http://www.weblogsinc.com Post tagged diablo on the Weblogs Inc Network http://www.weblogsinc.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.weblogsinc.com en-us Copyright 2006 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ http://www.wow.com/2009/12/02/blizzard-properties-now-on-facebook/http://www.wow.com/2009/12/02/blizzard-properties-now-on-facebook/http://www.wow.com/2009/12/02/blizzard-properties-now-on-facebook/#comments Acknowledging the power of social media and networking, Blizzard has created fan pages for their three big franchises on Facebook. Following the trend of other products and companies who have created Facebook pages in order to deliver updates, promotions, and other fan extras, Blizzard has set up pages for Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. Interested fans need to have a Facebook account in order to "become a fan" of the pages, which Blizzard says they have big plans for.

Through these fan pages, Blizzard will be able to give a constant feed of news updates and media such as video, galleries, or links. Fan pages are also a common conduit for promos and contests as frequently used by Blizzard partners such as Razer and Figureprints. There are also forums for discussion and a "wall" that allows fans to write on for questions, comments, or anything related to the franchises.

Interestingly, and perhaps owing to its massive player base, the Warcraft fan page has already gained three times as many followers as the other two properties in the short time it has been active. This reflects a similar trend on Twitter, another social networking tool that Blizzard has utilized lately, where @Warcraft has over twice the number of followers of either @Diablo or @Starcraft.]]>diablo http://www.massively.com/2009/12/01/massivelys-interview-with-mythos-gearing-up-for-launch/http://www.massively.com/2009/12/01/massivelys-interview-with-mythos-gearing-up-for-launch/http://www.massively.com/2009/12/01/massivelys-interview-with-mythos-gearing-up-for-launch/#comments Today marks another milestone for the almost-forgotten Mythos MMO. As we mentioned a few months ago, the Diablo-esque game has been resurrected and we can now report that it has been picked up by Redbana US. New closed beta registration was started in August and we're well on our way to actually getting this game launched. With this new information, we assembled some questions (thanks to former Managing Editor, Michael Zenke for most of these questions) for the Mythos team on this special occasion.

So the milestone at this stage of the game's life is a newly-revamped website, just released and announced today. Check it out for a teaser video, lore entries, their brand new forums and much more!]]>diablo http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/24/blizzard-removes-skill-trees-from-diablo-iii/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/24/blizzard-removes-skill-trees-from-diablo-iii/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/24/blizzard-removes-skill-trees-from-diablo-iii/#comments
Fans of the Diablo series know that for the upcoming third installment in Blizzard's action-RPG series the game developers have been working with a tree-style of architecture for their character skill system. Well, that seems to be officially out of the game design now, according to Blizzard's Jay Wilson

Speaking to site Diablo Fans (natch) Wilson states, "About that, we've decided to remove the tree-type architecture and we are moving into a purely skill-based system." Wilson admits that their new skill system is still in the early design stages and that they wanted to try out a few new ideas. He adds, "It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree per se." Since Diablo III's release date is at least two years away we think they have some time to come up with something.

[Via Blue's News]
%Gallery-26346%]]>diablo http://www.wow.com/2009/11/23/are-set-bonuses-outdated/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/23/are-set-bonuses-outdated/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/23/are-set-bonuses-outdated/#comments Well now, here's an interesting thought to consider this weekend: Zemeny on Barthilas suggests that maybe it's time to do away with a gear mechanic that Blizzard has used since Diablo. He thinks that set bonuses deserve to be put out to pasture. He doesn't go into his reasoning much, but we can probably fill that in; not only do set bonuses tend to either be overpowered or too weak (as in, you usually need to have a specific set bonus to make or break a class), but they make gear choices uneven, usually leaving you to choose between an upgrade or a set bonus. Zemeny suggests we do away with the whole thing -- create one set bonus per tier, leaving upgrades for the gear itself, or just turn the set bonus into an extra gem or inscription slot and give us more power that way.

Ghostcrawler shows up in the thread and says that the game would be pretty boring if set bonuses weren't included -- I presume he means that you'd just upgrade your gear according to iLvl, and that would be that. He even says that he wishes the tiers varied more, but players really want to see "unambiguous upgrades" to their items. People need rewarding when they move up, so GC can't mix things up with the various bonuses as much as he might like.]]>diablo http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/22/blizzard-says-no-diablo-3-in-2010-who-knows-when-itll-be-rel/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/22/blizzard-says-no-diablo-3-in-2010-who-knows-when-itll-be-rel/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/22/blizzard-says-no-diablo-3-in-2010-who-knows-when-itll-be-rel/#comments Remember that silly, insane rumor from back in 2008 about Diablo 3 being released by Blizzard before StarCraft 2? Turns out that Blizzard's Rob Pardo thinks that's a bunch of hogwash. Rather, that's at least what we can infer from his recent conversation with Techland on the subject. "We always announce all of our games too early," he says. "I think it's safe to say that, yeah, [Diablo 3] is not going to be out next year."

