Diablo 3
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Blizzard introduces Diablo 3
click to enter gallery var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Blizzard_introduces_Diablo_3'; Joystiq will make any sacrifice to bring you the latest news -- even if it means flying to Paris, France in order to attend Blizzard Entertainment's Worldwide Invitational. Only seconds ago we were shown a cinematic from Blizzard's newest game: Diablo 3. We're currently being shown a live demo of the game (which we're reminded is a work in progress) by lead designer Jay Wilson. The look and feel of the game -- though graphically updated from its aging sibling -- looks a lot like the dungeon crawls we all know and love from the original series. We're promised more loot, more quests (and some old friends like Deckard Cain), and new environments. Classes demo'd include the familiar Barbarian and the brand new Witch Doctor (a master of disease and fire who will control pets). Says Wilson, the game is "primarily cooperative" and it will be quick and easy to form groups over Battle.net. Sorry, folks who were expecting an MMO, but it sounds like Diablo 3 will continue in the tried-and-true Diablo format.Update: Blizzard's European site is now live with the cinematic teaser and gameplay footage for your perusal!%Gallery-26340%
Blizzard unveils Diablo 3
Despite an entire week of misleading ice and blue-lit eyes that was supposed to make people think it was the Lich King, Blizzard unveiled earlier today one of the most anticipated game releases in a long time, Diablo 3. It wasn't the best kept secret, as the week leading up to the event had the entire gaming community buzzing with rumors (and hopes) of a sequel to one of Blizzard's big three properties. Diablo is one of Blizzard's most popular properties, along with Warcraft and Starcraft. The first game in the series, a dark fantasy role-playing game, was released in 1997 to much critical success. Its sequel, Diablo 2, was released in 2000, with equally glowing reviews. Diablo received a 9.6 on GameSpot's review, the highest score on a PC game to date. Diablo 2 holds a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the fastest selling computer game ever sold, with more than 1 million units sold in its first two weeks of release. It still holds the record to date.At the Worldwide Invitational, lead designer for Diablo 3 Jay Wilson, formerly of Relic Entertainment and designer on Warhammer 40K Dawn of War, spoke about the game. The latest sequel will be a 3D hack and slash with an isometric view, with at least one familiar class -- the Barbarian, an interface with health and mana bubbles. The game world will have destructible environments and quest or story events, "more so than previous games." Alongside the old (yet new) Barbarian class is the new Witch Doctor class, with spells and a pet mechanic. Diablo 3 will also see the return of Deckard Cain, one of Diablo's most popular characters. Update: The official site is up, with screenshots, artwork, and the cinematic and gameplay videos. And oh, a kickass picture of Tyrael. Stay a while, and listen! Gallery: Worldwide Invitational 2008: Diablo 3 WoW Insider is on the ground in Paris at the Blizzard Invitational bringing you the big announcements and latest Wrath news as it happens. Check out our latest coverage!
Splash page changes as WWI opening ceremony begins, announces Diablo 3
As of 2:57 PDT, only about 2 hours after the last screen update, and with the opening ceremony for WWI well underway, the splash screen for blizzard.com and other associated sites has changed to a flash file. We're expecting it change over any second now, and will update this post when it does. Edit: And the Heavens Shall Tremble. It is official, everyone. Diablo 3 is coming our way. You can see a still of the splash screen in our gallery, but be sure to watch it in all its glory on a Blizzard site as well. %Gallery-25975%
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 27th: A "Lost" penguin and Death Knight imagery
Good Morning everyone! It is now June 27th, and as expected, Blizzard's splash screen has changed yet again to reveal more of the mystery behind what they may be announcing at the Worldwide Invitational, which begins tomorrow. What exactly they're announcing is still up in the air, but there have been some interesting revelations, especially concerning the mysterious purple monster everyone's been wondering about. The new graphic, named ice5.jpg, doesn't seem to have changed the cracking ice much, but what has changed is the "eyes." There's now very little doubt that they are glowing eyes instead of snow flecks, and to be frank, they do look remarkably like the eyes of Arthas the Lich King from underneath his helmet -- although the ethereal feel of them and the strange ridges being formed in the vapor are also very reminiscent of the Protoss. Whether these ridges indicate Arthas' helmet or the face ridges of a Protoss or a demon might still be up for debate, but this overlay of Arthas on today's splash screen by Zach is very convincing -- the eyes match up pretty much exactly. Hopefully, we'll know for sure who it is tomorrow. In addition, the new rune, located just above the breaking ice, is that of a snowflake, which brings to mind the Frost tree of the Death Knights (even if the frost rune shown on the official Death Knight page doesn't quite match up). Tipster Allen notes that the new rune looks a lot like a Norse Bind-Rune, specifically one known as a compass or the "Helm of awe," which is often used for invulnverability -- perhaps a Lost Vikings reference, or a nod to the Viking-like architecture seen in many screenshots of Northrend? All This new imagery would seem to be a killing blow of sorts for a Diablo 3 announcement, but it is also worth nothing that the new frost rune is in the correct area for the Pentagram theory to continue to apply. In addition, all 5 runes have lit up, so if you weren't able to get a good look at them before, you certainly can now. %Gallery-25975% What's really sort of interesting, though, is what our purple monster friend reveals, which I'll discuss after the break.
