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Blizzard says no Diablo 3 in 2010, 'who knows' when it'll be released

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 22nd 2009 at 8:00PM }

Remember that silly, insane rumor from back in 2008 about Diablo 3 being released by Blizzard before StarCraft 2? Turns out that Blizzard's Rob Pardo thinks that's a bunch of hogwash. Rather, that's at least what we can infer from his recent conversation with Techland on the subject. "We always announce all of our games too early," he says. "I think it's safe to say that, yeah, [Diablo 3] is not going to be out next year."

Considering StarCraft 2's delay to 2010, we think it's fair to assume that Diablo 3 will in fact not be arriving before a StarCraft sequel. Pardo adds that it's not a question of lacking resources, as "each game has individual development teams; it's just that the way that we develop games, we develop them very iteratively." Worse yet, there doesn't seem to be a finish line in sight for D3. "Now when we announce [a game] we just go, 'Here's the game we're working on, we're going to start talking about it and who knows when it ships.'" If any of you were still holding your breath for Diablo 3's release, now might be a good time to exhale.

[Via Big Download]

Gallery: Diablo 3 (9/5/09)

Hands-on with Diablo III's desert wastes

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 5th 2009 at 6:00PM }

click to enlarge

Yes, it hasn't even been a week since we brought you some hands-on impressions of Diablo III. One might say it's too soon to add to those impressions, and one might have a good point. Allow us to offer a counterpoint: It's Diablo III. This game, at the very earliest, will not release until 2025 (Q4, of course). As such, we have to provide you with any and all possible coverage. It would be irresponsible not to. Besides, there's some new stuff to cover here, and it's good stuff.

Gallery: Diablo 3 (9/5/09)

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Blizzard interview: Leo Boyarsky and Kevin Martens on Diablo 3

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 31st 2009 at 9:30PM }

We know that we've been fire-hosing Diablo 3 information on you, but keep those raincoats zipped because there's more incoming. In fact, we sat down with Leon Boyasrsky, lead world designer, and Kevin Martens, lead content artist, at BlizzCon. While they didn't drop any deafening secrets on us like ZOMG what the final class will be, they did go into further detail about the game.

Read on through for the full interview, and imagine what it'll be like if Martens gets his dream wish and they stick a Sideshow Collectibles Barbarian statue inside the Collector's Edition of the game. The chances of that actually happening are pretty much zero, but still ... we can dream.

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3

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BlizzCon 2009: A hoard of Diablo 3 info

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 27th 2009 at 9:10PM }

Blizzard's playable Diablo 3 demo at this year's BlizzCon felt like a step backwards from last year's, mostly because the Rune system was removed completely. It'll be in the final game, but since Blizzard is still working on the Skills that the Runes enhance / rely on, the company said it didn't make sense to have the Runes in this time around. Bummer. It makes sense, but we still missed the bouncing, flaming skulls the Witch Doctor once issued.

Also, last year's area included a lot more dialogue, and had moodier lighting. This time we were smack dab in the middle of a giant desert, which didn't offer many chances to encounter spooky, candlelit chambers. There were a couple of dungeons you could drop down into this year, via swirling sands, but for the most part you were hoofing it around under the bright sun.

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3

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BlizzCon 2009: Martial arts secrets of Diablo 3's Monk

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 27th 2009 at 5:30PM }

When you think hardcore-fantasy, swords-and-sorcery killing machine, you think "monk," right? At BlizzCon, Diablo 3's new character class, the Monk, was unlocked, supposedly having been inspired by pen-and-paper RPGs. According to Jay Wilson, almost all of Blizzard's characters are meant to hearken back to the "golden age of RPG gaming." The Monk is designed to be a fragile, melee-based character that performs some amazingly agile moves. With skills like the "Seven-Sided Strike" and "Way of the Hundred Fists," we'd say he's stripped from a different golden age -- from the reels of 1960s and '70s Kung Fu serials. The only detail that's missing are the Bruce Lee yips.

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3

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BlizzCon 2009: The new Battle.Net

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 25th 2009 at 6:28PM }

Blizzard finally unveiled the much-hyped new version of Battle.Net at BlizzCon and, as expected, it's a huge leap forward from the service that was first introduced with Diablo in 1996. Although, in typical Blizzard fashion, this is still a work in progress and could change by the time it eventually comes out. In 2013. (We kid, we kid.)

