@mrZillion It's a bad review, but that's because the game deserves a 9 and not to be unfairly knocked for things people knew about it before they even bought it. This is a classic case of "overhype" in the minds of so many. Everyone talking about how Diablo 2 was the greatest game ever... GUESS WHAT. Diablo was better. When Diablo 2 came out, there was a lot of complaining and whining from the veterans of Diablo that they'd ruined it in every concievable way that people are mentioning now. Then the loudmouth idiots with no patience or attention span shut up, a few years passed, and people came to appreciate what a remarkable game it was. This is just how Blizzard works; they get this response every time they release a product because people don't have realistic expectations and make it impossible for themselves to be fulfilled by anything.

@robains A lot of people's complaints with the game are that they are too lazy to approach the genuine challenge. People talking about farming the Butcher on hell difficulty... hey man, just keep playing the game. If you are dying, figure out how to stop doing that. There are hundreds of possible builds, not to mention many billions of ways you can click your mouse throughout a fight, some of which are probably better than others... :) [speaking to them, not to you, haha]

Okay, forgive me for not even reading the article. I just clicked the headline and scrolled straight to the comments:

What an idiot. If he wants bigger graphics cards in his consoles so he can do his next terrible final fantasy game that uses over-the-top art design to compensate for all lack of gameplay and characterization, he can finance it himself.

The average consumer in this economy cannot afford to buy a new system with any regularity. This was true even in the 90's, but even more so today. I commend him for his vision, as most game publishers focus SOLELY on this numbers game, but he's in no position to make any friends taking this kind of stance given the mediocrity of his company of late.

Finally, the reason devs are turning to mobile devices... if you really think it's that consoles aren't keeping up, buddy, resign right now because your 'vision' is nothing but delusion.

@buccomatic that in no way invalidates the claim that 'the wii u is just a tad less powerful than a 360 or PS3.' different system limitations manifest in different ways, and are handled differently by developers.

@Halloll The fewer people who are suckered into buying it before then, the sooner that happens. Of course by then who'd want to? In fact, I think it would be a nice thing if gamers made a personal pledge not to buy games from studios who don't survive the release or post-release of the game. Even if it is the publisher's fault and not the developer, this sends a message to the ones in charge of the dough - not the ones who were used, abused, and discarded who did all the work.

@knightros I bought AO pretty close to release... needless to say, I never even made it to 'long time player' with the travesty of a release state THAT was in. People want to complain about unfinished games being shipped, that may very well be the worst example I've personally encountered.

People are talking about the release of Diablo 3 like it double charged all their credit cards, installed spyware on their computer, started corrupting random hard disk sectors, and signed them all up for 400 free mailing lists. Really the only troubles I had were not being able to play for 7 hours the day after launch (congestion) and several "Maintenance Tuesdays" where the game was unplayable, something that I accepted in WoW but that was a little irritating in a game like this.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON who was affected by EVERY ONE OF THESE ISSUES knew what they were signing up for when they saw the game required online connection and the use of battle.net. It was nonetheless frustrating, and you may or may not personally enjoy the game (I do, minor balancing issues aside), but really if something like this turns you off not only a product but an entire developer, you are in for a life of sadness and disappointment; let me tell you.

@ghaffir Right, because I've never seen a board flooded with NEGATIVE reviews all from new members, making the same irrational, gramatically consistent arguments against something. *cough metacritic giving almost every AAA title a 2.0 user review*

@StealthUS1 As if the fact that they, and almost all other game companies nowdays, give exclusive access to their products - and bushels of ad contracts - to places like Gamespot, long before the product has any intention of being released, somehow doesn't fit into the description of "spamming gaming sites".