Joystiq

Shockingly, Blizzard has 'plans beyond' Diablo III

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-08-12T20:00:00+00:00

We rather like trilogies. Not only are they narratively neat, allowing us to indulge in our favorite characters and universes just long enough, but they bring things to a close before the roman numerals get all complicated with incomprehensible Vs an Ms and stuff. Letters for counting? Ridiculous!

Despite this bothersome mental hurdle, developer Blizzard remains unrepentant when delving into the rich fantasy world it has crafted for Diablo. While the upcoming, artistically controversial three-I'd installment brings the trilogy's story of demonic overlords and highly uncomfortable facial jewelry to an end, it'll leave the portal open for future games, lead designer Jay Wilson tells MTV Multiplayer. "We're not saying this is the end of the 'Diablo' universe, but we are trying to bring this storyline to a close," says Wilson. "It's not just 'Diablo III' - we've got plans beyond."

Oh, and don't even bother submitting "World of Diablo." The commenter above you already did.

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'Bulk' of BlizzCon tickets sold out, remainder go on sale at 11pm ET tonight

Ross Miller — 2008-08-12T16:50:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Mac, PC, Online, RPGs, MMO

As of 3:50 PM ET according to the World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard reinstated the BlizzCon ticket sales after "murloc failing" the first time earlier this week. But within 30 minutes the Blizzard store was listing the tickets as sold out ... then it came back up ... and now it's sold out again. Additionally, there are a few unverified reports of credit cards being double- and triple-charged without even receiving confirmation of a ticket.

While you shake your Epic Fists of Anger (with +2 fire damage) at them for yet another botched launch, our calmer friends at WoW Insider remind us that Worldwide Invitational tickets sold in multiple rounds and that more BlizzCon tickets -- with hopefully less technical malfunction / malfeasance -- could be given out at a later date. For a more detailed chronicling of the BlizzCon ticket drama, check out WoW Insider.

Update: A WoW forum poster is reporting that a billing service rep is telling her that the tickets are being sold in phases at the moment to keep up with order processes and that it's going to cycle between "sold out" and "available" repeatedly today until they really do sell out. When you're not busy refreshing the Blizzard store listing, practice typing in your account information really fast.

Update 2: Blizzard has posted an official statement on their website: "The bulk of the BlizzCon tickets we had available were sold out within minutes of ticket sales going live again this afternoon. We have a small reserve of tickets left -- to make these available to some of you who might not have had a chance to purchase yet, we will be releasing the remaining reserve tickets for sale tonight, August 12, at 8:00 PM PDT. We appreciate the enthusiasm everyone has shown, and wish we were able to accommodate even more attendees at this year's BlizzCon."

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Diablo 3 lead: Necromancer, other classes could return

Ross Miller — 2008-08-08T01:40:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, RPGs

When Diablo 3's Witch Doctor class was revealed, many of you -- at least one-fourth, by our estimates -- decried the perceived loss of the D2 Necromancer. Keep hope alive, True Believers, because D3 lead designer Jay Wilson tells MTV Multiplayer that it's still possible he'll rise from the dead.

Wilson admits that the dev team was divided on the topic of bringing back classes. "But after we've established Diablo 3 as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences," he said, "I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes ... We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road." Wilson also said they designed the Witch Doctor so there would be room for the Necromancer. Now that we've got that settled, you can go back to complaining over the art style.

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Former Diablo II dev speaks out on Diablo III

Jason Dobson — 2008-07-13T22:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Action

The fervor has begun to die down following Diablo III's Parisian unveiling, giving former Blizzard North employee and Diablo II dev Michael Huang time enough to brave the cooling hellfire and speak out. On his mind are some Diablo III design choices that Huang says are "counter to the decisions the original Diablo team members would have made."

One thing sticking in the self-professed foodie's craw are "floating numbers" that drift above an opponent's head in the upcoming sequel to give an arithmetic angle to the carnage, a feature that was pitched by the game's current devs during the making of Diablo II but "refused" by Blizzard North. Another is the re-use of existing classes, including the Barbarian, a character Huang describes as the "most broken" class in Diablo II due to his unfair ability to leap. It's interesting to see how much negativity has been poured on the upcoming sequel given what little we've seen, though as Huang writes that he's already all but written off PC gaming as a whole anyway, we suggest he simply sit back and wait for the day that he'll be able to play the game with his thumbs.

[Via N4G]

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Diablo 3 producer talks art, says 'color is your friend'

Jason Dobson — 2008-07-02T19:29:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Action

Diablo 3 looks to be many things, but if early footage is to be believed, dark is not one of them. It's an observation that's incurred the ire of thousands of armchair heroes expecting to return to the gritty countryside seen in previous games instead of the more colorful landscapes shown during the game's recent unveiling.

Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, lead producer Keith Lee explained the game's artistic direction as emphasizing contrast, while comparing the game's visual style to Lord of the Rings. To quote Lee, "color is your friend." We guess that's true ... except if you happen to be colorblind (hey, the story might be good too!). Even so -- judging by the players who've begun to gather pitchforks in hand en masse outside the Blizzard gates -- if we were Lee, we'd be sneaking out through the back.

Gallery: Diablo III

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WWI08: Lore and art in Diablo 3

Elizabeth Harper — 2008-06-30T07:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Mac, PC, RPGs

At Blizzard's recent Worldwide Invitational, Diablo 3's World Designer Leonard Boyarsky and Art Director Brian Morrisroe got on stage in front of a crowd hungry for details on Blizzard's latest project to talk about combining art and lore to expand the world give the player a deeper and more engaging experience. Diablo is a unique fantasy universe in that instead of having Dwarves and Elves, it has Angels and Demons. The game's setting makes it a dark fantasy environment that the previous games had only scratched the surface of.

Gallery: Diablo III

To get the world right, the designers had to consider more than just what they knew would be in the game. Civilizations don't just crop up out of nowhere -- they're the result of environmental, political, and social forces. What this means is that some design time had to be spent fleshing out areas not even seen in Diablo 3, so players can feel there's a larger world beyond their immediate experience.

"Time had to be spent fleshing out areas not even seen in Diablo 3, so players can feel there's a larger world beyond their immediate experience."

As an example, look at Skovos, an ancient society that gave us Rogues and Amazons seen in the previous games. Skovos is an island and has little contact with the outside world, tracing its lineage back to early Angel mythology and claiming an Angel founded their sect. The purpose of story is to give context to player actions and deepen the experience of the universe -- so designing the art with this lore in mind makes for a more engaging game.

The game's story is told with dialog and lore books in-game, but it can also be told with environment. For example, imagine what you would think if your character ran into someone peacefully meditating atop a pile of demon corpses or saw a group summoning a demon which turned on them. These scenes tell you something about those characters without a word of dialog.

The designers also decided to expand the use of player voice in Diablo 3. You're playing a very specific character in this game -- not a generic off the shelf fighter or witch doctor, so they're given specific personalities and voices. This is more engaging storytelling and lively because you won't just be listening to monologues, you'll be driving the action.

The story of Diablo 3 is set twenty years after Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. (Warning: spoilers from Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction to follow!) Deckard Cain is convinced Hell will invade at any time because of Tyrael's destruction of the Worldstone and feels guilty for not having better read the signs. What happened to Tyrael (who hasn't been seen since the worldstone was destroyed) is unknown. As the invasion hasn't come, the events of Diablo and Diablo 2 are seen by the populace as legend.

"With Diablo 3, they started by going back to Diablo to identify the strengths of its style: an emphasis on horror."

On the art side, Blizzard's philosophy is: stylization over realism, strong silhouettes, don't be afraid of color, dynamic animations, support the gameplay, and make it epic. With Diablo 3, they started by going back to Diablo to identify the strengths of its style: an emphasis on horror. They then moved on to Diablo 2, which succeeded by expanding on the original and introducing lots of new areas. Said Morrisroe, "Our memory of what Diablo and Diablo 2 were was a bit different than the actuality of it. Visually we were remembering it as more of a dark, colorless game, but there was a lot of vibrance."

The Diablo 3 team has had to tell themselves not to be afraid of color. They've spent time researching horror movies and other resources how they use color to establish mood -- and have learned they can use color to their advanatage. They have a selective pallette of bold reds and greens which, on their own, may not convey a horror theme, but as used in-game by the art team create a dark, horror environment without resorting to washed out colors.

The design team is walking a fine line where they're trying to update a much-loved classic title while respecting the franchise and its fans, whose expectations are set by the previous games. They're exploring a new visual look and Diablo 3 will be 3D -- though it will maintain the fixed isometric camera.

Stylized does not necessarily mean cartoony. (We're hoping this means we don't see any gicantic shoulder armor similar to WoW.) The Diablo universe is very dark and the designers wanted to bring a certain level of grit and realism. But they also wanted to take the player to a fantasy realm, something they'd never seen before. "if we just took photos and applied them to a bunch of polygons," said Morrisroe, "that's just not doing our job."

"Another design goal is strong silhouettes -- they wanted everything in the game to have big, bold shapes."

Another design goal is strong silhouettes -- they wanted everything in the game to have big, bold shapes.This allows more creatures to be seen at once (more things to kill!) and helps the game's overall "readability." It also adds to the epic feel by avoiding the straight lines and angles you see in real life -- the game can delve purely into fantasy.

It doesn't matter how talented the artists are if the gameplay isn't enjoyable. The art team realizes the art has to feed the gameplay -- not the other way around. [Ed: if we wanted a gorgeous slide-show, we'd never have moved on from Myst, would we?] The art includes dynamic animations (read: items you can destroy) that help bring a bit of life into otherwise static scenes.

