Blizzard has confirmed that the upcoming Diablo 3 will be coming to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well, in addition to the PC version. The news was broken by a Blizzard developer who responded to a tweet, confirming that devs are working on a console version of Diablo 3. We can’t say that we’re surprised, considering that console games bring in much more revenue than PC games, and that PC-exclusives are almost a thing of the past (unless it’s an MMO).

There are so many different titles on the market that it’s almost becoming hard for up and coming studios to differentienate themselves from one another. However, on the flip side of things, veteran game studios like Blizzard have no problem pushing out titles that put up impressive sales numbers time and time again. A prime example of this would be World of Warcraft and its 3 successive expansion packs which have all managed to sell like hot cakes.

Well if you’ve been following the developments of Blizzard you’ll know that the studio has been hard at work on Diablo III for quite some time. To make matters worse, the studio has yet to give us a solid release date only saying that it will be out when it’s ready. Luckily they have come forth today to say the following:

We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching. This is when the magic happens.

What exactly this means we aren’t sure but let’s cross our fingers and assume it means Diablo III will be 0ut before the end of the year.

Blizzard is one of the most influential game studios on the market with titles like World of Warcraft and StarCraft never failing to impress in terms of sales numbers and gameplay. For Blizzard diehards, one of the most important events of the year is BlizzCon where Blizzard showcases their latest developments alongside a whole slew of fun including costume contests and game competitions.

In fact, Blizzard has just come forth today to announce that BlizzCon 11 will take place from October 21st – 22nd and will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. Below Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime comments:

“We look forward to holding another exciting BlizzCon this year, filled with some great entertainment and competition, as well as the latest news about Blizzard games… BlizzCon is built from the ground up with our community in mind — we’re pleased to be able to host an event where players can come together to have fun and celebrate their passion for gaming.”

There’s no word on when exactly ticket sales will begin but if you’re looking to get down on BlizzCon 11 you better keep an eye out for an announcement as tickets have been known to sell out quite fast.

Check out more information regarding BlizzCon 11 in the press release after the break.

via blizzard

Blizzard has been around for quite some time and just about every single one of their titles has seen critical acclaim. Not only do they have the immensely popular StarCraft and Diablo franchises but then they have World of Warcraft. Currently, World of Warcraft is the biggest MMORPG in the world with the most recent expansion, Cataclysm, only adding more wood to the fire.

However,its long been rumored that Blizzard is working on a next generation MMORPG commonly known as Titan but we’ve  received no official confirmation from the studio regarding this rumor. Luckily, Rank Pearce, World of Warcraft producer, came forth recently to give the following statement:

“The media is not supposed to know anything about [Titan]. It’s our next-gen MMO, and we’ve only started talking about it in a limited fashion because we wanna leverage the fact that we’re working on something like that for the purpose of recruiting, getting some of the best talent in the industry on that project.”

So, what exactly is this new projector going to be? Will they utilize the steam behind Warcraft and create World of Warcraft 2 or perhaps they will utilize another franchise like the above mentioned StarCraft or Diablo. Only time will tell.

via destructoid

Are you cheating in any of Blizzard’s games? If so, you better watch out as it has come to light that Blizzard is banning a whole slew of users. In fact, it was recently announced that Blizzard will be banning a whole 320,000 Warcraft III and Diablo II players.

If you’re a legimate player, you have nothing to worry about. All of these bannings will be dished out only to those who have been confirmed to be cheaters. Remember folks, cheaters never prosper.

via tvgb

It’s that time of the year, Blizzard has come forth and let us know when and where their annual convention, called BlizzCon, will be held. This year, it will return to the same place it was last year, the Anaheim Convention Center and will take place on October 22nd and 23rd.

You can expect all things Blizzard to be at this event from Starcraft and Diablo to World of Warcraft and perhaps an unannounced IP.

We’ll let you know when tickets go on sale.

via kotaku

Runic Games have announced today that their action RPG Torchlight will be seeing an October 27th launch date. Co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II, Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, are said to have worked on the game.

The game is Diablo-esque, but much easier to hop into. Each level of Torchlight is chosen randomly, having new Players will be allowed to create their own content via developer tools, and publish them to fellow gamers.

The game is scheduled for an exclusive PC launch via content distribution services for $19.99.

It was recently announced that CEO of Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, will replace Rene Penisson as Chairman of Activision Blizzard.

According to Joystiq, Vivendi is the majority owner of Activision Blizzard, just to give you a whiff of the company’s scale.

Let’s see, Activision Blizzard has Warcraft, Starcraft, Guitar Hero, Diablo, and Call of Duty; all colossal franchises. Vivendi, hower, has Activision Blizzard and Universal Studios. Yeah, big companies.

Blizzard has been fairly tight fisted for a while with Diablo III content. The launch of the website was quickly followed by a dearth of screenshots, character videos and concept art. Soon this flood of content dried to a mere trickle, but it seems that with the spring thaw more is coming our way.

In the newest BlizzCast, Diablo III community manager Bashiok had a chat with the game’s lead technical artist, Julian Love and Mike Nicholson, senior artist on UI design. They’ve put out a few screenshots, mostly having to do with what is discussed during the interview and a few of the questions posed during the Q&A section pertain to Diablo III.

There aren’t any particularly juicy details, but there are some morsels that will keep the news-starved going for a little while. Since the overall thrust of the game seems towards keeping the best aspects of randomly generated dungeons while paring away the dross, it’s interesting to note that shrines as they previously existed are being done away with. Game Director Jay Wilson said that they’re keeping the overall idea of the shrine powerups (increased stamina, temporary boost in experience gains, etc.) but integrating them into quest specific situations.

A lot of effort is being invested into monsters, specifically their deaths. Julian Love said that they realized monsters ‘really live to die in Diablo’, so the best way to invest them all with some individuality and make them all seem a little more unique than the average swarm of enemies was to make their deaths interesting. We’re not just talking a different death for each monster either, there are up to thirty five ways for each monster to “bite it” according to Love. It’s really going to be tailored to your character too from the sound of things. Blasting away with lightning magics will fry critters, while slashing at them with fiery swords will scorch and cut them.