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Games Entertainment

Diablo II Collector's Edition 153

Posted by timothy from the get-'em-while-they're-hot dept.
Omicron writes, "Blizzard will be releasing a special collector's edition of Diablo II. It looks pretty cool -- a 24-minute DVD movie, the full game, and it's signed by the development team. I'm looking for a place to buy it already!" Note that the collector's edition will be available only during the launch, and that the price is expected to be USD60-70.
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Diablo II Collector's Edition More

Diablo II Collector's Edition

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  • pre-order at GameStop (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They don't charge you until approx. 3 days before shipping (you can cancel your order anytime before shipment). And they guarantee delivery the same day as the stores get it if you are in the US (not including Alaska and Hawaii obviously), and choose overnight delivery.

    $59.99

    http://www.gamest op.com/product-detail.jsp?origin=sear&sku=643911 [gamestop.com]

  • from the FAQ, system requirement section (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Is there a Linux version planned? What about the Playstation, Dreamcast, Dolphin or Nintendo 64? While Diablo II is currently under development for Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh OS, we are always examining our options to bring our titles to multiple platforms. If Diablo II is to be developed for other systems, we will be sure to announce it on our website.
    I hope it won't take too long and keep me drooling over those screenshots.

  • Re:Heh. (Score:1)

    by Eccles ( 932 )
    It's almost amusing how they can spare staff to produce 70 minute soundtrack CDs, 24 minute DVD titles, a f*cking DnD based paper RPG, and a manual signed by the development team when they can't even get product out the door.

    It's quite possible that the only contribution of the programming development team to this whole effort was their signatures. Game programming takes a whole bunch of people, most of whom don't have the skills to help finish the code. So instead they do the fluff while the code weenies furiously try to whack the game engine into shape.
  • In his defense, it sounds like each collectors edition contains a signed copy, which means one signature for each copy sold... Which means signing their names more than once.

    You make it sound like it's one signature.
  • From the GameStop website: [gamestop.com]
    Ship Date:

    07/03/00

    --

  • I don't know about added substance, but apparently you won't need to beat your mouse to Hell. You'll be able to simply hold down the mouse button and your character will continue attacking as long as the mouse is held down.

    --

  • Its nice to say "we" when you are speaking about yourself.

    Yeah, damn Blizzard, they better make a port for my OS that i am writting for my TI81, cause everybody is using it, even IBM is porting stuff to it.

    See how stupid you sound? now stop saying "we" when you are speaking for yourself. You make me sick.

  • Maybe it was a fluke or a bug of some kind, but I ended up killing Diablo with a 2x4 with a nail in it.

    You had to use a weapon? You wussy! I just kicked Diablo to death as an archer. You just drop all your weapons and attack him. Kicked 'em to death.

    Besides the video, will the game be any different for the 'special' version? Any extra goodies, maybe some 'Easter eggs' or cheats?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • If they are profit driven why are they releasing porting it to the Mac
  • Recently, I gave up buying any games for just windows. This unfortunatly means few games, though just enough for me.

  • What's gonna happen if you don't get to play it right away? Seriously. Your computer's not going anywhere. Actually, I don't think it would be such a bad idea to hold it off until the late Fall of this year -- I think some of the people around here could stand to actually get out and enjoy the summer instead of staying sequestered by themselves up in their rooms every day and night. Save it 'til Winter when nobody else wants to go out anyway.

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • You didn't really believe that fluff about VA Linux buying up every other Linux company because they're looking after Linux users' best interests, did you?

    Q: Which is most quickly heading toward zero: VA Linux's stock price, or the number of other Linux-related companies it hasn't bought out yet? :)

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • I mean comeon, a DVD movie and 4 CD-Roms??? How about a DVD which includes the movie and the game on one disc?

  • Re:Heh. (Score:1)

    by Nima ( 14762 )
    in the words of all my high school cronies..

    tru dat..

    but I am really waiting for warcraft III that looks amazing!.

    negahban@home.com
  • Forget D&D - How about a MERP ro RoleMaster game.
    ICE rocked my world.
  • Six months? My God man, I'd be *happy* if Diablo II was only six months late. I'd be playing it already! In fact, I'd probably be DONE with it!

    Blizzard may have a reputation for releasing well polished final products, but they also have a reputation for releasing them late-as-all-fscking-hell. Starcraft was years late. (and the original release was the most non-playbalanced thing I ever played) Diablo II seems to be just as late.

    Diablo was a fun, easy to get into dungeon hack. But since then, everyone and their dog has jumped into the quick dungeon hack market, with titles like Darkstone and Nox. Diablo II should be able to compete, given how pretty it is, but that logic only follows through if they RELEASE IT! =)
  • >Baldur's gate suffered from too many
    >crippling flaws to come near diablo as far
    >as my experience went. I've played through
    That may be so, but Diablo is more of an
    action hack & slash game with adventure
    elements, while Baldur's Gate is actually
    trying to be an adventure game, with story
    and plot and all that new-fangled nonsense
    game-reviewers are so fond of ;)

    You're comparing two different fruits.
  • in its day... :P
  • I agree completely. I played the demo of Diablo and I just didn't get it. I still don't get it. I realize that it is an incredibly popular game but I can't understand why. Basically all you do is hop into a randomly generated dungeon and then click on the monsters a bunch of times. Wee. I love RPGs, but Diablo isn't much of one. Honestly, I'd really like to understand why people like this game so much, but I just can't.

