update - Bashiok posted with some information about the status of the AH for South Korea
Official Blizzard Quote:
So, I was right, they have an auction house that uses Battle.net balance, which is separate from the gold auction house. There are some details I'm still fuzzy on because the Korea Battle.net balance works a bit differently from ours.
In any case, it won't be the currency-free option you're looking for.
It seems Diablo 3 officially has a rating for South Korea, Rated 'M'. However it seems this rating comes with the lack of a RMAH. We will keep you updated with any information. (source)
Note: The following is a Google translation of part of the article.
Quote fromㅇ geimmul Rating Board (abbreviated 'geimwi', Chairman yisugeun) 13 days of the 2012 classification of the hearing in 4th Blizzard's Diablo 3 ', the' Rated M 'classification as decided.
ㅇ ratings board with respect to this classification, cash transactions between users feature is not implemented because of the fact it was not subject to review, he said.
ㅇ In addition, the interpretation of the Law Review and refer to relevant organizations, in the process for future service modifications (updates) in cash transactions between users through the implementation of functions to modify the content if the reclassification of non-reportable (classification reapply) Obviously the target is said.
Bashiok on "Many More" Beta Invites
Bashiok replied to a user on twitter about more possible invites.
Will there be any more beta invites for diablo?
Yes. Many.
this is something we know little about. Can we expect these new invites to come shortly after the writeup by Jay Wilson?
We generally don't announce beta invites beforehand, provide invite numbers, etc. It just makes people go insane. (source)
Wizard - Hydra Runed
Today we have the Wizard'sHydra spell. We had a first look at this at Blizzcon '10 but a few things have changed. Now even more so than in the past, keep in mind some of the effects and graphics are not fully working at this time. (for example, no poison cloud appears on the ground, The eleictric hydra does not fire, and so on.)
Electronic Version of Book of Cain?
In case you are stuck on pure digital media, Blizzard is looking into a digital version of the Book of Cain. While not mentioned, a narrated version by Deckard Cain would defintely add to the appeal.
Hello, is there a digital version of Book of Cain that I can buy from an online retailer?
@Diablo No, only a hardcover is available. We are exploring digital possibilities but nothing for sure yet.
Beta Screenshots
In the first screenshot, we have a
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Posted Jan 13, 2012There, fixed the headline.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012biggest asian market? troll much?
china...japan...india...indonesia... geography much either?
lol
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Posted Jan 13, 2012This makes a bit of sense.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012Please, wished, enlighten us once again with your superior knowledge and illuminate why india, indonesia and japan are more important than korea, despite SK having over 10x the blizzard players of all of those countries combined.
Feel free to share how blizz can circumvent the need to have a partner in the PRC and can run the RMAH there while you're at it.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012link of more blizz players in SK then japan? or of course it didnt happen
and more blizz players in SK then CHINA? really? you seriously need to have your brain examined if you think that buddy.
SK is the 3rd largest blizz player zone in asia. china and japan both have more people playing blizzard games. so sayings its the largest is laughable when china is worth at least 10 korea's.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012http://www.bloomberg...id=a2JvzciDnpB4
You definitely could be right about there being more players in Japan or China, but imho it wouldn't be a crazy mistake to make because the level of fanaticism they have in SK for Blizzard products is insane.
I heard the divergence in the SK and Japanese gaming scenes was a result of a trade embargo that for years prevented any Japanese consoles from hitting the SK market, thus allowing PC gaming to thrive. But I don't know if that is true either.
Pretty sure WoW isn't even in the top three of mmo's in China, but the sheer number of people there is also pretty insane.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012regardless of SK being higher then japan, china has always been the top leader in blizz gaming since they got access to WoW so saying SK beats china is an oxymoron in gaming.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012Uh... by a truly huge multiple, whether or not you know how to google.
You're just embarassing yourself. Please, educate yourself a little on the fact that Blizzard products have been a significant part of Korean culture for the past dozen years, and try to learn about the fact that Blizzard needs to work with a partner by law in China before digging even deeper.
protip: mongolia is a much "bigger" asian country than SK, but still not much of a market for blizzard. you're welcome.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012just when i thought you couldnt be any more of a tool you go and say "protip" lmfao
but seriously you said "biggest asian market" which its not even close to china. china is an asian market yes? and the worlds biggest asian market. so please stop embarrassing yourself by doing your usual steps of replying and only commenting on one specific thing out of context. you made an incorrect statement bud, i corrected you, move on man and get over yourself.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012-
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Posted Jan 13, 2012your beating around the bush like a politician and not talking directly answering anything ive said. let me break it down REAL simple
you said south korea is the biggest, CHINA is in fact the biggest. ergo YOU ARE WRONG. get over it dude, stop getting so butt hurt about being wrong and trying to compensate for your severe lack of masculinity through beating a dead horse about something your wrong about on a video game forum. jesus man you need a girl friend or some social interaction.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012There is no way to monetize a non-subscription game in the PRC in china, and even when you do have a hit MMO, like WoW, you need to work with a partner - you can't own a majority stake in a PRC company. So that means your upside, despite many potential players, means much, much less cash than south korea - a country where Blizzard made tons of cash going back to Starcraft in the 90s.
Hence, any normal person whose business experience went beyond yours - as an fetal-oxygen-deprived teenager - would call the market where you could potentially sell a hundred million bucks worth of d3 instead of maybe, hopefully a few million a bigger market.
The fact that I'm bothering to educate you despite your confident assertion that SK was a smaller asian market for bliz than indonesia speaks to my deeply humanitarian and truly magnanimous nature. Have a good weekend.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012i was simply naming the other markets in asia because you acted like SK was the only one. and its not even close to the biggest one as we all know.
you have zero evidence to back up ANYTHING you are saying as far as blizzard making more money in south korea VS china. its common knowledge that china is THE biggest consumer/user of blizzard products as a whole so for you to even TRY to argue otherwise is hilarious without any proof at all. come back with specific TRUE statistics proving your insane theory of blizz making more money in SK than china and then you can act all high n mighty, until then your STILL wrong buddy. soz. gl with that whole overly eccentric douche bag attitude you got going on, im sure your a big hoot in person
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Posted Jan 13, 2012http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=98273
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Posted Jan 13, 2012rofl... an article about the partners in china PROVES they make more money in south korea? i see nothing in their stating "the earnings in south korea are more then the earnings in china" which is exactly what you would need to prove your retarded theory. are you trying to sound retarded gheed?
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Posted Jan 13, 2012lol i know we shouldnt of said anyt of this on a thread, most likely will get deleted. BUT again, need a link to prove that blizz makes more in SK than china, otherwise its just like randomly saying america spends the most on toilet paper, without any link to prove it. considering how many millions of subs are in china alone for WoW it just isnt possible that SK is bigger.
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Posted Jan 13, 2012http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-is-starcraft-popular-in-korea.html
From the business perspective, China market is not essential to Blizzard. (the above teamliquid link)
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Posted Jan 13, 2012LMFAO. i didnt read the whole first article at first, just skimmed it. then at the very end this shiny gem of a quote:
"Let's say Korean and Taiwanese (two major independent servers in Asia other than Chinese) count 2%, China is the rest 5%"
making china over 2.5 times the subs of WoW than korea which paying monthly for something adds up to millions more then one time fees for SC2. now this is just more speculation from the person who wrote the article but your OWN article link condemns your theory of korea making them more money. lolol
again you have yet to PROVE anything. go google until you find "korea earnings make more for blizzard than china" and proof that goes with it or else your -still wrong sir-
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Posted Jan 14, 2012special bonus english-as-first-language protip: you're