Difference between revisions of "Media Coverage"

Latest revision as of 09:28, 27 March 2012

This page lists all Diablo III coverage; previews, interviews, pictures, videos, designer diaries, forum post, and more. Anything from the D3 Team that's substantial enough to warrant a news post on Diablo: IncGamers gets an entry on this page. Larger interviews and other features are sometimes archived in this section one month after they go online, to ward off link rot.

• If you're interested in updating this page, please check out the Media Coverage/Guidelines first.
• Jump back to the earlier years of Media Coverage, archived to keep down the page size. Links right below here.

If you are new to Diablo or Diablo III development, you can read up on the topic here:

• Diablo 3 Basics - The light source of all known Diablo III data in one fact sheet.

January 2012[edit | edit source]

• Blue Post: January 4, 2011 -- Bashiok forum posts about "concentrated coolness" as well as Achievements, characters levels, and more.

• Interview: January 4, 2011 -- PC Gamer posts an updated Diablo 3 preview, including Blue quotes and two new screenshots.

• Blue Post: January 5, 2011 -- Leonard Boyarsky interview with Gamespot.

• Blue Post: January 5, 2011 -- Blizzard marks Diablo's 15th Anniversary by releasing a new video telling the game's history. (Their version of several key events differs widely from that of Max Schaefer and other long-departed principles of Blizzard North.)

• Blue Post: January 6, 2011 -- Leaked images show some pages from the Diablo III Manual.

• Blue Post: January 7, 2011 -- Blizzard provides an update on the development of the Followers to make them useful, but not too strong, in difficulties higher than Normal.

• Video: January 16, 2011 -- Datamined videos showing the runestone effects in Exploding Palm and Grenade.

• Blue Post: January 19, 2011 -- Bashiok insists that Blizzard will not cheat or hack the RMAH system in Diablo III.

• Blue Post: January 20, 2011 -- A slow month for Diablo 3 content is greatly-enlivened by Jay Wilson's blog post explaining the major changes to the game's interface and the removal and modification of other major systems.

December 2011[edit | edit source]

• Blue Post: December 1, 2011 -- Blizzard announces that a trial version of the RMAH will soon be implemented into the Diablo 3 Beta test.

• Blue Post: December 1, 2011 -- Bashiok makes inconclusive comments on the Magic Find issue of a party freeloader.

• Blue Post: December 2, 2011 -- Blizzard says they have no plans to distribute Diablo 3 beta keys with pre-orders.

• Blue Post: December 3, 2011 -- Bashiok posts useful information about skill Damage over Time and imminent skill tooltip simplification.

• Blue Post: December 8, 2011 -- Blizzard announces upcoming "simplified" tool tips in Diablo III. Five days later Bashiok replies to negative feedback.

• Blue Post: December 9, 2011 -- Blizzard reveals "Battle.net Balance" as the official term for a player's balance of currency that can be gained or spent on the Diablo III RMAH. Funds can also be spent on Blizzard games, merch, WoW subscriptions, and more.

• Blue Post: December 10, 2011 -- A fan suggests an "always move" button in the game, and the developers like the idea enough to add it in. More details in the Controls article.

Azmodan in the opening cinematic.

• Video: December 11, 2011 -- The Diablo III Opening Cinematic debuts, to great fan excitement. Fan reaction is largely positive, with a vote showing that 65% love or like the video. Only the lack of a release date with the video mars the happy glow.

• Interview: December 13, 2011 -- Mike Morhaime and Frank Pearce speak from the Spike TV Video Game Awards Show.

• Blue Post: December 15, 2011 -- Bashiok explains what's still being developed, and why an open beta test is not in the cards.

• Blue Post: December 15, 2011 -- The BattleTag system is announced]. All Battle.net gamers must create a BattleTag one to play Diablo III Beta, and soon all other Blizzard games. Early feedback is positive, with some complaints about the extensive and mysterious banned word list.

• Interview: December 16, 2011 -- Leonard Boyarsky interviewed by GamePlanet NZ.

