Blizzard reveals Internet connection will not be required for upcoming console versions; no cross-platform play planned.
Diablo III for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 will not require an Internet connection, Blizzard production director John Hight has revealed.
Speaking on GameTrailers, Hight said, "You can have four people on the same screen--no split-screen, we just zoom the camera out. Or if you're offline..."
Diablo III for the PC and Mac mandates that players be connected to Blizzard's Battle.net service, even when playing single-player.
The game was announced for the PS3 and PS4 during Sony's major media event last week and will be on show at PAX East 2013 late next month. Diablo III for consoles features a new interface and control scheme, allowing players to directly control their character.
"You no longer have to click and have your character move to a position," Hight said. "It's surprising how much action that brings to it. Blizzard really created action RPGs by launching Diablo originally, and this brings the action back into it."
Separately, a Blizzard representative confirmed in the Diablo III forums that cross-platform play between PlayStation Network and Battle.net is not currently in the works.
"While we think cross-platform play would be awesome, there are currently no plans to allow connectivity between PlayStation Network and Battle.net (this is pretty standard for most games that have PC and console support)," the company said. "As a result, the characters on your Battle.net account and PlayStation account will also remain separate."
The developer also confirmed that it has no plans to allow analog controller support for the PC version of Diablo III. And similarly, Diablo III for the PS3 and PS4 will not support USB mice or keyboards, Blizzard explained.
Diablo III for the PC and Mac has sold more than 12 million copies. For more, check out GameSpot's review.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Everyone should begin demanding an offline mode for the PC version as otherwise I'm sure it could be argued that this is simply unfair business practices to say the least. You cannot sell a console version with an offline mode whilst still requiring that PC users are constantly connected. You lose all validity to the arguments used to justify always online once you allow a version to have an offline mode, period.
...More important to us is that the online requirement is critical for the long-term integrity of the game experience. I fully understand the desire to play Diablo III offline; however, Diablo III was designed from the beginning to be an online game that can be enjoyed with friends, and the always-online requirement is the best way for us to support that design. The effectiveness of the online elements ? including the friends list and cross-game communication; co-op matchmaking; persistent characters that you can use by yourself, with others, and in PvP; and some of our customer support, service, and security components ? is tied directly to the online nature of the game. These and other online-enabled features are essential to our design for Diablo III."
Anyone remember this post from them last year?
I bet they did this just to make sure the PS3/PS4 versions sell more, because I'm sure it wouldn't sell after that blunder on the PC version.
lol Blizzard... I can't even find words to describe your bullshit, as I'm really pissed right now...
Great. The worst game in Blizzard's history will be the most widely available game. Awesome idea there Activision!
@valdarez
Well, I mean, once they pave the way for the generation of gamers, and make all these horrible games the norm, they'll be able to slowly introduce the same old stuff as new features and content. It's a lot easier to perpetuate your stupid businesses if you continually progress and regress as you phase out the audience that is primarily no longer interested.
I want to see a comparison of the PS3 and PS4 versions side by side, to see just how much more advanced the PS4 will be.
1 Like @LAboy06 If there will be any differences it's that the PS4 version (obviously) will run much smoother, but I expect both games will be exactly the same.
4 Like If the PC gamers won't get access to some kind of offline mode in the wake of this, then that's fail. Massive fail.
So the PC will be updated too? No? How does Blizzard still have a foot in the PC market? They're worse than EA as far as I can tell.
@flammable_zeus
No one is worse than EA. Just burn EA down like an effigy of all things bad. Burn em to the ground because they'll never ever learn. But maybe other companies will, when EA tanks. Blizzard and Activision probably still have time, EA does not. It's a cluster**** of piss poor ideas.
1 Like Guess they have learned their lesson when D3 got hammered by PC gamers fro DRM (apart from other things).
Also if you have DRM in game which has only automatic saves it does piss off a lot of people with no always perfect internet connection.
I was getting disconnects like every hour.
My fault! Should have moved to another place/country just be able to play D3. LOL
2 Like Perfect reason to hate Blizzard. I wish if WoW would be either developed by Bethesda or Bioware..
@MatrixGamer78
Oh yeah, remember that game everyone was looking forward to? The Old Republic? I think Bioware developed that. While Bethesda bounces between casual and their hardcore fans, and arguably tries to make "better," game experiences (they miss the point sometimes, but I do believe they're smart enough to recognize the problems - Skyrim was a leap over Oblivion).
