"It looks like the Diablo III rumor mill has started up once again with a seemingly innocent post on the jobs section of the Blizzard web site. A few days ago they posted a job for an art director and various leads to join "the team behind Diablo I and II" for "an unannounced PC project." I have been getting some inquires since then if Blizzard is indeed working on Diablo III and when is it going to come out?
Well, before I answer let me mention a few things. First, I don't want to get any of my friends at Blizzard in trouble, so from instead of mentioning "Diablo III" let's call this theoretical game "Beelzebub 3" and instead of "Blizzard" let's call them "Snowstorm". Second, my information is quality stuff, but it is a little old, so take that with a gain of salt. Third, err, well, there is no third, so let's get into what I know!
Let's the obvious out of way, "Snowstorm" is indeed working on "Beelzebub 3". Not only are they working on it, but they have been working on this game for no less than the past four years. In fact, "Snowstorm North" nearly completed the game several years ago, but what they developed just "wasn't fun" and been quietly reworked. This was actually one of the key reasons why Snowstorm North was closed and everyone was relocated to Irvine-based Snowstorm, so that the bigwigs in Irvine could better track and follow the development of Beelzebub 3.
As for what to expect in to see in Beelzebub 3, believe it or not but those rumors that were floating around a few months ago about the game were fairly accurate (by the way, I have no idea who started these rumors or where they came from). According to the rumors:
"Diablo 3 takes place in heaven. Hell is trying to take it over and it is AWESOME looking … Imagine the brightness of heaven being taken over by the darkness of hell … Imagine WoW but in a Diablo world in amount of size and playability … Also, guild housing is available in this game for those of you who know about it."
This information was pretty dead-on. It is true that Beelzebub 3 will be done in true 3D and it did indeed look freaking awesome. It is also true that Beelzebub 3 features a story between the conflicts of Heaven and Hell and contains a very cool feature where every single item in the game can change between a "light" version and a "dark" version. However this was also one of the problems with the original version of the game. Other than the ability for any item to visually change from light to dark it didn't affect the actual stats of the item or change the gameplay in any way. So the game has gone through a total rework to inject some "fun" into the gameplay and to make it feel like the Beelzebubs of old.
The core gameplay Beelzebub 3 will play pretty much like Beelzebub 1 and 2, but the game world will be much larger and provide a much deeper experience -- many more items, more levels when you go through the game for first time, more skills, more of everything. In addition, the multiplayer aspect will be greatly enhanced from the past installments and don't be surprised to see more than a couple of WoW-based concepts to leak over into the Beelzebub 3 universe ... such as two opposing factions (Alliance and Horde = Heaven and Hell), enhanced guild functionality, and maybe even mounts?!
As for when Beelzebub 3 will released, that one is easy to answer ... when it's done. Snowstorm is in no rush to finish this game and will release it only after they feel it's perfect. And after the fiasco of StarCraft: Ghost -- which has been announced for years and is currently going through its second round of redesign and reprogramming -- Snowstorm is in no rush to announce Beelzebub 3. Don't except an announcement until the game is near completion.
But there is some good news; that "leak" on the Snowstorm jobs page was no accident. If they are starting to leak information about Beelzebub 3 then they are starting to get closer to a final release. Of course for Snowstorm something "getting close" can mean two years from now.
Hopefully that will hold everyone over for the short term. Hopefully Beelzebub 3 will be announced at the next E3, I'll try to find out more before then and give everyone the dirt as I get it."
That was posted here:
http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2006/02/rumor_diablo_ii.php
Also you cant ignore all the talk about the soundtrack already being recorded:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Diablo-3-a-secret-revealed-1545.shtml
I think blizzard is being secretive. I also think they are nearing completing the diablo 3 project. And I bet you all money it will be announced sometime before the end of 2006.
also
www.diablo3.de
www.diablo3.co.uk
of course blizzard would want to snatch up any diablo 3 URL's before they released it. Im sure there are more, but those are the 2 best examples.
More domain name fun. Ricard sends word that on 24th March Blizzard registered the diablo3.es (Spain) domain. They recently also aquired the diablo3.de domain from a third party. Before announcement of the title they'll want to gather up as many domains and that includes pre-owned ones as is the case with the German one. Whether the announcement is imminenet (E3 in May) or a little way off (Blizzcon in October) we're not sure but betting on either is safe.
You can check out the Spanish domain reg https://shop.arsys.es/whois.php?dominio=diablo3.es&ds=1143981171&f=44e7c810f7c2d70fccf7fe9c1e21419f, you'll need to type in the code printed above the form box to gain entry to show the page.
And ill keep going
Throwing yet more fuel on the D3 rumour fire is this blog entry by Rahul Sood, tech writer and president of VoodooPC.
"Blizzard is rumored to have purchased around 1500+ new HP servers all based on AMD Opteron 64 technology. I am guessing Blizzard will combine the power of these servers to improve the gaming experience for World of Warcraft users worldwide – as well Blizzard may also be preparing for their next major online game. Perhaps they are preparing for the next generation Diablo or something of the like."
There is a severe lag issue with World of Warcraft (due to some freshly added content) and they currently have 295 servers (133 US, 162 Europe) in place so it's not unreasonable to think that these superior servers are to replace the existing ones (pretty please). 295 is still some leap to 1,500 and even if they doubled the number of servers assigned to WoW in preparation for the Burning Crusade (Xpack) that still leaves plenty left over. Assuming they've not bought the rest to decorate their offices that leaves Starcraft: Ghost and an unnanounced project. I don't even know what Ghost will use but it's certainly not 900 Opterons. Of course this all hinges on the rumour being fact but there appears to be some credence to it. Also, Ghost was permanently shelved, and odds are it wont come out, ever.
