Official Blizzard Quote:
Q: I suppose that you do not have a world-hysteria scoop to offer the readers of Liberation concerning the official and definitive release date of Diablo 3?
A: Alas, no. Just to confirm to you that we are full at work for the game to release this year. The development is technically completed. We are in a internal-testing and feedback-gathering phase. Yes, there are good chances of releasing before the end of 2011, but it is impossible to us, at this time, to guarantee you that.
As is standard with anything Blizzard says, there are no guarentees, but the fact that they are comfortable saying there is a good chance of release in Diablo III is good news by itself. Surely there is plenty of work left to get the game ready for release, but this quote implies that much of the game is completed and needs to be balanced and polished to Blizzard's high standards. Again, this is not a guarentee that we'll all be playing Diablo III this year, but its the best news we've gotten about it so far. Hopefully we can get our hands on a beta soon, a scenario which is seeming more and more likely.
In case you didn't know, during the financial conference call last month, Mike Morhaime told us that we would hear more about the beta during the Q1 2011 Conference Call in May. That statement, along with this interview, makes it seem like we may finally be approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.
Even Blizzard has to start worrying about getting the game out in a reasonable fashion (what is a reasonable fashion though?). If they hold the game off too long, the technology can become too old to compete with the current games.
That being said, I really hope they're doing this because of "finishedness" rather than internal deadlines.
Le développement est techniquement achevé.
The development is technically completed.
So in short, we're pretty damn close to beta announcement, me thinks. And, prostrate yourselves before your new God King, Google.
I second that my friend! It's definitely extremely good news. They're in Alpha testing and fixing things for the beta.
I also wonder what other systems that have not shown us that they have done like the trading system.
Guilds. I would like to see a guild system in D3, powered by the almighty Battle.net 2.0.
Hopefully this release, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Bulletstorm, and Battlefield 3 make this one of the best years for video games in recent years.