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Diablo III coming May 15

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Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#51

Post by qdog »

rkalla wrote: post #40
vyrotek wrote: post #27

While I'm very (very) excited for this game.. I'm very nervous about my productivity this summer. There are few things that can pull me away from coding. This is one of them. Maybe D3 will open some new startup opportunities? Yes.. yes that's what I'll tell myself. It's all research.

I would lie if I said the same thought hadn't crossed my mind... while we are still in the era of comments like yours (and mind) being brushed off somewhat half-jokingly, can you even imagine in 10-20 years what kind of addiction-causing experience games will be? I think we are still 2 generations of game tech away from it, but at some point the addiction many people experienced with pathetically unadvanced games lik…

I lost a couple years of life to playing MUDs a while back. Still occasionally log on, the ability to type commands makes it much easier to have a complex game and environment, but not so much with the pretty pictures.

Luckily, I've sworn off Blizzard since they sued the bnetd guys, so D3 isn't a concern for me.

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#54

Post by ascendant »

politician wrote: post #42
valuegram wrote: post #38

I'm interested to hear about expectations for Diablo III. I'm long ATVI because of their dividend, financials, and value fundamentals. Gaming also seems like a growth industry and Blizzard/Activision have some strong gaming franchises. I figured the upcoming Diablo III launch would only help the situation.

I love Blizzard's timing... by setting a date we can surmise that WoW's Free-to-Play model is failing and that May 15 is the latest date that a release-date-averse publisher like Blizzard feels it can still preempt the Guild Wars 2 release. It makes one wonder if these large publishers have game theoreticians working on optimum release dates.

WOW is definitely heading into its twilight. If I was a betting man, I'd say MOP is the last expansion they'll put a lot of resources behind before throwing everything at Titan.

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#56

Post by getsat »

jeremymcanally wrote: post #13

Oh, they're fiendish indeed. They're offering the game for free if you sign up for a year of WoW. That's just mean. I managed to abstain from that, but I did pre-buy and pre-load the game. I was just so excited they had Mac support (which, last I'd heard, was sort of up in the air I thought).

Every Blizzard game released in the last 17 years has been released on PC and Mac at the exact same time (as far as I can recall).

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#57

Post by TwoBit »

Teapot wrote: post #37

Disappointing graphics so far. This is what i think Diablo3 should look like these days, http://uiu.bravehost.com/THIS-is-what-Diablo3-should-look-li... Anything less and i´m not interested.

Diablo as an FPS could never be the same.

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#58

Post by politician »

endianswap wrote: post #46
politician wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Blizzard's timing... by setting a date we can surmise that WoW's Free-to-Play model is failing and that May 15 is the latest date that a release-date-averse publisher like Blizzard feels it can still preempt the Guild Wars 2 release. It makes one wonder if these large publishers have game theoreticians working on optimum release dates.

There definitely have to be some solid reasons behind this specific release date given the fact that they've been cutting features in the last couple of months to be ready to ship in May (such as PVP). When were their other games launched? I seem to remember StarCraft 2 launching around May/June. (Hopefully unnecessary disclaimer: I work on Guild Wars 2.)

SC2 was released early July 2010. D2 was released in late June 2000. WoW and its expansions in successive Christmas seasons. So, yes, I'd say that May 15 is atypically early for Blizzard. Given the online auction house component, they may feel that it's necessary to hook the summer crowd early to maximize returns from that casino.

I wouldn't be surprised if this move forced Arena Net to push back to a Thanksgiving release, since people generally don't play two online "collect-em-all" games at once.

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#59

Post by kabdib »

vyrotek wrote: post #27

While I'm very (very) excited for this game.. I'm very nervous about my productivity this summer. There are few things that can pull me away from coding. This is one of them. Maybe D3 will open some new startup opportunities? Yes.. yes that's what I'll tell myself. It's all research.

My (to be) wife and I quit a horrible start-up and took a summer off to play Diablo II.

Well, we did other things. Like rollerblade, take some trips and plan a wedding. But . . .

May 16 I will be sick. I'll pre-schedule the carpal tunnel surgery for mid June . . . :/

Re: Diablo III coming May 15

#60

Post by fbuilesv »

jeremymcanally wrote: post #13

Oh, they're fiendish indeed. They're offering the game for free if you sign up for a year of WoW. That's just mean. I managed to abstain from that, but I did pre-buy and pre-load the game. I was just so excited they had Mac support (which, last I'd heard, was sort of up in the air I thought).

The Mac support has always been great for Blizzard games and D3 is no exception. I've been playing the beta in a 2009 MBP for a couple of weeks now and everything looks pretty smooth.

Unlike companies like EA, Blizzard spends real time making sure their Mac offerings are as good as the Windows ones and that is enough for myself to be a supporter.

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