Considering StarCraft 2's delay to 2010, we think it's fair to assume that Diablo 3 will in fact not be arriving before a StarCraft sequel. Pardo adds that it's not a question of lacking resources, as "each game has individual development teams; it's just that the way that we develop games, we develop them very iteratively." Worse yet, there doesn't seem to be a finish line in sight for D3. "Now when we announce [a game] we just go, 'Here's the game we're working on, we're going to start talking about it and who knows when it ships.'" If any of you were still holding your breath for Diablo 3's release, now might be a good time to exhale.

[Via Big Download]%Gallery-71950%]]>diablo http://www.flytrapgames.com/2009/11/16/diablo-with-a-pinch-of-dragon-breeding/http://www.flytrapgames.com/2009/11/16/diablo-with-a-pinch-of-dragon-breeding/http://www.flytrapgames.com/2009/11/16/diablo-with-a-pinch-of-dragon-breeding/#comments

The curious career of Godlimations continues. Having scared the pants off us with Vorago, the Christian developer has turned its attention to the dungeon-crawling genre in the form of Dragon Boy.

You play a chap with free-floating hands and feet, aided and abetted in his quest against evildom by a sarky wizardress and a fledgling dragon. Each level is a small arena featuring two or three kinds of enemy. Move with WASD, and click the mouse to flail your weapons about.

As in Diablo, the genre's venerable but undisputed champion, you'll gradually accrete experience points in battle which lead to level-ups, improved character attributes (strength, endurance, etc) and new abilities for your companions. It's one of those "slow but satisfying" gigs.

The dragon also increases in size and ferocity if you feed it items like mushrooms and carrots. Hmmm, a vegetarian dragon. Probably gets no end of stick from the other dragons at school.

Between levels, you can roam the hub village buying stuff and trading insults with the surly locals. Our top tip: wield two weapons at once for additional damage.

Thanks OneMoreLevel.

Play Dragon Boy]]>diablo http://www.wow.com/2009/11/12/blizzard-announces-holiday-card-contest/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/12/blizzard-announces-holiday-card-contest/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/12/blizzard-announces-holiday-card-contest/#comments Blizzard has made it a holiday tradition to release a holiday card every year (usually drawn by Samwise), but this year they're putting a little twist on it. They're running a contest asking the potential artists among you to submit your own original Blizzard-themed holiday card. Download their template, fill it up with Diablo, Starcraft, or Warcraft-related holiday art (no Lost Vikings or Rock N' Roll Racing art, apparently), submit it on the contest page before December 7th, and you can win a whole slew of prizes from Blizzard and Razer, including a mouse, keyboard, and headset, as well as a signed copy of Blizzard's 2009 holiday card from Samwise himself.

So artists, get to, um, "art"-ing! We can't wait to see your rendition of Deathwing as Santa Claus, Kerrigan as the Mrs., and a whole tribe of Fallen Ones standing in for the little elves.]]>diablo http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/torchlight-dev-speaks-about-blizzard-competition-mmo-plans/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/torchlight-dev-speaks-about-blizzard-competition-mmo-plans/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/12/torchlight-dev-speaks-about-blizzard-competition-mmo-plans/#comments Max Schaefer, co-founder of Torchlight developer Runic Games (and former Blizzard North staffer) recently sat down for the most terrifying interview of his life. In an interview with German gaming news site PCGames.de, Schaefer was buffeted with strongly-worded interrogatives, at one point being told to "Defend yourself!" The harsh questioning was worth it -- Schaefer opened up about similarities between his studio's game and Diablo, explaining, "we plead guilty to trying to perfect a style of game we've worked on since the early 90's."

The more intriguing part of the interview came when Schaefer discussed the future of the series -- a future which involves a free-to-play MMORPG based in the world of Torchlight. Just because the game won't put a hurt on your wallet doesn't mean Runic Games is skimping out; according to Schaefer, the Torchlight MMO will be a large production, complete with "a lot of customization, an overworld, random and instanced dungeons, PVP, and much more!"

Schaefer added that the MMO is still about two years out. The studio plans to go into pre-production as soon as it squashes all the bugs in the offline version of Torchlight, and hopes to have the game reach the community with alpha and beta testing phases "as quickly as possible."]]>diablo http://www.horrorsquad.com/2009/11/11/play-that-spooky-music-13-of-horror-gamings-creepiest-tracks/http://www.horrorsquad.com/2009/11/11/play-that-spooky-music-13-of-horror-gamings-creepiest-tracks/http://www.horrorsquad.com/2009/11/11/play-that-spooky-music-13-of-horror-gamings-creepiest-tracks/#comments
When you mention creepy soundtracks, people tend to think of movies. I understand why this happens--because a good soundtrack can make an average movie terrifying--but it's hardly the only place where a spooky bit of music can set the mood and freak out an audience. Gaming is still in its infancy as an artform (and we'll save the "are games art?" debate for another day...), but music in horror games is as vital to the overall experience as it is in horror films. Unfortunately, it rarely gets any kind of recognition from the masses.