Finally, the game's random dungeons, which you no doubt remember from previous incarnations of Diablo. Yes, Diablo 3 will have random dungeons, which consist of basic room designs with different entries and exits. These are put together like puzzle-pieces to result in a random, yet interesting, dungeon with many possible combinations and lots of replayability. Designing rooms and areas starts with a basic sketch and iterates from there: sketch to more detailed drawings to color studies and finally to the finished product. They iterate through designs until they have it perfect.

Next: Q&A with Brian and Leo

NEXT >>

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WWI08: Lore and art in Diablo 3 (Part 2 - Q&A)

Elizabeth Harper — 2008-06-30T06:59:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, RPGs

Q&A with Leo and Brian

Q: In the end of Diablo 2 we went to hell, killed him, smashed his Soulstone and essence of him, Bael, Maphesto ... how do we justify him coming back?
Leo: You don't know for sure that Diablo is coming back. [Ed: ... !] We don't want to divulge too much of the story, we just want to say that it will be entertaining when you come to it.

Q: In previous game you had quests to achieve to get, say the Horadric Cube. Will there be similar quests? Will we be able to get the Horadric Cube again?
Leo: The way the process works is we look into the story, look into the lore, and we want that to drive the gameplay and drive the quests. I can say there will be quests related to lore. In Diablo 2 they didn't just set out to say "let's make this great cube," it came out of the design process.

Gallery: Diablo III

Q: I wanted to know about the random generation of outdoor environments
Brian: The extent of the randomness outdoor environs is still being explored. One of the interesting things we're doing artistically is the random adventures in which small pockets of the environment will be randomly swapped out.
Leo: What we're doing in the environments Brian mentioned we have small plots of land where we'll swap out small occurrences. Cool eye candy can help tell the story, self-contained ways to explain, maybe, a specific detail of the universe or offer an intriguing piece of information. But you might get that tidbit while playing the game and your friend might not.

Q: What are places from Diablo 2 we'll see and how have they changed in the past 20 years?
Leo: The game starts in new Tristram, just outside of old Tristram. Deckard Cain comes back and you'll see an NPC or hero or two you've seen before but other than that, you'll just have to wait.

"People can't deny that weird stuff isn't happening. Civilizations fall all the time by being overrun by weird bizarre creatures."

Q: Hard to believe people would have just forgotten [the events of] Diablo 1 and 2 when they left obvious environmental impacts on the world and write it off as a fairy tale.
Leo: People can't deny that weird stuff isn't happening. Civilizations fall all the time by being overrun by weird bizarre creatures. The question is whether this is part of their ordinary world or is this a large-scale war. Denial mechanism, and if you didn't experience it yourself, you're just taking someone's word about Diablo being dead, etc.

Q: Are you going to add more riddles and Easter Eggs like the cow level?
Leo: We put that sort of stuff into every Blizzard game. we don't have a solid list yet but I'm sure there will be.

Q: What's up with Innarius (the angel in hell -- used the Worldstone to create sanctuary -- in an arrangement between heaven and hell, he was taken to hell for punishment)? Is he still in the prison of mirrors?
Leo: As far as we know, he's still there.

Q: How destructive is it going to be? What are we going to get to blow up and smash?
Brian: As much as we need to to have the game be as fun as possible. It's something we're constantly exploring.

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WWI08: Diablo 3 design fundamentals

Jennie Lees — 2008-06-30T01:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, Mac, PC, RPGs

At the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, Blizzard designers took to the stage to talk about the design goals and fundamentals behind their upcoming title, Diablo III. Jay Wilson, lead designer on the title, presented a rundown of the design philosophy behind the game, covering its origins, the game's approchability, and the design team's "better gameplay, less carpal tunnel" approach.

Gallery: Diablo III

Jay spoke about the core focus of Diablo III and the evolution of the Diablo series. Diablo I featured random dungeons and items, action based gameplay and character customization; Diablo II took that further with outdoor environments and a larger world, unique character classes and introduced a skill tree system. The goals for Diablo III are to to stay true to the Diablo experience, keeping moment-to-moment action and expanding the RPG part of the game.

What is the spirit of Diablo? Apparently, one of the hallmarks is the concept of the replayable RPG; it also revolves around having powerful heroes engaged in epic, large-scale combat, while maintaining approachable gameplay and a co-operative focus. The designers wanted to maintain Diablo's strong identity while also making improvements and advancements, rather than just remaking Diablo II.

Replayability revolves around randomness: random environments, items, encounters and -- new to Diablo III -- random adventures. Higher difficulty levels are also key to the series' replayability. The epic heroes enable large scale combat, and are massively powerful classes in that they don't just have powerful skills but also feel powerful, almost over-the-top, in their gameplay. With strong and unique archetypes, heroes have their own identities, and these hallmarks of Diablo II will be improved upon in III.

