Who? Me??

I have been waiting for almost three years for this game to release. Along with me thousands of other Diablo fans are waiting for Blizzard to announce the public beta launch date. Truth be told, it’s going to negatively impact the subscriptions of the other Blizzard games, especially World of Warcraft. Perhaps they are working out on when to announce the launch of the 4.3 WoW patch, and when to announce the Diablo public beta. Here’s a list of all things that I have heard about the game.

• The private beta has been released last week, and is open to all the friends and family members of Blizzard employees. Not only is it a way to find beta testers , but also it’s a brilliant HR ploy.
• The game will fear an Auction House (AH) like the WoW series, but this time players will have an option to use real money in the AH. This is going to be a game which will somehow impact the economy, at a micro level albeit, but interesting to note that no other game has the balls to try this out. Then again, this idea might just backfire.
• The solo game will require the player to still be connected online. I guess the online part is made mandatory due to the ease of operations. The game can be updated later on, DRM issues are resolved, piracy goes down, instead of a one time purchase a player can be made to pay the subscription amount month on month. Most of the game houses are trying to include this concept (even Microsoft with X-Box live).

Having said all that, the game is still widely awaiting and you can start checking out the game play videos of Demon Hunter, Monk, Wizard and Witch Doctor. With the private beta now live, you can always hope to see a lot more content and videos on youtube.

Here’s hoping that the game releases before 2012!!

I am a big fan of RPGs. Something about changing reality I guess. Diablo, Torchlight, Sacred … you name it, I have dabbled with that game if not played it to the fullest. Then came the era of MMOG (Massively Multi-player Online Games) … and MMORPGs were there.

Till date, I had always felt that India is somehow lacking on the bandwidth front. Not any more!! With decent enough speeds, we Indians can also indulge in a bit of online games. With winning titles like WoW, and free titles like 9 Dragons, 2029, etc. Which game to choose becomes a question.

Here I would seriously recommend Guild Wars … its your money’s worth. Its not a free game, but unlike its other paid brethren … GW does not operate on a pay per use model. You buy the game once, and you get to play it for a lifetime. It pawns WoW in this regard. With World of Warcraft requiring a good $20 a month. Which to some is expendable – the some being a good 21 million souls. With $40 for all the three titles, GW does score of WoW.

The reason why I am mentioning Blizzard so much is because a lot of people who have worked on GW have been Blizzard employees.

The game has a story line, but where the game stands out is the PvP area and its concept of guilds. Many players can be part of a guild, and there are many competitions between guilds. Players can choose different professions (Elementalist, Necromancer, Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer or Monk), depending on their professions their role in the battle changes.

The game play is simple and addictive. I havent finished the storyline (I only have 2 hours of my trial period left!!), but I am considering purchasing the trilogy.

All in all, awaiting GW2 and considering making this purchase.