SearchNew Blizzard Announcement
Posted by Jonatan "Mazor" Littke 3 years ago
A new splash image is up at Blizzard.com and tradition tells us that this means a new game. Strong indications say that it's Diablo 3.
The latest updates can be found in the bottom of this news!
The announcement is most likely to be made this weekend at Blizzard's
World Wide Invitational in Paris, where GosuGamers will be on-the-spot.
Splash image day 1
The history of Diablo III rumours
Gaming Steve, claims that Diablo III was completed but "wasn't fun" and thus moved to the main head quarters where "the bigwigs in Irvine could better track and follow the development of [Diablo 3]".
Even if that would not be true, Blizzard stated that the team previously known as Blizzard North "will continue work on an unannounced project".
"I have recently been to Bratislava in Slovak Republic for recording sessions with local Radio Symphony Orchestra, where we just recorded music for Diablo 3"
That is, according to GameSpot, the exact same location and orchestra that recorded the official music for Diablo II's expansion back, four months before the pack was released.
The StarCraft II team consist of 40 people, the World of WarCraft team are 135 and "team 3" are 40 people. Team 3, most likely the team previously known as Blizzard North (who made Diablo I and II), are "working on something really awesome. I can’t give you any hints, but it’s totally awesome", Frank Pearce told GamaSutra.
There's a lot more of this kind of information but this should give you a brief overview of the Diablo III related rumours. Note that we have not covered the details or rumours about any other possible game, even though such rumours might exist.
Monday, 23, 18.11 CET:
The speculations continue as for whether or not this is Diablo III.
WorldofWar.net claims to have solved the splash screen by finding that the image contains artwork from Arthas' runeblade. They made the conclusion that it's not Diablo III because of this.
Nonetheless, the tradition says that a new splash screen is always a new game, not a beta, patch or anything else. The only exception to this rule was when the current Battle.net website was released.
The second expansion to World of WarCraft, called Wrath of the Lich King, and StarCraft II, has already been announced. That most likely rules out the possibility of this being a new game in either of those series. That leaves us with Diablo and WarCraft, unless a new series is to be introduced or a really old one revided (Lost Vikings, anyone?).
It does indeed look like Arthas' runeblade. At this point, another WarCraft game seems unlike and that leaves us with the guess that this is a diversion rather than anything else.
Diversion or not -- we'll see about that. If Blizzard are true to the tradition, next splash image should be published around early morning tomorrow (Tuesday).
Tuesday, 24, 09.47 CET:
New splash image added:
Splash image day 2
We've also seen a new piece of a piece of artwork. The first piece, found yesterday, looked like this:
Artwork piece 1
The new piece, published today, was this:
Artwork piece 2
Whether or not these images are related to the game title is unknown, but obviously Blizzard is aware of subtly dropping these images in the source code of their web page, intentionally wanting us to see them.
NumbSchiller proved true to his nick and posted some interesting speculations about the numbers that these images all have. First of all, a number found in the URL of these pictures is 232309. NumbSchiller pointed out that in the alphabet, these numbers represent W, W and I, adding another hint to what it already as good as confirmed, that the new game will be at WWI.He also noted that the pieces of "artwork" were also numbered to something representable by the alphabet; yesterday's piece was called 04.jpg (the letter D), and today's picture was called 15.jpg (the letter O), thus giving us the letter combination D and O, which are the first and last letters of the word Diablo, as WildLife pointed out.
Also, today's rune added to the splash image is a Hel Rune from Diablo II, showing that yesterday's rune from WarCraft indeed wasn't the final answer.
Helrune
Helrune enlarged
Tuesday, 24, 13:28 CET
Oh, if we didn't mention that already, Diablo3.com was purchased by Blizzard earlier this spring. The site, now known as DiabloFans.com, was a community site for Diablo. At the time, "Blizzard said it acquires domain names all of the time", IGN reports.
Some of you may draw parallels to StarCraft2.com being owned by Blizzard which made you believe SC2 was going to be released, but be advised that StarCraft2.com was purchased by Blizzard around 1998.