Approachability revolves around a design mantra of Blizzard's, "if you can click a mouse you can play Diablo." The familiar isometric gameplay is continued in III, and Jay mentioned that they didn't consider other alternatives -- "it's Diablo." Gameplay is simple to learn, but deep, and the difficulty curve is smooth -- Blizzard think they did this well in Diablo II and intend to keep it up.

"Approachability revolves around a design mantra of Blizzard's, 'if you can click a mouse you can play Diablo.'"

Diablo's always focused on co-operative play, which includes Battle.net, where you can join your friends at any time and embark on massive co-op battles together. This is a key philosophy behind III; although it doesn't rule out competitive gameplay altogether, the focus is definitely on co-op,

On to the improvements that we'll see in Diablo III -- Blizzard wanted to build a better action game. This includes better controls, with a 'less spam more depth' approach (fewer rats to kill) and new breeds of monster that encourage innovative play. The hotbar is being changed, with the addition of skills where potions used to be, and the UI is becoming cleaner overall, promoting greater skill diversity with more opportunity to use escape, control and buff type skills rather than simply drink a potion. Specific classes will have different tactics in a pinch and the guiding phrase is "better gameplay, less carpal tunnel."

A new health system is on its way too. Initially the developers thought about a 'Halo' style rechargeable shield, but found it created the wrong effect; instead, they plan little to no downtime and encourage conflict by causing vanquished monsters to drop red health globes. They also use positional gameplay -- based on the skills and monsters in question, the player's position is really crucial to the encounter. The main outcome is to keep gameplay interesting, varied and above all fast, encouraging players to continue fighting even when low on health.

Jay moved on to talk a bit about the upcoming monsters. The Berserker is an aggressive creature that deals massive damage, particularly when using a charged-up attack. However, he's vulnerable if he misses an attack and so players can take advantage of that opening to defeat him -- it's an example of dynamic gameplay that keeps the player on their toes.

The Skeletal Shieldbearer is a tough monster, but with a slow and methodical approach to combat. He will often accompany ranged units and act as a 'health wall' to protect them so they can unleash hell. However, he's reliant on his shield; if the player destroys or circumvents it, he'll soon fall.

"Blizzard's key aim is to make a 'better RPG,' to improve on the story without losing the 'opt in' feel."

Blizzard's key aim with Diablo III is to make a "better RPG," to improve on the story without losing the "opt in" feel. They wanted to remove the generic feeling from their randomly generated dungeons and bring the world to life with better interactions between the player and the world as a whole.

As part of this goal they're introducing an adventure system to the game. Adventures are scripted events that can be placed almost anywhere in the game world, for example one particular location could be host to a number of adventures spanning a cultists' summoning ritual, a haunted house or a caravan that needs an escort. As the player progresses through the game they will encounter different adventures, which will change when the game is played through again, allowing plenty of replayability.

On the subject of better interactions, conversations in Diablo III have been improved. They are designed to bring the NPCs to life and allow for a more engaging story by giving the player a 'voice' in the game.

Jay wrapped up his presentation by summarizing that Diablo III is true to the universe and gameplay of the series; they have created a deeper action game without losing the ease of play, and they have improved on the story and RPG elements of the series.

Next: Audience Q&A

NEXT >>

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Poll: What classes would you like to see return in Diablo 3?

Ross Miller — 2008-06-29T05:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, RPGs, Polls

Along with finally confirming Diablo 3's existence, Blizzard also revealed two of the five (or perhaps more) classes, the Witch Doctor and the Barbarian. Although we imagine any returning characters would see a massive overhaul from their previous renditions -- that's assuming the remaining three aren't entirely original -- we want to know who you'd like to see make it into the third game.

View Poll

Gallery: Diablo III

(Note: All classes in the game have both male and female options, hence voting D1's sorcerer is the same as voting for D2's sorceress.)

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Joystiq chats with Jay Wilson on Diablo 3

Elizabeth Harper — 2008-06-29T03:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Online, RPGs, Interviews

click to embiggen

The buzz here at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is all about Diablo 3. When will we have a playable demo? When can we expect a release? Blizzard, of course, isn't willing to commit to a date other than their standard "when it's done" answer:

What classes are going to be available? Blizzard's answer: we're not ready to talk about that.
Will there be a cow level? Blizzard's answer... well, more on that later.

Joystiq had a chance to catch up with Diablo 3's lead designer Jay Wilson (whom you may know from his work on a little game called Dawn of War) and pick his brain about how he got on the Diablo 3 project, what's in store for Battle.net, and the secret cow level.

Gallery: Diablo III

Do you have any plans for Diablo on consoles?
We don't have any plans.