Everything shown was modeled from inside of Starcraft 2, which Blizzard is calling the Battle.Net 2.0 launch title. The developer will be working to expand it to older titles, possibly including legacy games like the original Starcraft and Warcraft. It's also safe to say that Blizzard must be working on a client-only version of Battle.Net, so you don't have to be inside a game to see when your friends are on.

Check out the gallery below, and you can read about all the new details of what Blizzard wants to be the "premiere matchmaking service out there," after the break.

Gallery: Battle.Net (BlizzCon 2009)

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Diablo 3 to include parental controls, region-specific gore edits

by David Hinkle { Aug 25th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Diablo 3 designer Jay Wilson was on hand at the recent GamesCom, where he met up with Wired and frankly discussed the game's gore. He confirmed that the title would not only have parental controls, but could have a lot of its signature violence stripped for select regions. "Yeah, we're going to have to be able to turn off blood, change the color and things like that, because you can't have red blood in some regions, regions that we would very much like to sell the game in," Wilson said.

Though he doesn't foresee any issue in selling the game in Germany and Australia, Blizzard will have to carefully weigh its options when it comes to a release in in China. "With our relationship with NetEase, we recently got new information about what China really wants, and it's a lengthy list. It's really hard for us to cater to. We'll try. There's no reason we wouldn't want to go there, but there is a certain point where we'd have to redo so much of the game that it's not viable anymore," Wilson explained.

BlizzCon 2009: The Costumes

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 22nd 2009 at 4:00PM }

With the jam-packed costume contest taking place at BlizzCon in the evening, people spent all of yesterday parading around in their ginormous costumes in preparation. That's some dedication right there! Check out our massive gallery just below, and be sure to watch a video of the contest winners right after the break. The rogue above was one of the finalists, but she was ultimately robbed (robbed, we say!) of the top prize.

Stay tuned for more images -- BlizzCon ain't over yet!

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009 Costumes

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BlizzCon 2009: Day one round-up

by Elizabeth Harper { Aug 22nd 2009 at 8:30AM }

The news coming from BlizzCon has been fast and furious -- and we can hardly blame you if you haven't been able to keep up with the announcements coming from Anaheim so far.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: A little expansion by the name of Cataclysm was officially announced, with a world of pain now on its way to classic Azeroth and two new races. So what's new in Azeroth? Two new races, Goblins and Worgen (Horde and Alliance respectively), the reordering and rezoning of much of Azeroth, an array of new race/class possibilities, a brand-new secondary skill, and some shake-ups in class mechanics and character/guild advancement.
DIABLO 3: Meet the Monk, the game's latest class and -- so the trailer suggests -- a kick-ass martial artist. Also, surprise surprise, the game may still be coming to a console near you.
BATTLE.NET: Battle.net will gain new features in the expansion, including an Xbox-Livesque ability to see what your friends are playing and which servers they're on, in addition to sending messages to them.
PICTURES: Here's a map of the reordered post-Cataclysm Azeroth, a gallery of the art display at BlizzCon (containing some Cataclysm art, employee-decorated noobz, and StarCraft and Diablo universe pieces), a dedicated gallery for Cataclysm concept art, and a gallery of the costumes at BlizzCon.
VIDEOS: We have video for you of the Cataclysm trailer, what Azeroth zones will look like post-Cataclysm, and the animation for Human-to-Worgen transformation.
THE GUILD: The entire cast showed up and brought the funny at their live panel and at our reader meet-up. Gallery here!

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009

BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3 not yet ruled out for consoles

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 21st 2009 at 6:20PM }

Blizzard COO Paul Sams mentioned at BlizzCon that they haven't yet ruled out Diablo 3 for consoles. "We've met with the major manufacturers, and they've made some pretty compelling arguments," Sams said. We can safely assume he means Sony and Microsoft, because it's nearly impossible to imagine this game running on the Wii.

Sure, it's what Blizzard says about all of its projects as they relate to consoles and yet, here we are, with nary a Blizzard console game in sight. But Sams did reiterate Blizz's interest saying that we will be seeing its games on consoles in the future. "Whether that's three years from now, five years, I can't say," Sams noted. "But I have no doubt that we'll be making games for consoles."

New Diablo III media features Monk, deserts

by David Hinkle { Aug 21st 2009 at 5:30PM }

Hot on the heels of news that Diablo 3's new class will be the Monk, Blizzard unloaded a bunchton (that's internet-speak for "27") of new images on us. The screens not only give us a good look at some of the Monk's spells (he makes things explode, apparently), but there's also plenty of tasty concept art to ogle.

