Release Date or Release Fake?
Excitement and dashed expectations both contributed to the hype behind a recently posted image, supposedly a leaked email containing the full itinerary of this year's BlizzCon. Among the now-known reveals of the weekend's events, it also contains:
In addition to the accurate BlizzCon reveals and itinerary, the image also has a unalterable imgur.com upload date for a period two months ago (see bottom of linked web page.) All this together makes for a compelling argument for a leaked release date.
At a cursory glance, this is all fine and dandy. But maybe there's more to this supposed leak than meets the eye. After letting the initial heat of discovery run its course, deeper inspection implores reason.
Besides wondering at why someone would go through the trouble of directly posting images of slideshow slides in an email and not simply typing the information out (if this were coming from a legitimate source, why would slides be needed to add authenticity?), the date, itself, is subject to scrutiny. In fact, the date shown below the hosted image reflects only its upload date.
The email is simple enough. Sending two empty slide images to himself, the supposed email recipient could then snap a picture, upload it to imgur.com, and wait a couple months. With the information revealed at BlizzCon, the uploaded image could then be edited directly with the website's software--without changing the upload date.
Last, we wonder why on earth Blizzard would want to release a game into the market on Thanksgiving of all days, a day when most Americans--a major audience--aren't even home to rush to the stores or man cash registers?
All this to say, please be careful when you read supposed "leaks" about release dates. As we like to warn our members, any release date not from the lips--or fingers--of an official Blizzard representative can easily be faked, as we have seen in numerous cases in the past with faked Diablo III game boxes and faked Diablo III announcements. A simple image editor and some human ingenuity can go a long way, and so can gullibility.
gg
One can argue that this might be legit:
1 - This email was supposedly sent on Aug 17.
2 - Blizz announced that the game will be pushed back till Q1 2012 on Sep 23.
3 - The email contains: "Release date will be announced. Dates are tentative: Nov 24 2011, backup 17 Jan 2012"
4 - The slide still have point 3, since at that time (Aug 17) they didn't know D3 would be pushed back.
If fake: Why not take out Nov 24 or something? To make it look authentic? Perhaps and prolly true.
Man, it's like 5h in the morning here and I'm not thinking clear, confusing myself...might be a bunch of BS I wrote. I'm sure you meant all this indirectly, hoping we're smart enough to read between the lines...unlike me.
There's some crazy lazy people out there!
If he planned this so long in advance and had nothing better to do = Forever Alone.
TL;DR: The guy who wrote the email:
For now I plan on keeping myself distracted with some upcoming releases like Skyrim and MW3.
I disagree with what you are saying. I think it's a good thing they posted this - on the main page where a lot of people where see it - because too many people are seeing fake release dates and getting super excited and spreading it around thinking it's a real release date. This post is bringing to attention that a lot of these dates are indeed fake, and people need to watch out for them. Basically telling all those gullible people out there to smarten up and stop being silly.
I guess there is a difference when someone posts a thread saying OMG THIS IS THE RELEASE DATE! vs when someone posts a thread saying it's speculation. Either way, I think the comments in those threads always end up going in the same direction anyway.
As for me, I'm not believing any release date until I hear it from Blizzard. I didn't know when to expect the game originally, and when the beta started in Sept, I had a guess in my head that it would come out in March 2012, based on something that Jay Wilson had said (that the Beta will start 6 months before release). I was actually surprised when they said originally they wanted it out this year and they had to push it back. I had no idea they wanted it to come out so soon. So really, I think it'll come out sooner than I expected, which is nice for me.
Yes, but the thing is I did post a thread called exactly: "Speculation: Potential Diablo 3 Release Date".
http://www.diablofans.com/topic/31092-speculation-potential-diablo-3-release-date/page__p__695023#entry695023
But that got blocked, it had the exact same intention as this thread does and did not for one minute say that the release date was true. So as you can see, I do feel kind of betrayed by the fact that this thread was created stating that the release date was merely "speculation" and that the moderator who blocked my thread said that the rules do not permit "speculation" threads. So, I stick with my case. =)
Send a mod a pm, as this isn't the place to discuss their actions.
Back on topic....I don't know. It's a tough call either way. As Magistrate aptly said, one could very easily make an argument for and against it's validity. I rather like the very early 2012 release date, but won't take it as truth until something official pops up.
That being said I'd love to be wrong and see it come out in January.
*edit*
I wanted also add credibility to it being fake. The original date of November 24th is as bogus as they come. Why on earth would blizzard release a game on a day when no stores are open to sell it? November 25th would at least be believable since its the largest shopping day of the year, but Thanksgiving Day? Really?
Back on topic - Yes, I do trust Daeity with my money, he's been right for WoW the last 4 years and has been right for D3 and SC2 since they exist. There's no reason not to trust his information because it usually comes from people inside the company or people that've recently quit it.
edit: I'd also like to point out how this was posted in the News after it was closed and frowned upon in the forums. I had nothing to do with those topics but is obviously unfair to the users. Not that there's anything to do about it now but, yeah, take notes guys. ;]
why would blizz include an idea of "how" to leak it? using imgur?
"pokemon approach?"
FAKE all the way
Because 2 months ago, you had never visited his site? And if you had, you would have dismissed it as speculation (and this site and most others would have just deleted it without any further thought)?
I have been a follower of DC for the best part of a year. The post was in August, although originally the link was guarded by a few clues. Not that I expect many of you to be convinced.
Ask yourselves - "prior to blizzcon, what could have been posted to a non-blizzard website by a non-blizzard employee that would have convinced me this was legit?". For most of you the true answer will be "nothing would have convinced me. i will always call fake and not take it seriously". If that's the case, don't be surprised that you don't hear about leaks until after the official confirmation. There is literally no other way for you to have the information sink in.
THAT BEING SAID; Even legitimate leaks aren't always correct - I think mid Jan was very likely a target date, but it hasn't been met. The Blizzcon leak specified (and plenty of other watchers also expected) that the date would be announced. It wasn't. If it was going to be Jan 17th, we really should have seen an announcement made - there aren't a whole lot of working days left between then and now. The fact they weren't ready to announce a date makes it extremely likely that it's slipped IMO, most likely to Feb.
They wanted to release in december but decided there's a bit more work to be done. 1 month seems like enough for me.
I'm calling 17 Jan.
And then the Thanksgiving thing. Yeh right. LOL!