• Blue Post: December 17, 2011 -- Blizzard announces a change to item drop rates in the Beta, and claims blue (magical) items will be much scarcer early on. Player testing does not[1] bear this out.

• Blue Post: December 18, 2011 -- Blizzard clarifies several issues with the Auction House and Battle.net function.

• Blue Post: December 19, 2011 -- Blizzard reveals their holiday images for 2011, with two new pieces of art featuring Diablo characters.

• Blue Post: December 20, 2011 -- Amazing news as the origin of Deckard Cain's name is revealed, fifteen years after the fact.

• Commentary: December 23, 2011 -- The "accessibility vs. dumbed down" debate kicks into a higher gear with discussion of World of Warcraft's ongoing changes to make the game more accessible to players, and what that design theory means for Diablo III.

• Blue Post: December 26, 2011 -- Bashiok responds to criticism of the RMAH fee system in Diablo 3 by stressing that costs are as low as Blizzard can make them.

• Blue Post: December 26, 2011 -- Bashiok says that there is not any less-gore option in Diablo III, to the surprise of many accessible-bashing players.

• Video: December 27, 2011 -- A movie shows all five runestone effects of the Demon Hunter's Rain of Vengeance skill.

• Blue Post: December 27, 2011 -- Bashiok shares new info on region locking in Diablo III.

• Interview: December 30, 2011 -- Two Sword of Justice creator interviews.

November 2011[edit | edit source]

Coming soon.

October 2011[edit | edit source]

Coming soon.

September 2011[edit | edit source]

• Blue Post: September 7, 2011 -- Bashiok says closed beta is close to release, F&F beta has begun, no NDA.

August 2011[edit | edit source]

July 2011[edit | edit source]

• Other: July 16, 2011 -- New information about many of the skills for the Followers is revealed by PC Gamer magazine.

• Blue Post: July 15, 2011 -- @Diablo all-but confirms an Armory system for Diablo III. Fans expect it to be revealed on August 1st, with the other Battle.net features.

• Commentary: July 14, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast discusses World of Warcraft's Dungeon Journal, and the ramifications for such a system in Diablo III. Plus much debate about the benefits that UI mods have brought to WoW, and what their total absence from Diablo III might mean for the game's interface.

• Blue Post: July 12, 2011 -- Bashiok dashes hopes and dreams by (very ambiguously) stating that the upcoming August 1st Battle.net system reveals will not be the last ones before the beta.

• Blue Post: July 8, 2011 -- Bashiok drops the word that the three skills in Tier Seven of the Barbarian skills all have 120 second cooldowns. Much debate ensues, including an episode of The Diablo Podcast, where all the guests are accepting of the system, providing the skills are powerful enough to warrant the long delay between casts. Bashiok adds much more explanation a few days later.

• Blue Post: July 8, 2011 -- A job opening for a Senior Producer of Live Operations on the Diablo III team seems a promising development to many fans eager for the game's launch.

• Commentary: July 8, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast presents another weekly news attack, with Flux and Elly.

• Blue Post: July 8, 2011 -- Bashiok defends the WoW Dungeon Journal and states that no such system will be included in the initial launch of Diablo III.

• Blue Post: July 7, 2011 -- Bashiok delivers explanations about Diablo III's controls and interface.

• Blue Post: July 5, 2011 -- A playable demo is (at last) confirmed for Gamescom 2011. A day later Bashiok tentatively states that it will be the Blizzcon 2010 demo build, rather than a new 2011 game demo.

• Other: July 3, 2011 -- The D3Here saga comes to a rapid conclusion, when he shuts down his blog, Flux offers to collect additional questions and transmit his replies (to preserve his anonymity), and does so in D3Here's last public outburst. As big a story as D3Here's questions is the debate over the ethics and appropriateness of the largest Diablo 3 fansite providing a podium to D3Here, and a 100+ comment thread rages about it (sadly lost to a forum move/script change).

