Runic Games is not afraid of being overshadowed by Blizzard's mammoth title Diablo III, as they stated they would be releasing Torchlight II "shortly" after its release. According to CEO Max Schaefer at PAX Easy 2012, "Well, I'm sure you've noticed Diablo has announced a date. So, we don't want to fall right on that. The real answer is when (Torchlight 2) is finished, is Diablo 3 right now? Then we'll wait."
Blizzard has started a promotion on the launch site for Diablo III that will allow players to create their own sigil for the Demon Hunter. Simply upload a photo (of yourself or anything non-obscene), design a banner, and an exclusive in-game sigil for the player's character will be unlocked.
Blizzard has announced that the current Diablo III beta will be terminating on the 1st May, two weeks before the game's release on the 15th. Blizzard wars that all of the beta accounts and character information will be reset, and that players will only be able to post in the official forums if they own Starcraft II, World of Warcraft or have preordered the game.
Blizzard accidentally leaked something called the "Starter Edition" of Diablo III on Battle.net accounts - whether the user was part of the Diablo III beta or not. This forced Blizzard to shut down the beta servers for the time being. According to community manager "Nethaera," an update on the outages will be posted around 11:00AM PST (7:00PM GMT). For now, the servers are "unavailable until further notice."
Blizzard has announced a Diablo III open beta weekend, in which every player with a Battle.net account will be able to beta test the action-RPG game. The open beta test will run from the 20th April 12:01 PM PST (8:00 PM GMT) through to the 23rd April at 10:00 AM PST (6:00 PM GMT.) Gamers will be able to play all five classes til level 13.
The Diablo III television spot that Blizzard has hyped in the past week aired during the NBA Finals, and for those of you who weren't watching, here is the ad that the publisher ran.
Blizzard has announced the new Diablo III auction house policies and how players will be using them. Auction houses are run in a similar way to the houses found in World of Warcraft. For the first time, US and European gamers will be able to run real-money auctions.
Arvind Bhatis of Stern Agee has predicted that Diablo III will sell 3.5M units in its first year of release, and 4M in its lifetime, pointing out that Diablo II had sold 4M in its first year of release. According to Bhatis, even after "releasing after a gap of 12 years,” Diablo III has the “potential to sell more than 4 million units life-time, including 3.5 million units this year.”
Amazon.com has announced that Diablo III has become the most pre-ordered game of all time from the retail site, "even exceeding pre-orders for Blizzard's own StarCraft II and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm."
Gamers who pre-loaded their English or German digital copies of Diablo III have downloaded incomplete versions of the game, Blizzard has warned. The company advises those users to get a new downloader to install the proper files before the game goes live on the 15th May. Those that downloaded the installer after 9:00AM GMT today need not worry - their version of the installer is fine.
Want a taste of Diablo III? Then find yourself a friend who's gracious enough to send you a Guest Pass which will let you experience the first Act up to the Skeleton King with some restrictions. The sampler lets you attain level 13, but there will be no Auction House access and matchmaking is limited to other Starter Edition free trialers. In one month it will be available to all.
Game Australia going into administration has left some gamers who preordered Diablo III out on the lurch. If a player preordered Diablo III from a GAME store that isn't stocking the game, they will not get a refund.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. The Diablo III installation servers have gone live. The game's launcher will make waiting for the install easier by telling the backstory of previous games as the game downloads. Diablo III itself will go live at midnight PST, however, so don't expect to play right away after the game is fully installed.
Blizzard has expressed an interest in porting Diablo III to consoles, but has continued to be coy about developing it on other platforms. According to game director Jay Wilson in an interview with Gamasutra, “We haven’t officially announced it, because we’re not ‘experimenting."
After the sad news that GAME Australia has entered administration, Diablo III players will be pleased to hear their pre-orders are going to be honoured.
Blizzard's Diablo III has shattered records for the company as it racked up 2 million in pre-orders. Even more impressive was over 8,000 stores held midnight launches globally. Not bad for a PC action-RPG, eh? The US, Europe and Asia can now enjoy the return of the series. This launch is the "culmination of many years of hard work" by Blizzard.
Having trouble installing or playing Diablo III, mortal? Fear not, because the Blizzard witchdoctors have consulted the heavens and have deciphered what troubles you; error codes. Blizzard has posted descriptions for each of the error codes given, like that pesky Error 108, or what of the dastardly Error 37? A pox on thy house Error 315300. Shove it Error 12.
There's another fly in the demonic ointment, but Blizzard has reassuring words. Players have been complaining their unlocked achievements in Diablo III suddenly disappear. Blizzard says we shouldn't worry though because achievements aren't lost. Servers are "really busy" handling new players right now, and achievements are "being hammered" particularly.
On top of Achievement issues, Diablo III gamers have been frustrated by the intermittent and often buggy Diablo III servers, which is problematic for a game that requires an internet connection.
The fellows at Blizzard have always had a wicked sense of humor. For example, there was the rampant rumor of a "Cow Level" in Diablo - so the developers took that urban legend and made it real in Diablo II, complete with attacking, mooing cows.