  • Re:Heh. (Score:1)

    by Surt ( 22457 )
    To be fair ... I'm fairly sure the development team just signs once, and then the signatures are duplicated ... that's the way autographed editions always work. (Sorry to burst anyone's bubble who thinks signatures that they didn't actually witness came from the actual person).
  • Oh, come on. It could be worse. You could be waiting for Daikatana :-) Which has been in development for longer and doesn't look to be nearly as good.

    Skippy
  • ..'cause the first Diablo wasn't evil ENOUGH!

    --

  • haha (Score:1)

    by Wah ( 30840 )
    haha [ebworld.com], 22 reviews on a product that ships in June. lol. Gotta love hardcore gamers :)

    --

  • Re:WANT! (Score:1)

    by Wah ( 30840 )
    Diablo (and I loved it) doens't have 100th the gameplay of Nethack. Luckily it has 100x+ the eye-candy, ear-candy, and action, so it's a good trade-off. It's like a single player 3-d Wizardry I for me, but that was one of the first games like this I played. Simple dungeon romp, kill creatures, get cool stuff, done right. I will be buying DII eventually.

    --
  • Doesn't "collector's edition" imply that there are people out there who actually collect these things? I've personally never played a computer game that kept me remotely interested more than six months or so.

    DVD movie? Bonus RPG? Signed by the development team? SO WHAT!

    If any of these "extras" are worth anything, sell them as separate products, or at least make them more permanently available somehow. If not, why make them in the first place?

    Anyway, the only thing that kept my interest in Diablo once the novelty of multiplayer mode wore off was the bug that allowed you to clone objects in your inventory. :-)

  • Why are they releasing the game on 4 CDs and a DVD? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to write everything to a DVD? I remember playing the original game online and being slowed down by my measly 4x CD-ROM. The group would finish a level, decide to go to another level, and at that point it was a race between systems. The fastest CPU/CD-ROM combo would load the new level fastest, and I would wade through the carnage until I caught up to the other adventurers. Is it just me or will adding a disc swap to this just increase the waiting times? I'm not suggesting that a DVD release is the only way to go but, why not put it on there if you are going to distribute a DVD with the set.
  • It is not a "murphy rule" that you can't use something but still carry it. You can be strong enough to carry an item but not strong enough to use it. Understand? This is a beautiful aspect of the game as it gives a hint of realism. Try picking up an old 6' two-handed sword. Now try swinging it. A little bit different yes?
  • Baldur's gate suffered from too many crippling flaws to come near diablo as far as my experience went. I've played through diablo 3 or 4 times and never got more than 3/4ths of the way through baldur's gate. Not because of difficulty, but because it just wasn't much fun to play.

    It took forever to search through the enormous wilderness spaces with nothing in them, the quests had a tendency to be along the lines of "Oh no, X is missing, help me find it!" with no hint as to where X might be, or a reference to a place but with only vauge directions as to where that place might be. But even those could have been ignored if it weren't for the Awful interface. It was clunky, it was non-intuitive, and the combat system was moronic.
    For those of you who haven't played it, Baldur's Gate's combat system consisted of pausing the game, telling each character in your party what to do, then unpausing and hoping they did what you told them to. If you wanted to use something in your inventory you had to go as fast through the inventory screens as possible since accessing it un-paused the game, leaving your characters open to attack while you can't even see the display. The party system was almost well made, except that it seemed like every time you found a character worth having, they were attached to some worthless sidekick who you couldn't get rid of short of getting them destroyed in combat.

    As far as the graphics go.. i personally preferred Diablo's over Baldur's Gate. Diablo might not have had the detail that Baldur's Gate did, and Diablo was tiled, not individually rendered, but too many things in Baldur's Gate looked like they'd taken a photo of some grass or a tree or whatever and pasted it on top of the environment. Some scenes were stunningly well done, but too many were just lackluster. That and in too many situations it was impossible to see things because, unlike diablo, they didn't provide a partially-transparent effect to intervening walls, meaning characters, enemies, and equipment could dissapear behind a wall.

    Now, before you say it, yes they could fix all these things in the sequel and make a wonderful game. But from their own statements they're hardly altering the engine at all. Baldur's Gate II will basically just be a standalone expansion and I for one probably won't buy it for the same reason taht I haven't bought Planescape: Torment. I was really looking forward to Baldur's Gate as a real d&d game and it really let me down. Diablo might not have been deep, but it was insanely fun as a hack'n'slash and even if Diablo II were just a standalone expansion of Diablo I i'd still want it.
    Dreamweaver
  • Nope but it does pretend to be Space Invaders.

  • Before you pass judgement on Blizzard, they are quite friendly to their fan-base. There are alot of domains, not owned by them, which exist.

    eg www.diablo.net, www.warcraft.org

    Note that these names would be easier to prove ownership but then again they are fan-sites.

  • Don't think of it as a role-playing game, think of it as an action game. Don't get all excited over titles.

    >You jump right down into hell and proceed to click the mouse button like a monkey on speed until everything's dead.

    You do this with alot of games out there. Damn that Galaxica, make me press those buttons until everything is dead.
    And I assume that you haven't played the mage. Its not a click fest with him.


  • Could somebody tell me why there's such a hype about this game. Okay, those are the guys that did Warcraft and Starcraft, but was the first Diablo really that great? I found it incredibly tiring to battle level after level of monsters, and at the end I gave up because it became too boring. From the screenshots, Diablo II looks just like the first one, with a little bit of 3d eye-candy thrown in. Are there any improvements in gameplay?
  • yeah, ok. They manually sign every copy... Definately don't just hand a nice signature to some courier to take over to the printers (or the art guy who sends over the art with a sig imprinted on it somewheres)
  • I never found much appeal in Diablo. How bout we get some more real role playing games back? It's been a long time since a decent one came out. We need a return to the days of D&D.