If Diablo 3 indeed has been in the making the last couple of years then it is surprising to see that the domain name would not be acquired until now. Then again, if Diablo 3 is to be released, the domain needed to be purchased sooner or later, assuming the current standard of one-game-one-domain is to be kept.
Artwork piece 2
Wednesday, 25, 12:21 CET
A couple of hours ago the ice broke open a little bit more, as expected. There's also no great surprise that today's "rune" is the mark of the Protoss, giving us one from each of the major series of Blizzard.
Here's today's splash:
Splash image day 3
Today's rune
Updated image of the artworks:
Artwork piece 3
Thursday, 26, 13:05 CET:
The ice is opening more and more, and some say they can see a face in the stars. It could just be big snow flakes. Another rune has been added in the bottom right.
Splash image day 4
And the penguin-lookalike has gotten an update too, where the name of the image is cold:
Artwork piece 4
Friday, 27, 09.58 CET:
Well, oh, well, isn't that interesting.
The penguin is complete:
Spash for Day 5
We've cleared this news post or all the old images and changed them to links if you still want to see them.
Tomorrow just after 13.00 (1PM) we will know who's looking at us. GosuGamers will be on-the-spot giving you live updates. We'll be posting whatever new information we get into this news and as soon as the new game is announced, we'll add a new headline on the front page so make sure to comment in that news post instead!
I (Mazor) will be leaving this afternoon and
VildaMalin (StarCraft section leader) is just about to leave for her flight down to Paris as well. If you have any questions to Blizzard about the new game, do start a forum thread and submit all of them there, and we'll make sure to try to forward them.
Saturday, 28, 09.57 CET:
We're at the event! VildaMalin and I are waiting at the opening ceremony that should begin in about two hours. We've got a WiFi connection here so we'll definitely try to give live updates assuming the net is not overloaded.
I can give you an interesting update: In the goody bag everyone receives at WWI, you get a 'Diablo Journal' each, a black little book with Diablo on the front. No suprise there, eh? :)
The splash image has changed, where the runes are more lit up and the face in the void is much clearer.
Saturday, 28, 11:28 CET:
Not much left now. We're sitting here at the main stage, third row from the front, waiting for the annoucement. We have internet connection still, so looks like we'll remain online.
We're guessing it's going to be announced at 12.00 since the stream begins 15 minutes before.
Make sure to check the stream that begins in 15 minutes.
After this there will be a press conference in which we'll attend, giving you Q&A's from the press to the Blizzard Staff.
Expect more updates shortly!
Saturday, 28, 11:38 CET:
Now that we're just waiting, let me describe what I see so far. We're at the 'main stage' where perhaps a thousand people can sit. I honestly don't know, really hard to estimate, but a lot of people. Several have to sit at the tournament stages where the opening ceremony is broadcasted to.
We're in the press area with lots of international press. I heard there's some 300 press invited. We have a little corner here for at the third and fourth row from the front, with us, SCLegacy, TeamLiquid and StarCraft.org represented. We also met guys from SC2 ESP, WGT and other sites.
The main stage has four really, really big screens, and loud music is being played with some Blizzard art running in the backgrounds.
We begin in 4 minutes! :)
K live updating now, its is beginning with lots of nice art flashing by.
It's awesome so far! All the screens projecting different things, real cinematic experience.
It's a lookback of all the games now, Diablo I just flashed by. Now we see SC2.
Here's Kerrigan and here comes Arthas of WC3.
Short introduction is over, two people entering stage. They'll be doing it in English and French simultaneously, taking turns in talking. Good for me who update live :D
We're being welcomed, "make some noise".
Someone Frederik Menou was just presented on the stage, thanking the players and the fans for being here. He's talking about the European offices of Blizzard and mentions that WoW was released in 4 European countries etc. Actually this might not be so interesting for you guys, hehe.
WWI was just declared open.
Some special guests are being presented.
Lots of the executives of Blizzard were just presented and applaused: Rob Pardo, Mike Morhaime, Leo Howard (?), etc.
Progamers are being welcomed on stage.
Savior comes first, I see Mondragon and Dreiven, all the StarCraft players are there.
