Diablo Junkie

Remember when just before Starcraft 2 was announced, there was a rumor about a Medusa demo.

Some people thought it could be something related to Diablo 3 (I wish!). The mystery is over - courtesy of Kotaku:

Sigaty, Starcraft 2’s lead producer, told me that the original codename for Starcraft 2 was “alpha”, but when the game was nearing alpha they decided to change it.

“We couldn’t say that alpha was hitting alpha, so we needed another name,” he said. They settled on Medusa.

This isn’t another Diablo 3 rumor. It’s just setting the record straight!

Blizzcon tickets almost sold out! If you plan to attend Blizzcon and you think there’s plenty of time till August, think again.

There’s less than half of the tickets remaining. While you’re at it, you might want to stockpile - keep in mind that up to 5 tickets per billing address are allowed.

Will Diablo 3 be announced at Blizzcon? There have been plenty of rumors lately but no one knows for certain. This is the official announcement from Blizzard:

BlizzCon is a celebration of the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises and the players who have helped make them so popular around the world. Gamers from all over the world come together to enjoy many fun activities and to learn more about Blizzard’s products. Don’t miss out on this amazing event!

One of the reasons a ticket could be worth it, is that it will allow you to take part in a beta of a Blizzard game. There’s little doubt that’s going to be the Starcraft 2 beta which is rumored to start before the end of 2007.

UPDATE: All Blizzcon tickets have been SOLD. I hope you’ve managed to get one. If not, stay strong, we’ll be covering the event!

StarcraftTwo.com does a pretty good wrap up of all the information regarding Diablo 3 being made to date. Lots of info floating around including the books being made in the diablo world, the interview discussions, possible movie being made, blizzard having more then 1 dev team and of course, there has to be some type of announcement at blizzcon!

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!

Look at what appeared when I went to the blizzard home page, this confirms that we should be expecting a announcement from blizzard soon as to what game they have had in the works. Is it a new Starcraft, Diablo or even something else? You decide.

After hinting at new Diablos and Starcrafts, Itzik Ben Bassat says his company's next MMO game will be more "innovative" than its current cash cow; WOW movie still in development.