Diablo 3 Coming To Consoles 344
RobinEggs writes "After long speculation and a few affirmative hints, Blizzard has confirmed that Diablo 3 will have a console version. Responding to a fan who asked him to 'confirm or deny' a console version of D3, Blizzard community manager Bashiok said, 'Yup. Josh Mosqueira is lead designer for the Diablo console project.' Here's hoping Blizzard remains one of the few companies to fully develop both the console and PC version of their titles, rather than simply porting the Xbox version to PC. I think we've all had enough of bizarre scrolling, menus that can't be used with a mouse, and 'Controls' menus that don't even bother replacing the 360 controller image with an actual keyboard layout."
Actiblizzard (Score:4, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Console's are for satan (Score:2, Interesting)
From: Bethesda To: Huge rich TES4 modding community: "Fuck you".
They've removed all the complex "stats" that made the game too difficult for console users who can barely figure out their power button and lame ass controller. THATS RIGHT they removed the damn stats from an RPG to make it easier for console users. That's like removing the bullets from a gun to make it safer! God damn idiots! That's he whole reason people play RPGs!
It's always a epic laugh to watch a "expert" with a console controller to try and control a player character in a FPS style game, like watching Helen Keller race the Indy 500. Or try and play a RTS game. To help elucidate the level of intellect we're dealing with here, last time I went on this rant, some little wet-behind-the-ears over eager console-tard tried to argue that his xbox controller was superior to keyboard/mouse for FPS. Some serious lowest common denominator shit.
Another good example of the destruction of an empire is Total Annihilation. Released back in the '90s for the first time, it was the first RTS with polygonal units (as opposed to sprites) where you could both create hundreds of units and select and control massive armies. One of the most significant perks of the game was the ability to create new construction prior to being able to afford it, like if you had half the bricks you needed to create your house so you got started before you had the rest of the bricks. If you run out before you're done, that's your problem. For the last 10 years that was fine, then Supreme Commander 2 came out (the 4th iteration of TA) and they removed this keystone element from the game to help simplify the game for console users.
(mini-rant: They made the game more like starcraft, which cannot hold a candle to the TA franchise IMHO, I mean you can't even select more than a dozen or so units at the same time, what the fuck good is that? Can you imagine the U.S. armed forces telling the JSTARS commander "sorry sir, you cannot command more than 12 soldiers at the same time, select fewer units".)
No longer can you have engineers assist other engineers to speed the construction process, no longer can you build before you have all the resources. All in the name of the console. The game's ability to be modded was removed, the game's ability to have user generated maps was removed. The game basically sucks, and anyone who loved TA either kept playing Supreme Commander 1 or switched to TA Spring (which you should check out if you like RTS games! Open source and pretty amazing.).
Perhaps the greatest demonstration in a single player game of how much superior PC gamers are to console gamers is the shooting range in GTA Vice City. If you're a mouse keyboard user you ace the contest every single time with flying colors. Then you begin to wonder, "why was that so damn easy" then you realize that they made the same test for console users and they wanted to allow them to pass the test so they had to lower the bar so low that it made PC user's breeze though the test. And don't even get me started on "Shadowrun" the only (as far as I know) FPS that allowed XBOX gamers to play with PC gamers. So sad that story, the poor console gamers never had a chance. I could be half asleep with two broken fingers, being actively stabbed by a knife, and partially on fire and I could still beat the crap out of a whole room full of console gamers. And I don't think th
Re:Diablo 3 (Score:2, Interesting)
Confirmed for shit.
FACT: consoles retardify any gaming experiance.
While I may not agree with your wording, I do agree with your sentiment to a degree.
I loved Beyond Good & Evil. It was, in my opinion, probably the last good game that Ubisoft put out. A cult classic in every sense of the word.
I noticed that there was a PC version and it was on sale on Steam for $5. I bought it right away... but I also regretted the purchase to a degree. The ability to change the controls was very, very limited. You outright couldn't unbind certain actions or movement axises. I ended up having to get a pretty awesome program called XPadder so I could just rebind the keyboard and mouse controls to a gamepad.
So yes, I agree that consoles do often have an undue influence on PC games, especially when a console game is ported to the PC.