I see Savior, Stork, Sea[Shield], Mondragon, Dreiven (said he was from Ukraine, he looked mad and then they changed to Poland :D), Idra and one of the Koreans in between. Haha you guys know the gamers better than I do, I'm just a code monkey these days. lol :D
Here comes WC3 progamers.
Here's ToD, FoV, Moon, Shy, Grubby, Lyn, XlorD, SaSe.
All the World of WarCraft teams are being presented. Wow, they're so many. I thought it was CS for a moment, hehe, then I realized where we are :)
The teams are Pandemic Black (?). MoB and fnatic, EG, SK-Gaming. Think I missed some. Oh, well.
Aha, that was WoW from the US, here comes the WoW teams from Europe.
Is this confusing? You're on GosuGamers, following the opening ceremony of the WWI.
Now the Asian WoW teams are being presented. I forgot to note the names of the European teams.
Raistlin reports that the stream has begun working now.
Some chattering on the screen now, I think they're done with the presentations etc, hopefully we're going to the annoucement!
Oh, CEO and Co-Founder of Blizzard; Mike Morhaime.
He's thanking all the players, all the fans. I think we were just on the stream, btw. Mike still holding his speech, he speaks of the WWI history, the gaming scene of Europe, etc.
Mike now speaks of games. I think we're announcing... oh, no, he's showing some look backs from the SC2 announcement on a video now.
Announcement probably right after this video.
Note: We'll be posting all about the new game in a separate news. Please make sure to comment in that one instead, once the game is out. I'll drop the link here and close this comment page, in order to keep it organized for you to follow.
Now the video is over, Mike is talking, taking long time because he knows everyone is on their toes... :D
He speaks of WWI and what the event has to offer.
OK, "One more thing we have to do". HERE IT COMES.
Diablo music playing on guitar. D3 being announced. Switching news to this one:
LINK: DIABLO 3 HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED
| Links |
| Blizzard.com - Check the splash screen |
| Comments \ Paging |
 1, 2, 3 ... 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 
|
1
| That's definitely Arthas |
| http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8107/onefo9.jpg http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1724/twook6.jpg this is what I see in the splash image. It reminds me too much of Diablo... |
| #349 are you retard or what?blizzard said they'll announce a new game at WWI08.. WotLK has been announced 1 year ago -.-' YOU need to wake up r-tard |
| It looks like Diablo3... |
| This is Protoss face :-] And release date of SC2 is 9 July 2008 :) |
| #353 hahha gimme the link with copyrighted statement from blizzard that they will announce _new project_ not WOTLK ; ] |
| you guys should visit the lich king addon page of WoW this looks more like it same cristalls and same glowing eyes :( WoW sucks |
| WoW does suck ... |
| It looks exactly like the lich king arthas in the WotLK homepage which sux cause wow sux. Blizzard is going to fall hard if they just announce a new wow expansion shit because everyone is expecting something new and cool. |
| #359 - it might be a throw off, you know? :) I bet on the shape that crystals leave open - shape that looks a lot like diablo's head imo. |
| it's arthas...livin` in his icy house...lookin` outa his thawing window...rofl |
| It definately looks like the Litch King right now, but i don't think blizzard would make a big deal for it when its already been announced, but who knows with blizzard. |
| For me it also looks like a Toss face... :D |
| ITS WRATH OF THE LICH KING eat shit and die |
| I really don't know what this is. Penguin could be a familiar? Very evil looking. Or the logo of the new b.net? The face looks like a toss to me. Perhaps sc2 will be released 2morrow? That would be kool. That's all speculation. What I do know: I had read an article a LONG time ago from a guy who had visited blizz hq. He said he saw concept art of a new Diablo, with a war in heaven, being invaded by demons etc. I have never played Diablo, don't know if it makes sense, but that guy also predicted WoW, and flying mounts for it (which were included in the 1st exp). A big question is: would they make diablo3 an mmo or not? |
| Being an SC noob, i would love for it to be a toss face, and they are announcing a new race or something. Seeing as how it almost feels like Blizzard has forgotten SC2 already. |
| Just a tought: does any1 of you think that the pinguin might mean that blizz is gonna release the games for Linux too? That'll be cool :D |