• Video: July 3, 2011 -- Blizzard posts the winners in their "Memories of Blizzard" fan video contest. One Diablo memory-holder is included.

• Commentary: July 1, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast begins their weekly news attack podcasts with Flux and Elly talking about recent news developments.

June 2011[edit | edit source]

• Other: June 30, 2011 -- A very interesting piece of merchandise, the Book of Cain, appears on Amazon.com, and other Amazon portals around the world. The listing is pulled from Amazon.com (but not Amazon Canada, Germany, UK, etc) just a few days later, without any explanation or public comment by Blizzard.

• Other: June 30, 2011 -- The D3Here saga begins, with a guy claiming to be a Diablo III play-tester answering reader questions with his alleged inside info.

• Commentary: June 29, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast delves into conversation about recent changes to the Monk skills and his Spirit resource system.

• Picture: June 29, 2011 -- New Demon Hunter artwork is released via the Sons of the Storm Blizzard artist website.

• Blue Post: June 28, 2011 [-- Bashiok reveals that Town Portals are back in Diablo III, in some limited fashion. This months after they were ruled out of the game for numerous reasons, all covered in the Town Portal article.

• Blue Post: June 25, 2011 -- Blizzard's European Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft twitter feeds confirm that both games will have playable demos at August's Gamescom convention. There's no word about Diablo III. (Not until weeks later, when the Polish B.net portal confirms that a playable D3 demo will be at the show. Critics add this episode to the long, long list of Bliz Irvine PR's failures to adequately communicate important info to the fans in a timely manner.)

• Commentary: June 24, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast discusses paid features in online gaming, RMT, and what sorts of "value added" services Diablo III might include.

• Commentary: June 20, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast discusses the WoW Auction House and speculates on Diablo III's trading system.

• Other: June 18, 2011 -- Word leaks of a press event set for Blizzard Irvine in late July, at which the Diablo 3 Beta build will be play-tested and Diablo III's B.net features will be revealed. The big news will break on August 2nd, after the NDA is lifted.

• Commentary: June 17, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast delves into items and item modifiers in Diablo III. Quite a few prefixes and suffixes have been seen thus far in screenshots, and there are big changes from Diablo II.

• Picture: June 15, 2011 -- Diablo3.cc reports on the mysterious symbols they saw affixed to the walls inside Blizzard Irvine during their recent visit. No explanations about the symbols are forthcoming from Blizzard.

• Blue Post: June 15, 2011 -- Bashiok jokes about the Monk's Spirit resource and it's resemblance to milk, or some other viscous liquid.

• Blue Post: June 14, 2011 -- Bashiok shares out detailed information about the Monk skills, combos, and his Spirit resource.

• Picture: June 11, 2011 -- New Diablo III artwork spotted in the Blizzard Irvine museum goes online. [Two days later more details] about the "Black Soulstone" come courtesy of KuangTu of Diablo3.cc.

• Blue Post: June 11, 2011 -- Bashiok is taunted into answering some real questions, and he provides a lot of info about gear sets and other item issues.

The Nephalem Cube.

• Blue Post: June 11, 2011 -- Bashiok teases about the spoilery name of the salvage cube. Then confirms that it is called the Nephalem Cube a day later.

• Commentary: June 10, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast #13 features three interviews with Blizzcon attendees, all focused on their play experiences with the Diablo III PvM demo. First time jitters were had by all.

• Other: June 6, 2011 -- A likely Blizzcon pet is spotted on the WoW test real; it's Murkablo, a Diablo-themed Murloc.

• Other: June 6, 2011 -- The first gaming peripherals merch debut for Diablo III, with custom headphones and a sexy glowing mouse from Steelseries. Early reviews for the $70 mouse and $120 headset appear a few days later.

• Other: June 6, 2011 -- Flux and Wolfpaq go way indepth on Runestone changes and skill issues, on The Diablo Podcast #12.

• Blue Post: June 4, 2011 -- Official confirmation of the changes to item colors in Diablo III comes from Bashiok. Orange for legendary and set items, yellow for rares, and no golden items at all. Some fans are unhappy with the lack of classic golden uniques, though a fan vote shows only mild outrage at the changes.

