Possible Upcoming Big Announcement from Blizzard

[Ammonium]

Before you all go and get too excited this is pure speculation.

In the last issue of PC Gamer (the Febuary issue. For whatever reason they run 1 month early) this was the teaser for the upcoming March issue (due in a few weeks):


"We've got a world-exclusive announcement that is so big, so juicy, and so unbelieveably mind blowingly fun that you're probably going to wet yourself upon seeing the cover. Prepare yourself: either stuff your shorts with absorbent easy-to-get-ahold- of household materials (old T-shirts and socks should do the trick), or break down and invest in some Depends. Whichever way you go, so long as your're prepared to get a little damp in the seat, you'll be ready for our March issue."

After a long amount of thought I have narrowed down what this announcement could be about. First, the only thing that could possibly be this exciting would be brand new, never before (officially) heard news about a new installment in a mega-popular franchise (not an expansion pack). After thinking about this for a little bit I've decided that the most logical choices would be a new Diablo or Starcraft game. These are argueably the two most popular franchises in all of PC gaming, and a game as not been released for either one in 4 1/2 years! Sure blizzard is set to release the WoW expansion pack this summer, but a meer addon to an existing game can't be tieing up all of the company's resources. In additon, we've all heard the rumors going around about blizzard looking for help on a new project, etc etc..

Here is a link for more speculation on what the annoucement might be:

PC Gamer Message Board Topic


Any thoughts on my hypothesis?

[Artega]

Starcraft 2. No other game would be even close to as major an announcement as Starcraft 2 would be.

Diablo is big in the US, and pretty big in other countries; Starcraft is gargantuan worldwide, and a religion in Korea.

[DeeBye]

Maybe it's another Coconut Monkey thing.

[Ammonium]

Maybe it's another Coconut Monkey thing.
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lol. Probably. :(

[Jarulf]

In the last issue of PC Gamer (the Febuary issue. For whatever reason they run 1 month early)

Sorry for a small hijack. but perhaps they are trying to move in the direction of the automobile industry who start with the next year modelss in, like august or something. The more obvious is that people like new things and arwe fooled that buy buying a february issue in january, they get the new one month ahead of all those that has to wait until next month :)

[Urza-DSF]

Fallout 3? A new Monkey Island game?

Yet another LL site redesign perhaps? Have they started tracking those yet?

[SwissMercenary]

It's obviously going to be about Duke Nukem Never getting canceled. :)

[Guest]

Daikata 2

[LochnarITB]

Pong Deluxe - with eye popping 4 color graphics! I must now *FROTH*

[pakman]

Since they're running one month early, as I also get PC Gamer, I am going to speculate on the announcement being a review of how awesome Oblivion is because that comes out at the end of March.

[Ashock]

Unfortunately, I do not think that this is D3. It would interfere with WoW too much to release it any time soon (or even Blizzard's version of "soon").

I hope I am wrong.


-A

[Occhidiangela]

Unfortunately, I do not think that this is D3. It would interfere with WoW too much to release it any time soon (or even Blizzard's version of "soon").

I hope I am wrong.
-A
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Given Blizzard's version of "soon" and "release date" related to the Diablo franchise, the announcement now would fit a Christmas 2008 release, about when WoW starts to fade. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Hellgate: London is rolling along, but being an FPS won't make it into my home.

I am having enough trouble campaigning for Starcraft: Ghost, the Missus is standing firm. In the good news category, my son has gotten my wife to dislike WoW less. She likes how pretty the "world is."

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

Daikata 2
[right][snapback]99900[/snapback][/right]

Two laughs in one word.

1. Your joke about Daikatana, the game.

2. The running gag that is your illiteracy. How hard is it to get one word right?

Thanks for the double chuckle.

Occhi

[Guest]

Actually its not "illiteracy". At least not with English. It is a Japanese word I assume.
And I actually googled "Daikata" to check spelling before I posted, and oddly enough it led me to a bunch pf sites wher other people also mispelled it.
There is no real way to even check the spelling in a case like this.

I thinks more funny that you can be an ass and mock me for misspelling a Japanese word than it is that I misspelled it.

[Doc]

Both of you, stop it, before I turn the hose on you. :shuriken:

[Ashock]

In the good news category, my son has gotten my wife to dislike WoW less.  She likes how pretty the "world is."

Occhi
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No such luck here ;-)


-A

[Occhidiangela]

Actually its not "illiteracy". At least not with English. It is a Japanese word I assume.
And I actually googled "Daikata" to check spelling before I posted, and oddly enough it led me to a bunch pf sites wher other people also mispelled it.
There is no real way to even check the spelling in a case like this.
[right][snapback]99930[/snapback][/right]

The word written in English was the proper name of a game. There is a way to check the spelling of the name of the game. That is why I posted the link. You lose, again.

Thanks to that word, I looked at Google and was interested to see how Daikata was related to Daikatana, the game. Learning new things is a joy, so thanks for unwittingly providing another opportunity. :whistling:

In an OT reference to otherother faux Japanese entertainment:

"And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment
Of innocent merriment."

Occhi

[ima_nerd]

I'm hoping for Starcraft II. While Diablo III would be cool, with all the RPGs coming out (Oblivion, WoW expansion, Vanguard) I think an RTS will be a nice break. Although, that would require me to actually play through the Starcraft campaign and buy Brood Wars to play through that one :P I agree with Ashock who said that it won't be Diablo III due to the competition that creates for WoW. I know quite a few people that would end up ditching WoW for Diablo III. Regardless of Blizzard's infamy for release dates, I'm sure they plan on having WoW run for years to come, therefore interfering with any possible release for Diablo. Look at EQ1 - it's still running. While WoW is no EQ1, it will be quite lively for a long time.

Edit: Forgot some words here and there :shuriken:

[NiteFox]

I'm hoping for Starcraft II. While Diablo III would be cool, with all the RPGs coming out (Oblivion, WoW expansion, Vanguard) I think an RTS will be a nice break.
[right][snapback]99951[/snapback][/right]

And that's exactly why it's more likely to be D3 instead of SC2. Market interest is in RPGs, so that's where most of the publishers are laying their chips.

I wish it weren't so, but let's be fair in saying that Vivendi isn't one to buck current trends.

[Ammonium]

And that's exactly why it's more likely to be D3 instead of SC2. Market interest is in RPGs, so that's where most of the publishers are laying their chips.
[right][snapback]99953[/snapback][/right]

Not only that, but there is a severe diffecency of good online action rpgs.


I think that D3 wouldn't draw away users from WoW like WoW did to d2 for a few reasons. First, WoW is still fairly new and has an expansion pack on the horizon with a year or two still left in it's life, unlike the tired old d2 that everyone had played for way too long. Second, WoW is an MMO with many dedicated players that would not just drop their subscriptions and start anew just because another game came out, whereas D3 should be an action RPG just like diablo and d2. Two totally different styles of rpg.