Creatures of the night and rainbow lovers everywhere are all looking forward to the release of Diablo III.  You also might be anticipating another Blizzard title, a sequel to the largely unknown and very obscure title StarCraft.  As you might expect, then, the online backbone supporting both games, Battle.net, will be getting an overhaul soon.  The new features of Battle.net 2.0 sound fantastic.  DIII.net has some of the details, among which are ingame channels and voice chat, ladders secured against cheating, automatic tournaments, and achievements, similar to those in WoW.  In a move sure to cause many gamers to lose jobs, spouses, etc., a "Blizzard Level" system is also planned.

Kaplan: Your ‘WoW’ score would be just one factor that will go into your Blizzard Level. And rather than call it a ’score,’ we just wanted it to be like you’re leveling up on Blizzard games… You’ll have this Blizzard identity, and you’ll be able to see things like ‘Oh, this guy was great at Diablo III, but he never played Starcraft and he was mediocre in WoW. That sort of thing.

So it appears gamers can level grind in Battle.net now as well as Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft.  That sounds cool, and scary at the same time.  Videogaming247 reports that the Starcraft and Diablo teams are working together to make sure Battle.net 2.0 is a success.  You can expect B.net 2.0 to arrive when Starcraft 2 is released, likely 2009.

You will likely recall the recent hullabaloo over the change in art direction for upcoming blockbuster Diablo III.  If you were like me, you were too busy thinking about how much you wanted to play the game RIGHT NOW to worry about things like bright colors and rainbows.  However, as we reported earlier, a very vocal fanbase complained loudly.  A few rabid fans even whipped up some "new and improved" versions of the screenshots from Diablo III.  One of those can be seen above.  At this point, what was a laughable, fairly minor story took an odd twist. 

A fellow named Brian Morrisroe recently resigned from Blizzard to "form a startup technology company (outside the game industry)".  The interesting thing about this news?  Morrisroe was the art director for Diablo III!  Most of the push to brighten things up a bit was due to his influence, according to one report.  Could the whining of the fans have possibly led to this event?

Not at all, according to Lead Designer Jay Wilson.  Wilson then responded to several of the fan Photoshop projects.  One memorable quote:

The key thing to remember here is that this has been Photoshopped. This isn’t created by the engine. Though it looks really cool, it’s almost impossible to do in a 3D engine because you can’t have lighting that smart and run on systems that are reasonable.

After looking at all those gloomy screenshots, we certainly agree.  (I don't recall the desert in Diablo II being that dark, do you?)  Still, it has certainly been an interesting turn of events.  It's too bad that we'll have to wait so long for the game; stories like this are about all we can expect for the foreseeable future.  In the meantime, Edge has a good preview of Diablo III, and Shacknews has a few morsels of screens and concept art. 

Earlier this week, you got a taste for classic co-op in Broodax's column, featuring ToeJam and Earl.  I felt it would be a good idea then, to discuss co-op games I played this week in my column.  As it turns out, I played one classic co-op game, one that will be a classic, and one that isn't a classic at all, but was a decent way to spend an hour or two.  I'll leave it you to decide which was which from this list: Diablo II, Lego Indiana Jones, and Ben 10.

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Another day, and another Diablo III story, or in this case, two stories, one pretty absurd and the other sure to be popular here at Co-Optimus.

First off is an article at MTV's multiplayer blog.  Apparently, about 14,000 Diablo fans are upset about the art direction of the upcoming sequel.  So great is their despair, they started an online petition (which is practically a guarantee to get something done).  Their impression of the recently released gameplay trailer was that it was more akin to the Care Bears than Diablo.  Cartoonish characters and "vivid colors, beautiful forests with colorful vegetation, shiny and beautiful waterfalls where even rainbows take place" are more like World of Warcraft than Diablo, in these fans' opinion.  Obviously, the art style is changed somewhat, but I was so busy watching a wall of zombies and exploding angels that I guess I missed the rainbows.  In any event, it just goes to show you that you can't please them all, even if you are the game company with the best track record, ever.

Of more importance to Co-Optimus readers is a recent post on the WoW forums by a Blizzard rep, Bashiok.  Joystiq reports that the focus of multiplayer in Diablo III will be on co-op, not on PvP. 