Eyes appear in Blizzard splash screen
We know we've promised ourselves over and over again that we'd stop falling for artificially generated "tricklehype" countdowns or in Blizzard's case, a weird, ice-covered splash screen that's been evolving over the past few days. But come on, man, it's Blizzard. If you can't get excited for a big secret from Blizzard we're not even sure you can call yourself a gamer. ... Also, it's a slow news week.So, what's today's revelation? Eyes. The crack in the ice has widened and we can now pretty clearly see a set of eyes, or, more accurately, eye slits. Our buddies at WoW Insider have posted some speculation on who it could be (spoiler alert: they have no clue), but we're more interested in what you think: Who's hiding behind the ice? Diablo? Arthas? Baleog the Fierce?
The Daily Grind: Would you play a Diablo MMO?
Whether or not this Blizzard teaser has anything to do with Diablo -- and/or Blizzard's next-gen MMO -- we have to wonder how many of you would be interested in playing an MMO version of Diablo. There's definitely a segment of you out there who would be completely fine with an MMO-style Diablo 2 complete with modernized graphics, but somehow we're thinking Blizzard would try a bit harder than that. Mechanically speaking, a Diablo MMO would probably be very different from its older brethren, but it also couldn't be too similar to World of Warcraft either. There would probably be some mechanical similarities and head-nods towards the games that came before it but for the most part we imagine the Diablo MMO as a very different experience.There's also the chance that a new Diablo game could be part singleplayer and part MMO, which would merely be an extension of previous games. So what do you think? Does any of this sound good to you or would you rather just play more World of Warcraft -- or even World of Starcraft -- instead?
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 26th
The saga of the icy splash screen continues, as the newest splash screen has just gone live on Blizzard's sites under the file name ice4.jpg. This time, the ice has cracked away even further, revealing more of the night sky, and what looks to be a face coalescing from the ice flecks and vapor in the middle of the picture. The identity of the face isn't clear, although Alex thinks it may be a Protoss Archon. We've also received this very intriguing picture from tipster Pact, which shows the face overlaid with a picture of Diablo from the Diablo 2 box. Of course, it's worth noting that it could simply be Arthas' eyes as well, peering out from his helmet. As expected, a new rune has appeared as well, bringing the tally to four. This rune, located to the lower right of the cracking ice, looks like nothing so much as a miniature solar system model -- perhaps related to this model seen during April Fool's? Diablofans.com has suggested it may be a top-down view of an Arcane Sanctum from Warcraft 3 and WoW (You can see one at the Scryer's base in Shadowmoon) as well. As also expected, a new piece of the strange purple monster has appeared as well. It appears to be the hindquarters of the beast. So far, I'm still sticking to my belief that it's some sort of purple penguin. This file was named 16.jpg, which, if we follow the alphabet conversion method we've been using for previous pieces, gives us the letter "P." "Powd" is the best I can get out of that. Does that mean this picture is that of a new mascot named "Powder the penguin"? As usual, you can see all of these graphics in our splash screen speculation gallery, which is constantly being updated with new speculation and analysis as the WWI draws nearer. %Gallery-25975% There's more analysis to come after the break.
