Blizzard Entertainment has dropped what some are regarding as a bombshell and others (like the folks at Joystiq), have been prophesizing about these past few weeks. Diablo 3. While the opening ceremonies were getting underway at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational tournament event in Paris, Blizzard broke the news and officially announced Diablo 3 to be in development, though like Starcraft 2, is lacking in a release date. My own two cents is that everyone at Blizzard is currently either tied up maintaining and expanding WoW or putting the finishing touches on Starcraft 2, and thus we won't see this third installment in the Diablo trilogy till sometime in 2009 or later.
The previous team to work on the Diablo series, Blizzard North being no more (they split up and some even got together to create the Hellgate: London, developer Flagship Studios.
In an age of Conan and WoW monopoly (sorry Guild Wars, I've been questioning NcSoft's commitment to gaming lately), what could this possible 2009 title offer us that we haven't already seen ? For starters, the game will feature a customized version of Havok physics which in lamens terms means that you'll get realistic objects and clothing along with destructible environments. Now if you can permanently alter the landscapes and return to do a little remodeling later on then I can definitely see not only replay-ability but also a fair amount of cheer from those of us who make it our solemn duty to create tricked out maps. Like all previous installments of the Diablo series, this one will be free and not carry a pesky and expensive monthly subscription fee. The most striking difference thus far though is the fact it will launch on both PC and MAC! Aside from being biased toward what I consider the best platform and computer available (not 100% given that yours truly using a macbook and not a Pro), its saying something about the change a few years makes to see the mac again being considered not only large enough a platform but also a profitable one that consumes and demands gaming software.
Until further notice I'll be awaiting an official release date on Starcraft 2 with Diablo 3 in the back of my mind as a game to check out this upcoming year. You may want to check out Blizzards official Diablo 3 site in the meantime
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