We have a large focus on cooperative play for Diablo III, and the mechanics and design decisions related to multiplayer are likely going to be based on supporting and encouraging it as much as possible, and not breaking it down.

You can almost hear the wail of thousands of griefers across the world, can't you?  Rainbows were bad enough, but now we all have to work together for a common goal?  Hmm.  Maybe this is Care Bears, after all.  (Possible Barbarian skill: Care Bear Stare?)  All kidding aside, we really think Diablo III is shaping up nicely, and that makes the wait until we can get our hands on it even worse.

We've been pretty excited about Diablo around here, and when Diablo 3 was announced our excite-o-meter went into overdrive.  Now that the Blizzard invitational is over the information is starting to come together as to just what the 3rd journey into hell will contain.  MTV's Multiplayer Blog has some of the high points.

Diablo has always been about its random dungeons, and Diablo 3 will contain the same.  But what the new game will also contain is random quests.  Talk about infinte replayability.  The new game also promises for more large scale battles with more powerful heroes and unique characters.  Of course all of this leads to one thing...co-op.

As in the past, the game will focus on co-op play but with the new version of BattleNET premiering with Starcraft II, the communication and connection between players will be easier and able to support more massive co-op battles.  Currently it's been announced that co-op is up to five players, but perhaps that will change.  Another great change for co-op is a group loot system, so each player gets their own version of the loot when killing monsters and bosses. 

It looks like there's lots of improvements for Diablo 3 on the way, with promises of betteer controls, inventory and story.  We may be waiting a while though as I've heard we might not see the game till 2010!   For now I've gone back and started to play Diablo 2 again, anyone care to join me for some co-op on BattleNET?

Hit the "Read More" link for some new screens of the game.

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With all the Diablo III news going on, it's only natural to want to crack out the original two games.  Unfortunately for some it's not an easy find; most local stores don't carry it.  Luckily Amazon has the whole shebang, the entire Diablo Battle Chest (Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo II - Lord Of Destruction, and 2 Hint Guides) for $29.99 with free shipping. 

My order is placed - will I see you on Battle.NET for Co-Op?

Judging by the popularity of our Co-Op Classics story on Diablo, people really like the series.  It's successor was even more popular and continues to played today by many.  Eight years after Diablo 2 was released Blizzard has finally announced Diablo 3!   For an entire week the Blizzard website teased us with something, and many thought it was actually a World of Warcraft Expansion - but alas the great demon is born again!

Not much is known about the game, currently the website is getting pounded.  Apparently there's screenshots and other media available.  An insider has told me the story of Diablo 3 has the forces of Hell invading Heaven for an all out climatic battle for the trilogy.  There's going to be a constant struggle of light and dark, weapons and items for instance can change from good to evil and vice versa.  Obviously there's no details for the co-op modes, but you can guarantee there will be some; our best guess is at least 4-player co-op like the game's predecessors.

Update:  Joystiq is currently watching a live demo of the game.  The game's lead designer Jay Wilson has called the game primarily cooperative and showed off two character classes; the Barbarian and the new Witchdoctor  (a master of disease and fire who will control pets).

Update 2:  The European site seems to be working.

Keep and eye here as we'll update you with media and information as it becomes available!  DIABLO 3!!!!!!

Bleary eyed, I slammed my mouse down and growled out loud.  I could barely see my watch in the dark, lit only by the glare from my monitor.  2:30 AM.  How could I possibly have played this long, and not known it?  I sighed and stared at the screen.  There, in blood red hue, lay the corpse of my warrior, piles of gold everywhere, surrounded by acid spitting demons.  I crept into the other room to find the telephone, and dialed a close friend.  Luckily, I had started this session as a modem game, just in case.  "John?  Are you awake?  I need your help, man.  I died to those lame acid spitters on Hell difficulty again, and there is no way I can get to my corpse.  Dial in and help me?  I can't just restart, man, I just got that King's Longsword of Haste, I'll never find one again..."  So began another co-op rescue mission in Diablo, Blizzard's masterpiece for the PC.

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