Surprised at no Splash Page Discussion

[kandrathe]

I'd really love for the announcement to be Diablo 3, but I would be crushed if it we're Diablo 3 the MMO. That's not to say I don't like MMO's, but I think Diablos strength was in its ability to allow multiplayered games with scalable difficulty. Let us play with 1 - 10 of our friends, and make a pay for additional content model that can support the game, and new content being added to it over the next 5-7 years.

The package software model is going the way of the dinosaur. Like the crocodile, you will find them once in awhile. Especially for the under 10 year old crowd. The prospect of developing a game that is housed on a central server with one version to control, where people pay monthly for the right to login to play it is so far more compelling. There are more people with money who use the internet socially, than introverted ones that hack on Diablo solo in mom's basement. {not implying Diablo players all live in mom's basement} For group play 2-10, well they discovered in WOW that 10 people is the sweet spot for group organizations too. Trying to coordinate a meeting repeatedly and getting a large (say 40) similiarly outfitted/geared group is beyond the organizational skills of even some medium sized corporations.

And, as a consumer of the game, I enjoy having new content arrive in my game almost weekly. The video game designers are truly moving closer to the realm of the traditional entertainment media companies. We have yet to realize the entire potential of the internet, but gaming and interactive gaming is one arena that is starting to embrace some innovative change.

Yes, they will still sell the shrink wrapped game for $30-$50 with some bling bling, and eye candy and most importantly the CDkey. I think over time the trend will be to lower the initial barrier to entry as they earn back their investment in developing the game and underlaying engines.