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Rumors of Diablo III from http://www.diabloii.net

Diablo III Music Recorded?
We received an email today from a Diablo fan and classical musician in the Czech Republic.
I am musician in Czech Republic. I play not with one orchestra but with many depending on work. I have recently been to Bratislava in Slovak Republic for recording sessions with local Radio Symphony Orchestra, where we just recorded music for Diablo 3.
For some historical perspective, check the Battle.net page with the D2X:LoD bonus mp3s. Scroll down a bit and you can read news and see pictures from Blizzard's recording session for the D2X music, held in Bratislava, Slovakia, with the Slovak Radio Philharmonic. Those sessions were carried out in early 2001, before the game's release that June, so perhaps D3 is further along than we've been assuming? Either that or they're recording the music earlier in the game's production cycle than they did for D2X.
Update: More from the musician:
I did not find the people from Blizzard in the studio, but composer (Ulman?) was there and conductor was named Kirk Trevor, I think he is from England but he conducts in Bratislava much and also in some other cities in Czech Republic like Zlin.
The music is again, like in Diablo 2 expansion, very much based on Wagner. In Diablo 2 expansion there are many plases in Act 5 that take directly from Wagners opera "Tristan and Isolde". This time for Diablo 3 there was music similar to Wagner operas "Lohengrin" and also "Siegfried" from Ring cycle. But this is not so bad that he takes from these things, almost all movie composers borow Wagner music, like Williams for Star Wars and others like Nino Rota who made music for Fellini's films.
So now when Diablo 3 is finished I must buy, maybe I will hear all my mistakes (I play percusion instruments).

Diablo III Rumours
Following our story about the Diablo III soundtrack a few days ago, numerous sites picked up on the piece and today it was added to Gamespot's rumour mill section. The item includes all the information we have already given you and they, like us, also think that the game is in production. However we doubt it will be announced at E3 as some are suggesting. We are more inclined to think it will make a debut at the Leipzig game convention some time in August.


D3 Domain Name?
In yet more Diablo 3 rumor news, Olivier mailed us to point out that www.diablo3.fr exists with an image saying it's been registered by Blizzard Entertainment. He wondered if it was real, and we checked into it and discovered that it is. The French version of Network Solutions tells us that diablo3.fr was registered by Vivendi Universal back on May 28, 2004. This means nothing in terms of a timeline for the game, and companies routinely purchase domain names years in advance simply to keep them for future use, or to keep them from being cybersquatted. Blizzard does not own any prime Diablo3 .com or .net domain names, as far as we know, though lots of other people do. *cough*
Update: Mike mailed to point out that www.diablo2.fr has the same place holder image as www.diablo3.fr, and you can see that it was registered on the same day, May 28, 2004. None of this really means anything in terms of how far along the hypothetical development of D3 is, but just so you know.
There's also no real significance to the various gamesites with pages reserved for Diablo III, such as this one on Gamespy. Everyone knows Blizzard will do D3 at some point, so they're just getting space ready for the big annoucement; kinda like how they write obits for famous people so they'll be ready when needed.


More on D3 Music?
We recently posted some info from a musician with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra who told us he'd recently played during some recording sessions for the Diablo III soundtrack, under conductor Kirk Trevor. We'd been wondering why Blizzard went all the way to Slovokia to record the music for D2X and (allegedly) D3, and now, thanks to an email from Indigo, we may have an idea. Here's the website for the Orchestra, and here's a quote from it:
The orchestra is available as a complete 80-member ensemble or in smaller forces, including chamber music with the outstanding principal players of the orchestra. Recording fees are among the lowest in the industry, with a complete 60 minute CD package available for under $20,000. This package includes complete engineering and editing, hall rental, conductor, and full orchestra.
So it's cheap, and as a bonus the dark, primal forests of old Europe no doubt stir the proper emotions for playing appropriately-Diablo'esque music. Hey, it worked out pretty well last time...

New Bliz Game Title?
Thanks to the glorious nosiness of a reader named Jonas, we now know that Blizzard Entertainment just recently (May 3, 2005) registered a a copyright on the name, "The Burning Crusade." The copyright is for computer software, but that's all the registration tells us. You're certainly free to guess what name this might be intended for; D3, a D3 expansion, a WoW expansion, WoW2, or something else entirely? Blizzard might not even use the title at all, or not for years and years, so don't get too excited. (If you'd like to confirm this, go to The US Patent and Trademark Page and search under "trademarks." You can snoop around and find all sorts of cool stuff on that site.)
While we're on the topic, readers keep finding new www.diablo3.??? URLs and sending them in. These are interesting, but they don't necessarily mean anything. Tons of would-be fansites have tons of D3 URLS, Blizzard owns a few themselves (Diablo3.fr for instance) and so on. None of this has anything to do with whether or not they're making such a game or how far along it is. Check out www.starcraft2.com for instance; it directs you to www.blizzard.com, and Blizzard owns it, but note that they bought it six years ago for future use, and to keep cybersquatters from snapping it up and sticking one of those annoying pop up ad-filled link farms on the URL.