    I suggest you try Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and watch out for Icewind Dale and BG2 (all from Interplay, who now have the AD&D license).

    Having been a fan of the old SSI D&D computer games I think it can be safely said that there are at last some more good RPG's being released.

    For less traditional RPG fun, I hear that the Fallout and System Shock series are good, though I haven't played them myself.

    F.



    #include sig.h

  • Damn, I wish I had points to moderate this up - I was about to rant about the same thing.

    Come on, Blizzard! What's the excuse?

    F.



    #include sig.h
  • Very nicely written. I couldn't have said it better myself.

    I like Diablo because it doesn't require too much strategy or thought. I have games that do require that. Diablo is a simplistic yet addictive game in the style of the lesser MUDs and rogue-like games.

    Certainly, Diablo has nothing on NetHack, Angband, or the highly-developed MUDs of internet legend... but that wasn't what it was designed to compete against.

    If you're looking for steak, don't go to McDonald's.
  • I'll second the motion. Here here.
    Its even cooler when you read your messages in subspace too (hint hint trith).
  • Yeah, I have both WC1 and WC2. At least you can run WC1 on a old system, like a "good" 386 because it uses vga instead of svga, which puts less burden on old vid cards. As soon as I think of a way to put a 386 in my bathroom, WC1 is gonna be on it.

  • This is a pretty good price, actually. The game itself is probably going to be $50 on the shelf, and the D&D supplement is $20... that's not including the audio CD and special DVD video, not to mention a signed copy of the manual. If they make a simultaneous Mac/PC release, I'll probably grab this special edition.
    ______________________
  • It's comments like this that make the software industry what it is today. If more companies spent the time and energy to create excellent, nearly bug-free games (which Blizzard has an excellent history ot doing) the world would be a much better place. I am perfectly willing to wait for a game that works out-of-box, without having to download a patch before I can play the thing

    Hey, I have no problem with software companies "getting it right" and wish more would do so. But give me a break, how many times has this thing been redone? Has anyone at Blizzard actually heard the phrase "feature freeze?"

    As another posted refered to it, "The most anticipated game of 1998, 1999, AND 2000!" From what I understand, Blizzard was gearing up to release well over a year ago, and decided against it after seeing what Interplay was doing in the form of Baldur's Gate.

    Why does this annoy me? I honestly don't know. Maybe I'm just pissed off after being deluged by the Blizzard marketting machine from Hell(tm) for the past three years. Maybe I'm just annoyed at Blizzard in general for ripping out the extra expansion pack promised in the Warcraft II platinum edition (later to be known as Battle.net edition). Maybe I'm just pissed that my girlfriend put down cash at Software Etc. for a pre-order after the promised Dec24 1999 ship date?

    I don't know, but it bugs me all the same.

  • angband, moria, nethack... the *NIX version exisits and depending on how much you like to look at pictures it could be argued that they are superior... (personaly I like pictures)
  • While diablo was obviously hack and slash and very straight forward, Quake cannot be placed in the same bin. If you are referring the single player maybe, but 1 on 1 multiplayer is by far more strategic than any hardcore rts or rpg I have ever played.
  • Daikatana is actually available for pre-order now - it's expected ship date is 4/3/00 - I can't wait for this one either, it looks absolutely awesome. You can pre-order it here: www.gamestop.com/product-detail.jsp?origin=sear&sk u=642041
  • FWIW, the developers are probably not involved with things like the video or the soundtrack. These things are usually handled by other teams, or even other companies. In other words, they are done by people who, if they weren't working on that stuff, wouldn't be working on anything that contributed directly to the game anyway. Things like title screens, intros, marketing fluff, and in many cases the start-up UI are usually not handled by the game developers, at least not at larger game companies like Blizzard.

  • What if I wanted to see it under WINE which handles some apps beautifully?
  • The more I think about it I realize it's Legends of Kroz not Rogue or Nethack they copied. Except for that random map thing.

  • Actually, I was just being grumpy.

    I liked diablo for what it was, a fairly mindless diversion vaguely related to the dungeon crawls I played in my youth. I was not attempting in any way, shape, or form to compare it to a roguelike. Some of the roguelikes are so remarkably evolved that they boggle the imagination (ADOM comes to mind). Diablo is superficial and really doesn't have a lot of depth, but it's sorta fun all the same (just like Q3 is fun although it's mostly just about blowing people up).

    Still, they used to have to kick me out of the computer lab at 3 am because of my Moria habit. Diablo never kept me up that late.
  • I think that Collector's Editions are a great idea, but there are a lot of older games that would benefit from this type of release much more. No, I don't mean creating 3D versions of Pong, Pacman, or Frogger.

    I don't know what sort of content will prove to make a cool edition for a game, but creator's notes, original concepts, early art, etc... might just be worth picking up a 'new' Zork, etc...

  • Hehe, well, I've got original signatures of the entire Intellivision game design team on my "Intellivision Lives!" CD... they didn't offer an autographed version but I emailed them before they released the thing and begged em so they signed it before they mailed mine out ;)

    Esperandi
  • Fine, they tried to consolidate their domains. First off, it may not even have been Blizzard who did it, since the letter states only that their parent company wishes this guy to give up his domain.

    Second, the guy was according to the article a domain squat^H^H^H^Hpeculator.
    "...domain speculator who has used the alias domainiac to refer to himself..."
    Is this a practice anyone here wants to advocate?? I personally think it is a disgusting practice, and is one of the problems with the existing domain naming system. Many smaller companies have been forced to take "less than optimal" names because of this practice.

