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Diablo 3 announced
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 30th June 2008
Diablo 3 will feature drop-in co-op play and is confirmed for PC and Mac platforms.
Announced at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, Diablo 3 is the third installment in the massive action-RPG (i.e Hack and Slash) series.
The announcement was given by lead designer Jay Wilson, who outlined some key features and improvements to the game, which looks to be largely similar to the past games and is no bad thing.
Feature-wise, Diablo 3 is packing drop-in co-op gaming and a mixture of bespoke and randomly created maps for players to adventure in, plus male and female models for each and every class. Classes shown in early gameplay footage at the event included the Witch Doctor and the Barbarian.
In a press conference following the announcement Blizzard confirmed that the game is in development for PC and Mac, with no console versions planned. Blizzard's Frank Pearce said it was far too early to think about a release date, but indicated that the game will have a simultaneous global launch.
For those who still haven't got a full fix of Diablo 3 news, Blizzard has launched a new site complete with screenshots and trailers. Tell us what you think in the forums.
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Comments (81)Stats: 0.148 seconds
---takes a breath---
...well this is ok news.
God I hope I can use the old d2 tricks to part fools with their money againSeriously looking forward to this, looks to be pure awesome.The missus and I are going to love co-oping this one like the last 2.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/arkanrais/vlcsnap-2432848-1.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m313/arkanrais/vlcsnap-2432739-1.jpg
"It was totally over-hyped"
"I thought it wasn't that great"
"that was a tech demo, not a game"
And so the cycle continues...
Sadly probably true.
I hope they don't make it a 3d 3rd person or fps style game.
ya right the gameplay footage was poor diablo like gaming, poor orgasm to the max and the graphics look so nice
I haven't, but that's not really the point.
I was here when Doom 3 came out and people were wetting themselves
When the Crysis screenshots and then gameplay videos came out I thought some people were going to have kittens over it.
When Bioshock came out we lost Joe for a week.
How many of those games do people still get excited about? Yeah, that's what I thought.
My point is that it'as pretty much gaurenteed that the game, no matter how good, won't live up to the hype, and so why are people falling for the hype yet again?
The only games that I recall people deciding were as good as the hype indicated were Valve releases, specifically HL2 episodes, TF2 and Portal, though it's hard to say on the last one because as i recall no one knew what to think of portal prior to release. One could make an arguement for GTA4, but I think the jury is still out on that one.
I think there is a column here if someone wanted to write it about how publishers are shooting themselves in the foot by creating expectations they can't possibly meet, and doing it over and over until every single release turns out to be a disappointment.
Never tried Diablo 2, but damn those trailers look good, may have to try it out when it's released
It's pretty funny, just a few hours ago, I started Diablo II up, for the first time in around six months. I played around with my Necromancer, and then went to Blizzard's site to see if anything new was going on.
Then I wet my pants.
It's a shame that the Necromancer is being replaced by the Witch Doctor though...
(He used the Necromancer skills Terror and Confuse in the gameplay video, he summoned zombies, and used a knife, predominantly. Just switch the fire with poison, and presto. They said that the classes were being 'refreshed', and that 'not all were being brought back', so I'm pretty sure that Necromancer -> Witch Doctor. Also, people hated Necros on Bnet, because skellys lagged everyone. I guess that's why none of the Witch Doctor's summons lasted more than like 10 seconds. ;P)
I'm not too sure how they're going to get the destructible environments to not seem extremely scripted, though. And also, genders? What's next, customizable characters?!?!?
EDIT: They want to completely get rid of cheating? Hacking in Diablo II was brought to the level of an art form, and it is almost as fun to make the perfect online PvPer on Open, as with Closed Bnet. Closed hacking is bad, though. Only a newb needs a maphack or a duper.
EDIT AGAIN: I'm not buying it if the online play isn't free. Screw that.
Boo hippo, can't you let us have our fun have geekgasms over a sequel to one of our favourite games :p Just look at the gameplay trailer, this is Diablo II but better, not DX2.
I don't know why you think there's illegitimate hype, it's Diablo III! So long as it's like Diablo but with better controls and nicer graphics, it's already a win. There isn't really much more to it than that, they've shown a cinematic and gameplay trailer and that's about it, so the only thing we can really hype up is it's like Diablo II but better.
And unlike other studios, Blizzard does tend to deliver when it comes to their games, albeit about 3 years after the first gameplay trailers have been shown.
