It is looking a bit more than likely that next installment in one of the most influential PC games, Diablo, will be announced this weekend at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational.
Here, in brief, are the reasons why people suspect this is the case:
1] Blizz has been rumored to be announcing a game at this weekend's event for sometime, and June 29th would be the anniversary of Diablo II's release.
2] Last month Blizzard bought out the Diablo3.com website from a fansite.
3] Blizzard has been releasing mysterious teaser images. In these images have been visual clues, like rune stones from Diablo II. (Although, the images also contain some WoW Lich King imagery.)
4] Fansite diablo2.net reports that an "insider" has told them that Diablo III's announcement was coming this weekend.
5] Some job ads posted at Blizzard over the last year suggets that they were making a game set in the Diablo universe.
So, Saturday seems like the big day.
One of the more enticing rumors is that this time around, Diablo is going to be a MMORPG.
This game might rain on the parade of the upcoming Mythos game from Flagship, which is pretty much a Diablo III in many respects, and is even being worked on by many of the original Blizzard Diablo team. If Diablo III is announced, I'd expect it to make Mythos look more like a Diablo 2.5.
Although the original Diablo was made off of the shoulders of other influential games, Blizzard definitely nailed a specific gameplay formula in this series that remains well-played and loved. Game mechanics from Diablo have been copied in a plethora of games. Off the time the head, Titan's Quest, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Loki, Mythos, Too Human, and Hellgate: London, and the entire orange/white/blue/maroon rarity loot system popularized by World Of Warcraft, and then copied by pretty much every MMORPG, was influenced by Diablo.
So sharpen your swords...it seems like you just can't keep a strong demon down. Although if the game is announced -- as I really think it will be, this time around -- it probably won't come out for a fairly long time to come.
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