    Third, I'm surprised at this post. Clearly this isn't a case of the little guy getting squashed by the big evil empire. He still has the site, and he had all kinds of lawyers and other mumbo-jumbo on his side as well. Don't cry for "domainiac".

    This kind of attitude is the reason I don't read /. as much anymore. It is really kind of disappointing.
    The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:
  • Thanks for the reply. That is actually one of the better replies I've received. Sorry if I came off a little harsh. I am just sick of people spouting this stuff without having even an inkling of what goes into the process.

    It at least looks like you thought about the post before posting.


    The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:
  • Thanks... I needed that :)

    Gotta love it.
    The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:
  • For all of the critics out there to proprietary software, I would have to say that there are not a lot of people with the time or money to do a project like Diablo open source. I sure haven't seen anything like it yet, atleast. Making money has always been the economies solution to providing incentives to create new and better products. Sure in a perfect world, all the software would be open source, but realistically, in order for such a grand project to come into fruition (4 CD's of pure hackfests!!), there has to be knowledge hiding to keep the hard work that software designer's have done from being stolen. If you don't like the product, don't buy it. But I think that the price you pay for the dynamite games that blizzard comes out with is well worth the cost.
  • Great. Blizzard is rewarding their exceedingly patient fans with a special edition of Diablo II. But they STILL have not set a release date. The game is going to end up like six months late. I'm all about quality, but I wish they could speed things just a little.
  • Just kidding, but you don't seem to think that the OSS community has any ethics. I will buy the game for windows if I have to, for linux if I can. I have no problem with commercial software. I like the OSS ideals and I will release any software that I program that I feel is usefull under open source.

    I however expect to work for a software manufacturer when I get out of college. Whatever they release will probably be closed source. I don't have a problem with that either, since I need to make money to live. I would love to be able to write OSS and get paid for it but most places simply don't do that.

    I'm quite sure that I'll be under some kind of non-disclosure contract that will keep me from using the code that I do for work in my own programs. However, just by writing code every day my skills will improve and any software I write and release as open source will reflect that experiance. So, in and indirect way the company will be helping the OSS community.

    Not all of us are zealots. Some of us are reasonable, a little idealistic, and ethical. I would never want to see legislation to force a software company to port programs to ANY platform.

    I'm quite sure that you were not completely serious, and this was not intended to be a flame just some thoughts.

  • Now I feel really old. Back in my day we had to write our own games in basic. Translate it by hand into machine code. Enter it by useing toggle switches and we had to build our own computers with a couple of computer chips a wooden case and a soldering iron. After we finally got the game programmed into the computer we had to watch the blinking lights for output and translate that by hand into what our game was doing. Sometimes it took weeks just to get past the first few turns of a good rpg.
  • I never found much appeal in Diablo. How bout we get some more real role playing games back? It's been a long time since a decent one came out. We need a return to the days of D&D. Games now have absolutely no variation in the plot. Everyone who plays it does the exact same thing and nothing unique ever comes out of it. Ruins all the fun.
  • They aren't bothering with making the game yet, they're just having fun making toys and thinking of the possibilities.
  • Exactly! I'm not the designer...I'm just a reviewer...We've been begging the boss guy to ditch the lame logo, and get rid of the kiddie font. But he likes all that sh---stuff...

    I think what he needs is some constructive reader criticism. =) Our problem is that nobody ever says anything about anything on our site. I've gotten a total of 4 different emails. 2 cuz I flamed some retarded company's game, and 2 others for hints after I posted reviews. Maybe some "feedback" for the dude would help.

    My character was a Detective when my house got robbed...but I had burglar alarms in the other areas of the house...so the five-o got him...he jacked a chair and my stereo, but I got a bunch of insurance $$$, so I bought the best stereo after that. =)
  • HA!

    When was the last time you could depend on a software store to give you a release date when the COMPANY hasn't listed one.

    Here's my favorite story from one of the Blizzard customer service/tech support guys that used to work with me.

    Guy calls up: "I called Software Etc, they say they've got copies of Diablo in the stores, but they won't sell it to us because you have an agreement that says they can't sell it for 3 months! (I may be wrong about time span.)

    My friend: "What kind of stupid policy is that? We WANT your money...why would we do something that would PREVENT us from getting your money?"

    So in short...don't believe EbWorld, unless you see some corroborating evidence from Blizzard. And don't buy your games from UGODirect/Gamedealer.com. I preordered The Sims from them on 2/1/00...they're apparently still waiting to restock it.
  • Oh...I got my Sims...(whistles, and looks around...)

    But let's just say that UGODirect/GameDealer can just delete my account right now...I'm never ordering anything from them again...

    All's good for me...in fact...I liked the Sims so much, I wrote a review about it. Check it out...maybe you'll dig our site. I make no guarantees about it not sucking.

    http://www.gameplayer.com/reviews/scripts/gpreview .phtml?ID=153
  • Playing the game with N other people, trying to keep everyone alive despite hoards of monsters and such. Sorta like Gauntlet. Remember that game? Blizzard just tapped into that play style and architecture, and made it prettier and multiplayer.
    Monolith, the guys behind Blood, came out with Get Medieval [getmedieval.com], which is pretty damn close to the original Gauntlet, as well as being mighty funny.

    Somewhere I have a Gauntlet that ran on my old 286 and played all sounds thru the crappy PC speaker. "Blue elf needs food, badly!" just came out like "oo eff neez foo, badly!"

  • When I played as a fighter, I found a spiked club of the bear with something like +70% to hit, +100% speed, and +170% damage.

    That meant I could swing over and over again with no delay between swings. Almost every time I swung I hit. Every time I hit, my opponent took damage and got knocked back.

