Diablo III Launch Date Announcement Nears

A Message from Jay Wilson offers Blizzard's outlook on expectations for Diablo III, forced to react to a comment by a community manager on the topic that was widely taken as an official statement (thanks Blizzplanet). Jay responds to the idea of lowering expectations by raising them, and also raises expectations of when to expect the release of their action/RPG sequel, saying: "you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future. See, I didn’t say 'soon,' so I’m not taunting you. ;)" Here's word:
Jay Wilson wanted to share a message with the Diablo III community:

Some of you might have seen some headlines or a certain (obviously sarcastic) blue post that implies that we're unsteady about where Diablo III stands, and that you should temper your expectations when it comes to the next installment in the Diablo series.

Let me be clear: Nothing could be further from the truth.

As those of you in the beta have seen, the game is in good shape. Actually, I should say that the beta version of the game is in good shape. The latest full build we've been testing here in the office is in great shape.

We get a lot of sympathy from the other teams because of the long hours of crunch our design team is putting in, but the secret is that playing through the game as we do final tuning, bug fixes, and optimizations is a real joy. We always know a Blizzard game is almost ready when we have to ask members of the team to stop playing so they can get their work done. That’s definitely been the case around here.

We think you're going to love Diablo III when it's released, and speaking of release plans, you can seriously expect a launch-date announcement from us in the near future. See, I didn’t say “soon,” so I’m not taunting you. ;) You’ll know as soon as I know for sure the exact date.

And by the way, we want you to have high expectations for Diablo III and all Blizzard games. That’s what pushes us to try to make the best gaming experiences we possibly can. If Diablo III wasn’t a worthy next installment in the Diablo series, we wouldn’t release it. That’s the way we do it. That’s the way we’ve always done it.

As I’ve said many times in the recent past, we think Diablo III is coming along great and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it. We’re doing all we can to ensure you have one hell of a time once you step foot in Sanctuary…

Also, I think Diablo is much more comparable to the Evil Dead series personally, and those just kept getting better. OK, I know a lot of you prefer Evil Dead 2 to Army of Darkness, but come on, Bruce Campbell fights a squad of little Bruce Campbells! Priceless. =)

Jay Wilson is the Game Director of Diablo 3, and wants to know “Hey, uh, what’s that you got on your face?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBCSautRXY
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Re: Diablo III Launch Date Announcement Nears
Feb 25, 2012, 11:33
Re: Diablo III Launch Date Announcement Nears Feb 25, 2012, 11:33
Feb 25, 2012, 11:33
 
Slashman wrote on Feb 24, 2012, 17:08:
The problem with the online requirement isn't so much that most people have internet connections. Some people have pretty horrible internet connections. Some folks live in the boondocks or other areas where net connections are spotty.

Its fine to feel smug and say 'too bad', but there is a difference between requiring an online activation (even if its required whenever you start the game), and requiring a consistent and decent internet connection for a smooth play experience. Especially for a game like Diablo...

10 million WoW players plus millions and millions of gamers around the world playing other online games demonstrate that their Internet connections are fine for persistent online gaming. If their connections can handle situations with dozens of people in raid settings and has for the last 10+ years, it can handle 4 users playing coop in D3. The argument for unreliable Internet stopped being a concern years ago.

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