Planet Diablo

Female Monk Revealed

Monday, February 8, 2010, 20:24 |

Though there's not much to see of her just yet, you can now, view, an animated 3D model and concept artwork of the female variety of the new Monk character class from Diablo III. After a, preview, appeared in the latest episode of the Jace Hall Show, Blizzard Entertainment put her up on display on the official site.,

Female Monk Concept Artwork Appears

Saturday, February 6, 2010, 06:06 |

IGN got quite the exclusive for us in the second episode this season on the Jace Hall Show, giving us a first look at the female variation of the new Monk character class. Without further ado, take a look! The artworks appear at the 7:25 mark., , We've added some, screen captures, from the video to our Diablo III Character Artwork gallery.

The Jace Hall Show: Season 3, Episode 1

Friday, January 29, 2010, 13:15 |

IGN is proud to publish, and have the exclusive, Season 3 of The Jace Hall show. This on-going series is full of laughs and behind the scene antics. With this episode they head over to Blizzard and sit on a Diablo meeting. So this is well worth the check out. Click on over and have a peek., The Jace Hall Show: Season 3, Episode 1

Avatar, World of Warcraft Movie?

Monday, January 25, 2010, 05:20 |

IGN PC published an interesting, piece, on the blockbuster hit movie Avatar and its many similarities to a certain blockbuster hit computer game by Blizzard Entertainment. The alien race and their world in the film share more than a few characteristics of World of Warcraft and its inhabitants., Much like Avatar's Hallelujah Mountains, Nagrand has floating platforms of broken planet swirling about. These types of suspended rock can be found along the edges of Outland in general, but it's Nagrand that really uses them within the game space. While the capturable center village of Halaa actually has a few of these floating platforms above it, it's The Twilight Ridge at the far west of Nagrand that really makes you feel like your soaring through the hazardous, non-computer navigatable suspended mounds of Avatar. You can fly around them screaming, "OEL NGATI KAMEIE!" Provided that you've made enough Azerothian cheddar to afford a flying mount. If not, then you'll have to just look up to the heavens, drool and dream., Even reading from the perspective of a massively multiplayer and World of Warcraft Luddite, the commonalities prove entertaining indeed.

HanbitSoft to Publish Hellgate: London

Monday, January 18, 2010, 18:23 |

According to a curiously elsewhere mis-dated, press release, , HanbitSoft Inc. announced it's acquired worldwide publishing rights to Hellgate: London from NAMCO, and will be bringing the game and it's online multi-player service back to several markets., Hellgate was developed by the now-defunct Flagship Studios, a small game development company launched by the former heads of the Diablo and Diablo II development teams. Financial troubles shut the company following dismal reception of the game, which subsequently took the multi-player service offline almost one year ago., However, the game has been kept alive and updated in South Korea by T3 Entertainment and HanbitSoft, which claimed distribution rights in Asia., The return of the game, now branded Hellgate: Resurrection, includes new content and is set for an unclear launch path in 2010. According to the press release it will first come to China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, followed by North America, Europe, and Japan.

Blizzard Gamer Charged with Fraud

Monday, January 18, 2010, 00:42 |

A new case of fraud in the gaming world serves as a reminder to be quite careful when considering the purchase of items from virtual worlds., The Miami Herald, reports, that a Florida resident is in police custody on charges of fraud and grand theft in bogus sales for World of Warcraft characters. The scammer, who sold the characters for US$760 a pop, naturally cut off contact with buyers once he received payment, and is now sitting in a holding cell as a result., Though it's not Diablo, it's not far off from the game's online item sales market., CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A Clearwater man faces fraud charges after authorities say he agreed to sell World of Warcraft characters online but didn't turn over the characters after he got the money. Police arrested 23-year-old Christopher H. Bouffard on Monday and charged him with scheming to defraud and two counts of grand theft. Police say Bouffard accepted $760 from at least two people in 2008, but cut off all contact with the buyers once he received payment.

