Perfect World Entertainment and Runic Games are offering a treat for fans of its upcoming action RPG, Torchlight - developer diaries. In case you didn’t know Runic Games is comprised of former Flagship Studios employees that were working on Mythos. The company’s collective resume includes such games as the now cancelled Mythos MMO, Diablo, Diablo II and Fate. Links to the first three developer diaries can be found below:
Update: Blizzard has shot down the rumor about the StarCraft II beta test. Read about it here.
While you were sleeping last night, all snug in your bed, with visions of Diablo III and StarCraft II dancing in your heads, Blizzard Entertainment flipped the new Battle.net service switch to the “on” position. With the launch of this beefed up multiplayer matchmaker service comes easier access to all of Blizzard’s games using a single login and password - starting with World of Warcraft - along with some subtle fixes, graphical improvements and the groundwork needed to support the launch of StarCraft II.
Along with a brand new Battle.net comes a fresh patches for Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos (version 1.23a) and Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne (version 1.23a). The changes include a fix for the altered custom map exploit, a fix for patch problems with the Mac versions of the games, and the addition of the new banner ad system.
But the icing on the cake may just be a rumor: word on the street is that Blizzard has begun sending invites to the StarCraft II beta test. Of course, no comment from Blizzard yet on the validity of these claims, but it is not all that far-fetched now that a fresh new version of Battle.net is alive and kicking.
Retail research firm, NPD Group has released its list of the top selling PC games for the week ending July 26, 2008, revealing that Her Interactive’s Nancy Drew: The Phantom Of Venice took the top spot for the week. While the teen sleuth game taking the top spot is interesting, the rest of the list is a combination of hype driven sales, hold-outs and extensions of ultra popular brands.
The Sims franchise continues to rake in cash for EA with add-ons The Sims 2 Double Deluxe and The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff; meanwhile Blizzard enjoys much success with continued sales of the World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest compilation pack, The Burning Crusade expansion and the original game. Several games on the charts are due to a large amount of buzz for upcoming games: Blizzard’s Diablo III announcement has helped drive sales of the Diablo Battle Chest compilation pack and hype for Will Wright’s Spore is driving consumers to pick up the Spore Creature Creator.
Blizzard makes an announcement and fans react with a rabidity that can only be described as astounding. One of the many ways that they have responded is by returning to the previous game, Diablo II. That reignited romance has also bolstered sales of the classic game at retail, according to data collected by Gamasutra’s Sailing the World column.
The only region that is not keen on checking out Diablo II again is Japan. But in Europe and North America Diablo II products are apparently flying off the shelves. In North America, the Diablo II Battle Chest (a collection that includes the original game plus expansions) ranked number one on the PC charts! Meanwhile, Diablo II ranked number four in the UK, beating out Call of Duty 4 on the PC charts.
A pretty incredible story if you consider how old this game is. But more important than the revitalized sales of the game at retail, is how much fans really want to jump back in to the Diablo franchise. If anything it’s an indication that Blizzard should have been working on Diablo III a long time ago. And one more point to ponder – this does not include digital sales of the game.
Source: Gamasutra
