Diablo is one of those franchises that exists in every gamers dreams. It was one of the classic Blizzard titles that has been long lost in the success of World of Warcraft and Starcraft, but there has always been hope that we would see a return to the action RPG franchise.

So a few years ago it was announced that Diablo 3 was officially on the way, and the world of video games seemed like a happier place. However, A funny thing happened on the way to Gamestop and the release missed an originally planed 2011 release window. Reports of an early 2012 release were heard, but alas we have at least a few more months to wait.

Activision announced in a recent financial report that Diablo 3 is currently expected for the middle of the year, killing any hope that we would see the game sooner rather than later.

That was not the only disappointing news for Blizzard fans in the report. The long awaited second part of Starcraft 2 and the next World of Warcraft expansion are on shaky ground for a 2012 release. Blizzard is only expected to ship one other title this year in addition to Diablo 3, meaning one or both of those two announced projects is going to be pushed to 2013.

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The Bitcast returns this week with their record setting 8th Episode featuring the Flickcast’s own version of Mario & Luigi, though JC and WallE will both always lay claim to being the star of the episode.

In the News of the Week, JC and WallE discuss the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards show and speculate on the upcoming announcement from Epic Games, the makers of Gears of War and the Infinity Blade franchises. They also discuss the 10th Anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III coming to iOS before getting into detail with South Park: The Game coming from Obsidian. They even talk Beta numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic and announce the current and upcoming DLC for Goldeneye 007: Reloaded, sadly with the absence of Sean Bean.

In the Long Grind in Skyrim this week, JC gets in detail on both the dragons and music of the Elder Scrolls V.

For the Topic of the Week, WallE shows that he can handle both movies and gaming as he discusses the scores composed for some of the most influential titles in gaming history.

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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.

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DC Universe Online has got to be the most epic game in the world. Because of the hype surrounding it, and the constant delays, this game had better be the best thing we’ve seen since World of Warcraft, only better. We’re now getting a few tidbits as the beta is currently in progress that could prove just that.

One of the major elements to any successful MMORPG game is the upgrades for your custom character. It’s what drives millions of people to the WoW servers every day, and it could be what makes or breaks DCUO. We’re now getting a look at purchasable battlesuits that can be obtained by doing missions for specific characters.

The most specific examples the fine folks at Sony Online Entertainment have given us is the battlesuits obtained from missions with Wonder Woman and Black Adam. Check out the full trailer for the suits after the jump, and keep it here as we bring you the most up-to-date news from DC Universe Online as we await it’s early 2011 release date.

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• You asked for it, (or maybe you didn’t). Either way, here’s the list of the Top 10 Most Ridiculous Character-Branded Products.

• If you find yourself asking if a poster would be too nerdy to put in your room…Chances are you probably know the answer.

• If you caught last night’s Community, then you’re most definitely going to want to go back and read the Twittersodes leading up to the airing. Trust us.

• In prepping for his epically animated Owl Fighting movie, Zack Snyder admits that he had people dress up in owl suits to choreograph the fight scenes.

• Katy Perry recorded a spoof of her song and sang it alongside Elmo on Sesame Street. The song was immediately pulled from the episode before airing. What’s the world coming to when a girl can’t sing about kissing other girls on a show with Muppets?

• A student dressed like The Hulk smashed a car and is now getting in trouble for it. The real crime? The fact that there wasn’t a camera rolling the entire time.

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Apparently, director Sam Raimi isn’t straying too far from comics now that his tenure with the Spider-Man film franchise is done. According to Variety, Raimi is now attached to direct Radical Comics’ Earp: Saints for Sinners. The film will be a co-production of Dreamworks, Radical Studios, Mandeville and Star Road, Raimi’s production company.

In case you’re not familiar, the story of the project is described as “a modern-day re-imagining of Western hero Wyatt Earp fighting outlaws in a ravaged society where the only boomtown left is Las Vegas.” Co-creator/writer Matt Cirulnick will adapt the graphic novel for the big screen.

There’s no word on how this new project will fit into Raimi’s already busy schedule which includes directing World of Warcraft, based on the popular MMO, and Oz, the Great and Powerful, a prequel to the The Wizard of Oz. However, according to reports, this will be his next film after WOW.