Well Wishes to a Familiar Face

Thursday, January 14, 2010, 17:12 |

Let's give a, warm farewell, to our veteran News Reporter Phil "thecowking" Cook, about whose departure I must regretfully inform the wider Planet Diablo community. He's been a crucial presence on the site for a couple years now, and has made the tough decision to move on in order to focus on furthering his education., Since late 2008 he has helped us keep our news up-to-the-minute on all things Diablo, and since joining our team has been instrumental in our reporting from BlizzCon, steadfast even in the face of the occasional daunting mix-ups of a certain familiar company. He's also facilitated efforts to modernize the site for the game's new audiences with social media initiatives such as our, Twitter, Facebook, , and, YouTube, feeds., Good luck to thecowking, and see you on Battle.net!

D2 Patch v1.13 Remains in Dev Stage

Thursday, January 14, 2010, 05:31 |

Diablo Community Manager Bashiok posted an, update, on the status of the next Diablo II: Lord of Destruction patch in the works. The project's been put back in development to add some "additional changes.", There's no indication that the changes will include a larger stash size, one of the features heralded early on in the patch's development stages. Unfortunately it was axed to due to resulting game stability issues., The legacy team met late last week to decide how to proceed on the 1.13 patch and the decision was made to go back into development to incorporate a few additional changes. While this patch has already seen its fair share of delays we still want to ensure we’re releasing a patch that hits some key community issues. I do want to stress though that while we did look at feedback and responses we’re obviously not going to be able to include everything requested. Our hope is to hit at least a decent portion of what we saw people discussing and correct some of the more severe issues while keeping additional development time as brief as possible. We don’t have a current estimate for release, and because work is only just beginning on these new changes we won’t be announcing their details. We’ll be keeping everyone updated as to the progress of the patch though, and we hope to see this update on the PTR as soon as possible and then off quickly to a release and ladder reset., The current test build of v1.13 is still available for public testing on the Patch Test Realm. To give it a try, sign on to Battle.net, exit to the main menu, and change the gateway to "Classic Beta." The game will patch itself when you connect, after which you can play on the Patch Test Realm., When you're ready to go back to v1.12, select your Battle.net gateway of choice and the game will restore the earlier version.

Diablo III to Use D2 Waypoint System

Thursday, January 14, 2010, 01:43 |

Diablo III now uses a waypoint system for rapid transit around the world of Sanctuary much like it's predecessor, Blizzard's Community Team, announced, via Twitter. The development team's just implemented this renewed system into current builds of the game for testing, along with a new interface for it., Previously, the game introduced a new checkpoint system not unlike console role-playing games, partially to make traveling more convenient in the absence of the classic Town Portal. With this update, it appears that the checkpoint system has been replaced., That's right, if you hadn't been aware, the designers have excluded that convenience in the game as part of an effort to eliminate the need to visit town so much for restocking. This is part of a wider aim to keep the player engaged in the action and get rid of tedious elements.

10 Winning Features of Diablo III

Thursday, January 14, 2010, 00:29 |

The new year brings us many things to look forward to in the world of Diablo and all things Blizzard (even if that doesn't include the unlikely chance of a final release of a certain third title). We'll definitely see Diablo III forming into a more collective whole, most likely find out what that mystery fifth character class is at the next BlizzCon, and maybe even with that get an exciting glimpse into the third Act., Already we see quite an impressive game in the works, even when we know only the barest of details about its multiplayer functionality. Thus to get the year started we present the 10 Winning Features of Diablo III based on all we know so far and a little educated speculation. Check out the, featurette, , and don't forget to share your thoughts in the, forums

Happy Holidays from Planet Diablo!

Friday, December 25, 2009, 10:53 |

Author:, thecowking, Planet Diablo wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe, happy holidays!

The Mod for Xmas

Monday, December 21, 2009, 19:20 |

Volf wishes everyone happy holidays with his special mod Xmas Season in Sanctuary v3.2, updated and now supporting Patch 1.12 Lord of Destruction. Check out the preview video below and the, mod's site, for more details, or, download, it straightaway., Once again winter season has come to Sanctuary and the people are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Naturally our hero will have to do his/her own share to ensure a peaceful holiday. The skill system is greatly simplified, no prerequisites, all character skills are available at level 1. Each character has 13 skills, some old and some new. The new skills are naturally winter themed for the occasion.