    Maybe it was a fluke or a bug of some kind, but I ended up killing Diablo with a 2x4 with a nail in it.
  • Wet sticky globs of want. Yum.

    When first hearing of Diablo, did anyone else think, "Hey cool: Rogue with eye candy"?

    Rogue wasn't the only game this's happened to either. There's a (commercial/pretty) XPilot knock-off floating around on the net somewhere. I forget its name. Cool though.

  • Damn, so they're releasing this (the crappy cd version with 4 cds but all the other goodies) and they supposedly will release a full dvd version later that combines the 4 cds onto one (and probably some other stuff). Now how am I supposed to choose between these now. This sucks.
  • Could be worse. I killed the ruler of hell with fireballs, of all things. He's immune to lightning and resistant (but not immune) to fire... go figure.
  • I know what you mean... I mean, if we could bug the developers and get them to port Q3A and unreal tournament, maybe that could get the ball rolling. Well, maybe we should have them port Descent 3 too, just for the non-FPS crowd.

    Oh, wait, you say they already did those? Well then something else must be holding them back.
  • This is awesome news. I just wish a specific release date were set. Did I somehow miss the
    beta announcement? When are they gonna do this?
  • According to recent polls , Diablo is still the 20th game on the pc games top sellers list , thats after 3 years , and starcraft is 7th after 2 years. And in the PC Gamer top 50 of all time , Blizzard had 3 out of the top 4 games with Starcraft , Diablo and Warcraft 2 taking out 2nd , 3rd and 4th and Brood Wars even got a mention at 48th. (This information was taken from a news section on another web page , I did not get the information myself but it was from a reliable source.)

  • Re:What's the hype about? (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Diablo I was just about the game engine. The interface was simple and nicely designed. The one thing lacking in diablo was an actual story line and actual locations. It was really boring just going down 16 levels into a dungeon and having a town with a whole 5 people in it...

    But the one thing I've seen from blizzard thus far is that they REALLY improve their games. Warcraft I sucked (compare it to dune 2 which came out before it) but warcraft II was way better. Starcraft (in my opinion) was much better than warcraft ii.

    Besides, blizzard has announced that diablo 2 was going to be many many times bigger than diablo 1, it was going to have a good deal of npc's (including ones you can hire), and a huge array of places to go (so you're not stuck in one tiny town). And... they're actually going to have a story, I believe.

    If blizzard delivers, the difference between this game and diablo 1, should be as great as warcraft 1 to warcraft 2.
  • >Which isn't TOTALLY your fault, you shouldn't have to buy a Windows version in the first place.

    I know this may come as a shock, but there are people who read Slashdot who don't run Linux. Or who run Linux, but are willing to boot to Windows to run apps (or games) that aren't supported on Linux.

    >If a company doesn't want to support my OS, why should I have to change to run their products?

    What a strange question; it contains its own answer: "Why should you have to change? To run their products."

    Choosing your programs based on your OS is somewhat cart-before-the horse. Do you have a computer to run an operating system? Or to do work (play)? I, myself, am much more interested in what I'm doing than in what OS is living underneath it. If you want Diablo II, barring some new announcement by Loki anytime soon, you will need to be able to run Windows. It's that simple.

    Which isn't to say I wouldn't appreciate a Linux port of Diablo II; rebooting is annoying to be sure. But it's currently a fact of life, and sitting back and pouting about it won't make Diablo II magically appear for Linux. And I, for one, want to play the game and enjoy myself instead of being sullen about OS politics. Life's too short.

    >So Blizzard, keep you pretty-ed up Windows version, we don't want it. We want a game that
    >will run on our computers and on our OS. If you won't support us, we won't support you.

    Please don't speak for me. Please don't speak for 'the community.' We don't all feel the way you do.


    --
  • I'm pondering this....

    According to this [dairyqueenohio.com] page, the first Dairy Queen store opened in 1940. Dairy Queen's "Blizzard" was introduced in 1985.

    Blizzard Entertainment was founded in 1990 according to their Company Profile [blizzard.com], and they weren't even *called* Blizzard back then.

    I say we call Dairy Queen, and let them know that Blizzard.com is causing "confusion of mark." Hell, I went to blizzard.com hoping to get some Ice Cream, but NOOOOOOOOOO....There's some damn Computer Game manufacturer there.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • Look at the praise this is getting. 3/4 of the slashdot community is drooling over a Windows game they want to pre-order. If they get your money with a Windows version, why bother with linux? Knowing damn well most of you would never buy a Linux version when you went out and got the
    Windows version. Which isn't TOTALLY your fault, you shouldn't have to buy a Windows version in the first place.

    If a company doesn't want to support my OS, why should I have to change to run their products? If they want my $50, they will have a linux port. I'm not going to install Win98 because I get some goofy soundtrack, a pretty box, and a "special edition" of a Windows version. It's just a little candy the big boys get to keep most of you would be linux version buyers happy with the Windows version. Same people that will by this, are the same people that don't mind their rights are being violated buy the MPAA, and buy DVDs because they look pretty. Yet they will bitch and moan about CSS until the cows come home, when it doesn't affect them because they already sold out to the MPAA.

    So Blizzard, keep you pretty-ed up Windows version, we don't want it. We want a game that will run on our computers and on our OS. If you won't support us, we won't support you.

  • The potential Linux audience is pretty small to begin with, and combined with the fact that it's already taking them forever and a day to get the product out, the extra hassle for little return doesn't sound like a great proposition. Maybe some of the folks at RedHat who became millionaires by selling other peoples' code could invest in well-financed Linux game-porting company. 'Til that or something similar happens, you'll have to keep paying Bill or Stevie J. for an OS on which you can play the top notch games.