Are there an plans for mobile or any other platforms, or is it purely PC/Mac?
Right now we're just focused on PC/Mac. I believe we've got people who are focused on mobile stuff and I'm sure we're going to be having conversations with them on some point on what we can do, but in terms of taking Diablo 3 as a game to mobile ... I doubt it.

Looking at the gameplay footage, Diablo 3 looks very similar to Diablo 2. What are you doing to differentiate it from Diablo 2?

We're trying to balance satisfying the fans and also creating a game that feels like our own. A lot of the stuff that we've done already, that we've shown today, from a gameplay standpoint makes it play dramatically different and better than Diablo 2. The health system, monster design, environment interaction, being able to put scripted events anywhere in the world... those all have big impacts. I can say we have a lot of other features that we're gong to talk about over the coming months, some of which are pretty big.

There is some other stuff that I think may have a bigger exclamation point in terms of diversification. But we felt if we take this game and did these improvements, we'd actually have a better game. Because when you get right down to it, it plays. It plays better.

Gallery: Worldwide Invitational 2008

You mentioned earlier that Diablo 3 would be playable online with Battle.net but there would be some improvements coming to Battle.net. Can you say anything about what improvements might be coming? [Ed: See WoW Insider's liveblog of the Worldwide Invitational's opening ceremony for full notes on Jay's presentation]

No, I can't. I'll give your our goal, which is that we really focus on online service and online experience as one of our top priorities at Blizzard. We want to provide the best online experience you can get anywhere. People will really get their first taste of the next version of Battle.net with Starcraft 2. And I don't want to steal their thunder. We'll be focusing on getting players together easily, matchmaking will be a big part.

Is there a reason you decided to go with a Battle.net model instead of an MMO model?

"So what we really want is ... a game kind of like Diablo 2 but better."

The simplest reason is that's the game we wanted to play. A lot of the time that's how we make our decisions at Blizzard -- as gamers and fans, because we like our games too. So what we really want is ... a game kind of like Diablo 2 but better. And we feel like the genre ... some genres have a lot of progression in them. With RPGs and FPSs you get a ton of them! But this genre has not had a ton of games in it. So we felt like there's still so much to say here. And there's so much to say on the WoW side for MMOs, but we've got that and don't necessarily need another one right away.

So we felt like it was really important to do the true Diablo sequel. As players, that's just what we wanted to play.

How did you wind up working on the Diablo project?

Well, I was working at Relic Entertainment. I started on RTSs originally and I interviewed at Blizzard ... I was actually very happy at Relic, but I had friends who had moved to Blizzard and they got me an interview. I was like, "Cool, Rob Pardo! I get to be interviewed by him and he's an idol of mine!" For me, it was just a cool experience to be able to talk to Rob for an hour. And we continued to talk and I went to the first BlizzCon [October 2005] and they just talked me into it. Essentially, I've always been a huge fan of Blizzard and it just felt like a natural fit.

Did you feel like possibly working on Starcraft 2 from you background in Dawn of War? Is it that you just wanted a change?

How do you not say yes to Diablo 3? Starcraft 2 was really appealing, but I'd made a few RTSs and I'd made RTSs that were trying to be different than Starcraft, with some similarities. We already had Dustin [Browder, lead designer for Starcraft 2] and that guy's way smarter than me. So it seemed like a good place ... and there was no way I was going to say no. That's the chance of a lifetime.

Have you noticed any difference from working on FPS/RTSs and moving into this more hack-n-slash genre?

What's funny is I started in FPSs, the first five years of my career, and moved to RTSs. What's interesting is the actual math, stat-oriented nature of an RTS actually blends nicely into a game like Diablo. And a lot of the action elements of an FPS blend nicely with Diablo. So I kind of felt like my background was custom designed. It's not like I could have worked on all of those Diablo clones out there because there just weren't very many of them. So while it doesn't seem like the obvious path, it's really been a good set of skills for this project.

Can you tell us anything about how far into development the project is or when we might see more of the game?

I think with any other company that might be a question someone could answer, but it's really hard to answer with a Blizzard game because we don't look at it as a linear scale. We could look at it and say we're this percent complete, but the last whatever percentage could take ten times longer than the previous, depending on how much iteration it requires. I can say we have a game we love to play. That's always the first goal. We're really happy with the art style and a lot of what we're doing right now is trying to build all the content and make decisions about the vast number of systems needed.

In terms of the engine and its current state, where do you see the maximum number of co-op joint players?

"When we play, we have the most fun with about 4 players."

Right now we support the same number as Diablo 2, which is 8. We can actually do more if we wanted -- it's not a technical problem, it's a gameplay issue. What we've found is that the game is actually better with a smaller number of players, even smaller than 8. When we play, we have the most fun with about 4 -- and that's because of the camera and the nature of the game. So we're gearing towards that and really trying to encourage that. But whether we enforce it or not [with a strict limit on the number of players] ... it's hard for us to say at this point.

