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Diablo 3 "Feels Even Better" on a Console

Nothing official has been confirmed about Diablo 3 coming to consoles yet, but now that announcement seems more inevitable than ever.

Blizzard has been running tests to see how the game would perform on an Xbox or Playstation, and game director Jay Wilson says that it’s a lot better than you might think, in fact, it could even trump its native platform, the PC. What? Blasphemy.

“We feel that the controls and the style of the game lend itself to a console. With some of our early experiments in putting a direct control scheme into the game via a 360-like analogue controller, I’ve been ‘Oh this feels even better, with direct control…’”

And if they do decide to bring the game to consoles?

“I can pretty much guarantee that if we decide to do a console version that we will look to support a pad on the PC,” he said. “But initially with release I don’t think we’ll be ready.”

This may shock longtime fans of the series, as the incessant clicking of the mouse and liberal use of hotkeys are among the game’s hallmarks. With reports that Blizzard is already “dumbing down” the game a bit to appeal to new players, this might upset hardcore fans even further.

But naysayers should look to Torchlight on the Xbox Live Arcade if they don’t have faith. That game was created by Diablo 2 vets and was almost a clone of the title in many ways. Playing both versions, it was quite honestly more fun using a controller than it was on the PC. There were enough buttons to make it feel like hotkeys weren’t sorely missed, and the attack system was a bit more relaxed than the hyper clicking required for the traditional PC version.

I guess that Blizzard has had similar results with their own experiments with controllers and consoles, and with statements like this coming out of Wilson, I almost guarantee we’ll see a Diablo 3 console release at some point. This won’t be alongside the PC version, but a few months or a year after at the very least. Such a release would likely be a huge seller on any console, as players could be free to pick up the title without the fear that their computer might not run the game smoothly if they’re not usually hardcore PC gamers and don’t have the system requirements to keep up. And for as upset as the diehards may get about changes to the game or treasonous statements that it’s better on a console, it’s guaranteed that millions upon millions will be buying the long awaited title regardless.

h4xX0r hat geschrieben:eis spiel weniger wo ziit frisst

Moff hat geschrieben:So luschtig ischs leider ned, beta tests zeiged, dass viel uf konsole usgleit isch.

We commonly use the term “soon” when referring to Blizzard releases, because we know that no matter how hard we’re working to reach a target, we’re not going to compromise and launch a game before it’s ready. For Diablo III, we were aiming to launch by the end of 2011. As we’re announcing globally today, our new target for the game is early 2012.

While this news might not be a complete surprise, I know that many of you were hopeful that Diablo III would ship this year. We were too. However, this week we pulled together people from all of the teams involved with the game to decide whether we felt it would be ready before the end of December, and we grudgingly came to the conclusion that it would not. Ultimately, we feel that to deliver an awesome Diablo sequel that lives up to our expectations and yours as well, we should take a little more time and add further polish to a few different elements of the game.

ritschi hat geschrieben: ah ja und blizzard isch immerno blizzard:

Moff hat geschrieben:luuulz, diablo 3 wird fucking GRATIS si für wow spieler (12 monats subsciption)
sie hend verdammt angst vor swtor, und wie, krasse shit

Also an exclusive In-game mount with that Diablo 3 deal: Tyrael's Charger.