News

• Worldwide Invitational Paris: The roundup
  Everything we posted from and about Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational event in Paris this last weekend. If you weren't there, read this, and you'll feel like you were (and it's a lot cheaper than a plane ticket).
• Hands on with WWI '08 Death Knight demo
  We actually play, for the first time, the first new class implemented in the game since launch.
• WWI '08 Costume Contest gallery
  Let's face it, the real reason you go to these nerdy events is to see the wacky cosplayers. Here they are.
• Blizzard unveils Diablo 3
  What were you doing last Saturday morning at 4:30am? Sleeping? We were compiling information on Blizzard's newest game.
• Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 27th
  Of course now, we know it was all for Diablo 3, but last week, we were still guessing our hearts out as to what the splash screen ice meant.

Features

• Arena Season 4: Brutal Gladiator
  Season 4 started last week, and we've got the most definitive guide on the Internet for what to spend your Honor on.
• Midsummer Fire Festival quest guides
  All the news coming out of Paris might have distracted you, but we didn't forget: the Midsummer Fire Festival is live on the realms.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Titan's Grip!
  Yes, Warriors can do in Wrath what we never though possible: wield a two-hander in one hand.
• Blizzard Authenticator introduced at the Worldwide Invitational
  Blizzard is selling a physical key, to make sure the only person who signs into your account is you.
• Two talent trees for the price of one?
  We dip into one of the most underrated pieces of news coming out of WWI: could Blizzard be making it easier for players to respec?

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.

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.

For the World of Warcraft fans who might've missed some coverage today, here are some of the highlights, care of WoW Insider:

• Check out these awesome goodie bags
• A look at Lake Wintergrasp, a non-instanced Battleground, as well as new arena maps from the PvP panel
  
• From the Dungeons and Raids panel, we learned about the return of nonlinear dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King.
• A video recap of the first day of WWI, with some good footage of the costume and dance contest (start at 1:45 for that)
  
• Did we mention awesome goodie bags?

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.

You can't escape World of Warcraft at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational. Between class-specific panels and the giant WoW dev panel. Here's a look into the future of each of the classes, including a ton of information on the upcoming Death Knight class:

• Death Knight
• Druid
• Hunter
• Mage
• Paladin
• Priest
• Rogue
• Shaman
• Warlock
• Warrior

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.

The Murloc costume above only placed second in Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational 2008 costume contest. Interested to see what came in first? Check out WoW Insider's gallery of the costume (and dance!) contest, complete with their own colorful commentary.
When you get through with that, be sure to check out their major gallery of the WWI event, including some hawt ogre-on-ogre action.

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!

For those who can't make it out to Paris for this weekend's Worldwide Invitational, Blizzard is offering live streams of the main stage and tournament stage, in both low-resolution (400kbits) and high-resolution (1000kbits) modes. While the tournament stage might be less interesting, the main stage is where Blizzard is expected to make its big announcement.

The stream requires the Octoshape browser plug-in; if you're planning to watch the event, we recommend getting everything ready ahead of time. Don't forget to vote in our predictions poll and keep an eye on WoW Insider for extensive WWI coverage.

[Via WoW Insider]

Q&A with Rob Pardo
Q: How will the planet systems be used?
A: The star map in the story campaigns is you mission selector. You will explore the story and have a lot of different paths to follow. You can choose from 2-7 missions depending on where you are in the story. There is a starmap in all three campaigns. but different for each race. For example, in the Terran campaign you will take a lot of mercenary missions for money to pay for technology.

Q: What role will hero and multiclass players play?
A: We are de-emphasizing heroes in Starcraft2. That's what Warcraft 3 is for. There will be some missions where you play named characters like Raynor, but not much. Mostly dialogue and story characters, not much as gameplay chars.

Q: Is the Zerg building infestation ability working on Protoss?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be an Apple and PV version release at same time?
A: Yes, all of our PC games will also be available on Macs.

Q: Is there a Terran version of Queen/Mothership
A: No. Mothership not as unique as Queen and players can build multiple Motherships.

Q: What role is the roach unit supposed to have?
A: It doesn't have much health, but it does have very high regeneration. Its good to go up against enemy units with low damage output like marines, zealots, etc.

Q: Is the black hole still planned for the Protoss?
A: It used to be on the Mothership, but was taken away when the Mothership became a defense unit in the development of the game. It may come back later in a different way in the development process but no promises.