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • Anyone else see that? Took me by surprise because I figured that after all the both hype and bad press that this title (and John Romero) has received, I would've heard about it before then. I'm assuming it didn't really come out, because there would've been a lot of talk, whether good or bad, if it did come out. It actually doesn't look all that bad to me, although I definitely am not on top of the gaming world (heh, that's probably an understatement, as the last games I've bought were Diablo, Carmageddon, and the Ultima 1-8 combo pack.) Would be nice if it were judged on the gameplay instead of all the politics surrounding it, but after this long, that's probably doubtful. Hey, I might even pick it up.

    Cheers,
    ZicoKnows@hotmail.com

  • I had a hard time deciding between $50 in RAM or mayonnaise. I decided to go with mayonaise and for $50 it's an amazing performance gain. Who needs 1GHZ CPUs when you can just upgrade your current machine's mayonnaise. ;)
  • The Blizzard site says you can get it straight from them, though I don't think it shows up yet on their order page. timothy

  • Heh. (Score:2)

    by Zak3056 ( 69287 )
    You know, Blizzard should probably spend more time actually getting the game ready to ship than worrying about "special collector's editions." There is STILL no actual release date listed on the website!

    It's almost amusing how they can spare staff to produce 70 minute soundtrack CDs, 24 minute DVD titles, a f*cking DnD based paper RPG, and a manual signed by the development team when they can't even get product out the door. I think a better use of developer time would be finishing off the code, not signing autographs.

    Blizzard has been claiming the game is coming "real soon now" for an even longer period than Origin did with that classic piece of vaporware, Strike Commander.

    You know, I wonder if they'll still be comparing themselves to Baldur's Gate...

  • Back in my day we didn't have fancy schmancy graphics! We had to use amber text! Sometimes we didn't even have text and to guess what the screen should have been displaying.

    We had Moria and we LIKED IT! These youngins think a little demon is tough, BAH! I used to eat ancient multi-hued dragons for breadfast and they coulda kicked that pansy Diablo's ass. You ain't seen nothing until you've had Evil Iggy spit in your eye!
  • Don't hold your breath for Blizzard to release Diablo II before fall, let alone a collector's edition.....Computer Gaming World's latest "pipeline" says Q3 of 2000 :(
  • Pretty cool site, and I liked your review (I just learned last night that a burglar alarm would be a good idea and found that my guy being employed as a cop (well a rent-a-cop anyway) really doesn't help)... since I liked it, let me tear the place apart ;) It's all constructive criticism, take it in the spirit in which it is given...
    Anti-alias that logo. Makes your site look amateur and clashes with the more professional aspects of your site. Also, Anti-alias the "GP Reviews" logo (any others on your site where you can see the jaggies on the diagonal lines). I like your index of reviews. Conscise and helpful, don't change a thing. Spruce up your background though. Either go straight black in the background or get a new starfield, the one right now just looks like a dirty black background with dots every once in awhie... If you go all-black I'd recommend replacing your horizontal line (under the "Browse" and "Search" buttons) with a graphic that attaches to the left-hand side menu frame (I hope the meaning of that is clear).

    When I like something, I like to try to improve it, just ignore me if you like it better the way it is ;)

    Esperandi
  • Diablo did well because it had a mere sprinkling of roguelike flavor. The roguelike genre (Rogue, Nethack, Angband, etc) is completely ignored by big game companies even though they are by far the most addictive and interesting games in existence (Personally I've been playing for over 10 years, never beat one, and I'm still not bored). They made it replayable like a roguelike with the randomly generated dungeons. For people who liked the game, they could keep starting over and it'd never get old. If they had added even more roguelike features (extremely complex keyboard interface that feels like playing a piano and is just as natural once you play for a couple hours, thousands of creatures, thousands of items, hundreds of spells, etc) the game would still be selling off the shelves.

    Now, Diablo 2 isn't going to be adding any more roguelike flavor to it, sadly. They've still got the randomly generated dungeon but its nowhere near as expansive as a real roguelike...

    Esperandi
    Drop by rec.games.roguelike.angband or rec.games.roguelike.development and worship the random number generator with us.
  • Well, the announced release date originally was Xmas 99. Blizzard is always a minimum of 6 months late because they refuce to hire me as a project manager. So that means it'll prolly be out around June-July 00... The FAQ on their site seems quite pissed off (read: guilty) about people asking and says they'll try for first half of 2000, but they won't let it leave the office until it meets their rigorous standards.

    People say they'd rather wait for a game and not have to get patches than get a slightly buggy version and have to download patches... I feel exactly opposite, but I understand the companies stance. Say they release Diablo 2 right now and in a week realize that theres a sword you can buy for 3 gold that kills most anything in one swipe. Players are buying it up by the bagful, but the patch obliterates the sword and refunds everyone the 3 gold. People are gonna hate that...

    Esperandi
    The community around a game is far more important than the game itself. Designing your game so that a community will form around it is the dumbest thing you can do. Think about it.
  • Note #1, go to Walmart and get your Sims, I did this past weekend, haven't done much else since ;)

    Note #2, Blizzards FAQ says it'll try to get it out by the first half of 2000, which would put it right around June, whatever place gave him that estimate prolly just guessed based on that...

    Esperandi
    I'm sorry Johnny, Santa didn't bring you a new game because it didn't meet Blizzard's rigorous standards... please quit crying.
  • In their FAQ (which apparently no one has been able to find ;) it says they expect to release it within the first half of 2000. But, something has got me excited. First, this release of the Collectors Edition thing. What you say makes sense. Did you go to Blizzards page? Did you read the news item about the collectors edition? Okay, did you read the news item right underneath it? It read "*LAST* screenshot of the week".. emphasis mine.

