Blizzard Unveils Long-Expected Game- "Diablo III"

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., a division of Vivendi Games, finally announced its long-awaited project- Diablo III, at company's Worldwide Invitational event on Saturday.

Blizzard, one of the most famous games franchises that makes the world's most popular online computer game, World of Warcraft, demonstrated Diablo III, company’s latest action Role Playing Game (RPG), at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational at the Porte de Versailles Convention Centre in Paris, France.

At the at this weekend's Blizzard Invitational, Diablo III, the third installment of Blizzard's massively popular Diablo franchise, was introduced by Blizzard’s president and co-founder Mike Morhaime and was presented by Jay Wilson.

The Irvine, California based Blizzard launched the first series of Diablo back in January 1997, Four years later, in 2004, the game publisher released Diablo II that became an instant hit and the company sold close to 17 millions copies. One year later, an expansion, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was released by Blizzard, and since then the fans were waiting for the next installment.

The epic story of Diablo III, the franchise’s first in eight years, will start twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Blizzard said the newly unveiled title will feature a customized version of Havok physics that will give gamers sensational experiences of "realistic object dynamics and cloth simulation" and destructible environmental elements.

The players will have an array of new playable characters, two of them are: the Barbarian and the Witch Doctor that seems similar to the Necromancers from Diablo II. During the game, the gamers will encounter some beasts like Undead (the descendents of the skeletons), Khazra (colloquially known as "goatmen"), Gnarled Walkers and Dark Cultists.

Blizzard has launched an official website for the game that has extended presentations of these two new characters.

“The barbarians consider it their sworn duty to protect Mount Arreat and the mysterious object within. They believe that if they fail to uphold their duty to the great mount, or are not given a proper burial upon its slopes, they will be denied a true warrior's death, and their spirits shall roam the land without honor for all eternity,” the presentation of Barbarians says.

“The witch doctors are finely attuned to this Unformed Land and are able to train their minds to perceive this reality through a combination of rituals and the use of selected roots and herbs found in the jungles. They call the state in which they interact with this other world the Ghost Trance,” the presentation says about the witch doctors.

Besides characters’ presentation, the official site, www.diablo3.com also includes the announcement, 60 pieces of artwork from the game as well as a teaser trailer and nearly 20 minutes of gameplay footage. In addition, Blizzard is planning to provide online multiplayer via Battle.net, although no details have been provided by the company.

Diablo III will be available for PCs and Macs, and the company expects to release both the version simultaneously.

However, Blizzard did not disclose the official launch date of the new title, saying that "It's too early to estimate Diablo III's release date. We intend to take as much time developing Diablo III as is necessary to ensure the game meets our own high expectations and those of our players."