We want to thank everyone who came to the site to get these updates and the 3,500 live viewers who listened to the podcast today. You can expect a lot more updates in the next coming months and plenty of beta coverage here at DiabloFans and through Force Strategy Gaming. There will be a recorded version of the live podcast later today for those of you who missed it. In the mean time, you can check out the slideshow presentation they gave, and if you're actually interested, you can take a look at this quarters' numbers. If you weren't able to listen into the live DiabloCast, you can listen to the recorded version now.
As I am sure most of you know by now, today @ 1:30 PST is the day of the Activision/Blizzard financial conference call. Now, normally there is not a lot of interesting information during these calls for us DIabloFans, however, todays may be the exception. During the last conference call, Mike Morhaime said there would be news regarding the beta during this call.
Official Blizzard Quote:
As for Diablo III, development continues to go well, and we’re very excited about the game. Our most recent public showcase for Diablo III was at the G-Star show in Korea, where demo stations attracted huge lines of players. I’m looking forward to sharing some more news about the game and our upcoming beta on the next call
First, the actual link to the conference call for those of you who want their info direct from the source. Keep in mind, this is a conference call for investors. This is not a conference call for Blizzard or Diablo. Most of the call is business jargon for investors of Activision and Blizzard. Unless you are into that sort of stuff, you probably should avoid the call itself.
http://investor.acti...m?eventid=96008
The second way to get your information from the call is through the Live DiabloCast. Sixen, Force, and ScyberDragon (myself) will be having a live broadcast of the podcast we normally do. We will be discussing Diablo 3 in general, answering questions from you guys (that you can submit on Force's Facebook page), and announcing any Diablo news given during this call.
http://www.youtube.c...s/0/OzJQX1Pt3ZQ
Finally, for those of you who would just like your news right here on DiabloFans, I will be giving up to the minute updates on any news given during the call right here. The Front Page, and more specifically this post, will be used to relay any news we hear during the conference call. You can also check out our IRC to chat with other DiabloFans about any of the news given.
http://www.diablofans.com
I honestly respect any opinion though, and frankly damn well hope you're right about 2011, I just don't think so :P.
An yes, we're all friends here, waiting together.. In Purgatory.. Well maybe not Zerg4hire .. Damn troll..
You've basically offered a thin layer of dev-cycle lexicon to what we already know. 'But guys, Blizzard has so much to do before they can launch!' Yes, we're all aware of that, surprisingly enough.
No Blizzard employee ID card? No magical knowledge specific to D3 to share. The guys who do have that knowledge? Oh, Q3 beta and 2011 release is still the target goal.
The nuance, it is astounding.
I totally respect most of your opinions, having read them.. but diminishing the importance of expertise is a common method used by those who lack it.
In any case, we're really digging into some rhetorical skullduggery here. The bottom line is, I expected more information at this conf call than was given. Shame on me.
Edit: yes, we're all friends, and we're ultimately all on the same side. we want D3.
Yes, I saw the alpha/beta clarification and it was a fine point to make. On the topic of clarification, I very genuinely appreciate Winged's offerings but a minor in graphic design != 'expertise' on game development, much less Blizzard's, particularly related to D3, which is the only point I was ever making. Corollary proclamations ('I'm a software developer, I'm an investor', ad nauseum) encounter the same problems.
There's a difference between framing your opinion as 'I think that...' and 'You're all wrong and I'm right because of x y and z knowledge that I have.'
It's a good point. And it says to me that I haven't been expressing my points very clearly.
All I've really been saying is that we don't know anything extra, because Blizzard didn't tell us anything substantial. I've been revealing flaws in people's assumptions, not stating anything as fact over other people.
I've also just been trying to caution people about automatically building new timetables on heresay. That has been spun as my being overly negative, which I'm not.
What's hard is that it's essentially impossible to find middle ground here; either people are seen as fanboys who think Blizzard can do no wrong and accept anything they're told without any skepticism, or as overly skeptical Blizz-haters that think Blizzard will never do anything right by the players, will always be months/years late, etc. I've obviously been open to being accused of falling into the former camp, and I realize I've been guilty tonight of leveling the latter accusation at you and others. Neither is fair.
All I'm really ever getting at here is that the people who really know what's going on with D3, as best as anyone really does (i.e., anything can happen, something game-breaking appears last minute and they have to postpone, or internal testing goings unbelievably well and we see beta ahead of schedule, etc.) are still saying they think can do this timetable. I think it's unreasonable to think they'd set even a caveat-laden goal this prominently if they didn't think they had a better-than-not chance of hitting it (i.e., 51%+, even slightly better than even odds).
Blizzard has had one sketchy history, we all know that. But I think we're seeing a new era of sorts, and SC2 was pretty pristine as far as living up to their timetable. D3 is a different beast (literally!) but I still believe it bodes well. They've been hyper cautious, as always, at every turn, so now that they've given us even this admittedly preliminary 'date', I'm confident.
/steps off the soapbox
Thank you, and /agree.
The only people who have any real inside knowledge of actual dates of releases have said: Q3 beta, 2011 release, just as you said. That being not only the BEST but the ONLY real non-speculation knowledge we have, I think that, Blizzard's history of timetable jumping aside, at this point (especially given the way the SC2 release went) we have no real reason to doubt those words.
I respect your opinion, 2011 believers. Though I'll say I told ya so on new years
Not changing my sig. Not gonna happen. See you in Tristram on Christmas.
This is just speculation.
Blizzard would not be doing any "vague or hopeful speculation" when talking to investors, they are serious about their estimations. Furthermore, Blizzard does not want to release any game after Christmas. Doing so would be bad business for any company.
For once in your life people, believe what blizzard says, ffs.
Given their track record of delaying software, I don't see any reason I should believe what they say. Now, I'm not saying they're wrong for delaying software - it's part of why they are so great! Blizzard scoffs at deadlines because they are so quality-focused, and we should all be thankful for that.
If you want to believe the game is coming out in 2011, by all means, do it. It seems optimistic to me, but there's a real chance they could make it. But don't come here and criticize people for taking a different opinion.
Like Kiserai said earlier, this isn't fanboys vs. haters. We all love Bliz, and we all want this game to come out yesterday. But we're all unique individuals who see the world our own way. Blizzard intentionally speaks in obtuse generalities because they refuse to make any real time commitments until very close to release. Absence of evidence leaves us with guesses and opinions. And as we know, opinions are not fact. Neither is belief for that matter.
The only time I've taken issue in these forums is when people start extrapolating wild fantasies from statements that are intended to avoid external commitments.
To be fair, there's a large disparity between wild fantasies and being cautiously optimistic. Taking Blizzard's cautious confidence in their own target isn't a wild fantasy. If I said I thought we'd see the beta in a week, that would be a wild fantasy. We both ended last night with a curbing of the hyperbole, let's not wake back up to it.
Yes, give in, all of you.
2012
2012
2012
Life can never be pinned down to one date. Life is life, and always changing. Anything can happen to change the proposed dates. If the dates change, I'll wait on the next known time frame. After all, what else are we gonna do?
For me, it's just best to stay positive.
Don't criticize people? I consider criticism a good thing. It's not like I said "daul crossbows sucks" or anything
Silly George