All of the locales in these shots show off a desert environment; could Lut Gholein and its surrounding areas make a return in Diablo 3? Let's hope so, this time sans annoying Horadric Staff gopher quests. You know what we're saying, right? Right, guys?

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3

New Diablo III 'Monk' class dropped on Korean Blizzard site

by Christopher Grant { Aug 21st 2009 at 2:15PM }

[Update 2:59PM – Blizzard VP Chris Metzen just confirmed the Monk during BlizzCon's opening ceremony. They've got a cinematic – surprise! – that we'll nab for you as soon as it's available. This looks like in-game footage though; it's not the normal Blizzard-quality cinematic.]

While the opening BlizzCon ceremony is just minutes away, one potential secret has already been spoiled ... by Blizzard itself. The mega-developer's own Korean site revealed the above image, showing off all the way to the right ... a new Diablo 3 class. Judging by that nifty saffron-colored robe, we're guessing this is the long-rumored Monk class. More info as we gather it.

(To find the screen for yourself, go to this Diablo 3 site and change the language to Korean. Voila!)

[Via WoW.com]

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009: Diablo 3

Joystiq at BlizzCon 2009

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 21st 2009 at 1:45PM }

We're here inside BlizzCon 2009 in Anaheim, California, having survived the massive onslaught of people desperate to sprint and knock people over in the Quest for the Perfect Seats. The opening ceremonies start soon, and promise to reveal ... something. Will it be World of Warcraft's newest rumored expansion, Cataclysm?

We're also holding out for news on Blizzard's mystery MMO, more Diablo 3 information (go Wizard! go Monk!), and, finally, something concrete about Battle.Net. Oh, and we guess there's that Starcraft 2 game everyone's been yapping about ...

If you're hungry for WoW info, head over to our sister site WoW.com. Like, the entire website is about that game.

Gallery: BlizzCon 2009

The best of WoW.com: August 11-18, 2009

by Mike Schramm { Aug 19th 2009 at 2:30AM }

It's BlizzCon fever over on Joystiq sister site WoW.com. Blizzard's annual convention takes place this weekend in Anaheim, and boy are we ready to go there. While we're all packing and flying cross-country to see what Blizzard has in store for us (a new expansion announcement? More Diablo III and Starcraft II info?), you can read up on our most popular stories of the last seven days below.

News

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm leaked
Spoilers aplenty in this roundup of leaks about the expected new expansion.
Onyxia returns in patch 3.2.2
The big black dragon is back for another go-round.
Possible new race/class combinations datamined
A new PTR hints that certain races might be able to take on new classes soon.
Patch 3.2.2 PTR: New Onyxia loot revealed
What'll she drop? Find out here.
Felicia Day unleashes geeky pop single
The Guild folks release a pop song that's as geeky as it gets.

Features

Raid Rx: Raid bosses that brought healers to their knees
Our raid healing series looks at bosses that give healers an extra challenge.
Breakfast Topic: What if you knew the day WoW would go offline?
Would you play differently? Or not at all?
PTR Patch 3.2.2: First impressions of Onyxia
First look at the big 5th anniversary boss fight.
All the World's a Stage: Reflections on the passing of a roleplayer's mom
Very sad but poignant column -- a must read this week, whether you're an RPer or not.
Totem Talk: Starting a Shaman
How to begin being a totem-dropper.

BlizzCon 2009 sold out in just eight minutes

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 6th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Not only was BlizzCon sold out in under a half hour over the two days tickets were on sale, turns out it was all done in eight measly minutes -- like an Onyxia run at lvl 80. Big Download took note of the reveal during Activision Blizzard's conference call with investors, where the publisher with more gold than the old Titan vault in Uldaman revealed the 20,000 tickets were auctioned off at $125 a pop in less time than it takes to be escorted out of a job interview for admitting a World of Warcraft habit.

We spoke with someone deep in the Azerothian trenches, WoW.com Senior Editor Mike Schramm, who tells us, "The official line might be eight minutes, but I was there: the queue filled up in about 20 seconds. It may have taken eight minutes for the queue to go through and sell the place out, but if you were past about 1800 in the queue, you were out of luck. And they hit that number about 20 seconds in." Sad Pandaren.