You mean you hope it aint like hellgate london
Yes, though now i've seen the shots and that - i'm happy:D
The gameplay footage is just awesome... first SC2, now D3 O.O
Y'know if this was another other dev I would agree with you, but I think this is different. For a start its blizzard, they release a game every 3/4 years? They put more effort into making a good game than any other developer I know, tbh I couldnt name a bad bliz game. Second its part of the diablo mythos so far we're 2 good games for 2 and with bliz developing the 3rd im sure we'll be 3 for 3. Third, we've seen an extensive gameplay trailer, now I know thats not a definitive on how the game will play but I think it gives us a very good insight of what to expect, which is more than we got for spore or anyother hyped up game. And last, this game will be hyped by the fans, and not the media. The people who love the series have good faith in blizzard to develop a game worthy of the title diablo, and they know they wont be let down. I think that says alot for the company and the game. So dont be so cynical, its gonna be awesome :)
EDIT: I've just read what you typed "The only games that I recall people deciding were as good as the hype indicated were Valve releases, specifically HL2 episodes, TF2 and Portal, though it's hard to say on the last one because as i recall no one knew what to think of portal prior to release. One could make an arguement for GTA4, but I think the jury is still out on that one." Doesnt that kinda reienforce what im saying? Those games you've mentioned all have great predecessor's developed by good devs who weren't rushed into these things. D3 is no different :)
Over marketing can kill a game before release.
Depends if you buy into it. I didn't much with GTA4 and loved everything :) (for instance)
Blizzard is one of the VERY few companies right now that can afford to run 3 high-expectation projects simultaneously. They make (if my friends are feeding me the right info here) close on 50 million a month on WOW alone.
That means that they can afford to run 3 independent dev teams.
Right now they're working on a WOW expansion, Starcraft 2 and D3. My thought WRT D3 is the same as it is with SC2. Being a die-hard Starcraft fan, i have a feeling i'm going to be disappointed. For me SC2 would be perfect if they update the graphics engine and leave the rest exactly as it was... that's not happening. I expect that Blizzard will sit with a choice along the line: Alienate the old players, or alienate the new ones, and quite frankly, alienating the new ones wouldn't make much sense...
cthippo i don't think you realise that this is blizzard. i don't think they've EVER set a foot wrong when it comes to making games. maybe they make games TOO addictive but that's no bad thing.
agreed with this being free to play online. do the community a great favour and a gesture of genuine good will if they do.
wonder if there's a single player element. dunno why i'd want it but i still wonder.
I agree. To be honest, I'm not all that excited by Diablo 3. I'll buy and play it (provided they don't go the 'DRM up the wazoo' route) but I've seen far too many games recently that just... aren't worth getting excited over.
seriously though, been waiting for this for so long, when someone at work told me about it today i flipped out. CAN'T WAIT!!
You missed Stalker: Clear Sky this summer, of which I am seriously psyched (I loved the first one).
poor hellgate blokie
In terms of it getting overhyped, people are excited about this game because of the quality of previous games, whereas for Doom 3 and Crysis it was just graphical jizz. Also as many have said before, blizzard is just one of those companies, they don't release bad games.
I'm not too psyched about the whole physics thing, it seems kind of gimmicky, a cool extra, nothing to write home about, but the rest of it looks great. Especially the boss battle at the end. Holy ****, did you see the barbarians spine being ripped out and the guts hanging from the monsters mouth, pure win :D
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway...
Awesome.
I really doubt this. When has Blizzard not delivered a great game? You could say this about some devs, but not Blizzard.
Agreed, it's especially true when you consider that most people who buy Blizzard games are huge fans already anyway.
Meh, that was the one thing that totally failed to impress me in the gameplay preview. Lookie! A bone wall with a new texture! Looks like the witch doctor is just a revamped necro/druid hybrid, and I never enjoyed either of those classes much (nor the assassin, but that was more due to the lack of ridiculously overpowered weapons).
IMHO for me (and most other here) its not the fact its a new bone wall with texture, not even a new 3d-wall with animated graphic, oh no....
...its a F**KEN WALL OF ZOMBIES.
period.
:D
but ill still gonna play barbarian.
oh bring on the PAIN!
btw u guys should totally check the gameplay and the trailer. and even the old man's "journal" thats filled with D2's cutscenes...
oh hell yeah...
crap, now the wait........
Hope i can make a lightsabre-zealot again :D
Predictions!
