Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The games journalism equivalent of binology involves scouring the job advertisements that developers post, seeking clues as to the content of future titles. Say Popcap were to exhibit a desire to hire a Masters degree wielding “actual unicorn-handler with three years experience of rainbow-wrangling” I would assume Peggle 2 was a glorious physical playground rather than a digital toy. That hasn’t happened, but a poster at NeoGAF spotted that Blizzard are looking to recruit a Franchise Development Producer for their “next-gen MMO”, with one of the main responsibilities being to “work with major consumer brands to facilitate product placement and licensing within the world of Blizzard Entertainment’s next-gen MMO”. Hmmmm.

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“The game’s done, just release it already! Gentlemen: prepare the Onager!” That’s my impression of the angry mob outside Blizzard’s studios, waiting for news of a Diablo 3 release. They want it, but like a monkey gripping a tree in a hurricane, Blizzard are holding tightly onto the beta. They still have a lot to change. A lot. According to game director Jay Wilson’s ‘System Changes’ post on the Diablo 3 site: “We trust in our ability to put out a great game, but we’re not quite there yet.”
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A thought-provoking little story, I think. Diablo III’s auction house will allow real-money trading (RMT) for items found in the game world. The fact that you can trade in items and then “cash out” and make money (minus Blizzard’s cut, of course) caused the game to clash with South Korea’s anti-gambling laws. Blizzard have resubmitted the game for approval with this feature removed and it has been accepted. (This page proves it, apparently.) The thought this issue raises, however, is how much this will change the psychological experience for Korean players. If they can’t get $$$ for epic loot, what does that mean for their response to acquiring it? Will the game be less exciting for them? Or do they get a “cleaner” experience, because it doesn’t have that connotation of cash, and of the world outside the game?

Today is not Thursday, April 26th and this is the not-news.

Diablo III will not be released in February this year, despite assorted internet-wide reports to the contrary. Retailers do not know a date for the hacky-slashy game’s release, according to Blizzard’s community manager, and will not know one until the entire world knows one, via press release. So any news you might read claiming the game will be released on Feb 1 or February 3 is not news. That’s not the same as not-news, of course.

Today’s not-headlines in summary, then: we still do not know the release date for Diablo III.

In other not news today, I have not yet drunk a cup of tea or eaten any breakfast, Skyrim 2 has not been announced and the British economy is not showing any signs of meaningful recovery.

And still no Diablo III on my hard-drive! It’s close though, so close we can smell it. It smells of 200 developers having sat in the same office for five years. Mmm, unmistakable. Anyway, there are interviews with Jay Wilson and Chris Metzen (as well as an “extended retrospective”) on Blizzard’s 15th anniversary site, and Wilson says that Blizzard are “almost done” with the third game. So that’s exciting. I would like to be “almost starting” to play it, now please.

More importantly, why was the first Diablo released on December 31st 1996? That seems like an odd release date. Whatever, it was still fifteen years ago, and whether or not you appreciate Diablo’s dungeon-crawler mechanics, it’s hard to deny the influence it has had on the past decade-point-five years of PC games. Also, if you are me, it makes you feel old. Formidably old, like a crotchety old wizard, or something. Ok.

Yes, there’s also a Diablo III cinematic from Blizzard. Not all that interesting, I suppose, but it’s super stylish, so you’ll probably want to take a look, below.
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Actually, I’m not quite sure what age kids really start riding bicycles, at least without stabilisers and/or a worried parent holding onto the back of the saddle. I think I was at least around seven when I first managed a brief, unassisted pedal down a country lane (and, more excitingly, was rewarded with a second-hand Superion for my efforts. I still have that somewhere) so I’m going to go ahead and say that Blizzard’s MMO should be capable of such a feat.

Yes, World of Warcraft, the main man of the MMO industry, has been around for seven years this week, which is an alarming prospect. How did it get so old? (By which I mean ‘how did I get so old?) And it’s remarkable it’s only seen three expansions in that time, given what a cash-cow it’s been for Blizzard, Vivendi and Activision. There are gentle celebrations in honour of this birthday, primarily in the form of a ‘feat of strength’ item dropped into the inventories of any players who sign in between now-ish and December 3.
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You probably noticed the brouhaha that emerged last week, after GayGamer and, in turn, RPS reported on a very strange decision by Blizzard, to include an outburst many could only interpret as homophobic, during BlizzCon. After one of the less pleasant comments thread RPS has witnessed, and much discussion internet-wide, Blizzard have issued a proper apology. (This happened a few days ago, but we’ve realised we’ve not mentioned it here, so it’s only reasonable to post it.) You can read it below.

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WITCHCRAFT, TRICKERY, DEVILRY, PERVERSION. A man, if he truly deserves that title, has sullied the noble art of waiting a long time for a new videogame. He has jumped the gun in the most devious possible way. He has… no, I can barely stand to repeat it.

But I must. His crime must be known. He has recreated the units from the impending StarCraft II expandosequel Heart of the Swarm, before it has even been released, and packaged them into a four-map mod for the current version of Wings of Liberty. I… I don’t know what to say. He might as well have wiped Blizzard’s hard drives and then taken the very bread from their mouths, such is the heinousness of this thought-crime and the surely catastrophic consequences of making something that looks and plays a bit like something in future might play.
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It’s an uphill struggle to convince those outside the games industry that it is, in some ways, a mature medium for mature, thoughtful people. Clearly the most difficult element of that hill is the incredible immaturity and thoughtless nature of so much of the games industry. You need not look far in any direction to see examples of sexism (the PC has yet to be blessed with Arkham City’s delightful attitude toward female characters), misogyny, racism, and of course homophobia. Something, for reasons inexplicable, Blizzard chose to feature on the main stage of their World Of Warcraft-based celebrations at this year’s BlizzCon. Via whoever’s extraordinary decision, edited clips from a homophobic diatribe were broadcast to the crowds (albeit loosely bleeped out) which encouraged those who play Alliance characters to kill themselves. Followed by a song.

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