    Esperandi
  • Surely you didn't just suggest that Diablo is a roguelike game?

    Now I'm not one of the freaky puritans that will cut my penis off if someone mentions that roguelikes might work with graphics or even in a 3D environment, but roguelikes gotta have certain things to be qualified as roguelikes.

    At least 5 races and 5 classes producing 25 combinations. This is a BARE minimum, most roguelikes have over 25 races and over 25 classes alone. Diablo fails with its 3 wussy classes.

    Randomly generated dungeons. Diablo has these.

    The random number generator controls the game to an unprecedented degree (unprecedented in other genres I mean) determining what you find, what you run into, etc. Diablo fails. Unless I'm wrong here, you can't run into Diablo 8 levels out of depth.

    Thousands of items. Diablo fails.

    Thousands of weapons. Diablo fails.

    Thousands of armor pieces. Diablo fails.

    Extremely complex keyboard control. Diablo fails. Turn-based. Diablo fails. Single player only. Diablo fails. (Until there is a multiplayer turn-based roguelike, there are no multiplayer roguelikes. You go to realtime and you may not call your game roguelike.)

    Etc, etc. Diablo simply is not immersive enough to be called a roguelike. When you play a roguelike you can feel the definition in your bones, that's why its so hard to define. yeah for the first hour or so all you do is die and die and die and forget what keys do what, but after a couple hours you're playing the keybaord like a master pianist at his grand piano, formulating strategies, etc.

    Until i can be playing Diablo, get into a corner facing a Drolem and a Lesser Titan, and walk around my bedroom trying to think of what I've got on me that could possibly save me (teleport? What if I land in something worse? Heal staff? What if I fail? Recall? What if I don't get recalled in time?), Diablo is not a roguelike.

    Esperandi
    If Diablo is a roguelike because it has random dungeons then Quake 3 is an RPG because it has player stats (health and armor).

  • Hehe, isn't it fun to try to have ideals in this day and age when people vie ideals as stupid and impractical? I give the Linux community 2 years before they try to get the government to try to force people to port their products to Linux.

    Look at anti-smoking people. What they should have done is simply not eat in any place that allows smoking, etc and tell the management why they're not eating there. Let them exercise some power. Instead, what do they do? They can't do without their precious steak for a few years to get the establishment to change its policies, instead they bitch to the government to make it law.

    Watch for it, I guarantee within 2 years the 8 or 9 people who use Linux and are gamers and would actually *PURCHASE* the game and not pirate it in the name of Open Source (if there are that many) will be trying to force companies to port software for them.

    Esperandi
  • I just don't see Diablo 2 as a collector's item. I mean... give me a break. This is only a sequel. It's not like this game has a history. Sure, the original game was a top-seller, but that doesn't make me want to rush out and buy a copy of the sequel to place on my shelf and never remove from its plastic.

    Take Ultima Ascension, on the other hand. It was the last game in a LONG running series of games which spanned many computer platforms. (Yes it was rushed out too early, but that's another issue). But as far as marketing... yeah - this game made sense to release a special edition for collectors.

    I think some marketing goober at Blizzard saw this, and thought... hmm I wonder how many extra copies I can sell for an extra $10 apiece. And the poor developers are probably the ones grumbling about carpal tunnel syndrome now, after signing their names a bazillion times ;)

    Best regards,

    SEAL
  • Have you ever actually played Diablo?? If you have then obviously you would know that you can shoot in far more than the four cardinal directions.

    Also, if you've played any real amount then you would know that there is a fair amount of strategy to the game as long as you don't play below your skill level. I won't go into it here, but obviously you haven't played the game much.

    If you don't like the game then say so, sure it isn't the classic RPG, but it does have RPG elements. It allows those who don't want to have to think about how much Charisma their player should have to gain entry to the genre. Sometimes RPGs get so embedded in themselves that they become impossible/unfun to play (read FFVIII). I love RPGs, and I have no problem with Diablo calling itself one. Now if Quake were to do the same :)...


    The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:
  • First, let me preface this with the fact that I do not work for Blizzard (unless they want to hire me :))

    It's almost amusing how they can spare staff to produce 70 minute soundtrack CDs, 24 minute DVD titles, a f*cking DnD based paper RPG, and a manual signed by the development team when they can't even get product out the door. I think a better use of developer time would be finishing off the code, not signing autographs.

    This has got to be one of the most bone-headed comments I have heard in quite some time. Don't you realize that all this stuff (with the exception of the paper RPG, but I believe this was not developed by Blizzard anyway) had to all be made anyway?? How long does it take to compile the audio from 4 CDs and dump it onto one for everyone's listening pleasure. Do you want a game shipped without a manual (and how long does it take someone to sign their name)?? Do you think that the DVD movie is much different than the cut scenes from the game (probably including some that didn't make it into the game)??

    It's comments like this that make the software industry what it is today. If more companies spent the time and energy to create excellent, nearly bug-free games (which Blizzard has an excellent history ot doing) the world would be a much better place. I am perfectly willing to wait for a game that works out-of-box, without having to download a patch before I can play the thing.

    @!$$%#!, I hate this mentality, but I'll stop now.


    The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:

  • Hey! I play ZAngband, so I still eat ancient multi-hued dragons for breakfast. Or was that just a capital 'D' that kept changing colors?

    Paah! Multi-hued dragons are for wimps! I eat the Serpent of Chaos for breakfast! Muahahah!

