Diablo III preview
As the beta continues, its lead developers explain why, in Rob Pardo's words, it's "quite fun to play".
As the beta continues, its lead developers explain why, in Rob Pardo's words, it's "quite fun to play".
World Of Warcraft has been translated into its tenth language, Brazilian Portuguese, publisher Blizzard has announced. The language pack, which will be a free download to existing players, will also see a fully localised retail release in Europe. The official World Of Warcraft website will also be available in Brazilian Portuguese, as will the game's second and third expansions, Wrath Of The Lich King and Cataclysm. More >
Getting upset about the right things in the right way is the key to moving videogames forward, says Leigh Alexander.
In a press release, Blizzard has announced that Diablo III has been delayed, and will now be released early next year. More >
Upcoming action-RPG Diablo III has entered closed beta, developer Blizzard has announced. The beta features part of the games first act, with players able to choose from any of the game's five classes: barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk or demon hunter . More >
Mike Morhaime says loss last quarter of 300,000 subscribers was to be expected following release of Cataclysm.
3MMO Champion spotted Blizzard's filing last week with the US Patent and Trademark Office for "Mists Of Pandaria", which covers "computer game software". It's all speculation at this point, but it appears that this will be the fourth World Of Warcraft expansion. A document containing Blizzard's five-year release schedule, leaked last December, showed the firm was planning two further WOW expansions: one in Q2 2012, and the fifth in Q4 2013.
1Following Blizzard's decision to make Diablo III online-only and to include a real-world currency auction house, it has revealed - hardly surprisingly - that the game will not allow thirdparty mods. "For a variety of gameplay and security reasons, we will not be supporting bots or mods in Diablo III, and they’ll be expressly prohibited by our terms of use for the game," says Blizzard's FAQ. At the top of the variety of reasons are surely the concerns that mods could disrupt online play and the game's economy.
Blizzard's forthcoming action RPG will be online-only and will include a real-world currency auction house. Blizzard will take fixed flat fees for listings and sales, though players will get a number of free listings each week. "It came from the standpoint of watching the players from Diablo II and WOW and seeing there was a demand for this, and that was something players wanted," explains game director Jay Wilson. "If they want it so bad that they’re willing to leave the game, go to some other website, risk being banned, risk credit card fraud, account compromise – that’s a lot of risk, and that means that’s a lot of demand that players have." For a full explanation by Blizzard game design lead Rob Pardo and Wilson, read our feature at the link below.
Blizzard design lead Rob Pardo explains controversial new features.
Blizzard has revealed that it will test its Read ID Party feature in World Of Warcraft. Real ID Party allows players using Battle.net's social networking system to invite friends of the same faction to a party, regardless of what realm that player is currently located in. The newly formed party is then able to queue up for a five-player normal of heroic dungeon. Aspects of the service may require payment, but Blizzard has said that it will go into more detail on this once the testing period is over.
Blizzard Entertainment becomes the latest developer to adopt the increasingly popular freemium model, with World Of Warcraft now available for free until players reach level 20. Limits are also in place on gold and trade skills, while the auction house, mailbox, trading, chat and guilds are unavailable. Should players wish to subscribe when they reach the level cap, the game and its Burning Crusade expansion are available at a discounted price.
2Blizzard is currently considering iOS development with a view to porting World Of Warcraft to iPhone and iPad. That's according to Blizzard lead systems designer Greg Street, who revealed the interest in an interview with Eurogamer. "Everyone I know here has an iPhone or an iPad so we're huge fans of the hardware," he said. "If we could make the right game changes to make [iOS WOW] work, it's something we'd be interested in. It's not something you're going to see in the next week or two, but it's the kind of thing we're always looking at."
The third World Of Warcraft expansion will be released in China, through NetEase, on July 12. Coming seven months after its western launch, this will be the quickest Chinese release of a WOW expansion to date: The Burning Crusade took eight months, and Wrath Of The Lich King was released 23 months later, after being twice rejected by the Chinese government. Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime said: "We've always appreciated Chinese gamers' passion and support for World Of Warcraft, and we're excited that they'll soon be able to enjoy all of the great new content this expansion has to offer."
In a job posting on its website, Blizzard's Diablo team seeks a senior software engineer "responsible for overseeing Playstation 3 architecture design as well as other PS3-specific game code development to maximize platform performance."
Recognises need to release expansions more quickly after losing 500,000 subscribers in three months.
A survey of the landscape and life forms that made the game of the decade.
How catering for spectators as well as players was "like inventing Basketball 2."
Developer admits StarCraft II map portal presents "an immense number of challenges".
Says MMOG developers should stick to the ìWOW rulesî; Blizzard says Titan will be ìcompletely freshî.