Diablo 3 art update

Blizzard has uploaded some new art and a couple of screenshots. I must confess I’m a little underwhelmed.

The barbarian character looks fine when reduced five times but zoom in and you see brush strokes - it looks like the artist had an hour or less.

It does carry the message that barbarian armor is crude and rugged but I’d love to see a bit more details. Other AAA titles have MUCH, MUCH superior art.

Update: I see a few Blizzard fanboys commenting how I don’t appreciate Blizzard brushstroke genius. I simply said “I’d love to see a bit more details“. Here’s what I mean - compare Warhammer concept art to Diablo 3 concept art. Now, tell me Blizzard are not taking shortcuts when it comes to concept art. They do and you’ll be blind as a bat if you don’t see a difference in the level of “finish”.

Diablo 3 released on 09/09/09?

Diablo 3 release date has been a hot topic and we’ve all heard the usual Blizzard rhetoric that Diablo 3 will come out WHEN the game is ready.

First, some background: a guy who played Diablo 2 for years got a DOL rune and experimented with it until it crushed the game. He got an error message … a series of meaningless numbers. Or are they?

64 69 61 62 6c 6f 20 33 20 20 30 39 2f 30 39 2f 30 39.

So why is this significant in ANY way? OK, this is the geek part: 64 69 61 62 6c 6f 20 33 20 20 30 39 2f 30 39 2f 30 39 is hex for : Diablo 3 09/09/09. That means that if you translate the hexadecimal code, it gives you Diablo 3’s release date.

Now, the critical part. How likely is that Diablo 2 developers knew in advance when Diablo 3 will be released? NOT LIKELY. At the same time, if I were head of development at Blizzard and I was a bit of a numerology freak… I’d pick EXACTLY this date. Why?

Well, it’s pretty obvious. 09-09-09 represents 666 if you turn it upside down. The number of the beast! (cue the Iron Maiden song here)

Starcraft 2 review

The guys at Joystiq are going over their first Diablo 3 multiplayer experience during Blizzcon.

The quality of the video is way better that most I’ve seen. You need to wait a bit for the multiplayer gameplay to start (at 3:08). The party is complete with all three Diablo 3 classes: Barbarian, Witch Doctor and Wizard.

The only complaint was that the screen was a bit overwhelmed with all the special effects, however, playing the game feels amazing.

Diablo 3 class - Wizard

Blizzard have finally revealed the third Diablo 3 character - a Wizard. As far as I can tell from the gameplay video and the class description, it looks like a copy&paste of the good ole Diablo 2 Sorceress.

The Wizard skills revealed thus far are:

• Disintegrate - constant ray of energy going through multiple enemies
• Electrocute - chain lightning
• Teleport - blink about half a screen away
• Magic Missile - single target damage spell
• Slow Time - creates a sphere that slows down projectiles (very similar to the Protoss Mothership skill)

You can watch the Wizard in action at Blizzard’s site here.

Diablo 3 random dungeons

Jay Wilson stated in an interview that dungeons will be randomly generated - in true Diablo tradition. Btw, Jay is Diablo 3 lead designer.

Outdoors will be persistent, however, and will not change from game to game. In other words, you can use landmarks in multiplayer as meeting places. I.e. Meet me by the river ford.

CG: Are the dungeons still going to be randomly generated?

JW: All the dungeons’ layouts are randomly generated. The exteriors are not. We have a new system of adventures that allows us to cut sections out of the terrain to put random — whatever — in there. We can put random terrain, we can put in scripted events — we wanted to add a lot more scripted events into the game.

So expect that outdoor monsters could be heavily scripted (as the terrain stays constant). They could run to a chest, get a bigger axe and come back.

The other thing I’d like to see in Diablo 3 is getting better, bigger “rogue camps”. Come on, Jay, you can make a city that’s more than 3 houses. Let’s hope that Caldium (picture right) is that city.

Barbarian character

If you’re the kind of guy, who always goes for a macho character, you might ignore the screenshot below.

It’s not Bruce Dickinson fighting Eddie, it’s a female barbarian fighting a Siege Breaker. If you ask me, she’s pretty cool. Favorite skill? Whirlwind!

I’m partial though - my favorite Diablo 2 character was an Ice Sorceress (before they nerfed Blizzard it kicked butt).

Diablo 3 art design

Adam Sessler from G4TV is speaking against the guys who re-did the Diablo 3 screenshots to make them darker and gothic.

Even some Flash RPGs have a better design than the cartoony feel of Diablo.

Diablo 2 cheap cd keys

A week ago I posted that Diablo 2 is back on the sales chart. I also posted that if you want a copy, you don’t need to purchase a retail copy for $55 (for the Battle chest) or $35 (for Diablo 2 and LoD).

You can purchase a Diablo 2 CD key for just $5 online. Once you have your CD KEY, you go to Blizzard’s online store, you register and then proceed to DOWNLOAD your copies of Diablo 2 and LoD.

Blizzard seeks an Art Director

After Diablo 3’s previous Art Director left, Blizzard started looking for a new Art Director for Diablo 3. So I guess the screenshots done by the fans do have some weight when it comes to the art direction. Here’s the ad:

Blizzard Entertainment is currently looking for a talented, motivated, and experienced art director to lead the Diablo III art team. For this position, you must be highly organized with outstanding communication skills and proven experience in management. We’re looking for a proven track record of shipping AAA products in an art director role. Experience modeling and texturing assets for a diverse visual range of environments and a solid grasp of form, color, and light for both 2D and 3D art assets are also essential. You must be experienced at mentoring a team, able to work well in an environment of artists who are passionate about making great games, skilled in another art task (illustration, modeling, texturing, animation, or concept drawing), and well-versed in related tools (Maya, Photoshop, etc.).

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whoever they choose will not be an arrogant bastard and will actually listen to fans when they express their concerns about Diablo 3’s art direction (check out the screenshots redone by the fans).

Diablo 2 back on the sales chart

Diablo 2 is enjoying a Renaissance of sorts on the back of the Diablo 3 announcement. The classic game is back in the sales chart at number 6!

I gave my copy of Diablo II to my cousin a few years ago, so now I’m beating my head against the wall. If you’re like me and would like to replay Diablo 2 with friends on Battle.net, I suggest you find yourself $5.

Why $5? Because that’s how much a Diablo 2 CD key costs. That’s an original key (not some keygen thing) and it works like a charm. You download Diablo II, you enter the key and you’re ready to roll.

Here, I just saved you $55 (the Diablo Battlechest retails for 59.99).

Update: Here’s a direct link to one site offering it at $5 - link.