While there have been some problems with handling the enormous amount of traffic that was bound to hit the servers at release, Blizzard’s action-RPG threequel Diablo III is finally live and available for purchase. The official press release from Blizzard:
IRVINE, Calif. — May 15, 2012 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Diablo® III, the highly anticipated next chapter in its award-winning action role-playing-game series, is now available in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Gamers in the regions above as well as in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are also able to purchase Diablo III digitally via the game’s official website (http://www.diablo3.com).
In the wake of a Blizzard record of more than 2 million preorders*, and following more than 8,000 midnight launch events earlier today at retail stores worldwide, gamers across the planet are now storming Sanctuary in hot pursuit of the Lord of Terror.
(This launch is a culmination of many years of hard work by our development team, and many years of passionate, dedicated support from gamers around the world,) said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. (We’re grateful for the enthusiasm of our players, and for the help of our beta testers in getting the game ready for release. Now that Diablo III is live, we hope everyone’s ready to have a hellishly good time slaying demons and collecting loot in Sanctuary.)
Diablo III is available for Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 and Macintosh® at a suggested price of $59.99 USD for both the retail DVD-ROM version and the digital version sold directly from Blizzard. A special alabaster-white Collector’s Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores while supplies last at a suggested price of $99.99 USD, includes the game on DVD-ROM, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo III soundtrack CD, a 208-page Art of Diablo III book, and a 4 GB USB soulstone (including full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction®) and corresponding Diablo skull base, as well as exclusive in-game content for Diablo III, World of Warcraft®, and StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty®. Diablo III has received a Mature rating from the ESRB.
Players in the Latin American countries listed above and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo III at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability via http://www.diablo3.com for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7. In addition to the English version, Diablo III is fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and traditional Chinese.
Diablo III continues the epic Diablo storyline, with players taking on the role of one of five heroic characters — barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter — and embarking on an epic quest to save the world of Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells. As players adventure through rich and varied settings, they’ll engage in pulse-pounding combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, grow in experience and ability, acquire artifacts of incredible power, and meet key characters who’ll join them in battle or aid them in other ways. The game features the intuitive interface, fast-paced action, and visceral gameplay that Diablo players have come to expect and enjoy.
Designed from the ground up to leverage the full functionality of the Battle.net® platform, Diablo III also provides gamers with industry-leading matchmaking and communication tools, allowing adventurers to seamlessly join forces for cooperative play. Battle.net also provides the infrastructure for the Diablo III auction house, a feature-rich marketplace that Sanctuary’s heroes can use to trade their hard-earned treasures. To learn more about the auction house and the other features of Diablo III, please visit the official website at http://www.diablo3.com.
With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available — visit http://jobs.blizzard.com for more information and to learn how to apply.
* Includes units preordered as part of World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital preorders.
Meanwhile, in case you have problems logging on, we have rounded up a few editorial pieces on the title, starting with one from Eurogamer, in which lead technical artist Julian Love replies to the “dumbing down” accusations:
“[Diablo3 ‘s stats system] is more meaningful,” Love said. “If you add them up mathematically, you may find it seems like there are fewer systems. But the big thing is that each system should be meaningful. The old stat system just wasn’t. You either didn’t know how to use it, in which case you built a terrible character, or somebody did tell you how to use it, and then you used only one solution. That’s not really customisation. Especially considering there were only four stats, how many combinations are you going to get?
“You compare that to the rune system, where you’ve got 700 plus skills in the game and you’re able to freely choose them, what you have is billions of combinations for customisation. Then there are some other ones, including item tinting. The only way you could customise your character’s look was just by finding the items in the game and living with the way your character looked. Now you can do the same thing with a lot more items available to you, plus you can tint them and customise them in that way.
“So when you get right down to it, what we’ve got are fewer systems, but those systems are really meaningful and have a dramatic impact. They don’t just show up in terms of how survivable my character is against this monster or that. They really give you a chance to have an unique identity within the game world.”
And CNET wonders if the game is still relevant, to which I’d reply with a resounding “yes”:
Here’s how I’ll be judging Diablo III: Does each character class offer a distinct gameplay experience? Do the different character skills, weapons, and abilities complement each other well, and do I get to make meaningful decisions about how to use them? Do the monsters and boss fights require me to think and use different tactics? Are the interface and in-game information systems accessible? Has Blizzard minimized the pain of joining and playing in a multiplayer session?
I don’t think any game has handled all of those facets perfectly. Until that happens, there’s room to advance the action role-playing genre.
Update: We have updated the post with the official press release issued by Blizzard.
