Diablo III opening cinematic released

With the third installment of the Diablo franchise nearingfruition, Blizzard has released what is being called the "opening cinematic" for Diablo III. The trailer first peaked its head out for a public appearance this weekend at the Spike Video Game Awards.

Blizzard is well known for their impressive CGI video. The cinematic sports some very cool illustrative animation and some impressive 3D work toward the end, depicting a scene between two individuals -- don't worry, I won't spoil it for you.  For your convenience, the video is embedded below.

Diablo III is set to be the tertiary chapter in the epic hack-n-slash franchise, arriving nearly 12 years after the last installment, Diablo II. The comically long wait has defined very high-expectations, causing some of Blizzard's decisions to enrage fans. Such decisions include requiring the game to authenticate against Battle.net online, forbbiding mods, changing the "look and feel" of the once two-dimensional game and introducing elements from the Warcraft franchise.

There is little question Diablo III will be a hit in 2012, but the game also introduces a potentially industry-changing idea: a central auction house that uses real-world money.  In a sense, the long frowned upon practice of "gold farming" will be no longer be prohibited.

For better or worse, this shift of paradigm injects real capitalism into Diablo III. For players, this could introduce a form of wealth imbalance. However, the same system may also offer everyone a way to subsidize the cost of the game and possibly even make money -- or a living -- playing Diablo. For Blizzard, a real-world auction system could prove be a gigantic cash cow. Few details are known, but you can bet the gaming industry will be watching closely.

We last reported the game is expected to have an early 2012 release, but no official date has been given.

Blizzard Diablo III to arrive in early 2012

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Diablo III will not ship until early 2012, narrowly missing the lucrative holiday season and forcing anxious fans of the franchise to wait even longer to get their hands on the anticipated title.

The news comes just days after a closed beta launched onBattle.net, sparking speculation that the game could make it to store shelves before the end of the year. But after pulling together people from all of the teams involved in making the game, it was decided that the Diablo III needed a little more fine-tuning and polish to live up to the high expectations from both the developers and gamers.

Blizzard indicates that testing is going very well and that they will use the additional time to extend the beta and add more testers than originally planned.

"With every game we make, the temptation is always very strong to launch as soon as possible. However, we didn't put so many years of work into Diablo III to release a game that was almost ready," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

Those hoping to participate in testing can log into their Battle.net account and opt-in for the closed beta. Users will be required to run a system diagnostic on their machine, which will capture specifications that Blizzard uses to ensure a nice mix of hardware and software for testing purposes.

Diablo II was released on June 29, 2000 with work on the third installment in the series starting a year later. The title was officially announced on June 28, 2008 at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France.

Diablo III Online only, real money auctions, mods forbidden

Blizzard is easily one of the most conservative developers around when it comes to announcing release dates, however as they reveal more details about the third installment of the Diablo series it becomes evident that the game is finally nearing completion.

Among the most interesting, and should we add, potentially controversial things to be learned about Diablo III is that the game will require an active net connection to play. Blizzard believes a high percentage of users have access to a permanent internet connection anyway, and even though piracy was a concern it was not "a deciding factor" in making the decision.

Instead Blizzard claims connectivity will be necessary due to the wealth of Battle.net features that complement the game, to name a few: persistent character saving server-side and the possibility of opting in/out of co-op play, persistent friends list, party system and matchmaking, the game's achievement system, and an auction house system that will allow real world currency to purchase items.

Blizzard does not plan to sell any items directly on the auction house, but will let players list items for which they will charge a fixed fee. The novelty here is that real money auctions will be allowed along with in-game gold and normal item trade. Gamers will be allowed to pull up the auction house at any time, with instant transactions of nearly everything, including characters.

The last tidbit of information that was recently disclosed is that Diablo III won't support bots or mods for a "variety of gameplay and security reasons". That is, Blizzard is expressly prohibiting modding from the upcoming game in spite of the success it had on the two previous installments.

Diablo III is expected to enter limited public beta testing sometime this quarter, most likely ahead of the Blizzcon October event, with a tentative release schedule before the end of the year