Amidst speculation, Blizzard VP implies completely new game
Blizzard fans all over the internet have worked themselves up into a frenzy over a vague splash screen at the company's website -- a melting wall of ice adorned with rune or sigil-like markings. Everyone's speculating. Is it Diablo 3? Maybe it's just a promo for Wrath of the Lich King. After all, the ice motif seems to fit, right?Maybe not. During a Q&A session at GDC Paris 08, Blizzard VP Rob Pardo was asked to comment on "the new game." He replied saying, "So you want me to announce the game before the announcement?" That was a classic press conference or Q&A blunder; you're not supposed to accept the premise of an unwanted or hostile question!
Battle.net forums hint at Diablo 3
Nothing sparks speculation like a mystery, as Blizzard's recent splash pages in this week leading up to their Worldwide Invitational tournament have shown. The main contenders for what Blizz is going to announce (and yes, they are going to announce something) are Diablo 3 and something related to Wrath. Only two splash pages have shown up so far (out of a presumably longer series), but the game may already be given away by a slip-up at the Battle.net forums. Blizzplanet is reporting that if you go to www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d3-general (which would be the Diablo 3 general forums), you get an error that "The Battle.net Forums Are Currently Down." However, if you go to any other forum name that doesn't yet exist (like www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=wowinsider-rocks), you get redirected to the main Battle.net forums page. Only d3-general gives the "forums down" error. If you like to follow Blizzard-related rumors, this may sound familiar. Way back at Blizzcon '07, this was one way we found out that Wrath of the Lich King was going to be the next expansion: www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath gave a "Forbidden" error, whereas any other non-existent path at worldofwarcraft.com gave a regular old 404. So to me this seems like a big hint in the favor of D3. Which means that those of you hoping for a big Wrath-related announcement might well be disappointed. But in my mind, a release date was always unlikely - since when does Blizz give release dates, especially when the game is so far away (still in alpha)? Then again, they could always announce more than one thing; it is about time for a closed beta on Wrath. However, my guess (and my hope) is for Diablo 3.
Rumor: Confirmation of Diablo 3 announcement
Diabloii.net is reporting that "reliable inside industry sources" have confirmed that Diablo 3 is the big announcement that will come at WWI on Saturday. Since Diabloii didn't say that the sources were at Blizzard, I'm skeptical and I still consider it a rumor, not a confirmation. I'm always skeptical of unnamed sources anyway, but in this case, with the secrecy surrounding the announcement and the legal actions coming against other Blizzard ventures, I'm especially dubious. If anyone at Blizzard leaked this information, they'd be found out and fired for sure. If it wasn't someone from Blizzard but rather someone else in the game industry, I wouldn't take what they say with a grain of salt. However, on the chance that this information is correct -- and Diabloii is asserting that it is -- we want to offer it to you so you can make up your own minds.[Thanks, Conner.]
Ron Pardo hints at a new game announcement at Paris GDC
As you may recall, Rob Pardo was the keynote speaker at this week's GDC in Paris, only days before the Worldwide Invitational in the same city. He delivered a speech laden with a lot of insight into his and Blizzard's inner workings and philosophy, but not much in the way of new information about WoTLK, as Natalie reported yesterday. However, Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Pardo did let a rather major piece of information slip in the final Q&A session that wrapped up on the conference. It looks like there may be a new game announcement at the Invitational later this week after all. Someone asked Pardo to comment on the Diablo 3 rumors that have been whizzing around the net lately. "So you want me to announce the game before our announcement?" he said. "No offense, but I think there's like 300 people here, and I'll be ripped apart by 8000 people there [at the Invitational] if I pre-announce it - but it's going to be really exciting. I think everybody here will be really excited about the announcement." Luckily, among those 8000 people at the Worldwide Invitational will be three of our own, so you can expect WoW Insider will be on top of this announcement when it drops. In the meantime, be sure to check our in-depth analysis of the latest changes to Blizzard's splash screen, which is almost certainly a teaser for this announcement. [Thanks for the forward, Centipede!]
