Blizzard Opening Ceremony: Live Blogging
Okay, let's give this a shot. Refresh for regular updates, folks.
10.49 - a lot of loud Lords of the Ringsy music and giant concept art. Now two very excited presenters are telling us to "make some noise." We do so.
10.50 - The lady presenter's mic breaks. She's forced to share with the bloke presenter. People laugh. Not sure why.
10.51 - Blizzard's EU president arrives, thanks us, keeps getting applauded. Note to crowd: stop applauding. Let the man speak.
10.54 - The invitational's just been declared OPEN. Confusing, as I've been here three hours already.
10.55 - Blizz big names, including Mike Morheim, are introduced. Crowd experiences simultaneous orgasm. Even for the Vice-President of Global Finance.
10.57 - A load of pro-gamers are welcomed on stage. First up, Starcraft guys. I've not heard of any of them, but the crowd respond like they're the Beckhams. WC3 champs follow. Next, the teams who'll be competing in the World of Warcraft arena. Is this that paid championship with the cash prize? Guess so. Crowd continues to whoop. I've heard more applause in the last ten minutes than in the last ten years.
11.08 - Black presenter just makes a joke about how black people are responsible for all the things that go wrong in the world. My mind is breaking.
11.14 - Big server problems here. This may proved a failed exercise, sadly. Currently, Morheim's on stage, showing us a video of the last Blizzard invitational.
11.18 - One more thing...
11.19 - Diablo III!
11.22 - A hellfirey cinematic of a ravaged, gothic world culminating in big D himself having a big old roar.
11.32 - RPS is apparently deaded. Sigh. My quick notes based on the in-game stuff so far:
wouldn't mistake it for any other game
unbelievable amount of onscreen enemies
health orbs as well as potions
traps
darker, but still somewhat cartoonish
big focus on loot as decoration
quickbar for abilities
barbarian powerjumps across a broken crevasse
blimey- using scenery destruction to crush baddies
whirlwind barbarian spell is an impressive storm of destruction
friendlies in dungeon – story events
Deckard Cain returns
11.33 - A really colossal boss. Nothing looks especially novel but it unquestionably looks spectacular.
11.34 - New class: The Witch Doctor. Ancient tribal magic - control over disease, summon pets, control enemies' minds.
11.35 - He's got an ace voodoo mask, and is summoning a swarm of plague insects to kill bads and buff his pets.
11.36 - Though it's 3D, there's a real hand-painted feel to the scenery. It's bridging that 2D/3D gap well.
11.38 - Haha - he can summon a literal wall of zombies.
11.40 - The bosses get even bigger. Rubble sprays everywhere as they walk. No-one's ever gonna play Titan Quest again.
11.45 - Back to the prattling presenters. They're making my teeth hurt. Anyway, that's probably it from me for now, Diablo 3 then: yes.