With that idea in mind, I had the brilliant idea to come up with a list of the creepiest music from horror videogames. Like most of my ideas, it sounded really great when it occurred to me. How hard can it be to come up with ten or so scary tracks? I thought to myself. Like all projects I undertake, this one turned out to be way more work than I expected. There's a lot of horror game music out there, and I've spent the last week or so going through it track by track trying to find the best of the best. This is the fruit of my labor...

Jump past the break for the list.]]>diablo http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/09/boot-disk-diablo/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/09/boot-disk-diablo/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/09/boot-disk-diablo/#comments

C:\BootDisk\Diablo

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

It was mentioned in the All You Need To Know for Diablo III that Diablo was founded upon some simple rogue-like principles. Randomized dungeons, shrines, unidentified equipment, and many other different elements were mixed into a single action-packed experience. However, you shouldn't simply take our word for it. Diablo is still available for purchase over a decade since its release, and is still one of the best games out there. It's also fascinating to see the evolution of the genre it created, as Diablo is very different from other games of its kind such as Dungeon Siege or even its own sequel. While you may have played all the games it inspired, it's always good to get a taste of a classic.]]>diablo http://www.wow.com/2009/11/08/pandaren-in-the-world-of-warcraft/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/08/pandaren-in-the-world-of-warcraft/http://www.wow.com/2009/11/08/pandaren-in-the-world-of-warcraft/#comments In among all of the "omg fake pets for real money" drama from this week's announcement, we may have missed something big: the Pandaren are now live in the World of Warcraft. The Pandaren are my favorite Azerothian race, even though they're essentially a joke -- Samwise Didier just loves pandas, and he made art for an April Fool's joke that Chris Metzen loved so much they decided to include the bears as real characters in Warcraft III. Since then, they've become fan favorites (not least of all, especially for me, because alcohol and ale are a big part of their culture), but we've only seen hints of them in World of Warcraft. There was a rumor going around a while back that they would never appear in the game because China didn't allow depictions of violence against the bears, but that was just a rumor. Still, the Pandaren have existed in WoW only as a Blizzard in-joke. We assume they're out there somewhere, but until now, no one has ever seen one.

Of course we say "until now" because there are now little Pandaren monk noncombat pets running around, bowing, and doing magical kung-fu. Does this mean that the future Emerald Dream expansion will have us all playing as Brewmasters? While yes that would be awesome, not so fast again: Diablo and the Zergling from Starcraft are both in the game as noncombat pets, and they don't mean anything at all (although they were both included in the game before the announcements of Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 -- maybe Blizzard is working on a Pandaren-based puzzle game? Conspiracy theorists, assemble!). And just because we all have Grunty doesn't mean murlocs are suddenly going to take to spaceships with battle rifles in the official lore. But it's cool to see Pandaren actually in the game, even in pet form, and who knows, maybe we will one day find the legendary realm of Pandaria in our own version of Azeroth.]]>diablo http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/04/all-you-need-to-know-diablo-iii/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/04/all-you-need-to-know-diablo-iii/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/11/04/all-you-need-to-know-diablo-iii/#comments
Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Diablo III related downloads here on Big Download!
%Gallery-26346%]]>diablo http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire/http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire/http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire/#comments For the past week I've been delving deep into the dungeons of Runic Games' Torchlight and found the experience to be nothing short of joyous. Granted, like many other people I also wish some kind of co-op shipped with the game (even over LAN) but thankfully the developer's next project will be an MMO built upon the foundation laid down by last week's release.

My joy for this game most definitely bleeds into its MMO incarnation, which has led to far too much thinking on additions I'd like to see made. So this week, I'm going to get them all off my chest in the hopes that I'll stop obsessing over them. Of course, there's never a guarantee with these things.
]]>diablo http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire-page-2/http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire-page-2/http://www.massively.com/2009/11/02/the-digital-continuum-torchlight-my-fire-page-2/#comments]]>diablo http://www.massively.com/2009/10/27/the-daily-grind-getting-torchlight/http://www.massively.com/2009/10/27/the-daily-grind-getting-torchlight/http://www.massively.com/2009/10/27/the-daily-grind-getting-torchlight/#comments Today is the launch of Runic Games' Torchlight, although you probably know them best as the guys who worked on Mythos. The MMO version of Torchlight isn't out for another 18 months or so, but you can get a taste of it as of today, which is of course the game's release date -- imagine that!

