Activision and Blizzard Are One
The proposal to merge the two giants was announced in December 2007 and has since been the topic of much discussion in the gaming industry. The merger of Activision, the world's largest console game publisher and Blizzard, the leader in pure-play online games like World of Warcraft is expected to have a combined revenue of $3.8 billion in the 2007 calendar and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher.
Source: Reuters
ok now that that's over, i just wonder how this would effect both gaming companies, or even effect them at all?
Tony Hawk's Call of Diablocraft Extreme: Arthas' Revenge
It'll be a Strategic Tactical Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Pro-Skating RPG with Paladins.
How long did it take you to think of that?
you, sir or madam, are a genius. just trying to imagine that has me lolirl
if you've played Metal Gear Solid 2: substinance, then you've actually seen something close to this with the silly Solid Snake skateboarding thing...what a strange experience. i'm glad they didn't build upon that too much. my mind can only handle so many genres as once.
but i'd totally spec for grinding, and get the unlockable unique Azurewrath Skateboard of Accurate-Headshots-While-Grinding. then i'd throw grenades into enemy skateshops while doing a nose manual in Tristram's local military skate park-base
That said, I can totally see Diablo 3 being made for consoles, since the game only needs to be played with one hand they could easily modify the 360's controller to support it. Having inventory items stackable and take up a single slot instead of the Tetris nonsense in previous games helps big time, too.
The only thing that worries me about a Diablo 3 console game is the Battle.net support. Will Microsoft allow it or is everyone who plays it on the console gonna be forced onto XBox Live? It's crap compared to what Blizzard has in store.
Seriously, I wouldn't mind seeing Diablo introduced to a whole new group of gamers. It only helps to expand its popularity. So long as some executive doesn't decide that sequels/expansions to Diablo for the PC don't need to be made for the PC anymore because they're "not as profitable" or because "the PC is dead!"
Judging from what Blizzard's executives had to say, I'm pretty sure they'll never let that happen.
I believe at one time the original Diablo was on console. You could only play offline, because of the fact it was a PS1 game.
Also, most games that do go from PC to Console; have a bad taste. It's just not the same, I don't think I could ever play any of the Diablo games on a console. The feeling of the game would be off for me.
Easy enough to remedy. Just as MS has its Xbox, Blizzard could break into the console world with its own machine -- the BlizzBox.
I can't believe I just said that.
I'm suffering from a lack of sleep.
(I'm not a fan of consoles, unless its old-school Atari [2600/5200].)
don't worry Blizzard has, and always will have complete autonomy. They under no ones thumb. Well except maybe their fans.
I Lol'd. That was great.
Anyone would be a fool to step in and mess with the receipe that Blizzard is working with. Everyone knows that whatever it is that they do behind closed doors, works. It works better then anyone else in the industry. A smart man who buys out Blizzard would say " Good job, keep doing whatever it is that you do!".
Only thing I would wish would change at Blizzard is the length of time they take to develop a game. It takes them just as long now when they are a HUGE company as it did when they just started out. I mean i know they work on several games at once now instead of just one, but they still take ridiculously long time to produce a game.
...haha blizzbox...
But otherwise, yes, I'm sure you're right.