diablo posts

At this point we will take any excuse to write up something about Diablo III. Blizzard's long awaited action-RPG sequel was announced over two years ago but still seems a long way from getting installed in our hard drives. Late on Friday the game's official web site surprised us with a few new screenshots from the game.

The site also posted up some info on how Diablo III will handle the player character's health. While you can use potions or even some class skills to beef up your life force most of the time regenerating your health will come from absorbing the health globes that are generated from dead enemies. The more powerful the enemy, the more health you can gain from his or her death. Boss foes can make things more complicated like having to hunt for hidden health globes. Hopefully we will learn more about health, and the whole game, at BlizzCon next month.

It was over three years between the official announcement of StarCraft II and its release last July. However it's likely to be an even longer wait for Blizzard's next major stand alone game, the action-RPG sequel Diablo III. The title was first announced back in June 2008. While Blizzard showed off a new build of Diablo III at GamesCom last month, IGN got an actual status update on the game's progress from game director Jay Wilson.

Wilson states, "We're still adding monsters, we're still working on bosses, we have some that aren't made yet, we're working on every Act but we've got some areas that haven't been built yet. We're still building, but we're building very fast. We're not in discovery mode anymore." Even with his positive spin, Wilson's statements seem to suggest that the game is still a long way from even a beta stage, much less a full game release. We will likely learn more when BlizzCon 2010 is held in late October.

Most role-playing games have shopkeepers scattered around the world. They are instantly willing to trade with the player, buying and selling whatever the adventurer desires. With Diablo 3, Blizzard's tradition of improving on classic design elements is continued with the addition of artisans. Unique shopkeepers with storylines, quests, and even individual levels, it looks like Blizzard is aiming to personalize the Diablo experience even more.

Some of the important bits about artisans in this trailer include the concept of crafting, leveling up your artisan, gaining their trust, creating sockets on items, and scavenging. We are especially interested in the concept of alternative resources to gold, and how this relates to crafting and leveling up. It's not a particularly exciting trailer, unless you are into the minutiae of the average action RPG.

Download HD Diablo 3 'Crafting and Caravan' Video (156 MB)
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Founded back in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, the development team that later changed its name to Blizzard Entertainment has become one of the biggest and most influential PC game developers of all time. The company helped to popularize the RTS genre with its WarCraft and StarCraft series, made playing RPGs cool again with the Diablo series and exploded the MMO genre with World of Warcraft.

Now there's word that Blizzard is going to come out with a 20th anniversary book in 2011 to celebrate its long legacy. The book was revealed this past weekend by its author Jeff Green, formerly the editor-in-chief of the late and very much lamented PC gaming magazine Computer Gaming World (which switched its name to Games For Windows Magazine for its last few issues). Green took on gigs at Electronic Arts following the magazine's cancellation in 2008 but has now left EA and is now working on the Blizzard book along with writing gigs at "all of your favorite game websites and magazines."

While Activision Blizzard's annual report, released last Monday, revealed news about this week's Infinity Ward shake up that's not all that can be found in an otherwise dry report. It states that the Blizzard side of the operation is working on, among other things, "sequels to the Diablo franchise."

Yes that does suggest that Blizzard is working on more than one game in their action-RPG franchise. At the moment, the developer has only admitted to working on Diablo 3, a game that won't be out until sometime in 2011 at the earliest. It's possible that the Activision Blizzard report means that expansion packs to Diablo 3 are in the works, much like two more StarCraft II games will be released the one that's coming out later in 2010.

While all of us wait patiently for Blizzard to finish Diablo III (even though we know we won't get to play the game until 2011 at the earliest), some fans of the franchise's last outing Diablo II have also been waiting a long time for a new patch. This week Blizzard announced that a beta version of the 1.13 patch is now available on Blizzard's test server.

The patch notes on the Battle.net message board give info on how to access the test server as well as a list of what's new and improved in the patch. In addition to bug fixes and game balance changes the 1.13 patch will give players "new and challenging tests" to deal with.

Fans of the Diablo series know that for the upcoming third installment in Blizzard's action-RPG series the game developers have been working with a tree-style of architecture for their character skill system. Well, that seems to be officially out of the game design now, according to Blizzard's Jay Wilson

Speaking to site Diablo Fans (natch) Wilson states, "About that, we've decided to remove the tree-type architecture and we are moving into a purely skill-based system." Wilson admits that their new skill system is still in the early design stages and that they wanted to try out a few new ideas. He adds, "It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree per se." Since Diablo III's release date is at least two years away we think they have some time to come up with something.

[Via Blue's News]

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

It was mentioned in the All You Need To Know for Diablo III that Diablo was founded upon some simple rogue-like principles. Randomized dungeons, shrines, unidentified equipment, and many other different elements were mixed into a single action-packed experience. However, you shouldn't simply take our word for it. Diablo is still available for purchase over a decade since its release, and is still one of the best games out there. It's also fascinating to see the evolution of the genre it created, as Diablo is very different from other games of its kind such as Dungeon Siege or even its own sequel. While you may have played all the games it inspired, it's always good to get a taste of a classic.

Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Diablo III related downloads here on Big Download!

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few years, first of all, welcome back to civilization. Second of all, remember Diablo? Yeah, they're making the third one finally. But we don't know when it's coming out, so to hell with them ... literally. Because third of all, Runic Games's Torchlight is dropping on the 27th! Yes, of this month!

What? You've never heard of Torchlight or Runic Games? Well, then, let me school you big money style. Read on to find out why Torchlight is going to stave off those waiting-for-Diablo 3 jitters.