Well, before I answer let me mention a few things. First, I don't want to get any of my friends at Blizzard in trouble, so from instead of mentioning "Diablo III" let's call this theoretical game "Beelzebub 3" and instead of "Blizzard" let's call them "Snowstorm". Second, my information is quality stuff, but it is a little old, so take that with a gain of salt. Third, err, well, there is no third, so let's get into what I know!
Let's the obvious out of way, "Snowstorm" is indeed working on "Beelzebub 3". Not only are they working on it, but they have been working on this game for no less than the past four years. In fact, "Snowstorm North" nearly completed the game several years ago, but what they developed just "wasn't fun" and been quietly reworked. This was actually one of the key reasons why Snowstorm North was closed and everyone was relocated to Irvine-based Snowstorm, so that the bigwigs in Irvine could better track and follow the development of Beelzebub 3.
As for what to expect in to see in Beelzebub 3, believe it or not but those rumors that were floating around a few months ago about the game were fairly accurate (by the way, I have no idea who started these rumors or where they came from). According to the rumors:
"Diablo 3 takes place in heaven. Hell is trying to take it over and it is AWESOME looking … Imagine the brightness of heaven being taken over by the darkness of hell … Imagine WoW but in a Diablo world in amount of size and playability … Also, guild housing is available in this game for those of you who know about it."
This information was pretty dead-on. It is true that Beelzebub 3 will be done in true 3D and it did indeed look freaking awesome. It is also true that Beelzebub 3 features a story between the conflicts of Heaven and Hell and contains a very cool feature where every single item in the game can change between a "light" version and a "dark" version. However this was also one of the problems with the original version of the game. Other than the ability for any item to visually change from light to dark it didn't affect the actual stats of the item or change the gameplay in any way. So the game has gone through a total rework to inject some "fun" into the gameplay and to make it feel like the Beelzebubs of old.
The core gameplay Beelzebub 3 will play pretty much like Beelzebub 1 and 2, but the game world will be much larger and provide a much deeper experience -- many more items, more levels when you go through the game for first time, more skills, more of everything. In addition, the multiplayer aspect will be greatly enhanced from the past installments and don't be surprised to see more than a couple of WoW-based concepts to leak over into the Beelzebub 3 universe ... such as two opposing factions (Alliance and Horde = Heaven and Hell), enhanced guild functionality, and maybe even mounts?!
As for when Beelzebub 3 will released, that one is easy to answer ... when it's done. Snowstorm is in no rush to finish this game and will release it only after they feel it's perfect. And after the fiasco of StarCraft: Ghost -- which has been announced for years and is currently going through its second round of redesign and reprogramming -- Snowstorm is in no rush to announce Beelzebub 3. Don't except an announcement until the game is near completion.
But there is some good news; that "leak" on the Snowstorm jobs page was no accident. If they are starting to leak information about Beelzebub 3 then they are starting to get closer to a final release. Of course for Snowstorm something "getting close" can mean two years from now.
Hopefully that will hold everyone over for the short term. Hopefully Beelzebub 3 will be announced at the next E3, I'll try to find out more before then and give everyone the dirt as I get it."
That was posted here:
http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/2006/02/rumor_diablo_ii.php
Also you cant ignore all the talk about the soundtrack already being recorded:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Diablo-3-a-secret-revealed-1545.shtml
I think blizzard is being secretive. I also think they are nearing completing the diablo 3 project. And I bet you all money it will be announced sometime before the end of 2006.
also
www.diablo3.de
www.diablo3.co.uk
of course blizzard would want to snatch up any diablo 3 URL's before they released it. Im sure there are more, but those are the 2 best examples.
More domain name fun. Ricard sends word that on 24th March Blizzard registered the diablo3.es (Spain) domain. They recently also aquired the diablo3.de domain from a third party. Before announcement of the title they'll want to gather up as many domains and that includes pre-owned ones as is the case with the German one. Whether the announcement is imminenet (E3 in May) or a little way off (Blizzcon in October) we're not sure but betting on either is safe.
You can check out the Spanish domain reg https://shop.arsys.es/whois.php?dominio=diablo3.es&ds=1143981171&f=44e7c810f7c2d70fccf7fe9c1e21419f, you'll need to type in the code printed above the form box to gain entry to show the page.
And ill keep going
Throwing yet more fuel on the D3 rumour fire is this blog entry by Rahul Sood, tech writer and president of VoodooPC.
"Blizzard is rumored to have purchased around 1500+ new HP servers all based on AMD Opteron 64 technology. I am guessing Blizzard will combine the power of these servers to improve the gaming experience for World of Warcraft users worldwide – as well Blizzard may also be preparing for their next major online game. Perhaps they are preparing for the next generation Diablo or something of the like."
There is a severe lag issue with World of Warcraft (due to some freshly added content) and they currently have 295 servers (133 US, 162 Europe) in place so it's not unreasonable to think that these superior servers are to replace the existing ones (pretty please). 295 is still some leap to 1,500 and even if they doubled the number of servers assigned to WoW in preparation for the Burning Crusade (Xpack) that still leaves plenty left over. Assuming they've not bought the rest to decorate their offices that leaves Starcraft: Ghost and an unnanounced project. I don't even know what Ghost will use but it's certainly not 900 Opterons. Of course this all hinges on the rumour being fact but there appears to be some credence to it. Also, Ghost was permanently shelved, and odds are it wont come out, ever.