{{oth} June 4, 2011 -- Diablo III on a console rumors continue as Blizzard posts D3 team job openings for PlayStation 3 programmers.

• Commentary: June 3, 2011 -- The Diablo Podcast discusses likely Guild and Clan support in Diablo III, with comparisons to Diablo II, WoW, and other contemporary RPGs.

• Picture: June 2, 2011 -- Prompted by fan complaints about the lameness of the one-million likes pay off, Blizzard throws up a new piece of Tyrael artwork on their Facebook page.

• Picture: June 1, 2011 -- New female Demon Hunter artwork, plus news of an upcoming Diablo III art book, via ImagineFX Magazine.

May 2011[edit | edit source]

• Picture: May 31, 2011 -- The Diablo Facebook page hits 1,000,000 "likes," priming fan interest for the milestone media release. Which turns out to be five Diablo III wallpapers, all using artwork long since released. Fan disappointment ensues.

• Picture: May 29, 2011 -- The 18th Diablo Facebook ransom is paid, with two pieces of not-new artwork and a screenshot as well.

• Blue Post: May 25, 2011 -- Bashiok reveals that the Talisman (and Charms) are out of Diablo III for the release. The feature may return in a patch or expansion, if they can find a way to make it more compelling.

• Video: May 25, 2011 -- Blizzard posts a new Runestones info page, with five awesome videos, each showing off one class skill in unaltered form, then with all five runestone effects. Bashiok replies to comments about them a day later.

• Picture: May 24, 2011 -- The 17th Facebook ransom pays off big time, with concept art of a new Spectral Warrior monster, artwork of the female Barbarian, Caldeum desert artwork, and a PvP screenshot.

• Picture: May 23, 2011 -- A new gallery of item tool tip photos is posted, via photos taken of the Blizzcon 2010 PvM demo.

• Other: May 21, 2011 -- BlizzCon 2011 tickets go on sale the morning of the 21st and sell out in seconds. The same is true of the second batch on the 25th.

• Picture: May 19, 2011 -- The 16th Diablo Facebook ransom is paid with new images of the Skeleton King.

Templar concept arts.

• Blue Post: May 12-15, 2011 -- Diablo III's Followers system is leaked via movie, then the next day fully-revealed via official website, interviews and interviews and interviews, and forum posts and posts and posts, and artwork. Fan reaction is mixed -- most fans like the NPC design and skills system for the Scoundrel, Enchantress, and Templar, but the fact that D3's mercs are only useful in normal difficulty is a hard pill to swallow.
  • A vote before the system reveal showed that 72% of fans wanted D3 mercs to be as strong or stronger than they were in D2.
  • A vote after the system reveal shows only a 35% approval, with most fans disappointed that mercs are only useful on normal, or that there are mercs in the game at all.

• Blue Post: May 9, 2011 -- The Diablo community finally received concrete word from Blizzard regarding the Diablo III beta test during the Activision-Blizzard conference call on that same day. The timeframe given was the third quarter of 2011, later clarified by Bashiok to mean July 1st to September 30th. Fan anticipation was acute, with a huge throng in Diablo: IncGamers' live chat, but chained to reason, as shown by the consensus correct choice on a vote asking when the beta was likely to start. The start date was also discussed that evening on The Diablo Podcast #8.

• Commentary: May 9, 2011 -- The seventh Diablo podcast from IncGamers surfaces, and it includes an excellent interview with Seth Schiesel, who was the author of a New York Times interview with Jay Wilson.

• Blue Post: May 8, 2011 -- Bashiok responds to a fan about "useless" traits, revealing that three traits have been removed from the game (with the possibility of more), being Just...Stay...Dead!, Demonsbane, and also Beast Hunter, including rationale behind how Blizzard handles the traits.

