Diablo IIIThis weekend saw yet another announcement from Blizzard. It would have seemed that with StarCraft II and WoW: Wrath of the Lich King under development, Blizzard would be up to their shoulders in deadlines. Ah, but we’ve known this for quite some time now. It wasn’t long after the announcement of StarCraft II that Rob Pardo let slip some details about Blizzard having a “Team Three”, working on “Project Hydra”. Now we know what Project Hydra was. Diablo III.

Just when you thought you’d knocked him down for the last time, Diablo is back. I’m not sure how they’re saying he’s managed to come back, but he has. And really, do we even care? The point is, he’s back, and it’s time to knock him down again.

This time their announcement was in France, at their annual worldwide invitational event, where they showed a tantalizing cinematic teaser and a nice gameplay demo of the Barbarian and Witch-Doctor character classes. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was expecting Diablo III to be a bit of a darker version of WoW. However, pleasantly enough, Diablo III pays perfect tribute to its predecessor Diablo II. The camera angle, the fighting style, everything about it screams Diablo, and it’s sexy.

Additionally, it will play online using the newly revamped Battle.net, bringing light yet again to the question of “will it be free to play?”. Traditionally, Battle.net has always been free to use, but with the enormous increase in popularity that StarCraft II and Diablo III will undoubtedly create, one would have to be somewhat understanding if Blizzard decided to introduce a fee. Personally I think a one-off registration fee of around $20 would be a perfectly reasonable ask. After all, there’s always single player if you can’t afford the $20.

I’m really excited about this game. Just when I thought StarCraft II would be the last game I ever buy, Blizzard has to come and do this to me. How am I ever going to find the time for all this?

Watching the videos put up on diablo3.com have totally got me drooling. Instantly I was reminiscing about the old Diablo II days. It’s just such an awesome game universe. Dark, dank, scummy, filthy, evil lands of chaos. It’s very fun, and has lead me to question why on earth would Blizzard choose the WarCraft universe (which will no doubt fall under severely brutal comparison with LoTR) for their upcoming movie instead of Diablo? I would expect people to take Diablo much more for what it is, than WarCraft.

Anyway, Diablo III is coming, and I can’t wait.

Oh and in honor of this special event, this month’s quote is:

“Stay awhile, and listen!” -Deckard Cain