Video gamers geeked over release of 'Diablo 3'

**ghosthunter** · May 16th, 2012 12:46 PM

Video gamers geeked over release of 'Diablo 3'
12:55 PM, May 15, 2012

IRVINE, Calif. — Fans of "Diablo III" celebrated the midnight launch of the long-awaited video game.

A crowd of more than 1,500 gathered Monday night around a stage built underneath the Ferris wheel at the Irvine Spectrum Center, a shopping center located about a mile from developer Blizzard Entertainment Inc.'s headquarters, for the gritty role-playing sequel set in the fantastical world of Sanctuary.

Anticipation for "Diablo III" from publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. has bubbled over because the previous entry in the series was released 12 years ago, a lifetime in the gaming world when compared with franchises like "World of Warcraft" and "Call of Duty," which regularly receive updates.

"When we first started doing midnight launches, we didn't think anyone would come, but now we do them for all our games, and they get bigger and bigger," said Rob Pardo, Blizzard's vice president of game design. "It's great for not only the fans but also the development team. They get to be here when everyone is buying the game and see the excitement."

"Diablo" fans huddled around the stage to watch Blizzard artists sketch characters from scratch, view never-before-seen footage, take part in trivia contests and attempt to catch free swag during "loot storms."

Ian Noble, 24, wanted his collector's edition autographed by developers.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be tonight," Noble said. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time."

So why did it take so long?

"We were just goofing off mostly," joked lead designer Jay Wilson over howls from the crowd. "No, it takes a long time to make a Blizzard game. We're very focused on quality. If we think something is not good enough, we make it better. We redo things, which is really uncommon in game development. If we build a level and don't like (it), we'll throw it out."

In the third chapter of "Diablo," players choose among five classes — barbarian, demon hunter, monk, witch doctor or wizard — and battle hellish minions across the landscape of Sanctuary.

Wilson hopes new sprawling battlefields, real-money auctions, a deeper combat system and increased online capabilities for "Diablo III" will appease even the frustrated fans.

"If we could have done anything different, we probably wouldn't have announced the game when we did," said Wilson. "We could have waited a little longer. We thought we were closer to release. We want people to get excited, but we don't want them to feel like they're strung along. We always try to have a dialogue with the audience and exceed their expectations."

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhati said "Diablo III," only available to play on PC and Mac computers, not game consoles, has the potential to sell more than 4 million copies. He estimated Blizzard would sell 3.5 million copies this year. "Diablo II," released in the summer of 2000, sold 4 million copies in the year after it debuted.

source: Video gamers geeked over release of 'Diablo 3' | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

**renzo_d10** · May 16th, 2012 01:47 PM

PC game lang ba yan?

Sa 9gag ko nga lang nalaman iyang Diablo, eh.. Had no idea what it was before.

Searched sa YT yung trailer, looks ok. Not that piece of game I'd go crazy about, though.

**niky** · May 16th, 2012 02:07 PM

Diablo was one of the original sandbox RPGs... you could wander for hours levelling up... levelling up... levelling up... then go multiplayer and bash the hell out of each other.

It's one of the few single-player games that translated nicely to multi, especially with the logical set-up of hot-keys and abilities and the huge tree system for character and weapons upgrades.

Diablo 2 was a loooooong time ago. People have been waiting for 3 almost as long as Duke Nukem Forever...

**ess** · May 16th, 2012 02:16 PM

Diablo broke my left mouse button.

**c_cube** · May 16th, 2012 02:24 PM

naririnig ko na dati pa itong diablo pero never ako nakapag laro. ang nalaro ko lang sa PC red alert at warcraft tas hanggang ngayon may counter strike parin ako kalaban mga bots hahaha!

**tsupermario** · May 16th, 2012 02:50 PM

diablo was 1 of my fave games before when I was still a gamer

**ghosthunter** · May 16th, 2012 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by renzo_d10

PC game lang ba yan?

Sa 9gag ko nga lang nalaman iyang Diablo, eh.. Had no idea what it was before.

Searched sa YT yung trailer, looks ok. Not that piece of game I'd go crazy about, though.

Diablo was one of the better fantasy multiplayer role playing games that came out years ago. Unfortunately there was a long delay between the releases of Diablo 2 and 3 for various reasons. Back in the peak of its popularity, only Starcraft & Counterstrike was more popular.

**ghosthunter** · May 16th, 2012 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by ess

Diablo broke my left mouse button.

Back when I still owned a few PC gaming shops, Diablo was responsible for destroying dozens of computer mice.

**ghosthunter** · May 16th, 2012 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by c_cube

naririnig ko na dati pa itong diablo pero never ako nakapag laro. ang nalaro ko lang sa PC red alert at warcraft tas hanggang ngayon may counter strike parin ako kalaban mga bots hahaha!

Masaya Diablo if you have a bunch of networked PCs so you can have your friends helping each other on quests.

**niky** · May 16th, 2012 06:00 PM

Glitch share charms via network... one guy had a whole bunch of these charms that would grant you one level up each. Fill your inventory and your necromancer will have enough power to fill the screen with skeletons with one spell.

Sucked because having two necros fight it out in LAN would crash our PCs...