Not only is the game developed by the former Mythos team, it's also headed by Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II. Speaking of those games, we hope you liked their music, because the same man who wrote it worked on Torchlight as well. The pedigree is definitely high, and from our hands-on experience it shines through exceedingly well.

So will you be getting Torchlight? At the low price of $20, it's not a hard sell considering the quality of the game. Plus, with full mod tools being included in that price, free fan-made content should be falling down from the heavens in no time flat.
]]>diablo http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/14/first-impressions-torchlight/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/14/first-impressions-torchlight/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/14/first-impressions-torchlight/#comments
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few years, first of all, welcome back to civilization. Second of all, remember Diablo? Yeah, they're making the third one finally. But we don't know when it's coming out, so to hell with them ... literally. Because third of all, Runic Games's Torchlight is dropping on the 27th! Yes, of this month!

What? You've never heard of Torchlight or Runic Games? Well, then, let me school you big money style. Read on to find out why Torchlight is going to stave off those waiting-for-Diablo 3 jitters.]]>diablo http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/07/amazon-com-has-one-day-sale-on-blizzard-battle-chest-game-coll/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/07/amazon-com-has-one-day-sale-on-blizzard-battle-chest-game-coll/http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/10/07/amazon-com-has-one-day-sale-on-blizzard-battle-chest-game-coll/#comments
Amazon.com has the occasional one day sale that might be of interest to our audience. Today their one day sale deals with the "Battle Chest" game collections from Blizzard Entertainment. For today only three of these collections are on sale for 50 percent off.

If you haven't bought these games already you can get the Diablo Battle Chest (Diablo II and its expansion plus strategy guide) for $19.98, the Warcraft III Battle Chest (the original game, the expansion plus strategy guides) for $19.98 and the StarCraft Battle Chest (the original game, the expansion plus strategy guides) for just $9.98. That's 50 percent off their normal price.]]>diablo http://www.massively.com/2009/09/22/dungeon-fighter-online-hits-open-beta/http://www.massively.com/2009/09/22/dungeon-fighter-online-hits-open-beta/http://www.massively.com/2009/09/22/dungeon-fighter-online-hits-open-beta/#comments
Dungeon Fighter Online hits open beta today, so anyone wondering whether or not they'll like the game can give it a shot. If you need a little more encouragement than that, we can tell you that the game feels like a cross between classics like Golden Axe and Diablo with an MMO bent for good measure. You can even hook up an Xbox 360 wired controller to your PC if you'd rather not use a keyboard.

Sure, it's a free-to-play game and that brings certain negative assumptions to some peoples' minds, but we think the juice is worth the squeeze. Fruits never hurt anybody, unless you're smashing a lemon into your face, and then you're just asking for it anyhow.]]>diablo http://www.wow.com/2009/09/08/blizzard-at-pax-2009-wrapup/http://www.wow.com/2009/09/08/blizzard-at-pax-2009-wrapup/http://www.wow.com/2009/09/08/blizzard-at-pax-2009-wrapup/#comments
PAX wrapped up over the weekend in Seattle, and from what we've heard of our friends' experiences over at Joystiq, it was a wild, wild time. Blizzard was there as expected, and it sounds like the setup was pretty awesome. They had all three playable demos up from BlizzCon, including the Starcraft II singleplayer game, the Diablo III monk class, and of course the Cataclysm Worgen and Goblin race starting areas. We hear that Blizzard had their GMs in attendance as well, and reader Aveiceae (whose pictures you can see in the gallery below) reports that she saw both Drysc and Bornakk there. She also says that Blizzard gave away some of their famous hand sanitizer throughout the show -- very important, especially at a gaming convention during swine flu season.

Tisoi also has a report over on WoW LJ, including a few pictures of the setup on the convention floor, as well as a few (sneaky) screenshots of the Worgen and Goblin areas. He also got to meet Jeff "Vork" Lewis and Sandeep "Zaboo" Parikh of The Guild. Felicia Day wasn't there (she spent the weekend at Dragon*Con, where there was other WoW-related shenanigans going on), but as Sandeep reported on his Twitter, she wasn't needed, thanks to cosplayers. Sounds like a great time was had by all. Next year, PAX is headed out east -- we'll have to keep an eye out and see if Blizzard is going there as well.

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click to enlarge
Yes, it hasn't even been a week since we brought you some hands-on impressions of Diablo III. One might say it's too soon to add to those impressions, and one might have a good point. Allow us to offer a counterpoint: It's Diablo III. This game, at the very earliest, will not release until 2025 (Q4, of course). As such, we have to provide you with any and all possible coverage. It would be irresponsible not to. Besides, there's some new stuff to cover here, and it's good stuff.
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