Just passing its fifteenth anniversary, the Diablo series has become known as the quintessential loot grabbing dungeon crawling RPG on the PC. With only two formal releases, the third installment of Diablo is set to come out this year from Blizzard. While fans of the series have clamored for more, they also know that Blizzard is not a company to rush a game if it isn’t ready and have earned a reputation for quality because of this. As a result, Diablo III may be the most anticipated game of 2012.

Returning from Diablo II will be the Barbarian, the game’s standard melee class but with a reworked skillset. Also in the melee vein will be the new Monk class. The Wizard will debut similar to the sorcerer from Diablo and sorceress from Diablo II.

New to the series will be the Witch Doctor, similar in playstyle to the Necromancer from Diablo II and a new rogue-like character known as the Demon Hunter possessing ranged abilities, traps and evasion tactics.

Continue Reading →

Once the initial rush of new players began to slow down, Blizzard in their infinite wisdom allowed new players the chance to experience World of Warcraft for 14 days, free of charge. Though Blizzard hadn’t released the actual number of players who ended up becoming full subscribers, they stuck to this method for a number of years.

Now, with players at the 11,000,000 range, Blizzard has decided to switch things up a bit in a further effort to bring new players in to the World of Warcraft machine. Under this new structure, players will be given an unlimited amount of free play time on their account until their character reaches level 20.

Part of the reason behind this new strategy may lie in the fact that things come up out of no where in people’s lives unexpectedly and such a freak occurrence happening during a limited 14 day time frame may completely shut out the chance for this new player to experience what World of Warcraft has to offer. Instead, players are given the chance to experience Azeroth at their leisure, much like they are allowed to in a full version of the game.

There is no pressure to try and experience as much as you can in a short time span with this new system. There are, as expected, some restrictions to this Free-to-Play system though.

Continue Reading →

While the world has no idea when Blizzard’s highly anticipated follow-up to Starcraft will be released, somehow the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector’s Edition has already been priced. According to Kotaku, the set will cost you a hefty $100.

Why one hundred smackaroos? This box set will include an art book packed with illustrations and concept art, a 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag loaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and a 14-track soundtrack CD.

But the most interesting inclusion to the special edition is a mini-Thor in-game World of Warcraft pet. Blizzard must be counting on us Warcraft players to switch over to StarCraft II while we wait impatiently for the next WoW expansion, Cataclysm. Those just waiting with baited breath for StarCraft II:Wings of Liberty can pick up the game for $60.

We’ll be bringing you the latest StarCraft II news, including its release date, in the coming weeks.

I’m a girl who just happens to love World of Warcraft and cute stuffed animals. So when they’re combined I totally geek out. Kotaku just brought to my attention these brand-new WoW plushies, available in the Blizzard Online Store.

These cuddly critters are both modeled after the Horde and Alliance transportation mounts in the game. Not only will you receive a fuzzy new friend when you buy one of these, you’ll also get a code redeemable for a matching in-game pet, which judging by the previews on the website are just as adorable.

Players already dish out cash every month in order to play WoW in the first place, but if you’ve got a geeky girlfriend like me (I’m looking at you, boyfriend) or all the time indoors in front of the computer has made you lonely, these plushies seem well worth the $24.99. Especially since the other pets, priced at $10, don’t even come with something real and tangible to hold on those lonely nights when your guild doesn’t have enough room to bring you to a raid.

Since its announcement, there has been tons of buzz surrounding the Warcraft film. Warcraft: Rise of the Lich King has already been put under the reigns of Sam Raimi (Spider-Man franchise, Drag Me to Hell) as it tells the story of Arthas, the young paladin prince who would be corrupted by an evil sword and ultimately become the ruler of the undead legions of Azaroth.

Speaking with MTV News, Raimi said “We want to be really faithful to the game…to the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents… I think we would try and find touchstones within the game to make it accurate and true and choose one or some of the lands that are portrayed in the game with as much accuracy and authenticity as possible.”

Raimi followed by revealing that Robert Rodat, the Oscar nominated writer of Saving Private Ryan would be penning the script for the movie. An interesting choice for writer of the 2011 release, Rodat did the script for The Patriot in 2000 before disappearing from the scene for almost ten years.

While Rodat has shown he is adept at war drama, this will be his first venture in to the world of epic fantasy that Warcraft encompasses. He also must face the stigma that video games rarely get translated in to quality films, with the rare exception of the first Resident Evil movie. After such debacles as the Super Mario Bros. movie or box office failures like Silent Hill, Rodat has a lot of pressure going in to this film, especially from the more than 11 million World of Warcraft subscribers who will undoubtedly be the first to attend the movie when it hits theaters.