Diablo 3 external testing expected Q3 2011

Activision reveals Diablo 3 testing is underway in a financial conference call.

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In Activision's quarterly financial conference call today, Blizzard boss Michael Morhaime revealed that internal testing for Diablo III began last week, and that external testing is expected to begin in the third fiscal quarter of 2011.

We still don't have a release date for the anticipated dungeon-crawler, and they said that no new unannounced Blizzard games are expected in 2011. That means that new Starcraft and Diablo titles will be released when they're ready, even if that means they don't come out until 2012.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 9, 2011 2:40 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Diablo 3 external testing expected Q3 2011.

    Activision reveals Diablo 3 testing is underway in a financial conference call.

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      May 9, 2011 2:57 PM

      Diablo 3 is my most anticipated game by FAR, can't wait for its release.

      If beta starting as early as July, and most of Blizzard public beta tests run about 5-6 months IIRC, maybe released Q1 next year.

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      May 9, 2011 5:07 PM

      When this stuff hits people will report me missing.

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        May 9, 2011 6:26 PM

        This will do to pasty white geeks what the 80's crack epidemic did to the inner city.

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      May 9, 2011 5:09 PM

      Muthafuckin' Diablo 3, bitches! Fuck Yeaaaaah!! WIZARD!! -- Chris Remo, Idle Thumbs 23 (At The Mountains of Money); 35 minutes, 27 seconds

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      May 9, 2011 5:10 PM

      If Activision didn't "merge" with Blizzard, we would never know these things. One positive outcome I guess....

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      May 9, 2011 6:05 PM

      LOL, anyone who thinks we'll see a beta this year obviously doesn't remember the 8-month Blizzard-time buffer for the SC2 beta.

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      May 9, 2011 6:21 PM

      It's odd how things work:

      Many companies release games too early and they fail as a result, while Blizzard could release the game at any point and we'd all still buy it knowing they'd get it fixed in the best fashion as soon as possible.

      People just want to play! Myself included.

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        May 9, 2011 6:40 PM

        I'd play the damn Blizzcon demo repeatedly and that was like 10 minutes of gameplay.

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      May 9, 2011 6:22 PM

      2012, or late 2011? muahahah

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      May 9, 2011 6:35 PM

      Dare I say.... it looks cartoony. Not the Diablo I remember from the good old 90s.

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        May 9, 2011 9:42 PM

        go look at the Diablo you remember, it was pretty drab compared to this.

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        May 9, 2011 9:45 PM

        Truer words have never been spoken.

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          May 10, 2011 12:43 AM

          actually a lot of truer words have been spoken throughout history.

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        May 9, 2011 11:37 PM

        gotta bring it sorta in-line with other Blizzy things.

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        May 10, 2011 12:26 AM

        Lara Croft: Guardian of Light actually looks exactly how I would imagine a Diablo 3 to look today.

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        May 10, 2011 12:36 AM

        Once you start playing the game, you're going to be too busy gathering loot, killing mobs, and destroying Diablo (again) to notice. I'm sure it's going to look great.

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      May 9, 2011 6:40 PM

      [deleted]

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      May 9, 2011 10:48 PM

      Double rainbows all the way!

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      May 9, 2011 11:29 PM

      I want Diablo 3 on 360.

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        May 9, 2011 11:33 PM

        Why the hell would you want that?

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        May 9, 2011 11:38 PM

        no

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        May 9, 2011 11:42 PM

        [deleted]

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        May 10, 2011 12:24 AM

        ouch on many levels

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          May 10, 2011 12:35 AM

          Why? If any Blizz game can translate to a gamepad, its D3. I didn't play Torchlight on 360 but I hard it worked fine. Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light felt very Diablo in some ways, so yeah, I don't see why not. The main thing that would need tweaking are inventory and character screens but that can be done.

          Hell, if gamepad is an option on PC I might do that when I get tired of *click click click click click*

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            May 10, 2011 12:41 AM

            I have Diablo2 in mind when thinking about this and that game would not work with a gamepad and it's not just the inventory stuff. It required very fast mouse movement and precise clicking since you had hordes of enemies rushing you. I don't know if that will still be present in D3 but I hope it is.