Putting Bioware in the same boat as Bethesda is ignorant. Bioware stopped making good games a while ago.
Why Blizzard kills their own product, I don't know - the new choices they make couldn't be less interesting. Maybe to unveil their next big MMO around the time ESO launches.
However if ESO is like Morrowind, they'll have a tough time competing. That game has acquired enough legend-hype over the years that anyone will pick up ESO just to be trendy, and if it's actually like Morrowind in terms of lore / setting / style / character customizations (hopefully even more so), there will be no shortage of MMO players for that game, myself included.
@MatrixGamer78 wow, no respect for the company at all. I wouldn't even dare to think about bioware being developer of WoW.
Maybe the pandas are not for everyone but nonetheless, don't forget about vanilla, bc and wotlk.
1 Like So you won't allow mice or keyboard use for the consoles? That's good considering I never would consider using them for a game. That's one of the main reasons I don't game on a PC. Sorry to the PC crowd. I know this is all a slap in the face from a company you guys have supported for quite a while now. I used to really respect Blizzard, but within the last year or so I haven't heard many good things about them. Still, I have always wanted to try a Diablo game and I now have an opportunity to do so. I am going to have to pick this up not only for that reason, but also because RPGs are my favorite genre. Especially the highly addictive ones like Diablo.
@tightwad34 Diablo 3 does not make a strong case for an RPG. It wouldn't pass as a good JRPG or WRPG no matter what they did. The game severely lacks in story, the villages in the game are underpopulated and serve only as a place of sanctuary and crafting. Dungeons are pathetically short so it doesn't even fit a criteria as a dungeon crawler. The customization available in the game is lackluster and the player has no meaningful way of impacting conversations or story direction. It makes one wonder what they spent all that time on while making this game.
@Sfr528 You make a strong case yourself. I'm still going to have to try it, maybe when it gets a price drop. I am going in with no expections at all.
@Sfr528 Have you played 1 and 2? The story was never really that deep to begin with. A hack n slash with some memorable NPC's and unique boss types...thats really it. Fun though. Just sayin
@100proofsoco I've played Diablo 2 when I was about 8. I never got into it hardcore or anything and I'm sure whatever memories I have of the game are obfuscated by my nostalgia glasses. That being said what does Diablo 3 being as lackluster as it is have to do with Diablo 2.
I understand that Diablo as a series was never much of an RPG. I was stating the reasons it wasn't very good RPG because getting into this game expecting some fulfilling RPG adventure will most likely lead to a disappointing experience. Diablo 3 was aimed at being a dungeon crawling hack and slash game where you collected obscene amounts of loot. The problem being that the dungeons were lackluster, almost all the loot was useless, and at the end of the day it felt like most of your time was wasted killing the same tired mobs over and over again. There was a reason bots ran so rampant in this game... it's never a good thing when a player would prefer the bot to play because its so boring otherwise.
1 Like Im pc, and bought this. They FEAR the piracy world, no other reason. Blizzard was one of my top devs to look forward to as ive been a fan boy since a 'wee lady' with warcarft 1 & 2. Take your game and eat it you greedy fucks. Can't believe you would pull something like this after the HOLE pc world burned you for not allowing any form of offline play. You should be slapped. If anyone knows of a way i could sell my diablo copy, i have two up for grabs. - Blizzard you asshole.
It's Rare to see a company engage in an Abusive Relationship with it's Customers the Way Activision/Blizzard, EA Do.
They would have really enjoyed being SS Guards in the Third Reich, I imagine.
1 Like Wow that BLOWS..... so essentially PC gamers were the Beta testers huh?? Damn (-__-)
Well, I wish they'd just put in offline singleplayer to begin with. I hope they'll backwards port it to PC/MAC. It doesn't even matter if they make the characters not playable online the way they did with Diablo 2.
Anyhow, except for the fun and innovative instant respec rune system in Diablo 3, I found it to be surprisingly mediocre for a Blizzard title. I prefer Torchlight 2. Then again, the Torchlight series is being made by most of the original Diablo creatores (including the music composer of all things) so it's not too surprising to me that the Torchlight series has a quality level more similar to the first 2 Diablos.
