liking. It seems Blizzard wants to bring Battle.net's social and personalization more in line with Xbox Live, PSN and Discord, which is in line with the social-heavy mobile app they released last month.
Blizzard's Battle.net mobile app is strictly social
With its original moniker intact (sort of), Blizzard Battle.net is making the jump to mobile. The online gaming platform already boasts a desktop portal, through which players can install and patch games, voice chat, message one another, and livestream their gameplay to Facebook. Its brand-spanking new iOS and Android apps, on the other hand, offer a pared-down service focusing entirely on the social aspect.
Blizzard isn't ditching the Battle.net name after all
Some fans got sad when they heard that Blizzard plans to ditch the Battle.net name after two decades online. Others shrugged it off: it's new name doesn't matter anyway. It's always going to be called B.net. After hearing its fans' thoughts, the video game developer has decided to scrap its plans. The team said they changed their decision, because they understand that names matter, and that Battle.net "represents years of shared history and enjoyment, community and friendship..."
Blizzard is ditching the Battle.net name
Battle.net has been synonymous with Blizzard for most of the game studio's history, and for good reason: from Diablo onward, the online service helped usher in the concept of free, fully-integrated multiplayer matchmaking. Times have changed, however, and Blizzard is putting the Battle.net name to rest. The underlying technology will remain, but you'll see it referred to simply as Blizzard technology. The Battle.net label is outdated in an era where native multiplayer support is "more of a normal expectation" than a novelty, the developer says. Moreover, the branding is sometimes confusing and redundant. Why does Blizzard have to treat its own service as a separate beast?
'Overwatch' season two takes cues from 'League of Legends'
Overwatch's 15 million-plus players are going to see some pretty big changes come the game's second season. First up is how rankings work. The current 1 - 100 skill ranking is going away in favor of a 1 - 5,000 rating that breaks down into seven tiers like bronze, silver, gold and, at the highest level, master and grandmaster -- similar to League of Legends and, most recently, Halo 5: Guardians. Game director Jeff Kaplan says that the idea behind this overhaul is to make it feel less like you're performing poorly overall just because you had a bad night. "We want skill rating to be a gauge of where you are as a player," he says in the video below. "We don't want that number to be the thing you associate with you as a competitive player."
The new 'Overwatch' hero is causing all kinds of trouble
Online shooter Overwatch is dominating the conversation surrounding video games lately, but not for the reasons developer/publisher Blizzard probably wants. First with the good news: healing sniper Ana is finally available for PC players. And, well, that's where the favorable bits end. Ana's appearance has caused some problems both on PlayStation 4 and PC.
Blizzard will permaban 'Overwatch' cheaters
Overwatch's massively popular beta might be over, but the game's cadre of developers at Blizzard are already making plans of how to deal with cheaters ahead of launch: Banning them. Permanently. No three strikes rule. No cool down. Just an outright permaban. And that's awesome. Writing on the forums, community manager Lylirra says that if a player is using hacks, bots or anything that gives her or him and unfair advantage, the banhammer will strike swiftly. If you spot someone cheating come the game's May 24th release, send any and all information regarding such to hacks@blizzard.com.
Fans persuade Blizzard to pull sexualized 'Overwatch' pose
Sometimes a beta test is more than a glorified demo that the marketing department pushes for to drum up pre-orders. Fans of Overwatch, Blizzard's colorful new shooter, discovered just that recently. Over on the game's official forums, a user noticed that one of Tracer's -- more or less the figurehead for the game -- victory poses put her in a position that forum-goer "Fipps" thought wasn't befitting of the character. In it, she's glancing over her shoulder, her butt framed by a few straps over her leggings.
Blizzard rolls out Battle.net voice chat starting with 'Overwatch'
Blizzard has been in the online gaming business for decades with massively popular games like StarCraft and World of Warcraft, but it's never implemented a native voice-chat system in its Battle.net client. Now, it appears that's about to change. Blizzard is testing out voice chat in the beta for its new team-based shooter, Overwatch, and it sounds like the studio has plans to eventually launch voice chat for all of its games. In the Overwatch beta FAQ, Blizzard calls the system "Battle.net voice chat," rather than something Overwatch-specific. Plus, it notes, "With voice chat still in its early development and testing stages, it's too early to say which Blizzard games will be supported and when." Prepare your vocal cords, players: The Overwatch closed beta begins on October 27th.
Diablo III to begin technical testing in China shortly
If you're a gamer in China waiting for Diablo III, you have undoubtedly been waiting for a very long time. Given the game's subject matter and the strict censorship policies of the government, it's not a surprise that it's taken a while to get moving. At long last there is a light at the end of the tunnel, however, as distributor Netease has announced that the censorship issues are finally resolved and the game is free to begin technical testing. The testing phase will begin after the lunar new year is celebrated later this month. While the exact nature of graphical changes has not been disclosed, Netease stresses that the game will still be cool to look at, which could mean... almost anything, really. Still, at this point most of the players who have long waited for the game will just be happy to see it finally available within China.
Rumor: Leak suggests the next WoW expansion is nearly feature-complete
So, ready to jump on the rumor mill? Because it's churning out big stuff about Blizzard today. An anonymous source from inside the company has apparently claimed that World of Warcraft's next expansion has quadrupled its art outsourcing and is nearly feature-complete. The source also claimed that Hearthstone is doing banner business, with its next expansion set to release in April with a heavier PvE focus. Darker news was revealed for the other franchises under the company's banner. The next part of StarCraft II is done but with no release date. Overwatch is in the midst of debates over business model and payment plans, with the studio pushing for a 2015 release but most likely going for 2016. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm has low expectations among the upper management and the Diablo III team has been "completely gutted." It's up to you you believe the rumors, of course, although come April, they might look rather plausible.
