Blizzcon 2011

Blizzard, the gaming company behind the very successful Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series, are once again hosting their annual Blizzcon festival. There's something new going on with each of their "intellectual properties", so here's a link to the new Diablo 3 cinematic (watch in highest possible quality, this is some nice shit):

Nice stuff, though a little basic story-wise. Still, we get to know that Azmodan is going to be an important character. To clarify, in Diablo 3's universe (called Sanctuary), there are 7 evils - 3 prime evils (Mephisto - Lord of Hatred; Baal - Lord of Destruction and Diablo - Lord of Terror) and 4 lesser evils (Duriel - Lord of Pain, Andariel - Maiden of Anguish; Azmodan - Lord of Sin and Belial - Lord of Lies). Diablo was first defeated in the first game but resurrected through the first game's main character. So he was destroyed once again in the second game, along with Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto and Baal. So now we know that Diablo and Azmodan will going to have a strong presence, also Belial will be involved. Goodbye social life...
Then there's Starcraft 2 keeping their fans waiting for their first, zerg-orientated expansion:

And lastly, the World of Warcraft MMORPG, making it's announcement for the fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria:

Lol srsly? While the Chinese-themed world looks somewhat appealing, the childish kung fu panda stuff (yes, I'm not the first one to make this connection)  has received a lot of negative vibes. The pet battle system is often compared to Pokemon and the pandaren monk stuff to well... kung fu panda. Have to admit though, that pandas have been existing in Warcraft's lore since Warcraft 3, so probably way before Kung Fu Panda was a thing. Admittedly, they existed more as "eastern egg" jokes than real lore characters. Not sure I will try this expansion out but if Diablo 3 is out by then, why should I?
There's something behind this... Maybe a shift in target demographics? If that means that WoW is left for children and Diablo 3 is something for older gamers looking for a darker experience then by all means, throw Mickey Mouse, Twilight and Guitar Hero into WoW and make my Diablo 3 experience as dark and visceral as possible. Fuck yeah...

Saiko

Diablo 3 is going to have real money auction houses

It was recently confirmed that Diablo 3 - the upcoming action RPG by Blizzard - is going to include auction houses, where you can change in-game items for real money. As you might guess, there has been some riff-raff about it on the internet. People are worried that this will encourage "gold farming", reward real-life wealth instead of game skill and push players to crime among other things. Meh, I say. The real-money items market is going on for Diablo 2 anyways, why not make it legal and safe. Sure, some kids will have deluded ideas that playing the game will make them tons of money and use it as an excuse to abandon their social, education and/or work life. Sure, some Chinese guy is going to sell his kidneys and eyes for a new Monk staff. Crazy world, I know... But playing the game and achieving it's goals takes time and time costs money, so some people are willing to make the monetary sacrifice. It's quite natural.
I'm more worried by the lousy cutscenes and art that as been released recently by Blizzard (like the Demon Hunter trailer you can see above). Diablo 2 is one of my favorite games of all times (if not THE favorite) and I still play it every now and then. I know I will be playing Diablo 3 a lot when it comes out. It might be even this year, though it doesn't seem very likely. I'm a bit more worried about the game's constant need for internet connection. It's not an MMO youknow. Syncing online and offline play is quite possible these days as far as I know.
We will be talking more about this game...

Saiko
Read more about it: Eurogamer Diablo III preview