Actually, Larry, 100% of the Blizzard North folks who worked on the original "Diablo":
max schaefer
eric sexton
kenneth williams
david brevik
erich schaefer
peter brevik
doron gartner
jon morin
robin van der wel
richard seis
ben haas
kelly johnson
matt uelmen
michio okamura
hugh tom byrne
patrick tougas
christopher root
mark sutherland
karin colenzo
don't work at Blizzard currently. That's "none" as opposed to "half".
Actually, it was about as candid as he can be without losing his public-speaking privileges. Saying something close to an outright "no" on consoles is pretty bold compared to just passing on the question.
People should be banned for stupid posts like this.
Disney music? They music in Diablo 3 is epic as hell. 10x better than the music in any of the other Diablo games. (save the Tristram music).
Rainbows? Please show me some rainbows.
And mega shoulderpads? See, when you go to this cool thing called '3D', things have depth! It's amazing, I know, but we no longer have flat, 2D images.
Lydeck, obviously you've invested a lot of time and energy into this site and into expectations of the game. I think if it was a text-based variation on "tetris", you'd still insist it was the greatest game ever. Work on the objectivity.
And we did get plenty of blood from dying monsters
Don't worry, after the Activision accountants add up the cost of spending extra months localizing content for the German and Chinese censors, all of that stuff will be gone. At least they're thinking ahead - notice how the dead bodies are gone in a matter of seconds?
My only worries is that they're coming at this from more of a fan angle, and while they seem to have gotten a few things down, the game seems to have degenerated into a clone of itself.
The three creative visionaries behind the "big 3" are all gone: Allen Adham (WoW), David Brevik (Diablo) and James Phinney (Starcraft).
Less than 1/4 of the Blizzard North people with credits on "Diablo II" went to Flagship. Also, only TWO people from Blizzard North with a credit on Diablo II are working in Irvine as of the past year!
Just a few of the names who did NOT go to Flagship AND are not currently working in Irvine:
Both people named as designers (Hedlund and Sexton) -
The artist who created "Diablo" (Okamura) -
The original animator of "Diablo" (Haas) -
The lead programmer (Seis) -
The entire in-game music/audio team (Stone, Petersen, Uelman) -
The character artists behind the Paladin, Sorceress, and Barbarian and countless monsters (Johnson, Dashow) -
The illustration genius behind the UI art (Boos) -
All three level designers (McAuley, Scandizzo, Wilson)
Additionally, Bill Roper never had an office at Blizzard North during the making of any of those releases - he moved soon AFTER they were released. The idea that "Well, Hellgate was a flop, so it must have been Blizzard all along that made it..." is unfounded and stupid. The sad reality is that Blizzard North was basically cast to the wind and can never be reformed in any real way.
Because they've waited 8 years for a look at the sequel to one of their favorite games ever, and it looks like some of their favorite things about it - the dark atmosphere, the music, the unique look - may be seriously lacking.
My opinion on who is making it and answers the question of "why now", it looks to me like Blizzard brought the Castaway(former Blizzard North ppl) team back in to make Diablo 3.
Not true. Not a single one of the Castaway people is currently working in Irvine.
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Tristram is a cool tune
but that other stuff mehhh
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Less than 1/4 of the Blizzard North employees with a credit on "Diablo II" moved on to Flagship.
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Really. Can you name one of the almost twenty on that list there now?
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Actually, Larry, 100% of the Blizzard North folks who worked on the original "Diablo":
max schaefer
eric sexton
kenneth williams
david brevik
erich schaefer
peter brevik
doron gartner
jon morin
robin van der wel
richard seis
ben haas
kelly johnson
matt uelmen
michio okamura
hugh tom byrne
patrick tougas
christopher root
mark sutherland
karin colenzo
don't work at Blizzard currently. That's "none" as opposed to "half".
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Actually, it was about as candid as he can be without losing his public-speaking privileges. Saying something close to an outright "no" on consoles is pretty bold compared to just passing on the question.
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Lydeck, obviously you've invested a lot of time and energy into this site and into expectations of the game. I think if it was a text-based variation on "tetris", you'd still insist it was the greatest game ever. Work on the objectivity.
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:D:D:D:D
No offense
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Don't worry, after the Activision accountants add up the cost of spending extra months localizing content for the German and Chinese censors, all of that stuff will be gone. At least they're thinking ahead - notice how the dead bodies are gone in a matter of seconds?
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The three creative visionaries behind the "big 3" are all gone: Allen Adham (WoW), David Brevik (Diablo) and James Phinney (Starcraft).
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Less than 1/4 of the Blizzard North people with credits on "Diablo II" went to Flagship. Also, only TWO people from Blizzard North with a credit on Diablo II are working in Irvine as of the past year!
Just a few of the names who did NOT go to Flagship AND are not currently working in Irvine:
Both people named as designers (Hedlund and Sexton) -
The artist who created "Diablo" (Okamura) -
The original animator of "Diablo" (Haas) -
The lead programmer (Seis) -
The entire in-game music/audio team (Stone, Petersen, Uelman) -
The character artists behind the Paladin, Sorceress, and Barbarian and countless monsters (Johnson, Dashow) -
The illustration genius behind the UI art (Boos) -
All three level designers (McAuley, Scandizzo, Wilson)
Additionally, Bill Roper never had an office at Blizzard North during the making of any of those releases - he moved soon AFTER they were released. The idea that "Well, Hellgate was a flop, so it must have been Blizzard all along that made it..." is unfounded and stupid. The sad reality is that Blizzard North was basically cast to the wind and can never be reformed in any real way.
......
And there you have it!
None of this:
http://www.bigcheesepress.com/keller/diablo.jpg
But plenty of WoW megashoulderpads, rainbows and Disney music!
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Who knows, but according to a post on diabloiinet all 19 of the original blizzard north guys from the first diablo are gone.
Maybe they don't like southern cali... or maybe southern cali doesn't like them!:P
Or maybe it's just too sunny and nice down there for games that look like this:
http://www.bigcheesepress.com/keller/diablo.jpg
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Because they've waited 8 years for a look at the sequel to one of their favorite games ever, and it looks like some of their favorite things about it - the dark atmosphere, the music, the unique look - may be seriously lacking.
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Not true. Not a single one of the Castaway people is currently working in Irvine.