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.

Now, I admit the StarCraft 2 announcement was quite a blow to any hopes of seeing Diablo 3 any time soon.

Thinking about it more, however, the cold, hard facts remain the same.

Let me go through them for my (and your) well being:

1) Blizzard has been recruiting heavily lately: not only art directors but all kinds of artists. Judging by the StraCraft 2 trailer, their work at SC2 seems almost complete, so they are not hiring them for that.

2) Knaak commented about the Diablo storyline and basically confirmed Diablo’s world is not dead, it’s a world with dead.

3) Paul Sams interview where he says they have three product announcements. So far we’ve got a WoW expansion and StarCraft 2. I don’t know about you but I only count two so far…

4) Diablo 3 trademark and domain activity. Blizz have secured rights to all things Diablo 3 and since they aren’t making a movie, my guess is they plan a game.

5) Diablo 2 still has tens of THOUSANDS of active players. I bet more people play Diablo 2 than StarCraft (maybe not in Korea but worldwide).

Here’s another bet I’m willing to place right now: Most Diablo players are critical of WoW. I know I am. For example, I hate the fact I can’t access probably 50% of the end-game content.

Why? Because I don’t have the time to RAID. With Diablo, I can log in and solo Diablo or Baal whenever I feel like it. There’s no waiting for a healer or a tank. You go in, you kill. It’s that simple.

For good or for worst, the wait is OVER.

As a die-hard Diablo fan, I’m disappointed. Yet, die-hard Diablo fans are just that – die hards. I’m not giving up hope that Diablo 3 is going to be next when Blizzard announces a major product (and not another WoW expansion).

Starcraft 2 is as good as a consolation as any! It will make the wait for Diablo 3 less painful – if not downright enjoyable.

Update: Blizzard have released a Starcraft 2 trailer and I managed to find some gameplay videos from the WWI. The game doesn’t look much different in terms of gameplay but the graphics definitely ROCK!

I’ll be tracking Starcraft 2‘s progress over at my Starcraft 2 blog.

It’s the 19th already. In Korea it’s still the 18th though. There are less than 24 hours to Blizzard’s major product announcement.

The only information that has leaked so far is that they’re going to do a “Medusa demo”. Is this a new game engine? There’s a Medusa item in Diablo 2… but I’m not too optimistic about the new product being Diablo 3. Why?

For starters, Blizzard are making the announcement in Korea. Korea is the Starcraft heaven. If Blizzard announce anything but Starcraft, they might get shot at!

Second, Diablo (1996) has got its Diablo 2 sequel (2000) and the LoD expansion (2001). Starcraft has been sequel-less since 1998.

Last but not least, it seems that ALL of Blizzard’s executives have mentioned Starcraft 2 in one way or another.

So my bets are as follows:

A Starcraft game – 90%
A Diablo game – 9%
Anything else – 1%

My eyes are sore from all the reloading and staring at Blizzard’s new front page!

I’m attaching a snapshot below (click to zoom) in case they decide to remove it.

I’m really hoping Blizzard will announce Diablo 3 on the 18th. It was only a few days ago that everyone was convinced they were going to announce Starcraft 2 in Korea.

Update: How cruel of Blizzard! I’ve asked several people to check the site, they were all seeing Diablo. Now, I go to a wow site and they’re claiming it’s all about warcraft. And they have this image to prove it.

I guess Blizzard is rotating the image every hour or doing some other voodoo just to ensure everyone gets they want!

Next Gen has an interview with Rob Pardo, Blizzard’s Chief Game Designer.

He’s the guy credited with the success of World of Warcraft and the first expansion, The Burning Crusade.

I ask him if getting these expansions out on a regular basis is a matter of survival. After all, if gamers aren’t getting fresh content, they’ll start looking elsewhere and WoW’s subscriber base will dwindle.

“Calling it a matter of survival makes it sound grim,” he says, “It’s more a matter of entertainment. Of course we want our gamers to stay in the world for as long as we can. But I look at this from the positive angle of us trying to entertain them. We’re trying to give them new experiences. One of my favorite analogies is how much an MMO is like a TV series. We’re developing episodes just like Lost or Seinfeld. We’re always trying to come up with something that’s true to the theory; that’s true to the content that people love; but that is new. From the moment that the series starts re-treading the same ground over and over again… well, that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

Enough about WoW, if you ask me. Let’s hear something about what else is cooking in Blizzard’s kitchen.

We have other PC projects in development and we’re already working on new stuff for World of Warcraft, like another expansion. We’ve mentioned in the past that we’d love to get a boxed expansion out every year but it’s more important to deliver really high quality content to our fans. If we can do that every year that’d be great but we’re not going to do that at the expense of the experience.

With all due respect, I’m sick of hearing how Blizzard is now ONLY working on WoW expansions. What are these PC projects in development, Rob? Spill the beans already! I’d like to know if you’re talking about Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2.

Blizzard announced today its BlizzCon event will happen in early August – about a hundred days from now.

The event itself will be held for 2 days. Make sure you reserve August 3 and 4 for a trip to Anaheim, California.

More from the press release:

• Discussion panels with Blizzard developers
• Artist and developer signings
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game tournaments and demos
• Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise and other products based on the Blizzard franchises

Here’s what caught my attention:

BlizzCon is a celebration of the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises and the players who have helped make them so popular around the world.

Now, Blizzard, if you want me to celebrate Diablo and Starcraft, just get the friggin’ games out, OK?

I still haven’t “upgraded” to Vista for various reasons (hardware upgade pending). I’m on the look-out for the new generation of games that are coming for Vista that take advantage of DirectX 10.

I’ve seen Hellgate London’s trailer as well as gameplay videos but I wasn’t too impressed. The guys there were saying DirectX 10 allows them to do all kinds of character customizations.

Enter Age of Conan. See the trailer below and then download the HD versions. It’s simply AMAZING to look at. If Diablo 3 looks anything close to that, I’m sold.

Note: this low-res version doesn’t do it justice. You should download the high-def versions below:

• DirectX 10 trailer, 720p (.wmv) – 46.5MB
• DirectX 10 trailer, 480p (.wmv) – 26.4MB

On the funny side, if you machine can’t play the 720p video smoothly, you probably need a hardware upgrade as well. I know mine can’t.

According to IGN, Blizzard is contemplating a Starcraft sequal for real.

…another little nugget of gold dropped alongside it with the public admission that Itzik Ben Bassat, Vice President Business Development and International for Blizzard Entertainment, would be keen to see a new StarCraft before too long.

On stage in London for the game launch, Bassat stated, “I’m a StarCraft player myself and I hope it’s not a decade, and we launched StarCraft in 1998, before I’m standing here again, celebrating the next game in the series.”

During another previous interview, Paul Sams (Blizzard‘s COO) said that in 2007 they’ll have 3 (three) product announcements. If we consider that the Burning Crusade has been one, we’re left with two.

Could it be that our wildest dreams will become true? Both Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 will be announced soon?

Update: IGN has a rumor that a Starcraft 2 beta will be out by the year end.

Note: A StarCraft 2 wiki and a Diablo 3 wiki have just been setup.