Will you get the same number of monsters with 8 players as you would with 4 players?

We don't change the number of monsters that spawn. That way we can make sure that even if you're playing by yourself, you can still have a crazy giant pile of monsters to fight. So no, we play with difficulty in other ways.

You mentioned two classes today ... can you tell us how many you plan to have in the final game?

No. Several more, but I can't tell you precisely. [Ed: The FAQ currently lists the number at 5.]

From a lore perspective, when is the game set? [Ed: Warning, spoilers below if you haven't played through Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction!]

It's about 20 years after Lord of Destruction. Essentially since then, if you're familiar with the lore, Tyreal destroyed the worldstone and the general consensus was that this was going to be the big Hell invasion because the worldstone's keeping everything back. And essentially that invasion never happened and one of the many questions is ... why? And we aren't going to answer that today, but that's what the story addresses. What's happened to Tyreal since then? What's happened to Deckard Cain?

"The barbarian we showed today is actually meant to be the same barbarian from Diablo 2."

We bring back a lot of characters, not just from Diablo 2 but Diablo 1 as well. We're also bringing back some characters in kind of unconventional ways. For example, the barbarian we showed today is actually meant to be the same barbarian from Diablo 2. So we're planning on doing a lot of cool stuff to make a richer storyline.

Is there a chance of another Deckard Cain rap?

I think that Michael Gough, the actor who plays Deckard Cain, is up for it. But no promises!

You've probably heard this a hundred times already today, but is there a cow level?

Secret cow level? Secret! I will say that we think the idea of putting secrets and things into the game is really cool. That doesn't mean it's going be in the game, though!

From playing earlier Diablo titles ... did you ever dupe to get items?

I never did. I knew people who did. Something in Diablo 3: our new Battle.net is a lot more secure. We've learned a lot since Diablo 2. With the amount of experience we got from Diablo 2 and the amount of experience we've gotten from WoW, we feel like we should be able to make it very secure.

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Blizzard Splash Screen Update for June 28 -- still inconclusive

Ross Miller — 2008-06-28T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Online

This may be the final day where we bravely speculate on the still-hidden mysteries of Blizzard's splash page. The ice has completely melted overnight to reveal ... well ... we're still trying to decipher that one.The eye slits are definitely not star clusters anymore, perhaps it has something to do with candles. We also now have a cryptic letter puzzle to solve. O Blizzard, why do you tease us so!

Update: In all seriousness, our friends at WoW Insider have made their case for why the splash page still holds some mysteries.

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Highlights from the Diablo 3 FAQ

Ross Miller — 2008-06-28T10:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, RPGs

If Blizzard's Diablo 3 FAQ page is still acting wonky, or if you're too impatient to read through everything here are the highlights:

Return to Sanctuary, the same world as the previous 2 games. The game takes place 20 years after Diablo 2.
There are 5 character classes in the game. We know two so far: a new Witch Doctor class, and a completely redone Barbarian class. Male and female options for all classes.
Havok-powered physics
Building on previous random environments, Blizzard promises "a host of new ways to create random scripted events throughout the game."
Upgraded Battle.net
Deckard Cain returns, but is noted as the "first victim" of the new horrors
Plan is to release the game "simultaneously in as many regions as possible, and to localize the game in several languages." The game will ship for Mac and Windows simultaneously.

Gallery: Diablo III

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Here are the first Diablo 3 screenshots

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-28T09:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC

click to enter screenshot gallery

After months (years?) of speculation, Diablo 3 was just announced by Blizzard at its Worldwide Invitational event in Paris. With an eight-year hiatus following Diablo 2's release, the first question on everyone's mind seems to be: how's it look? The answer - perhaps unsurprisingly given Blizzard's focus on their fans and reasonable system requirements - seems to be: "a lot like Diablo 2."

Ah, but first impressions can be deceiving. The Diablo 3 FAQ says that the game "runs on a custom 3D game engine for rendering full-3D characters and environments" and even "uses a custom physics engine that allows for realistic object dynamics and cloth simulation." Seems to us that - like Blizzard's other recent update, Starcraft 2 - any resemblence to earlier Diablo titles is a design goal, not a technological limitation.

Gallery: Diablo III

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Watch Diablo 3 teaser and gameplay footage

Christopher Grant — 2008-06-28T09:29:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC

We've got a handful of Diablo 3 videos here for you to get your eyeballs all over. First up, above, is the cinematic teaser. What does that mean? Lots of CG, film-school approved camera angles, and dramatic voiceover work. Great for some folks but if what you really want is gameplay footage, we've got a nearly twenty minute clip of that after the break, which should help even things out. Still feel it's unbalanced? Well, there's also got a third video showing off some of the game's concept art, so it's not gameplay footage or CG! Something for everyone, that's what we always say.