As I said in this post [slashdot.org] just a little ways down the thread, I am a big fan of Diablo 2 and I'm not really too keen on a lot of stuff they're doing with Diablo 3. But when it comes to some of the "console-ization" they're doing with D3, a lot of it makes sense.
One thing that I've seen decried since it came out was the removal of allocating individual skill points to skills. Rather than being able to raise any skill from Level 1 to Level 20, you can now only have that skill at one level. This makes sense, though.
I'll use the example of a Bone Necromancer build in Diablo 2. 20 to Teeth, 20 to Bone Spear, 20 to Bone Wall, 20 to Bone Prison, 20 to Bone Spirit, 1 in Decrepify, 1 in Corpse Explosion, 1 in Bone Armor. The rest of the 110 or so total skill points were used for prerequisites. This is pretty standard fare for a build - you have 5 skills that are maxed out. You usually only use one or two of them - Bone Spirit in this case was the bread and butter in nearly every instance. Sure, you might use teeth or Bone Spear situationally, but you're going to be using Bone Spirit more often than not. Decrepify, Corpse Explosion, and Bone Armor were important enough to me to actually have the skills, but not important enough to get beyond Level 1.
Most builds were basically like this - 5 or so skills maxed out to Level 20 and only one or two are really used most of the time. Removing skill points from skills makes sense to me because of this.
Then, we have the bit with removal of health potions in favor of "healing orbs". This system is used in a few games. Every Diablo player worth his salt wouldn't go up against a boss like Hell Diablo without a belt full of Full Rejuv potions and a few extras in his inventory. Dying (and losing experience!) was a costly price to pay, and any amount of gold, gems, and runes spent to prevent this was almost always worth the price when the alternative is grinding out more Baal runs to recover levels or failing to win against a boss that took days or weeks to save up the items for.
I don't know how I feel about this - it makes sense in a way and it simplifies the game without dumbing it down. I'm against simplicity at the expense of versatility and customization. I am not against complexity for the sake of complexity or because "that's how the last game was".
Lastly, there's the art style. Most people didn't like it right out of the gates. They said it looked too much like WoW and that it lost the feel of a Diablo game. Counter-arguments pointed out things like Acts 2 and 3 were pretty bright (as if anyone hadn't been rushed past those points straight into Act 4...). It is true in the sense of coloring that the entirety of Diablo 2 was not 100% gothic grimdarkness. But it is also true that Diablo 3 feels fundamentally different than its predecessor in an artistic and thematic sense. I look forward to player-created mods and texture packs (that we'll inevitably have to hack into the game somehow and get Blizzard all pissy) that will actually maintain the mood of the game better.
That is, of course, if I buy the game - which isn't looking too good right now to be honest.
Re:Release Date for PC (Score:4, Interesting)
So it will go the way of Duke Nukem Forever? People believe and believe in it and it never comes and then when they stop believing in it they release a big steaming pile of shit?
Re:Console's are for satan (Score:2, Interesting)
Problem is publishers and developers know that ALL gamers are idiots generally speaking. If you do not believe this consider steam and online DRM that you find gamers defending time and time again. You can go see the gabe newell lovefest on reddit if you disbelieve this.
Lets face it here also - because console gamers have lower standards then PC gamers they will buy anything even if it sucks. Where as PC gamers (generally speaking) trend towards not putting up with bullshit and hence lower sales.
The worst part about all of this, is just sheer lazyness, entitlement and bad management of game developers by both developers themselves and publishers. Publishers have single handedly ruined PC gaming by being cheap and unwilling to commit money to make the PC version a proper PC version instead of just a lazy farmed out port.
Just look at what square did with Deus Ex: Human revolution, they out-sourced out the boss fights and that's why they feel so forced and out of place. Modern game companies just cover up shit with bling and if it sells they won't mend their ways. Game developers have figured out the secret to sales success - stuff hollywood movie in a game (call of duty , mass effect, and now skyrim) and loads of people will buy your dumbed down game.
High fidelity attracted the wrong kind of audience - people who don't really like VIDEO GAMES to gaming. They typically want story, characterization and all sorts of other fancy bling instead of - you know satisifying and deep gameplay. When I read game dev articles on 'making characters more emotional' I want to puke. How about exciting and satisfying combat and things to do in the world first guys? lol.