Barabarian was my first character and my favorite character. I just love playing with physical characters and the Barbarian is the best at what he does.

Yes, cinematics is a plus for Diablo III. Blizzard has their own built tools to create these wonderful cinematics. In all of their games, the cinematics really show how good they are at constructing them and how it helps the storyline more in depth.

I voted for the typical Diablo view. You can see more and play better with the Diablo view as it is in Diablo I and Diablo II.

Quote from "Fuel" »

Wow, I'm hoping they didn't cancel Diablo 3. That'd be a bummer.

Well, if the original developers of Diablo canceled a possible Diablo III, that doesn't mean new people Blizzard hires can't make a Diablo III, because they will, Diablo is too popular. It's the game that made Blizzard the most $.

Quote from "penguin-hunter" »

what are your thoughts?

Well, PS3 is not officially going to look like most people think of it as in the pictures of it now. The PS3 is going to be a Home Entertainment System. The PC is getting old, but still used widely of course, but with these new systems, they are going to blowout the PC with the better graphics and better gameplay they will offer. Of course, I agree with the controller being a bad idea, but they should make a keyboard and mouse hookup for the new generation consoles so the people can still play the games they love with a better flow of playing.

Quote from "Trippster" »

well wasnt there another post here about blizzard looking for a Lead Designer for the ppl who created diablo and diablo 2.....it would make sense that if they lost their key developers..to get new ones. I mean anyone whos played the diablo series...knows the diablo feel and what needs to be improved and shit....no reason why not to make d3

Yes, Blizzard, at their main site http://www.blizzard.com have been hiring new people for Blizzard Console, Blizzard North, and Blizzard. With all these new job openings http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/ there is no telling what they will have in store for us. All I can say is that I can't wait until they announce a new game, whether it be Diablo III, StarCraft II, or a new game or Series, I am all for it because Blizzard rocks no matter what game/games they make.

Tyrael might be Diablo in disguise...Why would Tyrael destroy the Worldstone? Wasn't the Worldstone a kind of barrier that protected Heaven from Hell? With it shattered to pieces, Hell can now reach the gates of Heaven where the conflict could get a bit messy.

Here is the site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_North
Read the History part about two unannounced games that were canceled by Blizzard.

The reason being for this was when several key developers of the Diablo Series left. So I'm guessing they had to cancel the games they may have thought of and brought about the table so that the new employees hired at Blizzard North could come up with ideas on their own.

As qouted by Geoff Fraizer, the canceled game was a "Blizzard North kind of game," which in turn only points to a Diablo game because Blizzard North created and worked only on the Diablo series, unless they were to bring out a new Series. Most likely it was a new installment of Diablo, but who knows...

Of the Diablo Games, I started out playing Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. I had the Battle Chest of the Diablo Series and I decided to play LoD because of the better playability and more people online playing. Until just a couple of days ago, I started playing Diablo 1. I am playing single player and I'm a Warrior. I am now level 19 and I'm down to level 14 of the dungeon. So far, I like the original Diablo because it is actually fun as hell. I gave Diablo 1 a 10 rating because this is what started the Series and without it, there wouldn't be a Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, or maybe even the rumored and speculated Diablo III.

Sometimes mfing in the Secret Cow Level is good because there are some good runes that drop there sometimes. Best rune I've found from the Secret Cow Level is Ist.

Radiohead - Creep

Here are some of mine:
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Matchbox 20
3 Doors Down
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Van Halen
Aerosmith
AC/DC
Breaking Benjamin
Bon Jovi
Guns N' Roses
Bruce Springsteen
John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Foreigner
John Cougar Mellencamp
Journey
Metallica
Muse
Pink Floyd
Queen
The Rolling Stones
Radiohead
System of a Down
The Cars
The Eagles
The Who
The Doors
Third Eye Blind
U2
ZZ Top
and many more I can't think of, hehe.

Happy Birthday Diablo II!

I have seen this picture before as well when I was browsing the Internet. If you look closely at the bottom left it says, "Mock game cover design by Michael Yazijian." It also displays his site www.yazstudios.com I have seen the site(it's down now) and he had some pretty amazing drawings/paintings he had created.

Michael Yazijian has also done some movie jobs:
The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Ice Princess (2005)
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando (2003)
Ratchet and Clank (2002)
"Xcalibur" (2001)

Take a look at this site:
http://www.creatures-imaginaires.com/03_expos/dossier_artistes/yaz/yaz_portfolio_3.htm
If you click on the picture named "Druid" and look at the picture closely at the bottom left it says, "Diablo 2 Expansion Pack Druid"