    Diablo (and all its graphical predecessors) took the mindless dungeon crawl out of the Alphabits era and into eyecandyland. Here's hoping the sequel is worth the wait and has more depth to the story.

    This is one area where I'm still not convinced that the graphical RPG has surpassed the older character-graphic Rogue-like games. In terms of longevity and replayability, I still rate games like Angband [angband.org] and it's many variants [angband.org] (Sangband, Zangband, Omega and others) more highly than a lot of the modern 3D/isometric eye-candy experiences. Hey - I even turned off the 16x16 graphic tiles and went back to the colour font displays because they are clearer and easier to analyse quickly. Maybe DungeonSiege will finally provide the immersive fantasy world with enough depth to keep the 'one more try to slay the X of Y' replayability but for the moment I'll stick with Zangband [angband.org].

    Cheers,

    Toby Haynes

  • What we really want is versions of Blizard's games for Linux, of course =)

    Unfortunately Blizard is a very profit driven company and they said it was unlikely any games would be ported unless it becomes more commercially viable. But to be commercially viable for games, you need to have many of the most popular ones, so it's a bit of a cycle =/

    Thankfully there's companys out there now that care more about building Linux as a gaming platform for possible long-term profits, rather than making a quick buck by selling only windows products.
  • Sure, a special collector's edition would be nice, but it would also be great to acctually see a release date on the game. Does anybody know when the most anticipated title of '98, '99 and '00 is expected to actually hit the shelves?
    If you haven't read it yet, read the Top Ten Features That Have Delayed Diablo II [gamespy.com].

    Axiom
  • But how many games are actually just copies of Rogue.

    Features that Diablo had that Rogue didn't: (besides pretty graphics)
    - Multiuser
    - Shops (well sort of)
    - Classes
    - Big mean last guy
    - a tiny bit more plot

    Feature that Rogue had that Diablo didn't:
    - Multiplatformed (really, it workes on just about anything!)
    - Blindness (arg)
    - Secret doors
    - 26 monsters! ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
    - Fastplay mode
    - AND MUCH MUCH MORE

    Sure it was ascii based, but it had heart!
    LONG LIVE ROGUE!

    Axiom

  • It's silly, of course! (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Shepherd ( 17338 ) on Tuesday March 07, 2000 @09:22AM (#1220302) Homepage
    It's the value of shared experience.
    It's the rush of being in control.
    It's the reflexes and timing and response time.
    It's chatting with other people, and sharing goods.
    A bunch of other things I can't describe right now.

    Playing the game with N other people, trying to keep everyone alive despite hoards of monsters and such. Sorta like Gauntlet. Remember that game? Blizzard just tapped into that play style and architecture, and made it prettier and multiplayer.

    Tetris was a big hit, and not fundamentally difficult. Line up blocks!

    Gauntlet was a big hit. Run around, grabbing power ups, and shooting every single thing that moved.

    Super Mario brothers! All about timing and reflexes and surviving.

    What else do you want out of a game? For a lot of people, Diablo was perfect! Not that I played it, but I can see the appeal. If you want something else from a game, find something else!


    -AS

  • Re:What's the hype about? (Score:3)

    by powerlord ( 28156 ) on Tuesday March 07, 2000 @08:24AM (#1220303) Journal
    I agree 100%



    I saw Diablo in the store and it seemed fun, a nice 'entry' level CRPG, and most importantly it was available at a time when there really weren't many CRPGs out there. I picked it up and it was nice (although it still has one of my favorite "Murphy's Rules": You cant wear a piece of armor because your not strong enough, but you can lug it around in your backpack :). I picked up Hellfire soon after it came out and it was good (heavenly choir sounds).



    Then Baldurs Gate [interplay.com] apeared on the scene and Diablo was quickly forgotten. Baldur's Gate had a few problems, and only supported the AD&D system through about 6th level. Then they released Tales of the Sword Coast as an expansion pack. This included all 3rd and 4th level spells, still not complete but nicely implimented. Now they are getting ready to relase Baldur's Gate 2 [interplay.com] which includes even more features, should be mindblowing graphically (the original came on 5 CDs and the Expansion was a 6th, mostly packed with hand painted backgrounds and beautifully animated monsters), and is projected to hit the stores in the later half of this year (not counting the other projects underway from Interplay's RPG division Black Isle [blackisle.com]). I think Diablo II might have been phenominal if it had come out when intended. Now I have a feeling it might seem lackluster next to its 'competition'.
    Does this mean I won't buy it? Probably not, there are still too few serious CRPGs out there :)

  • Domain-jacking or protecting a trademark ? (Score:3)

    by Lowther ( 136426 ) on Tuesday March 07, 2000 @07:45AM (#1220304)
    I draw your attention to this article [dnspolicy.net], posted previously on /.

    Blizzard set their attorney onto the owner of 'blizzard.net', demanding that they hand over the domain, or face the consequences.

    I offer this as information - not criticism. It's your call where you spend your money.
  • I'm not trolling, I'm seriously looking for a reason to like Diablo and to be excited about its sequel's release.

    The first Diablo was inane, an insult to the name "Role Playing Game." What role? You were one of three guys with either a big stick, a big sword, or a big bow (with infinite arrows for realism). You jump right down into hell and proceed to click the mouse button like a monkey on speed until everything's dead. Oooh, gee. Does this strike you as an even less intellectual game than QUAKE? At least in Quake you can shoot in more than four cardinal directions.

    It's no more entertaining than that screen saver where you swat flies, people. And you get the same amount of exercise doing it. Do yourselves a favor and spend your $50 on something more worthwhile, like RAM or mayonnaise or something.

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