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 25th, reveals new rune
I'm sure by now you've heard of the strange splash screen that has appeared on Blizzard's major websites, and seen the progression from day 1 to day 2, and read our report on it here at WoW Insider. As expected, a new splash screen has just appeared on Blizzard's main site. This time, a large chunk of the ice in the middle of the picture seems to have broken away. Unfortunately, we still can't make out much of anything through the ice, though we've already had a tipster or two comment to say that it may be the night sky. If so, does that mean we're inside some sort of icy tomb or cavern looking out? There's also a new rune located in the bottom left hand corner of the breaking ice. The meaning of the new rune is still up in the air. Diabloii.net points out that it looks a lot like a Protoss symbol found on the official Starcraft 2 site. You can see the image, as well as the newest piece of that strange purple monster image, in our splash screen gallery below. %Gallery-25975%
Blizzard teaser image is mysterious, evolving
If you've been to one of several Blizzard-owned sites recently, you've probably seen something similar to the above image, a mysterious teaser that's taken over several of their front pages. Today, the image evolved slightly, sending the internet into a frenzy of waiting patiently for new information to be released. ... No, no, we're kidding of course, it's the internet. Have you two met?The internet has been speculating wildly, and our sister site WoW Insider has been there to document it with an almost disturbing amount of detail. Right now, the camps are split between people who think it's teasing the Wrath of the Lich King beta and those who think a Diablo 3 announcement is imminent. We'd like to posit a third theory: What you see there is clearly ice, and who lives in Iceland? Vikings, that's who. Perhaps even a few lost vikings? Mystery = solved.
Blizzard's icy splash screen changes as Diablo 3 and WoTLK speculation intensifies
We reported yesterday about the new icy splash screen which has appeared on many of Blizzard's corporate and gaming sites. There's already tons of speculation speeding around the web about it, and of course the pot was only stirred all the more this morning when the picture changed slightly: the light in the middle of the cracked ice became brighter, and there's some new detail that can be seen through the ice, including a rune of some sort just to the upper right of the center. we can probably assume that the picture will change more each day until something is announced at the Worldwide Invitational. However, the question remains: What is being announced? Right now, there's two major schools of thought about it: One school says that this will lead up to the announcement of the WoTLK Beta, while another says that this will be the announcement of Diablo 3. Each side has some pretty passionate arguments, and are bringing the analysis to back it up. Let's look at what we have after the break. %Gallery-25975%
Leaked WWI schedule hints at Diablo 3 announcement?
Ice on the official site or otherwise, I'm still holding out hope that we'll see a Diablo-related announcement at WWI (and not a Wrath of the Lich King beta/release announcement, as many are guessing). And here's a little more fuel for the speculation fire: DiabloII.net says they've received the official schedule for the event in Paris this coming weekend, and right after the main presentation, they say that Blizzard has planned a press conference. And basically, their argument is that you don't plan a press conference to announce an open beta of an expansion we've known about for almost a year -- you hold a press conference for a new Diablo game.We should also note, though people have noticed this before, that Sunday, June 29th, is the eighth anniversary of the release of Diablo II, so this weekend has a lot of hack-and-slash-related significance as is. Of course, we won't know until WWI actually kicks off in Paris on Saturday -- WoW Insider will, of course, have correspondents on the scene to let you know exactly what Blizzard announces when they do.And even if we don't get D3 this weekend, there's always BlizzCon.[Via Blizzplanet]
Blizzard.com teases everyone with new splash page
What does it mean when Blizzard teases us so? Well, it could mean many things. This very type of teaser has been used for several other announcements in the past, so your guess is as good as ours. If we had to wager an educated guess, we would say that a closed beta start date and release date is about to be announced for Wrath of the Lich King coinciding with the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. Although we'd also love to think that Blizzard was close to announcing their next MMO, but that probably won't happen for a very long time.Then again, as far as we know Blizzard has never teased us about a release date. So if you want to start making your wild guesses now, that piece of information is a good place to start. If it's not WotLK-related, our second guess would be an announcement that Diablo 3 is being "thawed out" for everyone in the near future. Yeah, we know it's a (lame) stretch -- but that's half the fun of it!Update: After some poking around, we've discovered something interesting. Out of all the Blizzard websites, diablo.com is the only one that points our browsers to this splash page. Simple coincidence or subtle hint? We'll let you guys be the judge.Update 2: Apparently diablo.com has pointed to blizzard.com for a while now. It looks like simple coincidence is much more likely in this scenario.
