Have to say this is exactly what I've been expecting since bliz started talking about no LAN and new Battle.net and enhanced revenue streams. Capitalism marches on.
I don't think they'll go full monthly fee in the US on SC2 and D3, but they'll charge for something. ladders, rankings, special b.net content, etc. I've been amused and distressed by the willful naivety of so many fans who all along have insisted that nothing like that could ever happen.
Not for long; Morhaime said 2011 was nearly sold out already too. Damned ninja raiders get all the good stuff.
No real surprise, really, as popular as Blizzard's convention has become.
so the 3rd or 4th of the many blizzcon rumors were true!
they don't space things out very well in diablo coverage. it's not just that blizzcon is 90% of the info in a given year, it's that we'll get several interviews and a website feature in a month, and then nothing for 8 weeks.
That and blizzard is so big they don't care about media coverage, so there aren't constant interviews and previews on general gaming sites, there way there are for other games by less prominent devs.
remember when games were made for, you know.... gamers? People with like, manual dexterity? Ahh, nostalgia...
Somewhere in Seoul, a Korean can already do this blindfolded on highest game speed.
does the picture represent the game, or the feeling you guys got during the chat?
The only old man in Diablo 3 is Deckard Cain. Well, actually the Barbarian is old in D3, since he's the same individual who was a hero in d2, set 20 years earlier.
The sorcerer in D1 and the Sorceress in D2 were both young characters. It's a very active, fast-paced, energy-intensive style of magery in Diablo. Old, lore-intensive mages wouldn't fit. They'd lack the stamina. Gandalf would blow out of his mana in 3 spells and then need a sit-down.
Personally, he looked just as I expected. Like a male version of the previously revealed female wizard; slender, young, pretty, asian. But he's a bit "boy-band" compared to his more arrogant concept art.
He could be argued against from the game fiction, where the character is supposed to be very headstrong. But none of the haters are making that argument. They're just reacting like homophobic 12 year olds. For the most part.
yeah, it's funny how the character art, which no one said a word about when playing him at last year's Blizzcon, suddenly is too wimpy to tolerate.
Some of the anti wizard comments are in the "methinks he doth protest too much" area. If you're so offended that a video game character isn't exactly covered in stubble and crushing beer cans with his forehead, you might have some issues of your own?
gives the forum readers something new to argue about. since publicly debating feature changes is more fun than actually playing?
they've been in private beta since what, 2008? You'd hope they can get through a massive player test without going back to the drawing board.
only open to beta key holders to post! oh wait...
Well everything *could* be better. At least that's what my GF tells me. But what would, as Picard says, Make it so?
does anyone remember how to play sc at this point? it's the one with the zergs and stuff, right?
yeah, they said still tracking for a mid-2010 release. sounds like a fairly brisk worldwide beta, in that case?
brom has done lots of trading cards for other games. D&D and such. Could he be working on something like that with Blizzard? That would be a surprise, since bliz generally does everything with their in-house artists.
proof that esports are starting to matter. people bet on it, and players can earn more money throwing matches for gamblers than they can from prize money.