• Picture: May 8, 2011 -- A delicious facebook update (numbering fifteen) is released showing the amazing interpretation of Diablo from Glowei, in addition to two screenshots featuring the Wizard and Demon Hunter (casting Fan of Knives) in Act I.

• Interview: May 7, 2011 -- Flux secures an interview with Matt Uelmen, former Blizzard music composer, now working for Runic Games. He gives some interesting insights into the process of creating music for video games.

• Blue Post: May 6, 2011 -- @Diablo cruelly teases about the diablo beta by offering 5,911 winning points to someone participating in the hashtag twitter promotion. It is widely accepted specualtion that 5,911 points refers to Unicorn Day, the 9th of May, where the Blizzard conference call will be held speaking in one manner or another of the Diablo III beta.

• Interview: May 5, 2011 -- In an interview with Frank Pearce, the subject of mobile phone gaming emerges where Pearce makes speculation as to what Diablo III fans may be able to look forward to in terms of apps, citing the armory and Auction House apps for World of WarCraft. General fan reaction is very positive.

• Picture: May 4, 2011 -- Diablo (from Diablo II) is featured in Blizzard's Facebook one-million likes wallpaper.

• Picture: May 3, 2011 -- While not official game art, Varquynne finds a pic called "Skeleton Queen" by current Blizzard artist Oliver Chipping.

• Blue Post: May 3, 2011 -- Bashiok offers an explanation on the changes to the skill hotbar on the interface, and it proves to be almost as confusing to explain as item tiers.

• Picture: May 2, 2011 -- The fourteenth facebook installment is released, showing a rather odd version of the goatman in concept art, along with a pleasant screenshot of the Witch Doctor casting his Firebat spell.

• Picture: May 2, 2011 -- Another BlizzCon graphic featuring Diablo is shown on the Blizzard BlizzCon website; this time it is an animated flash file showing a mysterious four-sectioned hole in Diablo's animated chest. Speculation ranges from humorous to absurd.

• Interview: May 1, 2011 -- The full interview with Jay Wilson from diablo3.cc is posted, and expands on what was commented on before.

April 2011[edit | edit source]

• Blue Post: April 29, 2011 -- Bashiok dips into the bnet forums to speak on why BoE was dropped from the game, and also elaborates a bit on how set items will function in Diablo III, revealing that they are all of legendary quality.

• Interview: April 29, 2011 -- An interview with Jay Wilson surfaces, conducted by Chinese fansite diablo3.cc, discusses key bindings, BoE being dropped from the game, Set Items, and more. Kuangtu also posts new photos of Jay Wilson from the interview, which are, of course, DiabLOLed to great effect.

• Commentary: April 27, 2011 -- The fourth episode of the Diablo Podcast debuts, centering on the subject of the arena demo from BlizzCon 2010.

• Interview: April 26, 2011 -- A preview emerges by the New York Times with Jay Wilson, offering fans a commentary on trade, and also a tantalizing quote by Jay Wilson about how the game is in the final stretch. Those who are not excited are those who followed StarCraft II's development, realizing that "the final stretch" can extend well past the horizon into cosmic space where time has no meaning.

• Picture: April 26, 2011 -- The thirteenth episode of Facebook likes reveals concept art for Caldeum guards, and a screenshot of an arena battle which is nearly identical to all the other arena screenshots.

• Video: April 25, 2011 -- Machinima assembles a History of Blizzard video which manages to cover much more than the 20th Anniversary video from Blizzard itself.

• Commentary: April 25, 2011 -- The Diablo podcast returns to speak about BlizzCon with fellow convention goers Dana, Exile, and Neinball.

• Commentary: April 23, 2011 -- The demo specs were revealed for the machines running Diablo III at G-Star in Korea. It is widely accepted that these specs have no true bearing on the final system requirements for Diablo III, as the game had yet to be optimized at that point.

• Blue Post: April 22, 2011 -- Bashiok replies to a fan's question about whether or not the game plays differently from 2008 to 2011, and also @Diablo comments in a sarcastic tone to a request for a new monster description, and some shallow commentary on lore.