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Blizzard introduces Diablo 3

Elizabeth Harper — 2008-06-28T06:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC

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Joystiq will make any sacrifice to bring you the latest news -- even if it means flying to Paris, France in order to attend Blizzard Entertainment's Worldwide Invitational. Only seconds ago we were shown a cinematic from Blizzard's newest game: Diablo 3. We're currently being shown a live demo of the game (which we're reminded is a work in progress) by lead designer Jay Wilson. The look and feel of the game -- though graphically updated from its aging sibling -- looks a lot like the dungeon crawls we all know and love from the original series. We're promised more loot, more quests (and some old friends like Deckard Cain), and new environments. Classes demo'd include the familiar Barbarian and the brand new Witch Doctor (a master of disease and fire who will control pets). Says Wilson, the game is "primarily cooperative" and it will be quick and easy to form groups over Battle.net. Sorry, folks who were expecting an MMO, but it sounds like Diablo 3 will continue in the tried-and-true Diablo format.

Update: Blizzard's European site is now live with the cinematic teaser and gameplay footage for your perusal!

Gallery: Worldwide Invitational 2008: Diablo 3

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New Diablo II patch lets you play without disc

Ross Miller — 2008-06-19T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, RPGs

While the rumor mill is perpetually abuzz for Diablo III, let's go back one iteration to a game that's actually available. Blizzard has released patch 1.12 for Diablo II, which allows you to run the full game without the disc in the tray, provided you have all the required .MPQ files. According to BlizzPlanet, that either requires a full re-installation or copy-and-pasting the proper files onto the computer.

The patch also fixes some compatibility with Intel Macs and resets the online rankings. Our friends at BigDownload speculate this might be preliminary steps to putting the game on Blizzard's digital download store. Blizzard, known for patching games years after their release, updated Starcraft as recently as 2007.

[Via BigDownload]

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Blizzard acquires Diablo3.com, nothing to see (yet)

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-05-01T11:45:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Online, RPGs

Several weeks ago, Diablo3.com, an independent fansite, posted a provocative countdown set to end today, May 1st. The site teased that today would be the day that "half the web" links to the domain ... well, let us save you the click. Of the two potential outcomes posed by WoW Insider, we get the far less interesting one: Blizzard has acquired the Diablo3.com domain from Roger Barr (aka "Mockery") who is transitioning his fansite to a new domain, more appropriately dubbed, Diablofans.com.

Currently, Diablo3.com redirects to Diablofans.com, but eventually it will redirect to Blizzard.com, and after that...? Mr. Mockery notes that Blizzard has reminded him that the acquisition of the domain is not an official announcement of Diablo III, but Mockery can't help but speculate that "this is a confirmation of sorts that they're working on the next Diablo game." True that.

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Joystiq interviews DeathSpank's Ron Gilbert

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-03-03T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Adventure, RPGs, Interviews, GDC

Described as "the perfect melding of a Monkey Island style adventure game with the wicked RPG gameplay of Diablo," Ron Gilbert's episodic endeavor also formed part of our recent GDC interview with Hothead Games. Though the Orphans of Justice still have quite a bit of growing up to do, we quickly quizzed designer Ron about Deathspank's upcoming lampooning of adventure game heroes, as well as the series' inevitable downward spiral in quality after the, uh, 600,000th episode.

How much can you say about DeathSpank at this point?

Ask and I'll say "no comment" if I can't. [laughs]

You initially said that you had this idea for the game and went from publisher to publisher until you finally got Hothead to say, "Okay, we're gonna make it." How did that come about?

Well, I started working with them on the Penny Arcade stuff for several months or so, and I thought "You know what, I'm gonna run DeathSpank by them." They're doing the Penny Arcade game which is very funny, and the sensibilities of the Penny Arcade game I think match very well with Deathspank. I sent the design off to them and they really liked it, which was really good to me because I think they saw in the humor of the game, you know, what was going to be really interesting about it. That was the thing I was having a lot of trouble with at other publishers. Also, I really wanted to do the game from the very beginning as an episodic game. Larger publishers, EA, Activision, all these people, are just not set up to do episodic games. I was kind of being pushed by a lot of people to turn it into a very large game, which I didn't want to do, and since Hothead is really focused on episodic, I think that just worked out really well.

And from Hothead's perspective, what did you see in this game that made you want to work on it?

Joel DeYoung, producer of Penny Arcade Adventures: Well, it's hilarious. We think it's going to be a funny game and, like Ron said, we are focused on episodic and this is very well aligned with what we're already doing with Penny Arcade. We just think it's going to be a great game.

How does the gameplay compare to that found in Penny Arcade Adventures?

