Diablo 3

Diablo 3 is the much anticipated sequel to Diablo 2 created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is a fantasy role-playing game and dungeon crawler, and is the third installment of Blizzard's Diablo franchise. With new graphics, a bigger world, more items and quests, Diablo 3 should be a big hit when it releases in 2012.

ABOUT DIABLO 3

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the fantasy world of the Diablo series. Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram. The only confirmed NPC is Deckard Cain, who has appeared in both of the previous games. Diablo's world map is composed primarily of two main continents with several small islands in the Northwest region.

Diablo III is similar in style to its predecessor, Diablo II. The game engine will incorporate Havok physics and feature destructible environments with an in-game damage effect. The developers are aiming to make the game run on a wide range of systems, and have stated that DirectX 10 will not be required. Diablo III will use a custom 3D game engine in order to present an overhead view to the player.

An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are will be used in order to give the game different experiences when replayed. Additionally, there will be class-specific quests to go along with the main quests. Two new armor pieces will be available: shoulder plates and leggings. Additionally, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, rather than having to manually pick it up. Sidekicks, unlike Diablo II, are now distinct NPCs who join the player, rather than randomly-generated and endlessly replaceable hires. One of the new features intended to speed gameplay are health orbs that drop from enemies, replacing the need to have a potion bar, which itself is replaced by a skill bar that allows a player to assign quick buttons to skills and spells.

Skill Runes, another new feature, are skill-modifying items that are randomly dropped by monsters and used across all classes. Similar to runes in Diablo II but instead of changing equippable items, they can be attached to skills often completely changing the skill. They also have the ability to make one particular spell in each class more powerful, and give the player options as to how the rune will enhance a particular spell.

As of September 2010, four of the five classes have been revealed: the Barbarian, the Witch Doctor, the Wizard, and the Monk. The Barbarian is the only class that Blizzard is planning to bring back from Diablo II for the initial release. Blizzard has also stated that the Monk is not the same Monk class from the Sierra Entertainment made Diablo: Hellfire expansion.

The game is being planned for a simultaneous release on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms. Blizzard is also considering a release for gaming consoles