Oh god, I had forgotten about the 640x480/800x600 "choice" you got from d2... They said it was to prevent unfairness in bnet :| I guess they thought people who could see farther would have an advantage.
I'm pumped about D3 though, and SC2... Now we just need WC4 to round it off. I'm tired of all this WoW stuff, I tried it once and couldn't really get into it.
after hellgate london came out, i was kind of expecting D3 to be a bigger change- maybe a (free to play) MMO, first-person, or whatnot. for now, it just looks like diablo II in 3D. you can change camera angles... but that's about it. i hope you can swing around a full 360 degrees, instead of being locked into a single isometric view. then again, it's still really early in development, so i'll wait and see. i have no doubt blizzard will put out a very high-quality game.
I'm actually glad about that, it didn't really need changing, it's Diablo 2 with better graphics, a new story and better controls. It's nice to have a fully rotatable camera, but in games like this and RTSes, you tend to just stick with one anyway unless you're trying to get a vanity shot.
I've long been a single player only sort of gamer. I like pitting myself against the game in a one-on-one basis. I enjoyed DII for that reason.
However, single player in DIII would be a challenge I think. I sure wouldn't want to take on that Siege Beast single-handedly without a serious "prod-donkey" character!
That said - I'm a melee player primarily - so I'll probably just create a barbar as usual and get all medieval on it's butt! "Grok Hit! Rarghh!"
PB
I see this new Diablo as a punch right in the teeth of the good ppl at Bethesda. They say that FO3 needed to keep the pace with the computers new capabilities.
Diablo is still Diablo. And as i watched the teaser it became clear why Blizzard is one of the best out there. I had played Diablo TONS of times and yet never found everything possible in the game I can easily state that diablo was one of the best games i ever played, and the game that keeped me amused for more time. I am extremely happy that Diablo is keeping it's identity.
And despite what everyone is saying, the hype is created by the high antecipation of this game, and not because of marketing, so i have my OWN HYPE! :D
Nevertheless, i am looking forward to rip some ears from you all! See you in Battle.net!
I've been playing about finally playing D2 lately and now this news comes up :)
However, is D3 supposed to be out before SC2 ? If not then you better be ready to wait for a loooooonng time before you get to play the game
Alas, for now, I shall play Titan Quest Immortal Throne some more. Can't... seem... to get away... from... it... must try... more character combos... ARGH!!
sorry to start with the whole "this build is better than that build"...but...i found a crescent moon runeword holy shockadin more effective than the lightsabre zealot! shockadin for the win!
personally i can't wait for the 'zons. just love bow based builds. was ever so tempted to go back to D2 and make a enchant sorc. with a strafe bow (you get like 5 k fire damage per arrow on strafe or something obscene.)
god i love this game.
predictions wise, the blizzard skill will come back, as will whirlwind, the windforce (woo!), not sure about the javazon or the druid just yet either. dunno why, but i can't see them comin back. i do expect masses of MF farming. and crack cocaine to filter through the internet and into our fingertips. i swear thats what they do.
blizzard don't have to make an entirely new game with everything different from before. they have an excellent formula that works, they just need to iron out the (few) flaws from D2.
Skelly Necro with a Fanat Zealot backing him up = the best.
I have a question, did anyone actually enjoy hellgate?
I think the main problem was people were expecting it to be like Diablo 2.
Summoners were crazy overpowered... My old skellymancer could solo hell Baal no problem.
also with diablo 2, type in '/players 8' into a text box and it will up the difficulty level of the game you are in to the same as being on a b.net game with 8 players (works on single player too). good for getting lots of experience if you start the game off with it but in nightmare/hell, you'll want to lower it to about 4 or 2 players so you dont get creamed
But the char I had the most fun with was my BowBarian. A barbar who used a bow for his primary weapon. Took some work I tell you! But a lot of fun.
PB
Awesome I never knew that
i wasted like 2~5 years of my life playing d2. every now and then i get the urge to start playing again and ill find myself on Bnet with a rediclious character in a few weeks. then ill stop playing for it to be deleted hah.
one of my favorite characters was my throwing barb. the only problem was there were no 'great' throwing weapons for em and i could only attack one target at a time. but frenzy+doubleswing+throwingskills=fun. :)
a what barian? never heard of that mate! can't quite see how it would work either! what's the build made from!?
not me, it was released far from finished, I'm sure if they would have polished it for like half a year more it would have been a good game, lots of potential, but ended in a giant cluster****.