Ron: It's a little bit different in a couple of areas. The RPG that's in Penny Arcade is kind of a turn-based, almost Final Fantasy-like RPG. The RPG in Deathspank is much more like Diablo or Zelda. It's all action-based, and it's about collecting items and growing your character in those ways. The adventure game part of Deathspank is probably a lot more of a hardcore adventure game. People who have played Monkey Island are really going to recognize the intricate puzzle structure that goes into Deathspank.

We've spoken to a lot of adventure game developers here at GDC, and Erik Wolpaw told us that he hates adventure games because the puzzles are so obscure and ridiculous. What do you think about that?

Well, I would say what he really hates is bad adventure games, because I think in good adventure games, the puzzles aren't obscure. In good adventure games, the puzzles really make sense. They dovetail into the story properly, the kind of things where you have to figure it out, but when you do figure it out, you don't feel like the game design just screwed you over. You kinda feel like, "Oh yeah, I should have seen that." That's kind of the right feeling to have when you solve a puzzle. So, if he's hating adventure games, he's hating bad adventure games which, you know, isn't a bad thing.

How much of the quality of an adventure game do you think is entrenched in the puzzle design? Do you need good puzzles to be considered a good adventure game, or could you get away with no real puzzles like in games like Fahrenheit? Those are closer to interactive films, I suppose.

Well, you know, I'm pretty dogmatic about that. I think an adventure game is about the puzzles. I think if you take away the puzzles you don't necessarily have a bad game, but you don't have an adventure game. I think because of my history with that stuff, I have this classic definition of an adventure game and it's about puzzles. It really is.

How far ahead are you planning DeathSpank in terms of number of episodes? Have you figured it out yet?

We're gonna do a million episodes.

A million?

One million.

How many of them will be good?

[laughs] Yeah, we're gonna run out of ideas after 600,000 so...

The shark is jumped at about episode 592,000.

I don't know how many episodes, certainly I think that one of the reasons I wanted to do it episodically is that the character of Deathspank just has so many little stories that need to be told. I didn't want to do a really large game, because I'd really get to tell one story. I'm just going to keep doing those as long as people enjoy them.

When we first saw DeathSpank on Grumpy Gamer, he was part of a satire on gaming. Is the game itself going to take on the industry?

Yeah, I mean the whole character, right from his name, is a parody of adventure game heroes and how ridiculously seriously seem to take them. I definitely want to make a whole lot of fun of all those things in the game.

Any idea when we'll see more or when the game might be done? Will it be done this year?

We haven't announced any release dates yet.

Thank you so much for your time, Ron.

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BlizzCon 2007 sets foot outside Azeroth, and Joystiq is there

Kevin Kelly — 2007-08-03T00:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, PC, Adventure, Online, RPGs, MMO

We trekked across the Burning Steppes, hacked our way through Stranglethorn Vale, and even slinked through the Scarlet Monastery to get to BlizzCon 2007, and so far the trip has left us exhausted, bereft of gold, and low on HP. We've retired to The Lost Bar at Disneyland to catch up with the WoW Insider folks, who are plying us with alcohol and chicken tenders, trying to get Joystiq secrets from our primal mooncloth bags.

We'll be doling out more info over the next few days than you can shake Onyxia's tail at, so look for it here, or over on Joystiq's sibling (and Horde loving site) WoW Insider. In the meantime, check out the gallery below, and some totally awesome swag bag Murloc suit goodness after the break. If you couldn't make it to BlizzCon, you can buy a Murloc Suit on eBay for an indeterminate amount of dough, or go for the whole goody bag for even more.

Gallery: BlizzCon 2007

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Rumor: Northrend could be next World of Warcraft expansion

Alexander Sliwinski — 2007-07-29T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Online, RPGs, MMO

Before we proceed, please take this with a brick of salt -- ready? Let's go. WoW Insider received information from an anonymous tipster that the Video Games Live orchestra will be performing three pieces called "Northrend 1, 2,and 3" at next week's BlizzCon. WoW Insider dug deeper and found the track names do not appear on Warcraft II, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft or the Burning Crusade soundtracks. This could mean the continent of Northrend will finally come into play in the next expansion and gamers will be able to take on Warcraft III's anti-hero/villain (depending on your perspective), the fallen Prince Arthas, who now sits on The Frozen Throne.

World of Warcraft has left two major sections of Warcraft III's story open, one of which, if the information is solid, will hopefully be tied up in a battle with Arthas. The other being the glowing pink sparkly bubble protecting the city of Dalaran, which has taunted WoW players for over two years. Then again, Blizzard can take its sweet time, it's not like they're hurting for players, and introduce The Emerald Dream or take on the expansive ocean in the next expansion. BlizzCon starts next weekend and Joystiq, along with WoW Insider, will be there covering it to let you know about the latest from Blizzard's franchises.

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