Diablo 3

Well, to be totally honest with you - it was confirmed and then the confirmation was removed from the site. So where does that leave us? I guess it’s the usual secrecy surrounding any Blizz project.

Here’s the LONG story:

The guys from Legendary Pictures (yep, the guys behind 300) have posted on their site that a Diablo movie is in the making. Diablo was listed in the “In Development” section.

Once the news about the movie leaked to fan sites, Diablo was promptly removed. My guess is it was a phone call from Blizzard that got them going.

Besides these facts, we have the following:

1. Legendary Pictures are already working on a WoW-based movie, so they look like an obvious choice for a Blizzard project.
2. Vin Diesel’s movie – A Man Apart – was originally named El Diablo which resulted in a lawsuit from Blizzard “claiming they trademarked Diablo and intended to make a movie based on their game”

I’m hoping and praying a Diablo movie is in the making. I loved the Diablo 2 cinematics and making the next logical step – the big screen – will be an amazing experience.

Update: Ha! Look at this. I just checked who the owner of this domain is!

Domain Name: DIABLOMOVIE.COM

Administrative Contact:
Universal City Studios – UPG Domains
100 Universal City Plaza
2160/8H
Universal City, CA 91608
US

Gamespot’s coverage of Starcraft 2 has been spot on. At the same time, IGN has got it wrong before when it comes to Diablo 3, so I take these articles with a grain of salt.

In essence, Rob Pardo talks how Starcraft 2 is one of the smaller projects currently in Blizzard:

Pardo also dropped a hint at the scale of Blizzard’s future plans, saying that the 40 developers working on Starcraft II are “one of the smaller teams.” Job listings on the Blizzard site have indicated it is working on a “next-gen MMO”–which the company said will not be another World of Warcraft. Also, rumors persist that Diablo III is in development.

Now, Paul Sams also said something similar – that Blizzard is working on three projects.

Here’s how I interpret it - Diablo 3 and the next-gen MMO are probably the same thing. After all, what’s better than a MMO in the Diablo universe? You got Heaven and Hell as factions… you got an Epic conflict that’s going to dwarf everything that WoW has. Frankly, who cares about Illidan when the can go after Diablo.