| #366 no, dude, they didn't. Blizzard has just released an excellent Zerg revealing trailer! go to www.starcraft2.com and check it out. |
| there is this five symbol, what dose it means ? this snowflake or something like that ? |
| rofl #367 could be freakin right =S |
| #368 that was added 3 months ago. |
| Bah I thought it would look like a five point star if you drew lines between the runes in the order they appeared but on a closer look i realise i was wrong >.< |
| #371 right. didn't really look at the release date, and saw it like 20 minutes ago. |
| had anybody realized that this runes are much more brighter than at beginning ? wtf means this rune at 12 oclock ? |
| @374 I guess you can interpret the runes: 1. WoW WotLK - released 2. Diablo 3 announced 3. SC2 release date 4. New Battle Net 5. Blizzard (cause it's a freaking snowflake that rune) |
| Blizz guys definetly know how to create a hype ; p |
| project hydra |
| who else would be looking than either Diablo or Arthas (WTLK) |
| if u invert the colors from the splash screen u can see that it looks like one favorite theme color in D2 ... i think is also the color of the world stone ...right? |
| some sort of summary of the last few comments http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/6568/d3m aybevz8.jpg |
| 381 look at the Diablo and WoTLK they both have smth there ..one has a small blue icy crystal the other one has that redish crystal(the soulstone i think) |
| the five runes symbol the five mage schools in the new diablo. fire, arcane, frost etc |
| I hope that has something to do with SC2, like a open beta or something. But I think that it is Diablo 3 what is pictured here. |
| dunno if someone had posted that.. sorry in advance - too lazy to see - http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9528/teaser2ao5.jpg |
| #385 excellent! :) |
| For me, It looks like toss face... maybe toss/zerg hybrid ;) :P |
| looks like protoss :) |
| Well Blizzard made it fairly clear that this has nothing to do with Sc2 or WOLK but rather a new project. To be honest it sure looks like its gonna be Diablo 3 but then again, you never know with blizzard. The image they are putting up piece by pice is giving Diablo 3 away to fast for my liking, they would never let us guess it that quick as they really want to still suprise us when the announcement is taking place. Also can we fit blizzards new "companion" Activision into this picture? Are we looking at a new attemt on something along the lines of Starcraft Ghost? :) We will see, but they sure as hell know how to put the hype up. Also hope they do not have people like Dustin Browder on this project so we might see another Awsome blizzard classic. *Dustin and his freaking mothership failed inC&C triesagain in Sc2 Browder* |
| infested lich king? |
| I got a theory about "why Diablo 3 + ice". Since Diablo 2 started where Diablo 1 ended, then maybe Diablo 3 will start where Diablo 2 ended. And that is- The frozen land of the barbarians. xD |
| #391 I was thinking about that too :) but actually Diablo 2 ended in Hell... Baal was in the frozen land of the barbarians...... I don't know, I'm actually freaking out and want to know what's going on!!! :) can't wait till tomorrow~!!!! :) |
| im not sure if someone posted this before but i found this article http://www.n4g.com/pc/News-161482.aspx wehre you can find this statement "Diabloii.net, a 10 year running Diablo fansite, which (at least used to) have contacts inside Blizzard have now proclaimed that it IS indeed Diablo 3 that will be announced at WWI" |
| arbiter.... :) ice, those eyes... |
| no D3 look at this picture http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/469/ice5pi3.jpg |
| #395 hahah best one yet! |
| To me it looks like an archon :p I mean just look at it >.< |
| lol who is that the "lich king"? xD |
| Maybe those runes are like summoning stones that are needed to break the ice and summon diablo : o |
| http://www.diabloii.net/n/667423/diablo-3-announcement-at-wwi so most probably its d3. dii.net has been there since a started playing d2, although only thing i dont like is they only talk in the forums about legit stuff. i use pickit and stuff so i cant post about it there, jsp is another option tho. so imo i can safely say that dii.net doesnt troll about these things and most probably they have an inside source like they say, im betting on d3. on the other note, nice timing of the ladder reset :o, probably the last ladder season ill ever play when d3 gets released before the next reset :p |
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