lancastria.net

Overwhelmed by an army of angry and impatient fans, Blizzard Entertainment® today reluctantly unveiled Diablo® III, the third groundbreaking title in its highly acclaimed role-playing game series and sequel to the award-winning Diablo® II: Lord of Destruction^TM, at the company’s very first surprise press conference at its newly opened headquarters.

The announcement took place in the Blizzard Entertainment campus courtyard, in front of select members of the press who received a startling impromptu presentation that included a ten-second, freshly pre-rendered Diablo III cinematic trailer and a physically re-enacted gameplay demonstration by the development team taken hostage by the gamers.

Under threat of a forum member’s taser “of teh win,” public relations staff explained that designed to be a revolutionary single-player and online role-playing experience, Diablo III will set players on a multitude of dynamically generated quests on the path to defeat the demonic forces of Diablo and his demon brothers Baal and Mephisto. Eight brand new and re-imagined character classes [zzap! aieee!] will be highly customizable in appearance and abilities, with 20 hero-specific skills per character and 10 shared abilities used to battle over 300 varieties of monsters in and an immersive 3D-graphics world.

Set in the massive worlds of Sanctuary, Hell, and the High Heavens, Diablo III will include a compelling single-player story mode, as well as fast-paced online play through an upgraded version of Blizzard’s renowned online gaming service, Battle.net®.

Diablo III will reinvent the persistent online world concept while preserving its hero-centric story, permitting up to ten players to join in on a game session for cooperative game play and dueling matches. Characters engage the forces of evil in a limitless world spanning, for the first time, the entire continents of Sanctuary, the High Heavens, and Hell including never before seen lands to explore. Using the latest graphics technology including DirectX® 10.1, its next-generation 3D engine helps create a thrilling, immersive role-playing experience.

“With Diablo III, we’ll do everything we wanted to do with the first two games and much, much more,” pleaded Bill Roper, Senior Producer of Diablo II, whose team at Flagship Studios have abruptly moved Diablo III to their top priority. “We recognize that expectations are high but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that Diablo players and role-playing gamers worldwide will enjoy.