"In the computer gaming world, Blizzard Entertainment is a juggernaut. The division of Activision Blizzard is responsible for some of the world's bestselling PC games, including World of Warcraft and StarCraft. But the company hasn't released a game for home consoles in more than a decade.
That could change any day.
Blizzard has nothing against controllers, joysticks or living rooms, said Paul Sams, Blizzard's chief operating officer, at last month's annual BlizzCon event in Anaheim. Financial details are what's holding up the company's long-overdue return to the console market.
To release an Xbox, Playstation or Wii game, game producers are required to pay a licensing fee to system manufacturers. It's a big reason why Microsoft and Sony can sell their hardware at a loss.
The simple economics goes: The manufacturers profit on game sales, even if they lose money on the hardware needed to play the games. They might lose money on each console, but the longer term prospect of selling more and more games should make back that loss (and then some).
"The value is the game," Sams agrees. But he doesn't like the business model. "I don't like the idea of paying a console manufacturer a fee. That concept pisses me off."
But the community aspect of consoles is compelling Blizzard to go beyond the all-too-familiar flicker of the bedroom computer monitor. "Because the living room is a place where more people can be around, there's a lot of reasons why it's appealing," Sams said.
In order to get there, however, Blizzard appears to be holding out for a console maker to cut a deal. "They do it all the time," Sams said. True, manufacturers will ...
... sometimes give bags of money in exchange for exclusive rights to high-profile game franchises.
Where might Blizzard go? As it prepares to launch its revamped online gaming network, called Battle.net, the company doesn't have much need for Microsoft's Xbox Live infrastructure or Nintendo's WiFi Connection.
Blizzard has a cozy history with Nintendo, having made games for the Super Nintendo and StarCraft 64 for the successor to the SNES. The Wii's remote control would be well-suited to the developer's flagship real-time strategy games.
Blizzard is shopping around Diablo III to consoles. "We are in ongoing talks with Microsoft and Sony," Sams said. "I think they desire to see us on their platforms."
A near-finished game called StarCraft: Ghost was the closest Blizzard has come to releasing a console game in years. Due to the loss of a key person on the outsourced development team, "it wasn't turning out the way we wanted," Sams said. So, Blizzard scrapped the project. That crucial developer, Ray Gresko, now leads work on Diablo III.
"I think that a lot of other companies would not have hesitated in publishing it," Sams said about the game based on its sci-fi franchise. "We weren't willing to put out a game that was not at the level of Blizzard polish quality that customers have come to expect."
As the battle between Microsoft and Sony becomes more aggressive, with both companies recently slashing the prices of their systems in advance of the holiday season, it may not be long before one plops the right deal down on Blizzard's table. -Mark Milian"
Does anyone know if it runs on the PS3?
pretty sure it does...i think my friend plays it on his ps3 lol
you are the first person who has said that it plays as well in the PS.
go find the other thread on this.
everyone who has played it says it suck balls.
and that is just how many hotkeys?
as long as they make the games for PC then port them to consoles after they are released for the pC, i don't care.
i don't want them to make games for both at the same time.
those games would suck, either dumbed down or have crap controls for the PC or run badly on the PC.
I dig how SAMS said "That just pisses me off" (when talking about dev fees) and I'm glad to see that he is slightly against the corporate gaming society.
What also appealed to me is the fact that Activision might be steering this console talk. At the end of the day it all comes down to the Shareholder.
At least we know that Activision doesn't exclusivise. They share everything amongst all plats - even Guitar Hero dammit!
and Im sure blizzard had some say in that...
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29
mainly this point
In my option if Blizzard cant get all systems they should focus on PS3 to keep the old Diablo roots strong.
Only reason I bought a PS back then was to play Diablo on the PS instead of the PC for a change and ended up finding game play on the PS was simpler and more fast pace.
Just my thoughts.
fallout series - fallout 3
CoD series - CoD 4
Baldurs Gate Series - KoToR / Mass Effect
the only 2 ports I ever played that even resembled the pc (supererior) PC versions were
X-Com 1 on psx (had better videos, and mouse support)
and Deux Ex 1 (had the UI, Controls, Level layout, and Videos redone on the ps1, but it turned out nicely)
console versions usually mean to me "EZ-Mode" versions for all.
Gaming pc nowadays are alot cheaper and you can get buy just fine on a 2 year old card, (remember when you needed a new one almost every 6 months?), sooner entry level pc's come with good video cards, sooner the convergence will happen and consoles will die off to the Home Theatre PC in the living room.
would prolly need the ram pack, no sale!
I agree, I may buy another box in the future just to hook up to my 37" lcd with wireless mouse + keyboard and play games from my bed hehe.
But, if you want to play on a big screen or TV you can do that now... If you think your poor, well Blizz tries to cater for older systems and even basic ones can run their games easily, this laptop with 1 gig ram, 128mb vid can run wow 12-20 fps on low settings( yea sucks, but it still runs)
On my gaming box which i paid $1,500 AUD for custom built, runs wow at a smooth 50-100 fps on max settings.
I also don't like the sound of "dumbed down" pc games so the console version doesn't look really bad. I have played D1 on the PS1 years and years and years ago, it wasn't too bad but it didn't really feel like diablo to me.
Blizz is making Diablo 3 to be FAST PACED, I believe playing on a console will slow you down alot. I believe Blizzard should make a stand alone game, just like they were doing with Starcraft: Ghost, perhaps they are redoing it ^^ who knows what they are thinking. But they will be doing something with consoles in the future, I hope it has nothing to do with D3 or SC2.
Compared to other peripherals (Rockband, that donkey kong bongo game, etc.) I think a K/M combo would be a cheap addition to the XBox and PS3.
More gamers the better - just give PC gamers a little more love
You can do that with a computer... at better settings depending on your TV and PC.
Protip: PCs can and will always do everything more, and everything better than consoles ever will. Not a fanboy, just a hardware specialist...
I was talking about them doing it on a console, mainly the PS3.
D3 control fits perfectly in a dual shock. For god sake, in D3 we will have only about 6 short keys pluss other 2 mouse keys. A dual shock have 12 buttoms...
The game ofc, wouldn't be cursor based, but it still would work. The "feel" would be very different but thats good to bring some new fresh air to the gameplay. If you're a more conservative Diablo player you can stick in the PC or buy a keyboard and mouse to your console.
It would be extremely difficult to make a game like Diablo 3 on a console given the limited buttons. Also the factor of online play comes in. Would they be on their own private server, no online, or be put into Bnet which they would be outclassed by the Keyboard and mouse. If its on ps3 and they implement keyboard and mouse function...why choose that over the computer? Theres alot of flaws in putting those 3 games on console.
To be quite honest, sony could create a bluetooth mouse and keyboard instead of a USB for the PS3. I personally think they need one in order to make chatting across the PSN easier anyways.
Game developers look to make the game around the primary controller. Its as much as you won't see console games (genre: fighting, racing, sports) being developed for PC although PC can handle any controller.
Before you know it Blizzard will start making Starcraft and Diablo games around the Console control scheme and you'll see dumbed down version with no complexity.
I've already made peace with PC exclusive developers going multiplatform or even dropping the PC altogether. But if Blizzard is going to make RTS/RPG games from the big 3 for Consoles, I won't buy their games anymore (as if someone gives a damn though).
RTS on Console is Ridiculous! Isometric RPG is also very bad.