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              May 10, 2011 12:46 AM

              It would be a different game, more like God of War with classes and loot than an actual Diablo.

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                May 10, 2011 2:18 AM

                Look at Dungeon Siege 3. There's a Giant Bomb Preview or Quick Look.

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                  May 10, 2011 3:07 AM

                  Yeah I've been following it, it looks fun, it's also a fairly attractive looking game, but I'll be getting it for PC if at all.

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                  May 10, 2011 3:21 AM

                  dungeon siege 3 doesn't play like diablo 2, and i doubt like diablo 3

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            May 10, 2011 12:45 AM

            because the PC is a good platform that encourages unique kinds of gameplay and needs exclusives to survive commercially.

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              May 10, 2011 2:31 AM

              [deleted]

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                May 10, 2011 2:48 AM

                what about teleporting to a specific location? throwing grenades further or closer to your guy and other stuff like that?

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                  May 10, 2011 2:52 AM

                  [deleted]

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                    May 10, 2011 3:14 AM

                    yeah I agree with that. and that the gameplay could work great on a controller. It could even feel more natural as you'r d-pading where you want to attack, if you're a melee character.

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                May 10, 2011 2:55 AM

                Hmmm? No. That's not the point. The point is that Diablo 3 is a tentpole for the platform, along with SC2, so I don't give much fuck if Torchlight works well on XBL, because what's important is the business that Diablo 3 brings to the PC and only the PC.

                But while we're on the subject, yes, Diablo was fairly unique when it came out. Action RPGs weren't very popular, what was going on mainly was turn based or pause based games from Black Isle and Bioware, while Diablo was this weird combo of that kind of presentation and the old Roguelike gameplay. So back then yeah there was nothing quite like it. After that there were many clones of course, some rather good like Titan Quest and the aforementioned Torchlight, but like GTA, no matter how many similar games come out and take shots at it, Diablo remains Diablo.

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        May 10, 2011 12:32 AM

        Sure, why not, it could work very well on a console I'd imagine.

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        May 10, 2011 3:35 AM

        Me too. And I think we'll get it eventually.

        Blizzard is just throwing away money by not doing it.

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        May 10, 2011 4:05 AM

        [deleted]

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        May 10, 2011 5:12 AM

        ... where you can only equip 2 spells at a time?

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          May 10, 2011 5:36 AM

          lolololol

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          May 10, 2011 5:49 AM

          You mean exactly how the game is now even on the pc where you only have two active spells at a time? Yeah that's totally not possible!!!

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            May 10, 2011 6:18 AM

            What?

            I don't think you understand.

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              May 10, 2011 6:23 AM

              Maybe I don't but in D2 and D3 you have two active "spells" and you can rotate through others. It would be the same on a controller just having one of the buttons rotate through your spells.

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                May 10, 2011 6:30 AM

                Put that in context of DNF. You have 1 active gun and you can rotate through 1 other gun.

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                May 10, 2011 6:34 AM

                duke3d.exe - 10 weapon slots - only platform: pc duke4.exe - 2 weapon slots - primary platform: 360

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                May 10, 2011 7:17 AM

                You're a bit confused I think. You have as many spells as you can get, you can wield two, and you can switch them instantly. Like shooters where you can have ten guns with you and wield one and switch to any other at any time. Unlike shooters where you have two guns, and can switch to other guns only by swapping one out for another.

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                May 10, 2011 7:17 AM

                Except I have 12 spells mapped to
                qwer
                asdf
                zxcv
                That I am constantly switching between? All while gulping health and mana potions.

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                May 10, 2011 8:42 PM

                This is not accurate. You can have 7 spells active with another hot swapped

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        May 10, 2011 5:22 AM

        I really hope this doesn't happen.

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        May 10, 2011 5:43 AM

        That'd be like selling cars at Walmart. Sometimes you just need to leave well enough alone.

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        May 10, 2011 7:03 AM

        [deleted]

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        May 10, 2011 7:11 AM

        "Torchbox 360" made me a believer that ARPGs can work on consoles. I'd buy D3 on 360, but I'll also buy it on PC.

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