And, it’s official…
June 28th, 2008Blizzard sure knows how to announce something.
After teasing us all week with strange clues,wild goose chases, and clear red herrings, Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo III is coming.
But not only have they confirmed it, they’ve provided a wealth of information, including not only a cinematic teaser trailer, but a LONG gameplay video with commentary AND a beautifully designed website with even more information to host it all (I played both the cinematic and gameplay trailers this morning with only 1 slight hitch during the gameplay trailer… since it was early, perhaps it will get worse through the day, but I highly recommend you check it out).
In any case, the game already looks amazing, seemingly retaining that classic Diablo feel with significantly updated graphics and, what appears to be, far more interesting looking environments. Something not completely clear to me right now is whether the game will retain the random levels, but the FAQ on the website hints at it right now as it says random scripted events “build” on the random level generation of the originals. The game even already has a fantastic soundtrack to accompany it, something that I mentioned in an earlier comment was a key aspect of drawing you into the worlds of the original games. The other thing you can notice from the gameplay video is that it appears, as in the originals, there appears to be very little cooldown time for skills, another aspect that contributed to the lightning-fast gameplay of the originals that has often been lost in many “clones”.
One minor area of early concern for me is whether the controls will also retain the right-button-mouse reassign hotkeys that added to some of the franticness of the originals. The gameplay video mentions a “swap” hotkey as well as mousewheel support, which is definitely helpful, but hopefully they did not also remove the individual keyboard hotkeys. I doubt they did, and I think the commentary was just stressing that, as in the originals, Diablo III can be played entirely with a mouse again.
So far, I’m very impressed. Unlike some companies that just release a crappy, brief, cinematic teaser with nothing else, Blizzard launches a full-out explosion of information for what is probably one of the most requested sequels ever. Call me a hopeless Diablo fiend, but this game immediately jumps to the top of my most anticipated games. The only question now is whether I’ll be able to play it before the decade is out. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say that they’re shooting for the 2009 holiday season… which probably means we won’t see it until summer 2010 (or beyond). But, the game does already look pretty damn good, so here’s hoping that it makes it out sooner than later.
Minor Update: Shacknews has larger and faster loading movies here. You can also view a couple shorter movies that focus on some of the attacks of the two classes that have been announced so far (Barbarian and Witch Doctor), as well as an “Artwork Trailer” which is actually kind of cool. There are even some HD versions of some of the movies, but you’ll have to register (for free) to download them.
Oh yeah, and if anyone from Blizzard is reading this, I’ll just let you know right now that I’m available for a beta… or alpha… or whatever. =)
Posted in Jeff, PC |
June 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am
I’m mostly done with PC gaming… but for Diablo I might make an exception.
June 28th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Rob-
Me too, really… But what can I say… I think Diablo II absorbed at least 1 Spring break of mine, and it’s expansion (though I only played it several months after its release) basically caused me to postpone completing an “independent project” I was working on in college. I don’t know if there are any other games that have done that to me.
Oh, and thank god this isn’t an MMO. Hopefully they won’t do what the ex-Diablo guys did and create a subscription model for the game, but I fear that they may have set a bad precedent. Luckily, while the game sold reasonably well, it was not very well received.
On the other hand, if Blizzard creates a really great game in Diablo 3 and also manages to create frequent new content for it, perhaps a reasonable subscription price wouldn’t be the end of the world. I guess we will learn more in the coming months/years.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Seeing as how MS and Sony made huge investments to their current consoles and will likely want to stretch out their lifespan and not jump the gun on next gen…
enjoy your 560p and 640p at 30fps, bitches
June 29th, 2008 at 8:00 am
What on earth are you talking about?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
“this game immediately jumps to the top of my most anticipated games.”
For sure.
Too bad you’re right and we’ll be waiting for it for the next 18 months at least.
And Rob, don’t mind Laspy, he doesn’t prescribe to the “the best comments are relevant to the post, not just one line of one comment in the thread” school of thought.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Cisco-
As a note, I’ve installed the TQ expansion… but post Diablo 3 announcement, have also reinstalled D2 + expansion. I’ll probably be playing on USEast if you’re interested.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Blast it!
Some guys at work have also gotten a small group to reinstall Diablo 2 for a little retro goodness in the wake of the D3 announcement. I’ve been scouring my game stash in the hopes of participating and I’ve located my original diablo disc as well as the Lord of Dest. expansion for 2. I even found my backup copies of all my discs but I can’t for the life of me find my original Diablo 2 discs (which have the CD key on the case). Arg!
June 30th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Oh, also of note, I won the bid for a copy of the TQ expansion on ebay. It should be arriving in the next week or so. To be honest though, I’ll probably be tinkering with diablo 2 for a bit first, assuming I find my frakking discs.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
cisco-
You can go here and buy a set of legit CD-keys (for both D2 and LoD) for under $5 after a 10% discount.
http://www.g2buy.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=110&productname=
I actually still have my original discs and CD-keys, but I bought a second set just in case I can get Megan to play (or if I just need a second set for whoever… for under $5 it seemed like a worthy endeavor). Then you can either install from your backups, or you can even download the game from Blizzard’s store now. Just enter the keys into their store and you’ll be able to download installs for the games. I’ve actually done this too because, even though I have my discs, they’re a bit shaky now.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
And, also, of note… D2 is STILL better than TQ… I’ve played the expansion a little and it just isn’t as interesting as Diablo, after all these years… I have no clue why… it is what it is.
I may just dislike the character I created for TQ… I have a Thane and he’s basically pretty boring… barely casts spells except for the occasional chain lightning (and whatever passive enchantments/pets that I have access to). I’ve heard the new “Dream” specialty is fun, so I may just have to start over and create a new character entirely. That is, of course, once I get bored of D2 again (for, what, the 4th or 5th time?)
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Ok, I’ve got a D2+ CD key and have everything installed, but I’m totally lost about “ladder” characters. I have no recollection of this and never really played online back in the day anyway.
It looks like I can get my character online in “open” battle.net only. Otherwise, I have to create a new character, which is fine, but whats up with ladder and hardcore etc? I don’t want to start a new character only to have it not work for something or other. Also, it doesn’t seem terribly easy to find people.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:34 am
cisco-
I don’t really know about the ladder, but I’m told that it’s partially related to fighting the cheating on the realms… Apparently the ladder characters automatically become non-ladder characters after a year, which means everyone playing on the “ladder” is “newer” and something about that, I guess, makes it harder for them to cheat (or something).
In any case, my friends and I all created ladder characters. I haven’t really noticed any difference so far, so you may as well create one too. =)
As for finding people, I haven’t even bothered trying to find random people yet. Instead, I’ve just been playing with a few friends, but I suppose the option is there to open up the games to more people.
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 am
Ok, I’ve made a ladder character on USEast. I’m level 7 Wooot!
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
cisco-
My chars name is Nartasha. If I recall correctly, you can create a friends list with /f or something. I’ll have to play around with it.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
Ok, I’ll take a look. What level are you?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
I think I just hit lvl 18. I’m not playing at the moment, though, as I’m working… but I’ll see if I can add you once I log in again.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Shoot, I don’t remember my new characters name. I’ll have to look it up when I get home tonight. Won’t be till later. I’m going to the olympic swim trials to see Michael Phelps break a world record.
The trials are here in Omaha and the wife bought us tickets for fathers day.
July 5th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Ok, the name’s Holgar. I’ve added you to my FL.