Wow. I have to say. I'm quite shocked... Wait no I'm not. The gaming industry is going bellyside up.
2 Like So...in essence you pretty much said to your loyal PC gamers and fans of the trilogy: "Look, we're going to make sure you guys always have to be logged online to play. Also, we're going to introduce this crazy AH system that is more aligned to Free to Play Facebook games than anything Diablo has ever had."
And now you're saying: "BUT...we're going to release the same mediocre game for your console counterparts, and we're going to get rid of those things that pissed you off in the first place. Well played, yes?"
Just get rid of the permanent online for both versions, have no idea what was going through your guys' minds except for an image of Kotick with $$ signs for eyes.
Sooo, Blizzard you assholes, will we get a console version where the loot system is fixed? You know, like D2, were we got drops with stats that made sense? Come on, it's offline now, so you don't have a reason to force the bullshit AH down our throats.
1 Like When I heard the D3 theme play for the reveal. I admit I laughed pretty hard. This absolutely horrendous. A nice show of how far companies were willing to turn a game into a cheap way to make cash.
6 Like This is bulls***, so loyal PC players still get screwed with always online single player even after everybody willing to accept that already bought it. If they removed that crap even more people would buy it. Their greed has clouded their judgement.
I'm so torn. If I buy this do I send the message that I support console development? or that I support the fact they made an offline mode?
I can tell you right now though everyone on the PC is probably pissed. Yeah, you got screwed and bought an inferior product... those of us that waited now have an interesting choice. Buy what we avoided this whole time out of principle which is now in the clear? Or keep our money to ourselves and just keep complaining about everything even though we finally got exactly what we asked for?
@raahsnavj If sending a message is that important to you then don't buy it, just know that it will have no effect. If you want to have some hack and slash fun with your friends then buy it, forget about all the politics. Most PC users bought it off of the success of Diablo 2 and therefore set themselves up for dissapointment. I loved Diablo 2 but I didn't like the direction they took with Diablo 3 so I passed but now it's looking appealing because of all their tears
@NTenseify @raahsnavj What I am saying is I should buy it. All the reasons I have avoided D3 have now been removed. And they added local multiplayer. I'm afraid that I have to buy a PS4 now.
2 Like @raahsnavj You could buy Torchlight 2 instead, or play Path of Exile (which is much more like what Diablo 3 should have been imo).
Diablo 3 was such a let down, compared to 2.
@Stiler @raahsnavj Torchlight... on 4 player local multiplayer on my couch - without multiple PC's? I don't think I could do that... or could I... I guess I'll have to google that - Yeah, http://www.co-optimus.com/game/1692/pc/torchlight-2.html didn't think so.
This could be the castle crashers of the next gen for me. See I play local multiplayer. I have a family 3 kids and myself. I so wish technology could give me back my N64 or GC games with 4 controllers and local multiplayer that weren't a bunch of party games.
This might be the game.
@raahsnavj @Stiler Castle Crashers won't cost 60$. Don't buy it and save yourself the rage-posts that you will be posting in a few years when Diablo 4 comes out with micro-transactions and single computer licensing.
Oh god...
If I were at that board meeting where they decided on doing this, here is what my reaction would be:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU_GhqVgc9M
Im going to go out on a limb here and say that the "always online" component of the PC version maybe, just maybe, had something to do with piracy fears. Making up some bullshat about it being critical and integral to the gaming experience is and was probably just to cover their asses.
1 Like @strothers101 Of course it had to do with piracy concerns. But it also lead to the worst game launch in the history of gaming. It lead to people being locked out of their game whenever Blizz decided to shut the servers down and it lead to single player lag.
I don't care about their problems with piracy. These are THEIR problems, don't make them my problems by giving me an inferior experience because some people out there pirate.
@strothers101 I hope that was all written with sarcasm. Of course it was a DRM and only a DRM measure. I would be surprised if anyone thought it otherwise...
Yeah, screw you too Blizzard. It's a good thing that I never supported this in the first place...
Here i am lagging my arse off at 250Ms (at best) and consoles get an ofline mode? Well Bliz F you too!!
Can someone please take Blizzard around the corner and put it out of it's misery? Their beahvior now isn't how i'd like to remember them.
Blizzard's hack-and-slash lootfest coming to Sony platforms, will include four-player split-screen co-op.
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