diablo-iii posts

With 2011 still pretty fresh in everyone's mind, it's time to see into Big Download's crystal ball for what's going to happen in the PC game industry in 2011. Looking back at our predictions for what we thought would happen in 2010, we got about 50 percent of our predictions correct. Not bad but not all that great either.

However that track record isn't going to stop us from making our predictions for what might happen in the next 12 months. As we see it, the PC game industry is looking pretty darn good, concerning all of its competition (console games, iPhone and iPad gaming, social network games, etc) and the fact that the overall economy, while better than it was at the beginning of 2010, still isn't the greatest. But will there be any unexpected left field surprises? Read on for what we think might happen:

On the same day that Blizzard decided to give us a StarCraft II demo the developer also updated its Diablo III web site for what is most likely the last time in 2010. The site gave us a bunch of new screenshots for the long,long awaited fantasy action-RPG sequel (we have put them in our ever growing gallery of shots from the game) along with a new article that gives more info on what kind of "encounters" your player character will have with Diablo III's various creatures.

Blizzard is aiming for combat with the hordes of monsters in the game to be more tactically oriented than in the past. For one thing your decision to either run or fight (and how you fight if you choose the latter) will affect how the pace of combat will be like. Monsters now all have specific ways on how they appear on the screen and how they will try to take you on. Finally each character class will have its own offensive and defensive tactics and if you think the same attack can be used to slay any monster, think again.

All in all we can't wait to be in the battlefields of Diablo III ourselves. We just wish that Blizzard would hurry up with it; it has been about two and a half years since the game was announced, after all.

Diablo III has always been targeted for release for the PC and Mac by developer Blizzard but the action-RPG series certainly has a gameplay design that would be a perfect fit for a console and its controller. Now new job openings on the Blizzard web site suggests that the company is thinking about doing just that.

Under the Diablo III job listings they list a senior producer, lead designer and lead programmer with the "console" label. The game's official web site has posted up a note stating, "We're exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles." However it added, "Please note that this is not an announcement of a console title. We are first and foremost developing Diablo III for Windows and Mac PCs and don't intend to allow any possibility of a console interpretation to delay or affect the release of the game."

Blizzard is looking to have its biggest sales year in history with the release of StarCraft II back in July and the third expansion for World of Warcraft due out on December 7. So it's not a shocker to hear word that the developer's main offices in Irvine, California will be expanding by a large amount very soon.

The Orange County Business Journal reports that Blizzard, which already occupies an office complex of 235,000 square feet in Irvine, has signed a lease to occupy two more buildings next to its current offices. The space, which will add another 100,000 square feet to Blizzard's offices, is supposed to be ready to move in by the end of 2010.

It's not currently known what departments of Blizzard will be headed to the new facility but the company, which has about 1,100 team members and is hiring for another 150 employees, is already working on four known projects. Of course it continues to expand and support World of Warcraft and it's developing the first of two planned continuations of StarCraft II. It's also making the long-in-development Diablo III and is also deep into making its unannounced next MMO project. There are rumors of even more games that are in the works as well.

[Via Starcraft.org]

It's all over until, hopefully, next year. BlizzCon 2010 is history but the biggest fan devoted to one game developer will stick with the over 20,000 attendees and the approximately 100,000 people who bought and watched the streaming internet-DirecTV video coverage.

Of course the only place to go for all your BlizzCon 2010 World of WarCraft coverage was over at our sister site WoW Insider. You can head over there now to check out Blizzard'scurrent and future plans for the MMO, including more info on December's upcoming release of the Cataclysm expansion pack. Meanwhile our mothership Joystiq reports on all the Diablo III and StarCraft II action at BlizzCon, including some hands-on time with Diablo III's new Demon Hunter class, the game's PvP arena battles and StarCraft II's upcoming and unique custom maps.

At last year's BlizzCon (held in August 2009) the release of StarCraft II was just under a year away. At BlizzCon 2010 this weekend the release date of Blizzard's next full game, the action-RPG Diablo III, is less clear. VG247.com quotes the game's director Jay Wilson as saying that Diablo III is "way over half-way done."

However he added that the game is still not yet feature complete and Wilson stated, "We're not really close until you're playing it." So it sounds like the game is not likely to be released in 2011. Also G4TV.com confirmed that there will be a beta test for the game at some point but that Diablo III won't have any official mod support.

BlizzCon 2010 was the place that Blizzard decided to reveal two big features for its long awaited action-RPG sequel Diablo III. The Diablo III panel on Friday gave out more info on both the Demon Hunter player class as well as the reveal of the game's PvP arena battles.

Blizzard's own recap of the panel reveals that the Demon Hunter was first designed to be a more woodland-like character called the Ranger but that the designs of the other characters in the game made the Ranger class to be not "as cool as the other classes." So the decision was made to make a ranged-based character that was darker and more mysterious. The Demon Hunter, in addition to using ranged weapons like the crossbow, can also use other gadgets, is highly acrobatic and can use shadow magic to dispatch demons.

As far as the PvP arena combat features are concerned, this is being put in just for the fun of it by Blizzard and not as a super-serious eSports feature. The game will be balanced for 3v3 combat and will let players use their characters that were made for the single player/co-op campaigns. There will still be matchmaking features that will attempt to find players of similar skills in the game. There's even more Diablo III info at the recap page.

Gallery: Diablo III PvP Arena Screenshots

With the second and final day of BlizzCon 2010 now in full swing at the Anaheim Convention Center, Blizzard sees the event as a huge marketing opportunity, even though the event actually loses money. Gamasutra reports that even with the ticket prices, fees for watching the event via internet streaming and DirectTV and money from booth vendors Blizzard will lose over $1 million for holding the event.

However that loss is OK with the company, according to Blizzard's COO Paul Sams who believes that the over 20,000 Blizzard fans who attend the event will go home and tell other Blizzard fans what they experienced. Sam says, "Some companies would argue we'd rather spend that money on TV advertising since that will have a greater reach than with the 20,000 attendees that come. I would argue that - for us - making sure those 20,000 people have the most incredible experience possible will do as much for us, if not more, as spending that amount on TV advertising."

While it was expected that Blizzard would reveal the fifth and final character class for Diablo III during BlizzCon 2010 (its the Demon Hunter in case you didn't see our previous post), the opening ceremony had one more surprise for people who have been awaiting the release of the action-RPG sequel for the past 2 1/2 years.

That announcement was that Diablo III will have player-vs-player arena battles. Yes, you will be able to take the character classes of the Witch Doctor, the Monk, the Wizard, the Barbarian and the new Demon Hunter and battle each other in fact-paced arena-style battles. BlizzCon 2010 attendees will be able to try out this new mode during the two days of the convention.

Update: Blizzard has posted up a page on the Diablo III web site that has more info on the PvP arena battles along with some screenshots.

It was expected that the fifth and final player class for Blizzard's upcoming action-RPG sequel Diablo III would be revealed at today's BlizzCon 2010 opening ceremony and we were not dissapointed. Revealed via a cinematic, the Demon Hunter is the final class for the long awaited game and based on the movie it appears to be a ranged weapon based character that can do a whole lot of damage.

The Demon Hunter joins the Witch Doctor, the Monk, the Wizard and the Barbarian as the types of characters players will control in the game. Blizzard still has not revealed any info on when Diablo III will be released.

Update: Blizzard has posted up a page on the Demon Hunter on its Diablo III web site along with a number of in-game screenshots. Blizzard is apparently only showing the female version at this time.