With Raimi’s undeniable talent and love for material such as this the combo of Raimi and pretty much any comic property should be cause for happiness among fans. Now that his directing of the adaptation is set, we can turn to other important things like what part Bruce Campbell is going to play.

Looks like Blizzard fanboys won’t be working on their tans this summer, that is unless LCD screens start emitting UV rays. The long awaited and much anticipated Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty is officially set to launch this summer. That’s right, you’ll finally be able to get your hands on this real-time strategy game on July 27th.

Starcraft II will consist of a 29-mission single-player campaign, focusing on the Terran faction. The multiplayer allows gamers to engage in real-time strategy warfare as two additional factions, the hive-like Zerg and technologically advanced Protoss. Blizzard has two sequels in the works that focus on these factions, entitled Legacy of the Void and Heart of the Swarm.

As we previously reported, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty will be available in a special edition set for $100, which will include an art book with illustrations and concept art, a 2GB USB flash drive loaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and a 14-track soundtrack CD. You can also pick up the game alone for $60.

Those eager to get a chance to play earlier can pre-order Starcraft II from GameStop, which will allow them access to the beta. This is a big year for Blizzard, as they’re also releasing a new World of Warcraft expansion later this year.

Back in 2003, a risque Sesame Street inspired musical by the name of Avenue Q featuring puppet leads came out with a shocking statement: “The internet is for porn.” How could this be that a network that enabled global communication and business opportunities could come down to such a lowbrow concept as porn? But as the audience began listening to the lyrics, it was hard to argue that the internet really my revolve around men cozying up to watch various acts of depravity they weren’t experiencing at home.

The truth is, everyone knows that the internet is for porn. The only ones who don’t are just living in denial like Kate Monster does in Avenue Q. And, interestingly enough some of the most frequent patrons of this less than social activity may end up coming from the world’s most social game: World of Warcraft. It was only a matter of time before a mash up of the two came to be.

Using their beloved MMO, a group of players came together and put together an animated version of the song using their on screen avatars. Still in the early days of machinima creation in 2006, “The Internet is for Porn” does a fantastic job of taking the canned animations of World of Warcraft and lip synching the song to the on screen characters. The result turned in to another internet hit as the Machinima closes in on almost six and a half million views up to this point.

Sit back, relax and let yourself open up to some high culture by viewing the following clip. Yes, culture. If it has been on Broadway, it’s considered culture. That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

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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.

After so many years and millions of hours of play logged in, will players finally reach the end of World of Warcraft? Back on one of our podcasts, we talked about one young man who achieved every possible accomplishment in the game, which is the closest thing at the time to “beating” World of Warcraft.

Now the tale of Arthas, a piece of Warcraft mythology going back to Warcraft 3 and an integral part of the current status quo of WoW will seemingly be coming to an end. With the upcoming Patch 3.3.2, the story of the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion comes to an end in perfect time for the upcoming “Cataclysm” expansion.

As they prepare for the world to cave in on itself in upheaval, the strongest and bravest venture to the throne of the Lich King for an epic battle. To give added incentive, the culmination of this battle awards players with a special cinematic cut scene detailing the end of this chapter in the World of Warcraft, but also intelligently shows how the story is able to continue for other players as well.

The final cinematic after the jump, concerning the fate of the Lich King, is pretty spoilerific so don’t say we didn’t warn you. But for those who don’t feel like grinding thousands of hours into a game to reach this point, take a peek at the “end” of Warcraft.

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I’ve made no secret about being excited for the The A-Team movie coming out this summer.  No matter what other trailer I see (including even Iron Man 2) there’s something  about The A-Team that just resonates with me. Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor or it could be that director Joe Carnahan knows how to make a kick-ass action film (see Smokin’ Aces).  Either way, it’s my number one pick for the 2010 Summer blockbuster season.

One particular aspect of the new film I’m looking forward to are the cameos from Dirk Benedict and Dwight Shultz, the original Faceman and Murdock.  With these two secured I was certain Carnahan would pull off the best cameo trio ever and get Mr. T as well. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Latino Review caught up with Mr. T (at a gym no less) and asked him about whether he’d be in the new film, which apparently he won’t be:

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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.