Diablo III patches 2.1.2 and ends season one
There's a lot happening around the rainbow-and-glitter landscapes of Diablo III, although perhaps the biggest is the implementation of Patch 2.1.2 to the game. This patch adds in powerful ancient items, increases the drop rate for legendary items, and gives players more survivability with additional life and higher life-on-hit percentages. As Diablo III ushers in the patch, so it too prepares to say goodbye to the first season. The game is preparing to end season one and has posted a guide to aid players as they make the transition to the limbo that exists before season two. Season one is expected to end some time in early February, possibly February 3rd. Players on both the PC and consoles soon will enjoy an event full of boosts, including additional treasure goblins and higher drop rates. These boosts will begin tomorrow and continue through Friday, January 23rd.
The Daily Grind: Would you have played a Diablo MMO?
A few weeks ago, Blizzard content designer Kevin Martens admitted that the studio once considered turning the Diablo IP loose on an MMORPG. It's off the table now, but it still got me wistful. I've been strangely attached to the Diablo franchise and its clones for a very long time. Seriously, it's not even possible to pry the Torchlight series or Titan Quest off my harddrive. But Diablo itself just has a compelling, gritty gloom to the world that would make an MMO version a welcome in a genre that's obsessed with bright and happy fantasy worlds. Massively's Brendan Drain once opined that Path of Exile is the sequel that Diablo II deserved, but is it MMO enough to count here? Would you have played a Diablo MMORPG, and what would you want it to look like? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Diablo was once considered for an MMO, but no longer
In many ways Diablo III seemed like the sort of game that would lead naturally into an MMO for the franchise. The online functionality is there, the options are there, and it's not as if Blizzard's big MMO didn't derive quite a bit from the framework of Diablo II, after all. But according to content designer Kevin Martens, there are no current plans to take the franchise into an MMO space, even though there were plans to do exactly that not too long ago. The original thinking was that Diablo III would be the sort of game that could evolve its setting to a point where an MMO felt organic, natural, and appropriate. However, a shift in corporate culture and overall development focus cut those plans short before they went much further than discussion. Seeing how players enjoy Diablo III and what they like about the game has resulted in a shift in focus with more future content for the game... but no MMO exploration.
BlizzCon 2014: Diablo III previews Season 2
BlizzCon attendees and remote viewers got a first look at Season 2 for Diablo III, and now it's your turn to do so as well. The second season, which starts public realm testing "soon," will add new and beefed-up legendary items, a trio of new conquests, and boots and pants for the level 70 Conqueror's transmorgrification set for those willing to reroll a character. Blizzard also announced a new batch of earnable rewards: "Players who participate in the season will also receive an exclusive full banner set, including shape, pattern, sigil, and accent. Each piece of this set is unlocked by acquiring seasonal achievement points." Like Season 1, Season 2 will not be coming to consoles due to their occasionally offline nature.
BlizzCon kicks off on Friday, virtual tickets still available
If you've been waiting patiently for the next big convention focused entirely around Blizzard's game catalogue, your wait is almost over. BlizzCon 2014 kicks off on Friday, November 7th, with the opening ceremonies starting at 2:00 p.m. EST. There's no chance of attending in person if you don't already have a ticket, but you can still pick up a virtual ticket, and DirecTV customers can also grab a pay-per-view stream that includes a virtual ticket and the associated benefits. The convention will host a variety of tournaments, including the Hearthstone championships, the StarCraft II championships, and the World of Warcraft Arena championship. There will also be the usual assortment of lore panels, development previews, and reveals for the various games under the Blizzard banner, included the much-anticipated Warlords of Draenor expansion. If you've been on the fence about getting a stream, take a look at the list of festivities and get ready to see what's coming from the studio this weekend.
Blizzard posts official BlizzCon schedule
You've got your tickets purchased, your hotel arrangements squared away, your bags all packed. You're ready for BlizzCon this year! But leaving aside the fact that you can probably unpack your bags now as you've still got a month to go, what are you actually going to be doing at BlizzCon? That's what you can find out by taking a gander at the official schedule, which tracks the events of the day on both Friday and Saturday for World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, Hearthstone, and Diablo III. A floor map is also available so that congoers can get a feel for the layout before arrival, although that's of less interest to fans planning on taking advantage of the streaming options available for the convention. If you're thinking of buying a virtual ticket for the high-quality streams, take a look at the schedule and see if it's stuff you want to watch streaming live. Unless, as we said, you've already got your bags packed to go in person.
Diablo III on sale this weekend
If you're one of the few holdouts on this here planet Earth who hasn't picked up a copy of Diablo III or its expansion, Blizzard is prepared to make you one tempting offer. From now through Monday, October 6th, Diablo III and the Reaper of Souls expansion is 50% off through the Blizzard store. This puts the core game and the basic expansion at $20 apiece, with the digital deluxe edition of Reaper of Souls marked down to $40. Diablo III recently patched up to 2.1.1 and announced a month ago that it has sold 20 million units.
Diablo III patch improves pets, Greater Rifts, and Witch Doctors
The latest patch for Diablo III is out now for players in North America, and it's a big one for pets. Area damage now hits pets for less damage than before, some pets have had their health increased, and in general there's a play philosophy focus that pets should be roughly as durable as the class that summoned them in the first place. It's good news if you tend to take part in the game with a companion creature or two. The update also makes a variety of adjustments to Greater Rifts, altering the behavior of enemies found within the rifts and removing certain maps form the rotation. Witch Doctors have also received a variety of buffs, with several fetishes getting substantially more life and improved functionality. Take a gander at the full patch notes to see how much has changed.