Q: What lies ahead in the evolution of units?
A: The Terran Thor unit is hard to find a role for. Right now it is much like the sieg tank/battle cruiser. It could get more abilities to differentiate it.

Q: The Merc Haven can't train reavers, just enables you to build them. Why?
A: The Merc Haven has gone through five or six designs, but we never fell in love with one. It needs more tinkering.

Q: What kind of units will come out from Protoss infested buildings?
A: I misspoke earlier. They [the Zerg] cannot infest Protoss buildings, but we're still deciding for sure.

Q: Will the Ghost unit get telekenisis or telepathic abilties like in the books and manga?
A: There is much experimentation right now with the unit and it's centered around the lore. There is a good chance, yes.

Q: Is it possible to play the story line in co-op mode?
A: No. It's been discussed, but it's too difficult to have two players both be the main character.

That's all from Paris. We'll have some hands-on write ups with the new Zerg demo they have set up. Check back soon.

The Protoss are a force to be reckoned with
Pardo moved on to talk a bit about how the Protoss are progressing in the development of the game. Their psionics are the key theme to their race and Blizzard pushed that further, but also pulled back on the emphasis on spellcasting.

First he showed an example of their new force field ability used to control the battlefield. A video showed a swarm of zerglings rushing a Protoss base, but the Protoss force threw up a series of connected force fields that formed a funnel forcing the zergs into a choke point where they were easily destroyed.

While high damage Protoss spells like Psi Storm are returning, Blizzard also wanted to introduce some early game casters. Nullifiers were mentioned. And Stalkers were given a teleport ability that had interesting strategic potential. In another video of game play, force fields were raised forcing an attacking army to go around it. The Stalkers then teleported themselves to the other side of the force fields, behind the attacking army, and took them out from behind.

The return of the Mothership
The Protoss Mothership also makes an appearance. While not as powerful as the Zerg Queen, it has been given powerful support abilities. It is now a mobile battlefield teleporter, able to zap in troops to wherever it is at. It is also heavily armored and has an emergency ability called Time Bomb which renders it immune from damage for a short period of time. Since it isn't as versatile as the Zerg Queen, Protoss players will be able to have more than one Mothership in play at once.

If you visit Blizzard's website right now, you'll get this splash page. Is the company hinting at an out-of-the-blue announcement? Perhaps, but don't forget this week is the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, so that there's a chance for big news is somewhat a no-brainer (remember at last year's WWI in South Korea they announced Starcraft II). When the news breaks, Joystiq and WoW Insider will have everything you need. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Metareview -- Battlefield: Bad Company (360, PS3)
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Elephant Rave
Joystiq hands-on: Ferrari Challenge
Joystiq hands-on: Legendary
Joystiq impressions -- Call of Duty: World at War
Joyswag: C&C 3: Kane's Wrath (Xbox 360) giveaway, Day One
Scared stiff: Why should we care about Alone in the Dark?

News
Call of Duty: World at War co-op multiplayer detailed
Metal Gear Solid 4 Database to educate Europe this Thursday
Sci-fi shooter Gyrostarr targets WiiWare
New games this week: Battlefield: Bad Company edition
Full track list from Guitar Hero Aerosmith released
See first trailer from Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
Report: Comp-related degree enrollment down 50%
Grand Theft Auto 4 patch: multiplayer and freezing fixes promised
Activision and MTV Games in talks for Beatles catalog
Call of Duty: World at War screenshots
Call of Duty: World at War 'not a different game on the Wii'
Treyarch: Call of Duty isn't going 'back' to WWII
Call of Duty: World at War producer on why it's not 'CoD 5'
This Wednesday: Ticket to Ride and Happy Tree Friends ride onto XBLA
Call of Duty: World at War is 'next-gen only baby!'
Virtual Console picks Burning Fight with Alex Kidd
Dead Space loses limbs thanks to 'Strategic Dismemberment'
Tiga re-requests UK tax breaks in wake of Wisconsin incentives
Halo 3 body count surpasses Earth's population

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: GameStop taking over New Zealand's Gamesman
Rumorang: Forza 3 'core game' will be on one disc
E3 Rock Band invite resembles Rock Band 2 concept cover
Rumor: PS3 'trophy' screen leaked, looks like Gamercard

Culture & Community
New study compares 360, PS3 consumers