Blizzard won?t commit to Diablo 3 release date this year

Blizzard Entertainment chief executive Mike Morhaime said the company is still not committing to a 2011 release date for Diablo 3, one of the company’s most hotly anticipated titles.

“Diablo 3 is still on track to go into external beta testing this quarter, we’re working hard to ship the game by the end of the year,” Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime said on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “But we can’t commit to a release date for the game yet.”

Blizzard Entertainment is letting Battle.net account holders opt in to a limited beta for the game. We earlier reported that a beta was likely near after a number of signs indicated that the company was�just about ready to pull the trigger for a beta program.

The last Diablo game came out in 2000 and still boasts a big player base. It?s nothing compared to Blizzard Entertainment?s most popular online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, which has around 11.4 million subscribers. But the game?s hack-and-slash and loot-seeking formula proved to be incredibly popular and the game has persisted for more than a decade. It even inspired�a number of dungeon crawler copycats like Torchlight.

The Diablo games allow anywhere from two to eight players to jump into discrete games with randomly generated dungeons. The goal is to prevent the forces of Hell from taking over the world by defeating Diablo, the lord of terror, and his cohorts. Players chase after powerful items and weapons to use against other enemies and players or for trade.

The company unveiled a new player class for Diablo 3 at each of its yearly gaming conventions called Blizzcon,�including the final class at last year?s convention. Diablo has taken somewhat of a backseat to Blizzard Entertainment?s larger game, World of Warcraft, and its newest release Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/ACpbwmgy-Z4/

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World of Warcraft subscribers fall for second straight quarter

The number of active subscribers for Blizzard Entertainment’s most popular online game, World of Warcraft, fell in the second quarter of 2011, the second decline�in a row.

World of Warcraft is one of the most dominant online games in the industry. It’s enjoyed that position since it launched in 2004, and the game peaked at 12 million active subscribers. That number has since fallen for two straight quarters, a sign that the game might now be showing its age. It’s given other online games, like Trion Worlds’ Rift, an opportunity to step in and try to steal market share from the massive multiplayer online supergiant.

It’s also been a huge source of revenue for Activision-Blizzard.�World of Warcraft charges players $15 a month to access the game.�The company said digital revenues from properties such as World of Warcraft hit a new record, showing a 27 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago. Digital revenues now account for 37 percent of the company?s total revenues.

“It’s normal to see some declines, the team is currently working on our largest content update since Cataclysm, which will hit later this year,” Blizzard Entertainment chief executive Mike Morhaime said.

The company is working to open the game in new markets and acquire new players, Morhaime said. The game’s latest expansion pack, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, launched in China last month. The company also made World of Warcraft free to play for the first 20 levels of the game in order to attract new subscribers.

“We have seen an increase in new account creations as a result of that,” Morhaime said. “It’s still�too early to tell on conversions to subscribership, but I believe that is an important direction for us.”

Blizzard Entertainment is also working on another massive online game that it has not announced yet. The company is diverting more revenue to development of that title, Morhaime said.

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From Free to Not-so-Free...

So I'm thinking about spending a little money on LOTRO to get RoI, but since I've never spent so much as a penny yet I'm not sure how the process even works. I worry that if I buy something once I'll suddenly have a subscription, and then bills will randomly start appearing =P I think I heard something once about paying and VIP and it's festered in my memory... Plus, my VIP friends are all monthly subscribers =/ Can someone just assuage my fears and explain how/if you can buy things without inadvertently buying a VIP subscription?

Also, when will the legendary edition of RoI stop being available for pre-order?

Source: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?411503-From-Free-to-Not-so-Free...&goto=newpost

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Stupid- yet puzzling- question

Ok, I've been playing LOTRO since April 2011, and have really gotten immersed in the game and its many features. Only just recently I have been on the community site, checking the forums and whatnot, when I realized there was a slight question I need answered.

How do you make friends on the community site?

Its not an immediate problem.....but its bugging me! Thanks!

Source: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?411509-Stupid-yet-puzzling-question&goto=newpost

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True Crime: Hong Kong brought back from the dead by Square Enix (True Crime)

“We see this as a fantastic opportunity to create a new and unique franchise,” says Square Enix Studios London's General Manager Lee Singleton, “which gamers will come to know and love for years to come.” He's talking about the company's latest acquisition, a third installment in the True Crime series – recently shelved by Activision, whose CEO told investors: “it just wasn't going to be good enough.” With the title's developers, United Front, being cut loose by Activision, the game's been picked up by the Japanese-owned company, who can do whatever they like with development, release and marketing – anything, that is, except call it True Crime.

Above: “True Crime is goin' to Hong Kong!” (insert loud “gong” effect here)

The rights to the True Crime franchise are retained by Activision, who established the brand at the height of the “like Grand Theft Auto, but...” craze in the early 2000s. The original titles, True Crime: Streets of LA and True Crime: New York City, were styled after Grand Theft Auto, but with painstakingly correct street maps, which it turns out wasn't enough of a defining element: the series lay dormant for several years until this year, when Bobby Kotick announced that the series had failed to “after a sustained period of time get to [the] level of excellence” demanded by Activision, a company that only publishes perfect games.

Above: The next time you see this guy, he won't be called True Crime any more. And he may be a woman

True Crime: Hong Kong having successfully proved the impossibility of this particular impossible thing, United Front is free to make the game it wants to with Square Enix, provided nobody calls it True Crime. That may be less of a sacrifice than it sounds: the game, initially conceived by Treyarch, was originally intended as a standalone title named Black Lotus, a Hong Kong-set gangster thriller with a female lead whose gender-switching was the first big change Activision demanded. Will United Front turn back the clock on all this meddling and rebranding, or will it be a whole other thing altogether? The game's got no set release date – or title, or confirmed story elements to speak of. Is “Hong Kong, guns, and the enthusiasm of professional game-adorers at Square Enix” enough to pique your interest?

Aug 1, 2011

Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/true-crime/news/true-crime-hong-kong-brought-back-from-the-dead-by-square-enix/a-2011080116132481018/g-2009121710285606047

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Best servers for roughly 7pm to 7am CST

I have been having trouble researching this on my on so I thought I come here for more info. I am looking for a server that has a friendly community with casual RP expectations, but has peak hours for my play time. I work nights and on my days off I there are very few folks on my current server. Im looking for an active Kinship/server for about 7pm to 7am CST.

Any suggestions would help.

Source: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?411505-Best-servers-for-roughly-7pm-to-7am-CST&goto=newpost

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TalkRadar 169 – Grade-A Bullsmurf (Diablo III)

TalkRadar 169 – Grade-A Bullsmurf

Dead Island, Diablo Triple, and The Smurfs' assault on cultural decency spreads to our poor, poor podcast

Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/talkradar-169-grade-a-bullsmurf/a-20110802155450233081

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