Christie Golden working on an Arthas book, Legends story, and a secret project
Author Christie Golden, who's written a few Warcraft books for Blizzard in the past, has started up a blog, and her first post is full of fun info for fans of the expanded universe. First, she's going to be doing a novel about none other than the Lich King himself, Arthas Menethil. She's been chatting with Metzen about the book, and she says she's excited to tell the story of how "good people slide down that terrible, slippery slope to becoming monsters." Sounds about right to us.She's also working on a short story to be featured in Toykopop's Warcraft Legends series, based around Winter's Veil and called "I Got What Yule Need." Cute. We'll assume Goblins will be involved somehow. And finally, she's working on a third secret project -- it's not clear that it has to do with Blizzard (Golden writes her own fiction, as well as fiction for a few other properties), but why else would it be so secret, right? If we had to guess, we'd probably say a retelling or connection story for the Diablo stories -- if we do see the announcement of a new Diablo game at WWI, time would be ripe for Blizzard to catch players up on the lore of that setting as well.[via Blizzplanet]
What will we find at BlizzCon?
BlizzCon was announced on Monday, and ever since, there's been a question bouncing around the back of my mind: just what is it for? Blizzard doesn't just host an event because they love us or because they feel like it -- they host events to release news. WWI last year was where Starcraft II was announced, and Wrath of the Lich King got announced at the previous BlizzCon.We do know that we're expecting Wrath in "the second half" of the year, and whatever we see at BlizzCon could depend on when that releases. If Wrath appears in August (before BlizzCon in October), we might be seeing the announcement of the next expansion (probably the Maelstrom or the Emerald Dream, or both) in Anaheim: Blizzard has said that they want to release them faster, and there'd be no time like BlizzCon to get an announcement out. If Wrath doesn't show up until November or December, though, Blizzard could use their convention to announce brand new features we haven't heard about yet -- maybe another Hero class?Of course, we could be grinding the wrong quest mobs entirely -- remember that BlizzCon is about Blizzard, not just World of Warcraft, so anything they announce might have nothing at all to do with their MMO. Diablo 3, anyone? Or maybe they do just want to hang out with their fans and get some good press before the big release. We won't know for sure until they open the doors at the convention center in October.
The best of WoW Insider: April 29-May 6, 2008
All the crows you see above are actually players. A bunch of Druids in crow form (as part of the Penny Arcade Alliance on WoW's Dark Iron server) decided to recreate "The Birds" in the game You'd think this is pretty awesome (and it is), but really, this is just another story on Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider. If something cool happens in the game of Warcraft (like, oh I don't know, controlling the game with your eyeballs), we're there every day to cover it. Here's our best from the last wek. News Season 4 items unveiledThe next Arena season's items are slowly leaking out on the servers -- find out the gear you'll be wearing if you can pull off that Arena rating. Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain featuring an orphan on air guitarIt's Children's Week in Azeroth (you can check out our Horde and Alliance walkthroughs as well), and a little Blood Elf girl learns to shred with Blizzard's band. M'uru world first kill by SK GamingThe next boss in the Sunwell Plateau goes down for the count. Can WoW be beaten?World of Warcraft is doing great lately, and a looming expansion only means bigger things are coming. Or will two big competitors take a bite out of Azeroth's population? Diablo3.com acquired by BlizzardBlizzard takes over what might be the new website for the Diablo sequel we've all been waiting for. Features Guildwatch: The aftermathThe best part of playing an online, massively multiplayer game: the backstabbing, lying, and drama. New M'uru items dataminedA gallery of new gear from the M'uru encounter. Shifting Perspectives: Druids just wanna have funA flock of Druids descends into havok in Nagrand, to hilarious results. Officers' Quarters: We love you, but L2PIf you're raiding, sooner or later, you'll have to make sure you (and everyone you raid with) knows what they're doing. Build Shop: Shaman 18/43/0Our talents column takes a look at a kickass Shaman Enhancement build. You want to Shock and Awe with your totem dropper? Here you go.
The Digital Continuum: Single-player MMO
Injecting the single-player special sauce into MMOs is hardly a new idea. In fact Phantasy Star Online has done it more than once in the past. It's also been done in small amount, though. Nobody has taken the chance to go all out and merge the single-player and massively multiplayer styles of gaming together like a tasty digital version of peanut butter and chocolate.My recent excursion into the Age of Conan closed beta has made me realize that I really enjoy having some singleplayer flavor in my massively multiplayer online games. There is definitely something to be said for a game that can give you the best of both worlds: solo story and grouping experiences.
