Diablo III – Still Hope For Consoles

Blizzard, makers of Diablo III, have posted a job listing for a “Senior Producer For Consoles” for the Diablo III team. CEO Mike Morhaime stirred the console pot at DICE last week stating that Blizzard was actively investigating a console version of Diablo 3.

“I think you could make an argument that a game like Diablo might play very well on a console .  It’s something that we’re actually doing an investigation into to see if that could make sense.”
- Mike Morhaime CEO Blizzard Entertainment

With TorchLight hitting Xbox 360 in the coming weeks, it seems the folks at Blizzard are finally convinced that Diablo will work on a console.  Torchlight is often compared to Diablo and was developed by former Diablo team members.  I hope the Torchlight folks at least get an ‘at-a-boy pat on the back for paving the way with their proof of concept.  If TorchLight is successful on the console platform(s) – there will be little doubt that Diablo III will follow.

Source: G4TV – The FEED

Continue to complete article on Platform Nation

I, Chris Forbis, do resolve that I will not WASTE money on video games in the year 2011.

On the surface, that sounds fairly harsh – so let me explain.

I have always been somewhat fascinated by a single feature of the Xbox 360 interface.  It’s the panel that shows the total Gamerscore available in all the games I have played in relation to the Gamerscore I have earned.  Here are my current numbers.

Gamerscore Earned: 23,720
Total Gamerscore Available: 104,505
Percentage of Gamerscore Earned: 22.7%

Some quick math shows this is less than 25% of the possible Gamerscore I could have earned.  Since Gamerscore is awarded for achievements, and achievements are directly linked (usually) to in game experiences – this means I have played less than 25% of the entertainment experiences I have paid for.

Now let’s let the OCD sweep over us like a warm bath in the wintertime.  What does a single Gamerscore point cost?

Retail games are around $50 on average is purchased new and near the release date.  I’d guess that 10% or less of my games are purchased at full retail since I usually try to grab them on sale or with future game purchase incentives ($10 off your next game purchase or such).  Averaging in the discounts let’s just say these titles cost me $40 each.  These games have 1,000 GS each thus one GS costs $.04 US

DLC and Xbox Live Arcade game prices range from $5 to $15 – also depending on sales or promotions – so let’s just settle on $10 average.  These titles commonly bring 200 GS to the table making these GS point only $.02 US each.

Without doing a complete and detailed inventory of my games I have played, I don’t know the split of retail vs. downloaded games, or how many were rentals or promotional copies for review purposes – but I think it’s fair to just say a single Gamerscore point costs three cents US on average.

Now let’s run the numbers on my Gamerscore using the “MensaDad Three Cent Rule”.  I’ve earned a little more than $711 worth of GS – but the number that really bothers me is that I have nearly $2,500 in unearned GS setting on my game shelf.  This is entertainment I have already purchased but have not experienced fully.

Continue reading at Platform Nation

Torchlight, the Diablo-like role playing adventure game, is coming to Xbox Live Arcade in February or March during the Microsoft House Party 2011 promotion.  Previously only available on PC, this could be a breakthrough title to watch.    At the moment no PS3 version is planned – which makes sense because Microsoft is going to be the publisher for the XBLA version.

As for what will be different from the PC version – here is what creator, Runic Games, had to say:

“The UI is COMPLETELY overhauled from the ground up. Nothing works the same. All new art and navigation. The concept of item ’slots’ is done away with – you just have a number of items you can hold ( 50 – ignores stack counts ). Potions and scrolls stack up to 99. Potions ‘auto pick’ the best potion to heal you or regen mana. You don’t have to think about it or map it. We iterated on the UI a ridiculous amount.

Continue Reading at Platform Nation